Vietnamese Vegan Pho Noodle Soup (Pho Chay) can be hearty with deep savory flavors. While this vegan pho is quicker to make than traditional beef pho, it is just as comforting and delicious.
A few weeks ago, I shared a photo of my bowl of Vietnamese beef pho on Instagram. Then I was asked if I had a recipe for vegan pho (phở chay). Up until that point, I had neither cooked or eaten vegan pho. Being exposed to quite a lot of amazing vegan/vegetarian dishes recently, I felt determined to create a vegan version of pho noodle soup.
To my surprise, it wasn’t super challenging, and the result was absolutely satisfying and tasty. I really enjoy all aspects of it, from the vegetable-based broth to the vegan toppings. So, let’s touch on the main elements of this vegan pho before jumping to the recipe.
Vegetable-based Broth for Vegan Pho Noodle Soup
What is the most important element of Vietnamese pho noodle soup? Of course, it’s the broth. The answer is the same for vegan pho noodle soup. And how does regular beef pho broth taste? It’s aromatic, flavorful, hearty, savory with sweetness from simmering bones for hours.
Since vegetables are naturally sweet, it’s quite easy to replicate the sweetness. The challenge here is how to make a hearty, flavorful and savory vegan pho broth while vegetable broth is usually on the light side.
Through my experiments, I find that using mushrooms creates the hearty, meaty taste for the broth extremely well. I use fresh white mushrooms, and I recommend you do the same. I initially used dried shiitake mushrooms and then found out it wasn’t a good idea. The reason is dried shiitake mushrooms will make the broth way too dark, almost like soy sauce. As we all know, pho broth is never that dark.
To make the broth flavorful, savory with umami just like how fish sauce works in regular pho noodle soup, I also use kombu, soy sauce, and fermented black beans.
- Kombu is edible kelp that is used intensively in Japanese cooking to make dashi stock. It is rich in glutamic acid which is responsible for umami.
- Fermented black bean (douchi) is a popular ingredient in Chinese cuisine. If you love mapo tofu (like me 🙂 ), you probably know about fermented black beans already. They are slightly pungent, very salty and full of umami.
You can find kombu and fermented black beans at Asian grocery stores. They are both essential ingredients to give this vegan pho broth deep savory flavors and umami. Using soy sauce alone isn’t quite as good, so I think it’s worth a trip to Asian grocery stores to buy them.
Pho Spices and Aromatics
We also use all the well-known pho spices here, which are cinnamon/cassia bark, star anises, cloves, fennel seeds, coriander seeds and black cardamom pods. Some of them can be bought at regular grocery stores, and you can also buy all of them at Asian grocery stores or on Amazon.
The most two important spices are cinnamon sticks/cassia bark and star anises. It’s okay if you don’t have the rest on hand. And of course, we can’t forget the charred onion and ginger when making any pho noodle soups.
Vegan Toppings for Vietnamese Vegan Pho Noodle Soup
The toppings for this vegan pho are king trumpet/king oyster mushrooms and extra-firm tofu. They are thinly sliced, fried or pan-seared and then infused with pho flavors. They turn out very tasty and even though I’m not vegan, I don’t feel like missing the meat at all.
Pho Noodles and Garnishes
I like to use large pho noodles, and you can go to my pantry page for Vietnamese pho noodles to read more about it and my favorite brand. I always serve pho with a lot of sliced scallions, some cilantro and onion slices. You can also add beansprouts, birds-eye chili, lime juice, or other vegetables and mushrooms you like.
So far it sounds like a lot of work to make this vegan pho, but it really isn’t. The broth requires only 30-40 minutes of simmering, and during that time you can prepare the toppings, noodles and garnishes.
Making beef pho (both the traditional beef pho soup and the beef stew pho soup), on the contrary, takes hours. More importantly, nothing is compromised in this vegan pho noodle soup. I honestly don’t miss the bone broth, the beef slices or fish sauce at all when eating this. So even if you are not vegan, I hope you will give this a try. It is definitely among my most favorite pho noodle soups :).
I’d love to hear what you think about the dish.
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