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Noodle recipes

Quick and easy vegan ramen recipe with veggie broth and tofu

Prep time 10 minutes | Cook time 35 minutes
serves 4 people

Photography by Tracey Creed
Recipe by Tracey Creed and Amandine Paniagua
Words by Amandine Paniagua

Published February 14 2025

Ingredients

Veggie broth
1 tbsp olive oil
1⁄2 red onion, finely sliced
5 cm ginger, finely sliced
cloves of garlic, crushed, to taste. We used 3.
2 tbsp tamari sauce
1⁄2 tbsp sriracha
1 tbsp miso paste
2 cups filtered water
1 tbsp veggie stock
2 tbsp tahini
1⁄2 cup soy milk
Toppings
100 grams mushrooms, sliced.
1⁄2 tsp salt
1 broccoli, stem and florets sliced vertically
1 can corn
1 block tofu, sliced. We made triangles.
1 pack ramen noodles (approx. 270 g)
To serve
sesame seeds
spring onion
chilli oil

Method

First prepare the broth. Over medium heat, add olive oil in a pot that can hold at least 4 cups of liquid. Once hot, cook onion, ginger and garlic until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.

Pour soy sauce, sriracha and miso, stirring for a minute, then add water with stock, tahini and soy milk, mixing. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered for approximately 15 min (tbc). Stir often.

Meanwhile, prepare the toppings. Sweat the mushrooms in a pan with 1/2 teaspoon salt, approx. 5 minutes. Add sliced broccoli with a drizzle of olive oil, and cook for another 5 minutes. Then add the corn, and cook again, stirring, for another minute. Set aside, covered, to keep warm.

Add tofu into the pan with a pinch of salt and cook each side for 5 minutes. Add a drizzle of olive if it sticks to the pan. In parallel, boil some water into a large pot and cook noodles according to package instructions, drain and set aside.

To serve, divide the noodles amongst bowls, ladle the broth over and top with the mushrooms, broccolis, corn and tofu. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, spring onion and a drizzle of chilli oil. Eat hot.

This meal will keep up for 3 days in an airtight container stored in the fridge, with broth in a separate container.

This vegan ramen recipe with veggie broth and tofu is a rich and silky, delicious bowl of creamy, luscious, umami perfection packed with generous flavours and quick to be ready. This meal is satisfying and easy to stretch, ideal for weeknight dinners. Loosely inspired by Amanda Ducks Instagram's vegan peanut miso ramen recipe, which Trace shared with me a couple of months ago, I gave it a pump with a splash of spicy sriracha sauce and zesty pops of chilli oil. When it comes to enriching a broth, umami-rich miso paste and smooth tahini are sure values.

What are vegan ramen noodles?

As it says in its name, the main ingredients of this vegan recipe are ramen noodles. This type of noodle is made of wheat flour, water, and salt, forming a dough that is then kneaded with Kansui, a mineral-rich alkaline water. Kansui chemically reacts with the dough's gluten to create the specific texture and flavour of ramen noodles. According to the broader internet, ramen noodles originated from China and were brought by migrants to Japan. When though? That is more obscure. Some sources mention the 1660s, others the early 1900s.

Unlike udon noodles, ramen noodles are thin with a firm yet chewy texture and hold well in the broth of the ramen dish. Of low nutritional value, it is only water and flour after all, ramen noodles have fewer calories than their Italian pasta counterparts. Learn more about ramen as a dish here. A favourite ramen brand we used to buy in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and lucky enough to access in Spain, is the organic ramen noodles from Hakubaku. I hope to find an organic ramen noodle brand that is made closer!

The nutritional benefits of this vegan ramen recipe

Ramen noodle bowls are a great dish to bring nourishing foods into your diet. To compose a balanced ramen soup, you will need five elements—stock, tare aka sauce, noodles, oil and toppings. Here, the spicy sauce miso-based veggie broth is topped with a diversity of nutritious fresh food.

Shiitake mushrooms. For this recipe, we used antioxidant-rich shiitakes for their umami taste and overall health benefits, including heart and immunity thanks to their action on cholesterol levels, inflammation and cell damage reduction and improving white blood cell production.

Broccoli. A robust, cruciferous vegetable, broccoli brings some crispness to the dish while improving eye and heart health with action on cholesterol and preventing diseases such as cancer.

Corn. Whole corn is an antioxidant-rich vegetable that promotes eye and digestive health, being a good source of lutein and zeaxanthin. In this vegan ramen recipe, corn brings a touch of natural sweetness and crispness.

Tofu. Condensed soy-milk tofu is the primary source of protein in this recipe. With the shiitakes, tofu contains all the essential amino acids our body requires. In addition, it has beneficial isoflavones, promoting low cholesterol, inflammation and diabetes. I like that tofu is flavour-absorbent with a chewy texture, adding vibrance to the dish.

Overall, per serving, this vegan ramen recipe with veggie broth and tofu is rich in protein, with approximately 20% of the required daily value, and contains a fair amount of Vitamin B and C, as well as Vitamin E and K. It is also packed with minerals, particularly Calcium, Copper, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorus, Potassium, Selenium and Zinc.

There are days when I like to eat something simple and cheap but still flavourful and sophisticated that is warm, earthy and nourishing, and I find this vegan ramen with veggie broth ideal for this. The based broth is made of pantry staples, which we always have around. This recipe is also flexible in the sense that it is easy to switch the topping ingredients according to what is available in the fridge—any kind of mushrooms, bok choy, carrots, or tempeh will make perfect topping alternatives for a delicious dish.

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