Shaquille O'Neal's Cheesy Chicken Alfredo Ramen Is the Budget-Friendly Meal of Champions

What used to be a coveted budget-friendly food that college students could heat up in their dorm room microwaves has evolved into a crave-worthy meal that even celebrities can't pass up. The humble packaged instant ramen is one that has withstood the test of time (and inflation) as an easy, pantry staple food that lines the kitchen shelves of busy families, picky eaters, and even Shaquille O'Neal.

While you could easily make your instant ramen according to the package instructions—boiled and topped with the flavoring packet—upgrading the noodles with a few extra ingredients has become increasingly popular. TikTok creators do it, celebrities do it, and even Maruchan (one of the most famous ramen brands) offers recipes on its website that take your ramen to the next level.

Whether it's adding a few eggs like Kylie Jenner or creating a whole new creamy dish like Shaquille O'Neal, those ramen packages are so much more versatile than they seem.

If you didn't know, Shaq has a cookbook filled with recipes for, "low-stress comfort food". One of those recipes is his, "Smack Ramen", named that because it's so good it's a 'smackdown', according to the cookbook.

The 20-minute recipe turns a simple package of chicken-flavored ramen into a hearty chicken Alfredo meal packed with additional seasonings, broccoli, and chicken. Here's how to make it.

How To Make Shaq's "Smack Ramen"

Shaq's upgraded ramen does have a little bit of a lengthy ingredient list, but you likely already have most of the ingredients in your kitchen. Also, it's important to note that this meal is meant to feed a family (or one very hungry Shaq), so it yields a pretty large one-pot meal. However, you can easily scale it down to a more manageable size based on how many ramen packets you want to make.

Start by bringing 3 cups of evaporated milk, 3 cups of milk, ¼ cup of unsalted butter, 2 chicken-flavored ramen seasoning packets, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, ½ teaspoon of onion powder, ½ teaspoon of pepper, and ¼ teaspoon of hot sauce to a boil. Once boiling, add 6 packages of ramen noodles and stir until cooked through. Add 8 ounces of frozen broccoli, allow to cook for a minute, then turn off the heat.

Finish by stirring in 1 pound of shredded rotisserie chicken, ½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese, and 3 optional egg yolks (if you want a richer sauce). Be sure to work fast so the egg yolks don't scramble.

We Tried Shaq's Ramen Recipe

First of all, this recipe is so easy to make. Not only is prep time minimal because you're using a rotisserie chicken and frozen veggies, but it's also made in one pot so cleanup is a breeze. The only tricky part is ensuring your evaporated milk doesn't scorch on the bottom of the pot because that can cause a bit of a sticky mess with the noodles later—but that just means the pot needs a bit of babysitting.

The flavors are absolutely delicious; it's so creamy and cheesy, you would never know that the base was a chicken-flavored ramen package. And the chicken flavor doesn't come through too strongly, so you could easily use any flavor of ramen that you like.

If you want more of a chicken flavor, however, you might want to add an additional flavoring packet. When you follow Shaq's recipe, you're left with four unused packets, so throwing an extra one in the pot can't hurt.

I also think the recipe could benefit from a little more hot sauce—especially if you're a spicy food fan like me. I was excited to see hot sauce in the recipe, but it really got lost in the rest of the dish.

I thoroughly enjoyed this chicken Alfredo-inspired ramen, particularly because it gave me more than just a noodle dish. There was enough protein and vegetables that I felt satisfied without having to make extra sides to balance it out. Plus, it's definitely a dish where more is more, so if you feel like there isn't enough chicken, broccoli, or seasoning for your taste, you can just add in whatever you feel is missing.