We use vegetable stock, mushrooms, miso paste, & soy sauce, to give this soup the savory umami flavor we crave in a bowl of ramen noodles. My vegan ramen recipe uses a rainbow of veggies and flavors to create a simple yet filling meal.

Vegetarian Ramen soup in a bowl next to chop sticks, red pepper flakes and green onions.

Whenever I visit NYC, I have to enjoy a bowl of vegetarian ramen. It’s always so delicious and soothing after a cold day walking the streets. I love all the bright colors, as well as the complexity of flavors a ramen dish provides.

It makes me feel fancy when indulging in these flavors, yet the reality is it can be quite affordable to make at home. My recipe is for vegan ramen — and can be modified easily depending on your preferences.

Table of Contents
  1. Origins of Ramen
  2. What Makes This Recipe Vegan
  3. How To Make Vegetarian Ramen
  4. More Vegan Recipe Options
  5. Simple Vegetarian Ramen Recipe
Ingredients for easy ramen including cilantro, radishes, ramen, carrots, mushroom, tamari, red pepper flakes, purple cabbage, bok choy and green onions.

Origins of Ramen

Most people believe ramen originated in Japan, yet it actually started in China. Chinese tradesmen brought their ramen recipe to Japan in the 19th century. What Americans know (and love) as instant ramen, came to America in 1958.

Today, ramen can be found both in 33 cent styrofoam containers, as well as $16+ bowls at fancy restaurants. Vegetarian or not, ramen is a great on the go meal, as well as a fun date-night-in dinner under candlelight.

red colander of bok choy.

What Makes This Recipe Vegan

Ramen noodles are often made with a chicken, pork, or beef broth base. This vegan ramen recipe uses a low-sodium vegetable broth. I have tried ramen both ways, and honestly like the lighter taste and feel of a veggie broth over a chicken broth.

If you want to up the protein, then add in tofu. With ramen, there’s really no wrong way to go! Just a side note, vegetarian ramen can still use a meat-based broth, yet full on vegan ramen should only use vegetable broth.

blue stock of vegetable stock next to a white tray of fresh vegetables.

How To Make Vegetarian Ramen

My vegetarian ramen recipe starts with noodles. Sometimes I’ll load the bottom up with mung bean sprouts first. If you have that option available to you, then I highly recommend it. Otherwise, start with the noodles.

After the noodles go in, then it’s time to load up the bowl with your favorite veggies. I love adding bok choy, shredded carrots and sliced shiitake mushrooms, as well as purple cabbage. The heat of the hot broth helps soften the veggies a bit. If you prefer the veggies to be more tender than crisp, saute or steam the veggies before adding them to the bowl.

Add a little drizzle of sesame oil and tamari over the veggies and green onions. Next ladle piping hot, just-simmered vegetable broth to the bowl next.

Then it’s topping time! Add your favorite toppings – keep this vegetarian ramen simple, or go fully loaded. I go with a basic trio of cilantro, thinly sliced radishes, and red pepper flakes. Other ideas: avocado, tofu cubes, more bean sprouts or microgreens, thinly sliced hot chili, or even a drizzle of sriracha.

rainbow carrots.

Vegetarian Ramen Ingredient Swaps

I try to stay away from gluten, so instead of wheat noodles, I love using Lotus Foods millet and brown rice ramen noodles. They’re super delicious, and I can get a big bag at Costco.

If you aren’t able to find bok choy, swap in swiss chard instead.

Coconut aminos are a great swap for tamari. If you’re not a fan of mushrooms, then why not switch them out with some tofu?

blue stock pot of vegetable stock next to a bowl of vegetarian ramen.

More Vegan Recipe Options

Eating plants doesn’t have to be difficult. I hope you enjoy this vegetarian ramen recipe! The truth is: a little prep, as well as a plan goes a long way in helping you naturally incorporate more veggies into your diet. Check out a few of these plant based recipes:

I challenge you to incorporate 1 plant based meal into your dinner rotation every week. If you already do ‘meatless Monday,’ then try adding in a second plant fueled meal.

Eating more plants doesn’t have to be an all or nothing choice, yet taking steps to add more plants will only benefit you and your family. If you start with the vegan ramen recipe below, don’t forget to leave a comment and let me know how it turned out!

Vegetarian Ramen recipe
4.43 from 111 votes

Simple Vegetarian Ramen

Ramen, the staple food of college students, moves to the head of the class thanks to a plant-based overhaul. Load up this Simple Vegetarian Ramen with your favorite veggies and enjoy!
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Total: 15 minutes
Author: Jen Hansard
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Japanese-Inspired, Plant-Based
Serves: 2

Ingredients  

  • 2 packages ramen noodles gluten-free
  • 4 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 head baby bok choy halved
  • 1 cup shiitake mushrooms sliced
  • ½ cup red cabbage thinly sliced
  • ½ cup carrot shredded
  • ¼ cup green onions thinly sliced
  • 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 2 tsp tamari
  • red pepper flakes

For garnish

  • radish
  • fresh cilantro

Instructions 

  • In a pot, bring the vegetable broth to a boil over medium-high heat. 
  • Add ramen noodles and cook according to package directions.
  • While noodles are cooking, get out two wide, deep soup bowls.
  • Add cooked noodles and all your veggies to the bowls.
  • Ladle the hot broth over the veggies and noodles. Drizzle with sesame oil and tamari, and garnish with red pepper flakes, radish slices, and cilantro, if using. Serve immediately.

Notes

  • This ramen is also very good made with miso or mushroom broth.
  • For a grain-free version, feel free to substitute spiralized vegetables such as zucchini or sweet potato in place of noodles.

Nutrition

Calories: 510kcal, Carbohydrates: 76g, Protein: 14g, Fat: 18g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 7g, Sodium: 1773mg, Potassium: 718mg, Fiber: 9g, Sugar: 12g, Vitamin A: 5753IU, Vitamin C: 18mg, Calcium: 61mg, Iron: 4mg
Tried this recipe? Show me!Mention @SimpleGreenSmoothies or tag #SimpleGreenSmoothies!

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Rating




Comments

  1. 4 stars
    a very light refreshing soup. will probably make again but use vegs i have on hand rather then buying special.

    1. This is a great one to throw whatever you have into it, Janet!

  2. 5 stars
    I had company over the weekend and make this for lunch on Saturday. The toasted sesame oil and tamari added wonderful flavor to the soup. Next time I am going to use zucchini noodles instead of ramen.

  3. 5 stars
    I had company over the weekend and made this for lunch. It was delicious. The combination of tamari and sesame oil was very tasty. Next time I make it, I think I will use zucchini noodles instead of ramen and see how it turns out.

  4. 5 stars
    Excellent soup! I used my homemade vegetable broth and sweet potatoes instead of Ramen noodles. I also used bok choy instead of baby bok choy. I sliced very thin. I also decided to sauté the cabbage, bok choy, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms. This soup is very good. I will try my next batch with the ramen noodles to see if I like it better. For me the soup is a home run. Really really good.

  5. 5 stars
    Excellent Ramen! I did cook the veggies because I like them softer. It was the easiest of all the soups to make!

    1. Love that you made it your own and cooked the veggies a little longer!

  6. 5 stars
    I’ve been looking for a Ramen soup recipe that I like and this one fits the bill! Easy & flavorful. I made it exactly as written and can’t wait to make it again.

    1. You’re so right, this one is super easy to throw together!

  7. 5 stars
    Loved this one too! I made it with miso and skipped the red pepper flakes and cilantro. Will be making it again

  8. 5 stars
    Simple and tasty ramen! As suggested, I used miso instead of vegetable stock and it was a great miso ramen.

  9. 4 stars
    I’m going a little out of order with the soup challenge (due to ingredient availability). Modified it a bit… First, sautéed the chunky part of the bok choy as well as the red cabbage in sesame oil, then took it out of the pot, broth in pot. Meanwhile, cooked some udon noodles and spiralized one zucchini. Drizzled a bit low sodium soy sauce on the zoodles (didn’t have tamari). Added a good squirt of Sriracha and little squirt of white miso paste to the broth. Then dumped everything (udon, zoodles, sautéed and fresh veggies (thinly sliced green onions, green part of bok choy and shaved carrots)) in the pot. Quick stir, off the pot and into bowls. Yummy!

    1. Hi Daria! No worries on going out of order. Sounds like your version turned out great!

  10. 5 stars
    Loved this! Added a bit more salt and pepper, as I did in most of the other soup recipes as well.

  11. 5 stars
    Day 9 was easy and quick to make and for me that’s a 5 star! I think one could use just about any veggies as the base is receptive to them all. It’s a canvas waiting for paint really. You can add whatever spices and flavors you like. I used 1/2 the ramen to lower the carbs and I think next time I make this I’ll cook the ramen separately.

    1. You’re so right, K.B. You can’t go wrong with any veggie in this one!

  12. Not my favorite soup. I’m not a huge fan of cabbage or bok choy. It also seemed a little bland to me. I think more tamari might have helped…

  13. 4 stars
    I started a few days late. But finished. Yeah! Just wanted to let you know Jen, I enjoyed all the soups. I saved the Ramen until last and savored it with friends. With several cooks in the kitchen, we made some tweeks along the way. But the soup was delicious. We did cook the veggies to tender in the broth, chopped the baby bok choy, and added the fresh sliced radish as a topping. One friend dropped an egg in her soup. Not vegetarian I know. Thanks for all of your encouragement. May you continue to be blessed on your journey.

  14. 4 stars
    Found the recipe quite enjoyable. Hadn’t used bok choy before. This makes a nice presentation in a bowl.