Ramen is one of the few foods that can be purchased from a gas station as well as a critically acclaimed restaurant. In the US, most introductions to ramen start with the low end—the brick of squiggly noodles that simply need a bit of reconstituting for a cheap and sodium-heavy meal. Over time, we realize that ramen is more than a processed package of wheat noodles and freeze-dried vegetables.
While sources claim this brothy noodle dish originated in China, ramen is most popular in Japan. The dish has served as a cheap-yet-filling meal option since the early 1900s, when ramen food carts began to crop up in Japanese urban areas. In 1958, Momofuku Ando debuted instant ramen, which took off with the middle class as well as the cash-strapped. By 1980, ramen-ya (specialized ramen restaurants) began to pop up in Japan, and the momentum for this dish has yet to abate in the 45 years since.
In Japan and increasingly in the US, restaurants are dedicated to serving all kinds of ramen with an endless array of broths, toppings, and side dishes. While tonkatsu, or pork ramen, tends to be the most popular style, vegan options are emerging and still deliver the same satisfying slurp and belly-warming comfort. Vegan ramen obviously omits the bone broth, leaning heavily on miso, soy sauce, and meaty mushrooms to mimic that salty, warming taste and texture.
Give the instant ramen a rest and check out these fantastic vegan-friendly ramen shops and recipes.
Vegan restaurants redefining ramen
Ramen Hood
1 Ramen Hood
Los Angeles, CA
This vegan ramen restaurant took Instagram by storm in 2015 when it debuted an incredibly realistic-looking vegan egg atop its plant-based bowls of broth and noodles. Contending with the LA heat, the Grand Central Market stall offers both hot and cold ramen styles featuring umami-rich broths made with sunflower seeds or smoked onions. Toppings range from meaty katsu-style Omnipork and king oyster mushrooms to vegetable-forward ingredients such as bok choy, nori, and chili threads.
Ippudo V
2 Ippudo V
Brooklyn, NY
Ippudo’s “V” outpost in Brooklyn reimagines traditional Japanese ramen without sacrificing depth or soul. Drawing on decades of perfected tonkotsu technique, the vegan broth is rich, creamy, and layered with umami from fermented mushrooms and kelp. Expect elegant vegan sushi rolls, crispy gyoza, and ramen bowls brimming with chashu tofu, fried enoki, marinated carrots, and silky noodles with perfect chew.
Shizen
3 Shizen
San Francisco, CA
While better known for its plant-based sushi, this upscale restaurant makes a solid bowl of ramen to warm you up during San Francisco’s chilly evenings. The toppings are kept consistent no matter which base you order, but the kitchen offers two distinct broth varieties to satisfy your hunger levels. Choose from the spicy garlic miso or the light and delicate shio. Similar to shoyu ramen, shio is flavored with salt and typically is paired with a clear broth. Traditional shio ramen is made with chicken stock and flavored with dried fish ingredients, but at Shizen, the fishy taste comes from nori, while grilled mushrooms bring the umami. While you’re there, order the nigiri or one of the vegetable-forward small plates. It is a sushi restaurant, after all.
Tane Vegan Izakaya
4Tane Vegan Izakaya
Multiple locations
The inventive specialty rolls are hard to pass up at Tane Vegan Izakaya (which has four locations, in Honolulu, Palo Alto, Berkeley, and Highland Park), but the ramen serves as a welcome comfort whatever the weather. Four distinct broth styles carry the menu—light shio, earthy shoyu, rich roasted garlic miso, and spicy miso garlic. Each comes with a separate bowl packed with noodles, bean curd charshu (Tane’s interpretation of barbecued pork), eryngii mushrooms, tempura shiitake mushrooms, nori, and green onion. Pro tip: ask for the dessert menu. You may be lucky enough to visit on a night when they’re serving the matcha crème brûlée.
Redwhite Boneless Ramen
5Redwhite Boneless Ramen
Boston, MA & Los Angeles, CA
Chef Kei’s Redwhite Boneless Ramen brings bold vegan Japanese flavors to two metropolises, offering a twist on classic ramen. Every bowl is built around plant‑based broth and soboro—a mix of soy meat and tofu—topped with crunchy fried onion, sweet corn, and flavorful garlic oil. Options like the fiery Red Hot Miso or the citrusy Yuzu Sesame come in smoked presentation domes that add smoky aroma and visual flair. All ingredients (except the ramen noodles) are gluten‑free, and rice noodles are available to swap on request. With locations in Boston and Los Angeles, these bowls are as accessible as they are Instagram‑worthy.
Ramen O’ Bowl
6 Ramen O’ Bowl
Cambridge, MA
This cute and cozy ramen spot is a must-visit for anyone in the Cambridge area. Everything on the menu is vegan, the portions are generous, and the broths are rich, hearty, and packed with flavor. Diners can choose from a variety of hot ramen dishes, including shoyu with housemade noodles, Malaysian curry, miso, and shacha. When the weather warms up, there are also three cold ramen options to choose from: sesame tahini, han, and the fiery mala for those who like a little extra heat.
Gokuku
7 Gokuku
Los Angeles, CA
If you love ramen and live in Los Angeles, this family-run spot deserves a place on your must-visit list. Every bowl is made with housemade noodles and comes in a variety of flavors, including classic mushroom, curry, nutty tantanmen, and even pineapple ramen for warmer days. For those craving a meatier option, there’s also a version made with Beyond Meat. Ramen may be the star of the show, but it’s far from the only thing on offer. The menu also features vegan sushi rolls, Thai iced tea, rice plates, and bento boxes. In short, you won’t be leaving hungry.
Restaurants with standout vegan ramen dishes
Kayo’s Ramen Bar
8Kayo’s Ramen Bar
Portland and Beaverton, OR
This ramen spot, which has two locations in Oregon, isn’t exclusively vegan, but all of the ramen dishes can be prepared plant-based. We chose this spot not only for its stellar ramen, but also for its sheer variety of traditional and inventive broth and topping pairings. With nine ramen options to choose from, you could become a regular at this spot and never get bored.
Souen
9Souen
New York, NY
Almost entirely vegan with the exception of a handful of fish-based dishes, this macrobiotic New York City eatery offers five unique plant-based ramen options: tahini miso, tahini shoyu, curry miso, curry shoyu, and a chickpea broth ramen topped with broccoli and fried squash.
If you’re unfamiliar with shoyu ramen, the broth is traditionally flavored with soy sauce. Vegan versions pair the savory condiment with a rich vegetable broth or dashi made from ingredients like shiitake mushrooms and kombu (seaweed). At Souen, the toppings are strictly vegetable-based—meaning you won’t find any plant meats here.
Ramen Danbo
10Ramen Danbo
Seattle, WA
Be sure to ask for the vegan menu when you visit this popular Seattle ramen spot. The kitchen offers four plant-based ramen varieties—classic, shio, miso, and negi goma—alongside a seasonal special (tomato for the summer), each with its own unique seasoning and toppings. One of Ramen Danbo’s biggest draws is its customization options. Diners can tailor everything from their noodles to the richness of their broth, making it a great choice for groups with mixed dietary preferences or anyone who likes their ramen exactly their way.
How to make your own vegan ramen from scratch
If you don’t live near a vegan-friendly ramen restaurant or simply have the desire to make your own, here are seven solid vegan ramen recipes. Whether you’re a novice or passionate home cook, there’s a recipe for every skill level.
Nadine Horn
1 Speedy Spicy Miso Ramen
Traditional ramen broth can take at least a day to develop its depth of flavor, but you can hack your way to a decent broth if you don’t have the time. This simple recipe relies on high-quality vegetable broth, sesame oil, soy sauce, and a good amount of yellow miso paste to create a basic ramen broth. Add tofu, chewy noodles, scallions, jalapeños, bean sprouts, and pink peppercorns to amp up the flavor and textures of this speedy ramen dish.
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Jannet Grannow
2 Easy Vegan Ramen With Mushrooms and Cabbage
This recipe is straightforward and ideal for beginners. You’ll impart flavor into the vegetable broth with the help of mirin, spices, sesame oil, and garlic chili paste. The toppings here are fairly simple—just cremini mushrooms, scallions, and cabbage—so if you have some leftover broccoli, tofu, or bok choy on hand, go ahead and toss it into the bowl. This is a very forgiving recipe and lends itself well to a clean-out-the-fridge kind of meal.
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Okonomi Kitchen
3 Tonkatsu Ramen
Tonkatsu ramen features a rich, fatty broth made from boiled pork bones. It seems to be the most common style of ramen on the international stage. Despite the fact that the main ingredient in this type of ramen is not vegan, plant-based versions of tonkatsu do exist. Lisa of the Okonomi Kitchen blog achieves the perfect balance of umami and creaminess in this recipe with four key ingredients: nutritional yeast, sesame paste, soy milk, and vegan dashi. Once you nail the base, you’ll be forever changed.
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Kenji Lopez Alt
4 Ultimate Vegan Ramen With Miso Broth
Kenji Lopez-Alt may not be vegan, but after authoring the 960-page food encyclopedia The Food Lab, we value him as a source we can trust when it comes to solid recipes. He knows how to break down the basics and shepherd the home cook into creating truly impressive dishes. This plant-based ramen recipe layers on the flavor by combining charred vegetables, a concentrated soy-mushroom-and-kombu broth, and puréed ginger and garlic. The roasted sweet potatoes add texture, while a finish of homemade mushroom-scallion oil provides the rich, fatty texture of tonkatsu. The resulting dish is creamy, savory, and texturally complex. Yes, it’s a project, but a darn delicious one at that.
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Cheap Lazy Vegan
5 Instant Noodle Gourmet Ramen
Learn how to upgrade a basic package of vegan-friendly ramen with this quick recipe. It’s all about the toppings here, because the freeze-dried vegetables that come standard with instant ramen simply don’t cut it. By tossing in tofu, bok choy, corn, mushrooms, and scallions, you can transform a boring bowl of ramen into a restaurant-worthy meal. Shortcuts never tasted so good.
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Sweet Simple Vegan
6 $5 Vegetable Oil-Free Ramen
While ramen has been elevated to chic restaurant status, affordability is at its core. Sweet Simple Vegan’s recipe uses pantry ingredients and cost-effective produce to create a quality bowl of broth and noodles on the cheap. Sure, it costs a bit more than a package of instant noodles, but it also packs in more sustenance and flavor, making it worth every penny.
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Gastroplant
7 Vegan Tsukemen
Tsukemen ramen is ideal for summertime, as it’s somewhat of a deconstructed ramen dish prepared by serving cold noodles alongside a hot broth. The eater is meant to dip the noodles into the broth, which tends to be more intensely flavored and a bit saltier than sipping ramen. Tsukemen broth varies widely, making it easy to swap in plant-based ingredients for a traditionally animal-based dish. Like Lopez-Alt’s recipe, this recipe for tsukemen is a bit of a project, but you can make extra broth and save it for multiple meals later on. Paired with chewy king oyster mushrooms and savory baked tofu, this is the ramen we’ve been searching for.
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For more vegan food guides, read:
Dining and Cooking