Miso Ramen Noodle Soup (vegan)

Vegan ramen is SO MUCH easier to make than you think. I always kept away from making ramen as I thought it needed a million ingredients and didn’t feel I could match the amazing ramen I had in Japan a few years ago! However, you can make the BEST BROTH from a few simple plant-based ingredients from your local supermarket! I caramelised the main ingredients to intensify their flavour and make it next-level. The broth can be customised to suit your tastes, so it can be thick or thin, spicy or not spicy, salty or not!

Since this ramen is vegan, you don’t have to put any weird animal bones or skin in the broth too, yay! I had it with some matcha noodles, lightly fried tofu, boy choy, carrots and chopped spring onion.

The soup includes simple ingredients like:

• Onion + garlic + ginger
• Miso paste
• Vegetable stock (or vegan-friendly chicken-flavoured stock like this one)
• Soy sauce or tamari
• Rice wine vinegar or any other type of vinegar (totally optional)
• Tahini, for that delicious sesame creaminess (optional too)

I learnt the basics of Asian cooking from my parents. One memory that stands out was when I was 5 and I designed my own ‘soup’. I eagerly stood on a chair next to my dad with wide open eyes. He gave me some a bowl of home-made stock and let me pick ANY ingredient from the pantry to create my masterpiece. Of course, I added weird things like cinnamon, sugar and a heck load of pepper so it was pretty gross, to say the least. My enthusiastic father, of course, tasted it and said it was delicious. Hahaha! I promise this ramen recipe is no where as bad. From childhood to young adulthood, I’d always hang out with my mum when she was preparing dinner and I’d ask questions like a bad runny nose.

Now that I live out of home, I actually don’t often eat Asian food at home. I’m more of a 3-step-meal kinda girl with lots of leafy greens and legumes and most Asian dishes seem so complicated. Plus, it sounds weird but I’m not a huge fan of condiments and Asian food is allllll about the sauces!

With that in mind, I tried to make this miso ramen recipe as simple as possible. This soup is the perfect balance of salty umami miso soup and creamy comforting ramen soup.

Enjoy!

If you try this recipe, I would love to hear about it! Comment below and rate it as it would really help us and other readers! If you post it on social media, tag @rainbownourishments and #rainbownourishments.

Print Recipe

Miso Ramen Noodle Soup

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

Soup broth

• 4 stalks green onion, (optional)
• 1 medium-size brown onion, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 knob ginger, peeled and finely chopped (optional)
• 3 tbsp miso paste, or to taste
• 3 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
• Dash of rice wine vinegar, or any other vinegar, (optional)
• Dash of red chilli flakes, as desired
• 1 L liquid vegetable stock, or stock of choice
• Olive or sesame oil, as needed

Toppings

• 4 serves dried ramen or soba noodles
• 600 g firm tofu, thinly sliced or as desired
• 2 medium-size carrots, peeled and julienned
• 4 heads bok choy, halved
• Olive or sesame oil, as needed

Instructions

• Finely chop the stalks of the green onion, separating the white bits from the green bits.
• Add a dash of oil to a large saucepan over high heat. Add the brown onion and saute for 5-10 minutes or until it is translucent. Add the white parts of the spring onion, garlic and ginger and saute until everything is fragrant and has softened. 
• Add the miso paste, tahini, soy sauce, vinegar, chilli flakes and a dash of stock to the saucepan. Saute until everything is caramelised. Add the remaining vegetable stock, boil for 5 minutes then reduce to medium heat. Let the broth simmer for at least 20 minutes to let the flavours develop.
• If you would like a thick stock, carefully pour the stock into a blender and blend until everything is smooth. If you would like a thin stock, leave the chopped ingredients in the soup or pour the soup through a sieve discarding the solids. Return the stock to the saucepan.
• While your stock is simmering, cook the noodles according to its packet instructions.
• Add oil to a large fry pan. Lightly fry the tofu on both sides until golden. Set aside.
• 10 minutes before eating, add the bok choy to the noodle soup to cook.
• To serve, divide the soup, boy choy, noodles, tofu and carrots into 4 bowls. Enjoy immediately. All components can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Alternatively, the soup can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 1 month.