Vegan ramen

Vegan ramen

vegan ramen close up

Despite sunny weather being more of a permanent fixture in these parts lately, the evenings remain cold. I insist on sitting out on my deckchair (which still doubles up as my sofa in the evenings – tough times 😉 ) in the sun whenever I am able to, even past when it’s reasonable to do so. Once the sun hides behind the buildings, I bring my blanket and a hot cup of herbal tea to maximise time spent outside, with a book.

This is what living in the UK does to you – you start getting really territorial about every last ray of sunshine as you never know what the ever changing weather patterns will bring you tomorrow 😉 . Sitting out in my, slightly unkempt right now (I blame not being fully well yet for a lack of weeding motivation) garden, listening to the birds laughing at my cat from up high and watching her crazy cat antics is one of the happiest moments for me, right now.

The other being going for walks with Duncan. We went for a long walk on Sunday for the first time in ages and it was surreal how vibrant and green everything seemed. I kept on staring at trees and plants like I never have before, as if I’ve suddenly been released from prison. The prison of my own house so not too bad, but still. We both enjoyed that walk so much that we followed with a shorter one yesterday as soon as Duncan finished working yesterday. We are lucky (well, it’s not coincidental, we planned it) to live by a lovely park and a big green area on our doorstep despite not living too far away from the city centre and we really appreciate our decision (just a year ago!) to move to this area of Bristol, especially so now.

So I don’t know about you, but I am still in the mood for warming and comforting foods right now and a bowl of hot vegan ramen makes for a perfect dinner after you’ve been out in your garden, walking or exercising. It’s a perfect dish for this winter-spring transition – not too heavy, yet it sticks to your bones, as they say (what a great saying, BTW!)

Now, a word of warning – if you are looking for a quick recipe, this is not it but it is worth the time spent, I promise! Ramen is not difficult to make but it does require love to coax the maximum flavour out of each and every ingredient and in the cooking world, love equals time. Actually, that’s not just in cooking, spending time with someone is the best way to make them feel loved too (my cat is like, ‘doh, hooman! is that your golden thought for the day?! Really? Is this the best you’ve got?’)

So like I say, it’s not a difficult recipe, but it does take time. Toppings-wise, the world is your oyster (speaking of which, charred oyster mushrooms make a delicious ramen topping) so use whatever you have on hand. I have included suggestions below but as ramen is mostly about the broth and in the interest of keeping the recipe manageable, that’s what I focused on. As for the toppings, let your creatively run wild. Make the soup your own. Enjoy!

vegan ramen ingredients

vegan ramen broth components

vegan ramen flavour boosters

vegan ramen chopsticks

vegan ramen messed up

serves
4
PREP
45 min
COOKING
120 min
serves
4
PREPARATION
45 min
COOKING
120 min
INGREDIENTS
OVEN-MADE VEG STOCK*

  • 2 medium carrots
  • 2 celery stalks
  • approx. 200 g / 7 oz (½ large) sweet potato
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 1 large onion
  • 30 ml / 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp red miso paste (GF if required)

RAMEN STOCK

  • 15 ml / 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 5 cm / 2″ piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, skin on, crushed and cut across + 1 clove peeled and finely grated
  • 4 spring onions / scallions, white + light green parts only, cut into 2.5 cm / 1″ chunks
  • coarse sea salt
  • 10 dried shiitake mushrooms, cleaned**
  • 20 g / 0.7 oz kombu**
  • 240 ml / 1 cup soy milk (or almond milk)

FLAVOURINGS

TOPPING SUGGESTIONS

  • noodles (GF if required), 150 g / 5 oz precooked noodles, per bowl
  • steamed pak choi or broccoli
  • tinned corn or bamboo shoots
  • thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms from the broth
  • 100 g / 3½ oz your favourite tofu or temepeh, per bowl
  • green parts of spring onions / scallions, thinly sliced
  • sesame seeds, to garnish
METHOD
  1. Heat up the oven 200° C / 390° F and grab a large baking dish.
  2. Wash carrots and celery, dry with a kitchen towel and chop into 4 cm / 1.5″ chunks. Peel sweet potato and cube it into 1.25 cm / 0.5″ pieces. Leave garlic cloves unpeeled and whole. Leave onion unpeeled but trim the root and chop into quarters.
  3. Coat all of the vegetables in about 2 tbsp of oil and arrange them on a baking tray. I like to keep the sweet potato pieces all together. Bake for about 20 minutes.
  4. After 20 minutes, stir 1 tbsp of red miso paste through the vegetables. Carry on baking for another 20-25 minutes, until the veggies get lightly charred.
  5. Towards the end of the baking time, heat up 1 tbsp oil in a large pot. Add ginger, 4 garlic cloves, spring onions and a good pinch of coarse salt. Sauté, stirring frequently, until the veggies get nicely caramelised (not burnt though).
  6. Remove the veggies from the oven once ready. Place sweet potato chunks and garlic cloves aside. Add the rest of the baked veggies to the pot with ginger, garlic and spring onions. Add 1 litre / 4 cups of water (use some of this water to deglaze the baking tray and add that to the pot too). Then add shiitake and kombu and their liquids (if you have had a chance to soak them earlier otherwise add an extra 480 ml / 2 cups of water).
  7. Bring to a gentle (low heat) simmer and allow everything to simmer very gently for about 60-90 minutes. Remove kombu after about 20 minutes as it doesn’t like prolonged cooking.
  8. While your stock is simmering, prepare your noodles and other toppings. Pick whatever you have in your pantry.
  9. Place sweet potato cubes and squeezed out garlic cloves (discard the skins) and soy milk in the blender. Blitz until smooth – we will use this to make the broth heartier, creamier and more aromatic. If you don’t have a blender, mash the potato and garlic with a fork and blend until smooth with soy milk using a wire whisk – it won’t be as silky smooth but it will do just fine.
  10. Strain the stock, reserving all the shiitake for the topping. Squeeze all of vegetables well to obtain maximum flavour in your stock. You should get approximately 1 litre / 4 cups of stock at this point – top up with more water if necessary. Return strained stock to the pot and whisk sweet potato / garlic / soy milk mixture in and finely grated garlic clove to add a bit of brightness to the soup. Warm up.
  11. Place flavourings at the bottom of each serving bowl – adjust to taste. I used 2 tsp sesame paste, 1 tsp miso, 1 tsp mirin, 1 tsp tamari / soy sauce and 2 tsp rice vinegar. Top with 300 ml / 1¼ cups of broth and whisk well. Add cooked noodles and the rest of your toppings.

*You can replace this with 1 litre / 4 cups of quality vegan stock. If you choose to do that, add the tablespoon of miso in step 3 – after the veggies have caramelised a little already.

**Ideally soak them both together for 8 hrs (or as long as you can) in 480 ml / 2 cups of water. Clean the mushrooms first and make sure to weigh them down as they tend to bob up to the surface.

My recipe has been inspired by this genius vegan ramen recipe.

SHARE
NUTRITIONAL INFO
calories
541
27%
sugars
11 g
12%
fats
26 g
37%
saturates
4 g
19%
proteins
15 g
30%
carbs
66 g
25%
*per serving
How would you rate this recipe?
This is a test string

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

5.0
9 reviews, 17 comments
REVIEWS & QUESTIONS
Katie Hull:
Absolutely delicious. Well worth the wait!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thank you, Katie! I am so pleased to hear that and thanks for taking the time to let me know. Ania
Fantomette:
Hi Ania,
I would like to try this ramen recipe, though I have a question. I dont understand the course of operations of steps 5 and 6. You say in step 5 "Sauté, stirring frequently the veggies" and then in step 6 " Remove the veggies from the oven". How do I sauté the vegetables if they're not already out of the oven? I'm French, maybe "sauté" is not the same in English as in French, usually it means, stirring something in a saucepan over a medium heat, not baking in the oven. Did I miss something? I don't want to bother you with my questions or to be too fussy. It looks so delicious, that i want to be sure I understand things perfectly and that I don't ruin your gorgeous recipe in the end ;)
Thanks for all your good work!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Fantomette,
    No problem at all. So in steps 1-4, you are roasting a tray of veggies to incorporate into stock. In step 5, you are sauteeing different veggies (aromatics: ginger, garlic cloves, spring onions) in a pan to which you later add water and the veggies from the roasting tin - this will create a flavourful stock, which is the base for the ramen. Hope this helps and that you'll enjoy this dish. x Ania
      Fantomette:
      Oh, I get It!!! Thanks so much Ania! I will definitely try this one, I truly love your recipes, I always find them very inspiring! x Fantomette
        Ania
        Ania:
        Aw, thanks so much, I am so happy to har that you enjoy my work and I hope this ramen will hit the spot! x Ania
Zuza:
This is the kind of cozy soup, which is perfect to warm up after frosty day. Very creamy, aromatic, full of flavour. Totally different from the ramen I've made so far, but absolutely delicious!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thank you, Zuza! I'm really happy that you enjoyed it and many thanks for taking the time to review - I really appreciate it! x Ania
Ariana:
Thank you so much for this recipe! Very delicious and nutritious :D
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thank you, Ariana! I'm delighted to hear that you enjoyed it! x Ania
Carol:
With such beautiful photography of your creations, how can we not want to make these recipes?
    Ania
    Ania:
    Aw, thank you Carol, that's so nice of you to say! I hope you'll make and enjoy this recipe. Ania
Ewa:
I am doing it now and I have a question - can I add tahini, mirin etc right to the pot, instead of bowls? thanks!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Ewa,
    Sure, you can do that although traditionally these seasonings are added to the bowls before the broth gets poured in. Ania
Nico:
I made this last night, and wow - for a vegan ramen the flavor was amazing!! The depth of flavor with the broth, the creamy mix in and the flavorings you add at the bottom of the bowl really create a rich ramen base. I was missing some key ingredients (kombu, celery and mushrooms) but I used half vegetable stock in place of the water for the broth and it was still very flavorful! Will 100% make again.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks so much for your kind words, Nico! I'm delighted to hear that you enjoyed my take on ramen and that you felt it was worth the effort. And thank you so much for taking the time to let me know that this recipe is a keeper - much appreciated! x Ania
Christine R. Lundblad:
Had the house to myself for a few hours earlier this week (a rarity during the pandemic) and decided to make this Vegan Ramen recipe. Wow! It is so good! Fortunately, my fiancé is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so I get to eat it all by myself (our 4-year old granddaughter loved it at lunchtime today). The depth of flavors is amazing. I followed the recipe pretty closely except I didn’t have any mirin for the flavorings in the bowl and added some sesame oil and black bean chili sauce to give it a kick. I plan to make a double or triple batch of the broth next time and freeze it. Thank you for this truly great recipe!
    Ania
    Ania:
    I'm so delighted to hear that you enjoyed my take on ramen, Christine. That's certainly an upside to your partner not sharing your food preferences - you get to have it all to yourself :) Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know that you appreciate this recipe - it's very motivating to know that my recipes are enjoyed by others so thank you! x Ania
Alice:
Delicious recipe, best vegan ramen I’ve ever had! Thank you for the recipe 😊
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thank you, Alice! I'm delighted to hear that! And thanks so much for taking the time to let me and other readers know that you enjoyed this recipe so much. Ania
Bridget:
Delicious! Made this last night and totally forgot to take a photo because we all started to eat too quickly. The mixture of the roasted sweet potato and garlic is a great idea ( I omitted the soy milk ) and is worth the effort . I added extra baby bok choy because it is a favourite vegetable of mine. This a a very versatile recipe as you can add what ever veggies are languishing in the fridge.
    Ania
    Ania:
    I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed my take on vegan ramen, Bridget! And thank you for taking the time to leave the review - much appreciated. Ania
Franziska:
We had this tonight with very little substitutes and it was really tasty. I also very much appreciate that you simplified the original recipe which I wouldn’t have tried out, especially not on a weekday with my baby in the other room :-)
    Ania
    Ania:
    So glad to hear that you enjoyed it, Franziska and thanks for taking the time to comment! Much appreciated! x Ania
Stefanie Moore:
Hi Ania
I am going to make your Vegan Laksa on the weekend but I also want to make this Ramen recipe too - however I do not like Celery (the taste and texture) is there a good vegetable I can substitute it with or is it ok to do without the celery. Many thanks
Stefanie
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Stefanie,
    There is no replacement as far as I know, but as it's used here to simply make the stock and then thrown out, I would encourage you to use it. I am pretty sure its taste won't be detectable in the final product as it gets balanced by so many other things. Hope that helps! Ania
DON'T MISS A SINGLE RECIPE
Join our mailing list and we we will let you know when we publish a new recipe. You'll receive our DELIGHTFUL DESSERTS E-BOOK as a thank you for supporting us.