Vegan Tonkotsu Ramen

November 15, 2020 By Lisa Kitahara 25 Comments

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.

step by step how to make vegan tonkotsu ramen broth

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

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 20 reviews

Cozy up to the most rich, creamy and mega flavourful vegan ramen topped with katsu, corn, wood ear mushrooms, scallions and black garlic oil!

Author: Lisa Kitahara

Ingredients

Units Scale

For the Broth

1 medium onion (240g)
5 garlic cloves, micro grated (15g)
1 heaping teaspoon ginger, micro grated (8g)
¼ cup nutritional yeast (44g)
2 tbsp soy sauce (32ml)
1 ½ tbsp sake (24ml)
1 large dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated (20g)
2 ½ cups oat milk (600ml // or pure soy milk)
2 cups vegetable stock (480ml)
1 ½ tbsp Asian sesame paste (22g)
1 piece of kombu or 2 teaspoon kombu dashi granules (6g)

For the Ramen

4 servings of ramen noodles, cooked
4 servings of tofu katsu, optional
¼ cup dried wood ear mushrooms, rehydrated (10g)
½ cup corn (100g)
2 scallions, sliced (24g)

To serve

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

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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Vegan Tonkotsu Ramen