Vegan Pho (Vietnamese Noodle Soup)

This vegan pho is a delicious take on classic Vietnamese noodle soup with all vegan ingredients. An amazingly flavorful broth, perfectly cooked rice sticks, sauteed tofu and all the toppings in the world! Comfort food at its best!

I am kind of rekindling my love for Asian fare these days. I find myself cooking delicious, comforting, spicy and yummy Asian recipes over and over.

This vegan pho is our all time favorite and make it very frequently at home. The recipe is super easy, as easy as boiling water.

Yes, once you have the toppings prepped, this Vietnamese noodles soup gets ready in no time. Not only delicious, this is a quirky fun dish to assemble and serve.

Whenever I want a comforting broth on a cold day, I resort to either bowl of piping hot rasam rice or pasta soup or this yummy vegan pho.

Whether you have tasted this before or hearing it for the first time, I highly recommend you to try this recipe at home. You will be surely pleased.

What Is Pho?

Pho is Vietnamese noodle soup with a deep flavorful broth and rice noodles. Traditional pho is made with beef broth. The main attraction of this noodle soup is the array of toppings in varied textures and colors.

For making a vegan version of homemade pho we are using a vegetable broth which is further flavored with whole spices, onion, cabbage and carrots. If you eat mushrooms you can add it in broth for deep earthy flavor.

This is my take on authentic pho from Vietnamese restaurants based on the vegetarian version I have tasted from a tiny Asian takeaway.

This is a very adaptable recipe where you can add or omit ingredients as per availability and taste.

We like to load up this vegan pho with as many toppings as possible.

Always serve pho piping hot. Keep the broth, noodles and toppings separately and assemble just before serving. For a more fun meal you can have build your own noodle bowl party!

This Vegan Pho Is

Delicious take on classic pho with vegan ingredients

So flavorful, tasty and hearty

easy and quick to make

served with variety of toppings

Gluten free recipe.

Making this classic noodle soup can be broken into three steps

1. preparing the broth
2. preparing the toppings & noodles
3. Assemble and serve.

Here I have broken down the recipe in three steps for easy understanding. Before going into the recipe, let’s take look at the ingredients and all tips you need to know for making best homemade vegetarian pho.

Pho Ingredients

For broth

• Stock– Any good quality homemade or store bought veggie stock. If you don’t have time to make stock just use water.
• Whole spices– This pho broth made without meat gets all its flavor from whole spices and veggies. We need star anise, green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon bark and coriander seeds. These whole spices infused in stock produces a very flavorful broth.
• Veggies– Onion, carrot, ginger and some cabbage simmered in stock to deepen the flavor of broth.
• Soy sauce or tamari– A splash of sauce adds a wonderful flavor. I have used tamari here. If you want to make gluten free pho make sure to use tamari.
• Sweetener– Traditionally pho broth is sweetened with yellow rock sugar. Since I don’t have it, I used light brown sugar.

Other Ingredients

• Rice noodles or rice sticks– I used my flat rice noodles that I usually use for pad thai. These are very delicate and don’t require much of cooking. Most of them just need to be soaked in warm water until soft. Make sure to add few drops of oil to the cooked noodles to prevent them from sticking to each other.
• Tofu- To add some protein and substance to this vegan pho, I usually add some toasted tofu cubes. If you are making vegetarian pho you can also add paneer or halloumi cubes.

Toppings For Vegetarian Pho

• Veggies– I love to load up this noodle soup bowl with as many veggies as possible. Here I have added cabbage, peppers, onions. While you can add raw veggies, I prefer to very lightly saute the cabbage and peppers.
• Sprouts– Crunchy bean sprouts add so much texture and taste to this soup. I have used homemade green mung sprouts.You can use any variety of sprouts you like.
• Fresh herbs- cilantro leaves, mint and basil leaves.
• Veggies- You can add raw veggies like bok choy, cabbage leaves or add sauteed veggies like I did here.

How To Make Vegan Pho

Pho Broth

Heat 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a pan. Add halved onion and ginger piece. Cook in high heat for 3-4 minutes or until the onion and ginger char well.

Now add 3 cups stock, whole spices, shredded or cubed veggies.

Next add tamari, chili paste or any hot sauce like siracha, brown sugar and salt to taste. Bring to a boil.

Cover and simmer for 5-6 minutes.

Strain and set aside the pho broth until use.

Preparing the veggies & noodles

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a skillet. Add shredded cabbage and saute for 2 minutes.

Add tofu cubes to the same oil and toast until crispy.

Cube the peppers, carrots and saute for a minute if preferred.

Prepare noodles as per package instructions. I soaked the rice sticks in hot water for 3-4 minutes.

Drain the softened noodles, add few drops of oil and toss. Keep covered until use.

Assemble & Serve Vegetarian Pho

Keep the prepared veggies ready in a plate.

Also keep sprouts ready.

Into a serving bowl place a portion of noodles, prepared veggies, tofu.

Pour hot broth over it.

Add fresh herbs, sprouts, more tofu, lemon wedges and finally a spoon of hot sauce or chili paste.

Serve vegan pho immedietly.

More Asian Recipes

Vegan potstickers

Schezwan noodles

tofu stir fry

Veg fried rice

bao buns

I hope you will try this vegan pho recipe and enjoy as much as we did. Do snap a pic and share on Instagram with hashtag #cookclickndevou and please give a star rating ★ in the recipe card below. Follow us on Pinterest , Instagram, Facebook   for more recipes and ideas.