This Vegan Tonkotsu Ramen recipe is big on flavour and packed with hearty ingredients for the most satisfying vegetarian ramen. Learn how to make a super rich, creamy and flavourful broth without any meat bones with this easy method!
Feast your eyes: the creamiest, richest, most flavourful and slurp worthy vegan ramen. This my friends, is the real-deal.
If you’ve ever been disappointed by the lack of richness some vegetarian ramens are, you’re in the right place. Today, I’ll be sharing the very best vegan ramen OF YOUR LIFE. I know, bold claim but this broth will comfort you in all possible ways and satisfy any ramen enthusiasts. AKA, Eric. He claimed this to be ‘hands down, the best creamy ramen he’s had– vegan or not’.
Are you ready for for your ramen dreams to come true? Let’s do this.
Ingredients for vegan ramen broth
The secret to perfect ramen broth is the layering of different flavours. These are the key ingredients you need to make a rich and flavourful vegan ramen broth:
Oat milk vs. Soy milk
My go-to non-dairy milk for ramen has always been soy milk, like for my black sesame tantanmen and white sesame tantanmen. Soy milk adds flavour and a slight sweetness to the broth which contrasts deliciously with the other ingredients.
However, recently I’ve been on a huge oat milk kick because of its ultra creaminess and subtle sweetness which I thought would be perfect for Tonkotsu broth since it is especially rich and creamy. It adds a lot of body to the broth that soy milk lacks (especially the cartoned stuff) so I do recommend oat milk for this recipe.
Vegan Dashi
Coming from the shiitake mushroom and kombu, it adds a ton of umami and extra depth of flavour that would usually come from pork bone broth.
Nutritional Yeast
Another secret ingredient that makes this broth so rich, creamy and flavourful! It adds a wonderful savouriness and subtle nuttiness.
Sesame paste
Please do not substitute with tahini or it will take on a completely different flavour and you’ll be missing out on that true authentic flavour.
How to make rich and flavourful vegan ramen broth
Homemade ramen broth is actually super easy to make:
- Caramelize the onions to bring out its natural sweetness. Then add the garlic and ginger and cook until aromatic. Pour in the vegetable stock and add the kombu. Once broth comes to a boil, add the shiitake mushroom, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
- Remove just the kombu. Transfer the soup into the blender, add the remaining broth ingredients and blend until smooth. Strain the soup using a fine mesh sieve. Taste the soup and season with salt to taste.
Once the broth is ready, add it to some cooked ramen noodles and top it off with all the toppings!
Ramen Noodles
There are three main types of ramen noodles to choose from:
- Fresh Noodles: the tastiest but might be more difficult to find (especially without eggs). My local Asian grocery stores sell packages of frozen ramen (comes with the soup and flavourings) and those are similar to fresh as well.
- Dried Noodles: can be found near dried soba noodles or udon noodles. It may be levelled as Chuka Men or Chinese style noodles in bundles.
- Instant Noodles: the most convenient and can be found at Asian grocery stores near the dry noodle section or instant ramen section.
When I’m able to go to my local Japanese grocery store, I’ll use fresh thin straight noodles but here, I used wider wavy dry noodles because thats what I had on hand. Although tonkotsu ramen is typically paired with fresh, thin and straight noodles, there are no specific rules as to which ramen noodles you choose so use whatever style of noodles you like and what you can find!
Ramen Toppings
The most common and traditional toppings for ramen include:
- sweet corn
- wood ear mushrooms
- bamboo shots
- bean sprouts
- seaweed
- scallions
- rayu
- mayu
- sesame seeds
Again, there are no specific rules as to what should go on top of ramen so use anything you like and have on hand that you think will pair well with the broth and noodles! Some of my other favourite toppings include bok choy, enoki mushrooms, aburaage, kimchi and fried tofu puffs.
Vegetarian ramens usually come with an egg, but I added some tofu katsu to this vegan ramen which pairs wonderfully. The katsu actually stays pretty crispy while soaking up the broth!
More slurp-worthy vegan ramen recipes to love:
- Black sesame tantanmen
- White sesame tantanmen
- Hiyashi chuka (cold ramen)
- Shio ramen (coming soon)
- Shoyu ramen (coming soon)
- Miso ramen (coming soon)
- Mazemen (coming soon)
- Tsukemen (coming soon)
SAVE IT FOR LATER! ↓
If you recreate this Vegan Tonkotsu Ramen recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
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Vegan Tonkotsu Ramen
Description
Cozy up to the most rich, creamy and mega flavourful vegan ramen topped with katsu, corn, wood ear mushrooms, scallions and black garlic oil!
Ingredients
For the Broth
- 1 medium onion (240g)
- 5 garlic cloves, micro grated (15g)
- 1 heaping tsp ginger, micro grated (8g)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (44g)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (32ml)
- 1 1/2 tbsp sake (24ml)
- 1 large dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated (20g)
- 2 1/2 cups oat milk (600ml // or pure soy milk)
- 2 cups vegetable stock (480ml)
- 1 1/2 tbsp Asian sesame paste (22g)
- 1 piece of kombu or 2 tsp kombu dashi granules (6g)
For the Ramen
- 4 servings of ramen noodles, cooked
- 4 servings of tofu katsu, optional
- 1/4 cup dried wood ear mushrooms, rehydrated (10g)
- 1/2 cup corn (100g)
- 2 scallions, sliced (24g)
To serve
- Chili oil (la-yu)
- Scorched black garlic oil (ma-yu)
- Sesame seeds
Instructions
For the broth:
- Over medium high heat, add the onions to a pot and cook until semi-caramelized (about 10 minutes). Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another 3 minutes. Pour in the vegetable stock and add the kombu. When the broth comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Remove kombu. Transfer the soup into the blender. Add the remaining broth ingredients and blend until smooth. Strain the soup using a fine mesh sieve.
For the ramen:
- Add cooked ramen to a bowl. Pour the broth over the noodles just enough to cover it. Top with dried wood ear mushrooms, corn and tofu katsu. Garnish with scallions and sesame seeds. Drizzle some la-yu and ma-yu. Slurp up and enjoy!
Notes
- Helpful Equipment: fine mesh sieve, ladle, micro grater
- Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated on an online tool (Cronometer).
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I went to a hip plant-based ramen restaurant and had vegan Tonkotsu there. Since then I have been wanting to make some myself. This is amazing and tastes exactly like it, if not better. Thanks for this recipe.
A bit more labor than I normally like to put out *disabled) but it was so worth it.
Tried this a while ago as a meal to impress my (at the time) new partner. He ended up helping and it was more of a bonding experience and it was so nice! We crumbed some tofu with Panko bread crumbs and had it on the side and it was so nice!
I loved this SOOOO much!!!!! The sesame paste is a real winner, I specifically went to the Asian grocery store for it and trust me it’s worth it. I already had dried shiitake and konbu at home. I topped mine with winter chanterelle mushrooms along with bok choy, corn, spring onion, and tofu katsu. WORTH IT!
I had no asian sesame paste on hand, so I tried to substitute it with a little less peanutcreme and it was amazing! Will definetly try it with the original one as well. So much creamieness in a vegan broth is a game changer.
I made this for my sister’s birthday and everyone loved it! We had no leftovers and even though we were full, it wasn’t the usual heaviness of eating too much. Can’t wait to make it again.
We loove this recipe! The broth is so rich and creamy. The amount of soup you get is enough for four servings – we are just two persons so we can have another bowl the next day. I am going to cook the double amount today and freeze some of the broth to have some quick ramen soup at hand on busy workdays. It works perfectly with some extra chilli and some steamed vegetables. Can’t wait to try out more recipes 💙
Seriously the best vegan ramen ever! No more waiting to go to a restaurant for good ramen.
so good and creamy! looks like a daunting recipe but comes together pretty quick!
This recipe is definitely going to become a regular addition! The broth is simple to make and you can add whatever veggies you feel like. Really enjoyed this! I can’t find vegan kombu dashi anywhere so I just used a bit of kelp powder and mushroom seasoning as a substitute