Sumptuous, healthy, and oozing with flavor, a fresh bowl of Ramen is the perfect vegetarian comfort food. Here’s an easy recipe for Vegan Ramen that is made with a flavorful, rich Broth.
The best thing about this recipe is that you can meal-prep the delicious broth on a Sunday evening, then store it in the freezer or fridge in a tight jar, for the busy week ahead, heating it up to your taste, pour it over veggies and noodles.
This recipe is a deeply nurturing and satisfying one. Before we go on to share the recipe, here are the basics you should know about vegetarian ramen.
There are three basic components to every ramen dish:
- The noodles
- The broth
- The toppings
Also, there are 4 very popular styles of ramen broth:
- Shio ramen (Non-vegetarian) with clear, light-bodied slightly salty chicken broth
- Shoyu Ramen, with its chicken broth that is soy sauce flavored
- Tonkotsu ramen, a pork-based broth that is rich, fatty, and milky white in appearance. (Non-vegetarian)
- Miso ramen, which is purely miso-based.
This recipe begins with the flavorful broth! It’s almost difficult to believe that the broth is entirely plant-based, as it is a whole burst of many flavors!
Vegan Ramen Broth Recipe
How to make an excellent vegan ramen broth:
- Deeply caramelize the chopped onions
- Add some water, veggie stock, and dried shiitake mushrooms.
- Add a sheet of Kombu
- Add a splash of MIRIN
- Some Miso paste!
What on the green earth is kombu?
It’s nothing more than a type of sea kelp that adds depth, complexity, and that tasty umami flavor we can’t get enough of. It’s not to be confused with nori (nori is dried seaweed, kombu is dried kelp). It is mostly used in Japanese recipes to make Dashi Broth.
Make sure that you first rinse the Kombu before you place it in the stockpot with any other ingredients.
Bring the Kombu to a boil and turn the heat down to low or medium, and simmer for 30 minutes (uncovered), remove the kombu and season, watch as it imparts complexity and depth to the ramen broth.
TIP: For a broth that is “creamy” blend up the broth when it’s fully cooked – the tender shiitakes will give it a tasty creaminess! Or leave it bright and unblended- up to you!
While you slow the flavorful broth to simmer, prep any other vegetables.
Some optional vegan ramen toppings to try:
- Daikon radish
- Finely shredded cabbage
- Crispy tofu,
- Bamboo shoots,
- Steamed bok choy
- Mushrooms
- Seaweed (nori),
- Corn,
- Carrots
- Baby spinach,
- Scallions
- Braised winter greens
- Pickled vegetables
- Roasted veggies (especially sweet in winter)
- Little enoki mushrooms for garnish
Enoki mushrooms are also known as the velvet shank. These are the delicate but flavorful mushrooms that are seen growing on tree branches, trunks, and roots and are mostly found in Japan.
Ramen noodles
Two primary types of noodles are used for ramen, white flour noodles, and yellow egg noodles. In the past, the yellow egg noodles were quite common – they are the type of noodles found in the majority of the dried ramen packages.
In recent times, the flour noodles have been increasingly popular. The two types differ in texture and size. Egg noodles are fairly slim or thin, c
Slightly curvy and firm to the palate. Flour noodles are wide and soft.
Vegan ramen recipe
Enjoy this simple vegan ramen recipe for a tasty midweek meal for the family in as short a time as 25 minutes. Adding dried mushrooms and some miso paste will give the broth lots of umami flavor
- Prep time: 10 mins
- Cook time: 15 mins
- Difficulty: Easy
- Serves/Makes: Serves two people
Ingredients
- Two garlic cloves
- thumb-sized piece ginger, nicely sliced, and a few slices thinly cut into fine matchsticks to serve (this is optional)
- 1½ tbsp white miso paste
- 1 tbsp Tahiti or Neri Goma (white sesame paste)
- 1l good-quality vegan stock
- 15g dried shiitake mushrooms
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 100g (2 x nests) ramen or rice noodles
- 200g firm tofu, chopped into chunky cubes
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- Two spring onions, finely sliced, white and green parts kept separate
- 1 tbsp veg or sunflower oil
- One carrot, peeled and cut into fine matchsticks
- One head pak choi, quartered
- 25g ready-to-eat beansprouts
- sesame oil, chopped coriander, sriracha, crushed peanuts, dried chili threads or crumpled sheets of nori, to serve (optional)
Method of cooking
Crush your garlic with the hind of a big knife or use a small mortar, then pour it in a saucepan with the miso, mushrooms, ginger, Neri Goma, stock, and soy.
Bring the combination to a gentle simmer, cover, and allow to boil for 5 mins until the ginger becomes soft. Strain the sauce into a clean pan and dispose of all that is left in the filter.
Meanwhile, let your tofu cook. Toss the tofu in the cornflour and let the oil heat in a frying pan. On each side, fake a few minutes to fry, being very careful as you flip sides, making sure that it doesn’t fall apart.
Cook the ramen noodles for 1 min below the pack instructions so that they can retain a little bite. Drain the noodles and leave them in the pan with some cooking water to prevent them from sticking together.
Add the white of your spring onions and the pak choi to the broth and reheat gently for 1-2 mins until you notice that the greens have wilted.
Divide the cooked noodles between two clean deep bowls, pour over the veg and broth. Top with the carrot, tofu, beansprouts and ginger matchsticks, a drizzle of sesame seeds and green parts of the spring onions, plus any other toppings of your choice.
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