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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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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?
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:
- Teriyaki Bowl
- Zoodles in a Jar
- Vegan Taco Salad
- Chickpea Tacos
- Loaded Sweet Potato
- Sweet Potato Pad Thai
- Almond Butter and Veggie Zoodles
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!
Simple Vegetarian Ramen
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.
This soup is delicious! I have never made Ramen before but I definitely will be making it again! I love the fresh veggies (I added broccoli and asparagus to the mix) with the cooked noodles and broth. Yes please to seconds
The Vegetarian Ramen Soup is PERFECT! We love the vegetable mix in the soup base and the sesame oil and tamari added excellent flavor. My husband especially liked the ramen noodles. Will definitely do a repeat.
Loved this soup! Veggies were good with broth poured over. Next time tho I will cut the Bok choy and cabbage into smaller pieces.
This soup uses many vegetables that I rarely eat. Like all the soups I am thrilled to have new ways to incorporate different tastes in my soup. This one was really delicious.
Yum yum yum for my tum tum tum!!! I followed your suggestion and used spiralized zucchini noodles for the grain-free option and also used my own mushroom broth. This was super tasty and easy to make. I never had lotus noodles before but picked up a bag from COSTCO & they’re delicious. I used coconut aminos instead of tamari and the toasted sesame oil gave it a nice flavor on top. I liked the fact that the vegetables are al dente.
Thanks for sharing this recipe 🙂
Love this. So easy to make and healthy
This sounds easy. I wil try it soon.
I never even thought of making yummy ramen at home. I’m so dead I found this recipe.
I was going to skip this one since we don’t eat ramen noodles, but decided to try it with whole wheat rotinis instead. It was good but probably would have been better with Ramen. I loaded it with mushrooms to give it more of a mushroom flavor which I liked. I doubt I will make this again, but it was fun experimenting!
Gorgeous soup! Really fun to put together and see the colorful vegetables all in one beautiful bowl! Love the recipe just as you have it. But this one could so easily be adjusted to anyone’s liking/dietary restrictions or preferences. Will definitely be making this one again.
I’m not a fan of Raman but this was definitely better than the prepackaged instant variety. The vegetables were cooked just right.
This one lacked flavor. Perhaps adding in miso or if not having vegan, also cracking an egg and/or adding fish stock. I did like the vegetables, and sauteed the mushrooms and bok choy in advance so I had a nice mix of textures that I enjoyed.
I ended up with the larger bok choy due to limited produce in the stores. I had to give it a few minutes in the broth prior to make sure it was blanched enough to eat. Which is great I loved that I had a larger portion. I also added some garlic and ginger in my broth for extra flavor. This is lunch at work!
We are big on ramen in the house and hot pots. I like certain flavors in it. The veggie choices are awesome. I started thinking of all the other veggies I could add later: bean curd, pea shoots, sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower , sweet potato cubes, spinach, watercress, bell peppers, mini tomato, asparagus, etc.
This meal was very colorful, bright, had good texture with nice flavors.
Beautiful meal overall. I would for sure make again
Comfort food at its best! Love it!
So good@
Oh my goodness!!! Yum!
You state, “vegetarian ramen can still use a meat-based broth”. In WHAT universe do vegetarians eat meat????
Hi Jenna, I understand your confusion. Of course, using a meat-based broth would change what we call this recipe from Simple Vegetarian Ramen to just Simple Ramen. We just wanted to point out that using a chicken or beef broth would still make for a delicious recipe for those who still allow meat into their diets. It all comes down to the individual preparing and eating the recipe. 🙂