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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.
Wow, this one was really interesting. It was colorful and crunchy, and full of flavor. I enjoyed it.
Soup was good but needs a bit more flavor. Might try to grill the bok choy next time to add some depth of flavor. Then possibly par cook the other veggies so they are cooked a bit more but still crunchy. Might also add some miso too. I know not vegetarian but maybe a 6-minute soft boiled egg. So many possibilities in this soup. It great base for all those that that enjoy experimenting in the kitchen.
Loved the variety of vegetables added to the broth. I used mung bean noodles and zucchini noodles instead of the ramen. Very delicious and healthy.
This was a very easy soup to prepare. Delicious! A great way to get more veggies into a simple ramen soup. Loved it.
I really liked this ramen. I did tweak a few things and used zoodles because I had some zucchini to use up. I also added some miso and ginger to the broth to amp up the flavor. I had to use regular bok choy because I couldn’t find baby bok choy. I did find that you need to make sure the broth is really boiling and let it sit about 4 or 5 minutes so the veggies can get tender.
One of our favorites so far! I used millet & brown rice ramen noodles which worked out well. It needed more liquid so I added 2 additional cups of water and 3 Edward & Sons Not-Chick’n bouillon cubes plus about 1 Tbsp. red miso.
Enjoyed it, but felt that it lacked a little depth of flavor (maybe make my own broth next time) and the veggies were a little on the raw side, but that might’ve been because the broth was a little cooler than a simmer when I ladled it over everything. Definitely want to try again and play around with the broth and veggies.
Topped with tons of veggies, ssoo good, will double the Ramen noodles next time. My son anD I ate all four servings,delcious!
Rather bland as is and the larger veggies were raw but it was beautiful. Worth trying again with blanched veg and some more flavor to the broth. We topped ours with an egg and split the noodles between 3 bowls to make it more filling.
Good recipe! I forgot to cut the red cabbage but we probably didn’t have room for it anyway Set it up as a ramen bar which was the perfect choose your own adventure for the kids. I’ll make this again!
Super delicious and simple. Absolutely love the vegetable combinations. First experience with ramen soup. We our big fans now.
Absolutely loved this soup!! Easy to make and yummy! Even hubby asked for more
Delicious, and very easy to put together (all prep was done a few days before). Added a poached egg and topped with chili crisp.
While this was good, I would sauté the bok choy, mushrooms, and red cabbage just to soften them a bit. I would also add more broth.
Nice and light !! Loved the veggies and the freshness of this one !!
In the process of meal prepping, I over cooked the veggies. Although I liked the addition of noodles, this was my least favorite soup.