This Vegan Pho recipe is full of deep and rich umami flavors, all thanks to charred vegetables, toasted spices, dried mushrooms, and a lots of delicious seasonings. The broth is aromatic, savory, slightly sweet, and surprisingly easy to make.
My vegan version of a Vietnamese Pho is made with a flavorful mushroom and veggie broth, rice noodles, tofu, and lots of fresh toppings. It’s warm, comforting, filling, but still feels fresh because of the herbs, chilli, and lime.
Pho is one of those soups that takes a little longer to make, but it’s soooo worth it. And though it’s not a quick recipe, it’s still pretty easy to make, since most of the work is done in the first 15 minutes. Just char the veggies, toast the spices, and simmer everything together. You can cook the broth for an hour if you’re in a hurry, or let it simmer for several hours for the best deep flavor.
What’s really cool about this recipe is that you can totally play around with it and make it your own. Just add your favorite vegetables, herbs, and vegan protein, and adjust the broth to make it sweeter, spicier, saltier, or more garlicky.
Vegan Pho is….
- vegan and completely plant-based
- full of rich umami flavors
- aromatic and flavorful
- warming and comforting
- made with simple ingredients
- packed with veggies
- easy to customize
- great for cozy days
- perfect for lunch or dinner
What’s Pho?
Pho is a Vietnamese rice noodle soup traditionally made with a long-simmered, aromatic broth, rice noodles, and all kind of delicious toppings. The broth is usually flavored with spices such as star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, and charred onion, ginger, garlic, and veggies.
There are many different variations of pho, but the basic idea is pretty much the same: flavorful broth, rice noodles, and fresh toppings served together in a bowl. Traditional versions are often made with meat, but you won’t miss that in this vegan version. Trust me!
How to make Vegan Pho
Start by toasting star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, and coriander seeds in a large pot until fragrant. Set the spices aside while you prepare the veggies.
Slice onions and ginger, halve chilli, and cut carrots into large chunks. Add some oil to the same pot, then add onions, carrots, garlic, ginger, and chilli. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, turning the vegetables halfway through, until they are nicely charred.
You can also char the vegetables in the oven, air fryer, or on a grill. Don’t skip this step, because the charred vegetables add a lot of flavor to the broth.
Add the toasted spices and dried mushrooms, then pour in the vegetable broth. Bring everything to a boil, cover, and let it simmer for at least an hour. For the best flavor, simmer the broth for 3 to 4 hours, but one hour will still give you a tasty broth if you’re short on time.
Strain the broth through a fine-meshed sieve into another pot and discard the vegetables and spices. You can keep some of the mushrooms or vegetables if you’d like to eat them with your pho.
Season the broth with sugar, soy sauce, vegan fish sauce, MSG, and salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
While the broth is simmering, prepare the toppings. Cook the rice noodles according to the package instructions, dice tofu, and slice chili, cilantro, and green onions.
Divide noodles between bowls and top with bok choy, tofu, chili, cilantro, and green onions. Pour the hot broth over everything and finish with a squeeze of fresh lime juice.
Customize it the way you like it!
- You can play around with the ingredients and ratios of your broth. Make it sweeter, spicier, or more garlicky, depending on what you like. The longer you cook your broth, the deeper your flavors will get
- Add extra flavors like lemon grass, daikon radish or apple slices to your pho
- And get creative with your toppings. Try broccoli, bean sprouts, zucchini noodles, Thai basil, mint, mushrooms, vegan meatballs, fried tofu, shredded carrots, or soy chunks
More delicious soup recipes to try:
- Hungarian Savoy Cabbage Soup
- Raw Vegan Ramen
- Sauerkraut Soup with Smoked Tofu
- Hungarian Bean Soup
- Healing Vegetable Soup with Corn
- Quick Leek & Broccoli Soup
- Roasted Carrot Soup with Lentils and Coconut
- Cream of Pumpkin and Apple Soup
- Green Pea Soup w/ Pinched Noodles
Vegan Pho (Vietnamese Noodle Soup)
- Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 3-4 1x
Ingredients
Broth
- 2 star anise
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 cardamom
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 onions
- 2 carrots
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 2 inch / 5 cm ginger
- 1 chilli
- 1 cup of dried mushrooms (for example shiitake)
- 8.5 cups / 2 liters vegetable broth
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp vegan fish sauce
- 1/4 tsp MSG
- salt, pepper
Toppings
- 7 oz / 200 g rice noodles
- 1 bok choy
- 10 oz / 300 g tofu
- 3 green onions
- 1 chilli
- 1 small bunch of fresh cilantro
- 1 lime
Get Recipe Ingredients
Instructions
- Add star anise, cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds and cardamom to a large pot, and toast them dry until they are fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Remove spices and set aside.
- Meanwhile slice your onion, and ginger, halve chilli, and cut carrots into larger chunks.
- Add vegetable oil to your pot. Add onion slices, carrot pieces, whole garlic cloves, ginger slices, and chilli, and roast them over medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes, turning them once halfway, until they get charred.
- Alternatively you can also fry them in the oven, air-fryer, or on a grill. You want them to be nice and charred for the best flavors.
- Once the veggies and charred, add toasted spices, and dried mushroom to them, and cover it all with vegetable broth. Bring it to a boil, then cover the pot, and let it simmer for at least one hour. For the best result cook Vegan Pho for 3-4 hours, but if you don’t have that much time, one hour will do the job too.
- Pour broth through a fine mesh sieve into another pot. Discard veggies and spices (or keep some, if you prefer to eat them).
- Now start seasoning your broth. Add sugar, soy sauce, vegan fish sauce, MSG, and salt and pepper. Taste and adjust to your liking.
- While pho broth is simmering, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Cook rice noodles according to package instructions, dice tofu, slice chilli, chop cilantro, and green onions.
- Divide rice noodles between bowls, then top each with a couple of bok choy leaves, diced tofu, chilli, cilantro, and green onions.
- Pour broth over noodles, and serve with a squeeze of lime juice. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
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