Vegetarian Pho
This vegetarian pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) is full of flavor, thanks to spices, herbs and sautéed shiitake mushrooms! It’s easy and fun to make, too.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on July 30, 2024
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Hallelujah! I finished my cookbook. Photos are finalized and uploaded; every sentence has been double-checked for accuracy. We even made “Cookie + Kate” bigger on the cover, thanks to your feedback. I can’t wait for you to see it on May 16th!
The minute I sent off the final draft of my book, I started plotting my next vacation. I’ve felt tied to the book project for the past year and a half, both mentally and physically. As rewarding as it’s been to produce a book that I’m 100 percent proud of, it’s been way too long since I got a break—a real, true, mind-clearing break.
On my list for this year? A yoga retreat in Morocco (booked!), exploring Costa Rica with Grandma Virginia (she’s been dying to go), and who knows, maybe Southeast Asia or Iceland for good measure. Is that too much? The answer I’m looking for is, “No!” I’m suffering from a serious case of wanderlust and a palpable sense of urgency to go now—right now, post-cookbook, while I’m still young and fancy-free.
To appease my travel cravings for now, I’m cooking up some exotic recipes in my kitchen, including Vietnamese pho. It’s hot, comforting and fresh, and fills the house with warming aromas of cinnamon, anise, cloves and ginger.
Vegetarian Pho Tips
Traditionally, pho is made with strips of beef, and the broth is flavored with fish sauce. To make mine vegetarian, I substituted shiitake mushrooms for the beef and used tamari (or soy sauce) instead of the fish sauce.
I tried a vegetarian pho recipe a couple of years ago that was essentially fat-free due to the use of vegetable broth and the absence of meat. As a result, it was lacking in body and depth of flavor. For this version, I intentionally sautéed the mushrooms in some oil to enhance their flavor and texture and to add extra depth to the soup. Success!
Also of note, I used a combination of vegetable broth and water to make sure that the delicate notes of cinnamon, star anise, clove and ginger shine through. So, that’s why you might want to add some salt back in during the cooking process. (For the photos, I made the mistake of using a very orange broth, but yours will be clearer in color and flavor.)
For a more intensely flavored broth, char your onions and ginger before adding them to the broth—it’s an extra step that takes 20 minutes but makes this pho taste a little more traditional (see recipe notes for details).
Watch How to Make Vegetarian Pho
This is a fun, quick and delicious version of your favorite restaurant’s pho, and I hope you love it as much as I do. Please let me know how it turns out in the comments!
Craving more light and healthy soups? Browse all of my vegetarian soups here.
Vegetarian Pho
This vegetarian pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) is full of flavor, thanks to spices, herbs and sautéed shiitake mushrooms! It’s easy and fun to make, too. Recipe yields 4 generous bowls of soup.
Ingredients
Soup
- Two 3-inch cinnamon sticks
- 3 whole cloves
- 2 star anise
- 1 large white onion*, peeled and quartered
- 4-inch piece of fresh ginger*, peeled and halved lengthwise
- 4 cups (32 ounces) vegetable stock or broth
- 4 cups water
- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 6 ounces (one large handful) rice noodles
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil, mild extra-virgin olive oil or your neutral-flavored oil of choice
- 5 ounces thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms
- Salt
Garnishes
- Mung bean sprouts
- Sprigs of fresh basil (use Thai basil if you can find it) or cilantro
- Sprigs of fresh mint
- Thinly sliced green onions (mostly green parts)
- Very thinly sliced fresh jalapeño (omit if sensitive to spice)
- Small wedges of lime
Instructions
- Warm a medium soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the cinnamon sticks, cloves, and star anise and toast until fragrant, stirring occasionally, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onion, ginger, vegetable stock, water and tamari. Raise the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes to give the flavors time to meld.
- In the meantime, prepare your rice noodles by cooking them according to package directions. Set them aside.
- To prepare the shiitake mushrooms, warm the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the mushrooms and a few dashes of salt. Cook until the mushrooms are tender and lightly browned, about 4 to 6 minutes, then set them aside.
- Once the broth is done cooking, strain out the onions, ginger and spices (this is easiest with a small metal sieve, but you can also strain the mixture through a colander into another large bowl). Season it to taste with extra tamari and/or salt until the flavors of the spices really shine.
- Ladle the broth into bowls, add cooked noodles and mushrooms, and fresh garnishes to your heart’s content (don’t forget the lime!). Serve immediately, with chopsticks and soup spoons.
Notes
If you love spicy pho: Sriracha overpowers the delicate flavors in this soup, so I don’t recommend adding any. You can add a pinch of red pepper flakes to the broth as it cooks, and/or add extra sliced jalapeño to your bowls.
Make it gluten free: Be sure to use gluten-free tamari or soy sauce (tamari is usually gluten-free, but check your bottle to be sure).
*For even more flavor: Char your onions and ginger before adding them to the pot. If you go this route, just slice the onion in half (instead of quarters), and don’t peel the ginger. You have a few options on how to char them—you can supposedly char them with metal tongs over a gas flame (I don’t have gas, so I couldn’t try this), or broil them, cut sides down, on a baking sheet, or—the most reliable method—roast them, cut sides down, on a baking sheet, on the upper rack in a 500 degree Fahrenheit oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
Mushroom alternatives: You can just omit the mushrooms altogether (I’d actually stir a couple teaspoons of oil into the broth, for body). Untraditional alternatives include crispy tofu or steamed edamame.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This post was created in partnership with Frontier Co-op and I received compensation for my participation. Opinions are my own, always. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who support C+K!
This recipe was pretty bland to me. I’ll try charring the vegetables next time. I added miso, fish sauce, molasses (I didn’t have hoisin or plum sauce like I wanted), more soy, half a lime, and some oyster sauce to jazz it up. It was delicious but only after adding all that to it.
I’m sorry to hear you were disappointed, Anna. I’m glad you were able to adjust.
This was my first time making Pho and I LOVE eating out at restaurants Pho. I’m not used to adding salt to my recipes, but I realized that this recipe truly does need the salt to reach that perfect flavor. Once I seasoned it sufficiently, it was absolutely delicious and I can’t wait for today’s lunch to eat it as leftovers as well! Thanks for all of your notes in the post, they’re very helpful to get the recipe just right and understand why things are important.
Thank you for your feedback, Sharon!
Very delicious! The star anise and cinnamon really add to flavor.
Thank you for your review, Adri!
Soba noodles were .99¢/ pack at the grocery store, so I subbed them for rice noodles. Couldn’t find star anise, so I used anise extract. It was still phenomenal! I loved the broth + I put in crispy tofu too. I haven’t had authentic pho many times so I can’t speak to its authenticity, but it tasted wonderful.
I did char the vegetables in a broiling toaster!
Thank you so much! Easy, simple and delicious!
I make this on religious basis. It is fast, so easy because I always have the ingredients and is warming. Plus, vegan pho at our local vegan Vietnamese restaurant is 17$(cad), which is not bad, but when you can make broth that tastes EXACTLY like the one from the restaurant.. you don’t want to pay that much for broth.
I love that you always have the ingredients for this pho. Thank you for sharing, Kris.
Turned out sooooo good. Tasted just like authentic pho with all the complex flavours in the broth
Thank you for your review!
I liked the concept; however, I did not like the flavor. It was very bitter! I will nor use the spices suggested here but will add my own to make it have a more smooth and appealing flavor.
I’m sorry to hear that. Did you add salt?
This was very good. Great depth of flavor and surprisingly quick and easy to make. We will go back to this again and again. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Margaret! Thank you for your review.
Love this recipe! Always makes my whole house smell amazing. We are a vegan family and any night when I’m not endlessly chopping veggies is a WIN!
I’m glad this is a great one for your family, Emily! Thank you for your review.
Hi, how many g of rice noodles are supposed to be used for 1x?
Hi Drishtie, I don’t provide conversions, but you could use an online converter to help.
This was really tasty! My only sad was that the mushrooms were so few compared to the amount of broth, so I’ll probably scale with that in mind next time or look for other satisfactory (if untraditional) options to go with.
Made it few times already and can’t get enough! Thank you so much!
Can this be done using ground cinnamon, cloves and anise?
Hi Margaret, This recipe is best as written,
You have been my go-to for baking and cooking for years now! I was feeling flu-ish last night and was craving a clear but filling, spiced asian soup!The pho came out fabulous – it was oh so satisfying and hit all the right spots!! Surprisingly complex flavours for such a simple dish. I used crispy tofu as well as dehydrated mushrooms which added a nice meaty texture to the soup. I subbed the water used to hydrate the mushrooms to mix with the stock – got a delicious depth of flavour and colour! SO yumm. Heart and soul all nourished. Gratitude for all your recipes that have graced our table and filled our tummies. Love. From India.
I’m happy to hear the blog is a go-to for you, Sushmita! Thank you for sharing.
This was amazing. Husband commented several times on how authentic it was and the kitchen smelled AMAZING. Topped off the soup and noodles with sauteed heirloom carrot rounds, daikon radish, bok choy, basil, mint, cilantro, lime and green onions. Will definitely make again.
Hooray! I’m happy to hear that, Laurel. Thank you for your review!
It was so easy to make and so delicious!
That’s great to hear, Karen!
Kate,
Iam so grateful for this recipe! I have made this countless times and introduced glorious Pho to family and friends. The recipe is so easy and almost too delicious for the minimal effort used to make it. And such aromatics!
A Cookie and Kate fan for life,
Connie
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Connie! Thank you for your review.
I had high hopes for this recipe, I made it exactly like its written, but in the end it was just all looks and not good at all. The combination of the anise, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves was waaay too over powering. It was my first time ever cooking with shittake mushrooms and they too did not wow me. Overall this soup tasted too earthy and green even with the garnishes… Mung beans, green onions, lime..etc.
I would not make this again.
Hi, I’m sorry you didn’t love this recipe. hank you for sharing your feedback, Luna.
Amazing recipe!!! So glad I’ve found this! I really love pho and have it at least few times a month. Your flavour profile is very authentic and I love how quick and easy the recipe was. I topped up my pho bowl with crispy lemon grass tofu and it was the perfect combination. I also added Vietnamese vegan “sate” sauce. This added more oil and additional complexity to the dish as well. Thank you ☺️ so much for this recipe!! Really love ❤️ it.
I’m so glad you loved it, Kristie!
I have been obsessed woth pho for the past year or so, but as a vegetarian it can be hard to find an option that is actually vegetarian, often it has chicken or beef broth. I was excited to try it out myself with this recipe! Overall it was simple to follow although i had a hard time finding some of the spices. That being said it was very yummy! The only thing was the cinnamon was a bit over powering to me. I would lessen or even omit in the future! Thanks for sharing!
I’m happy you enjoyed it! Yes, omit the cinnamon if it doesn’t suit your taste.
I have tried making a couple different vegan/vegetarian pho recipes and have been disappointed each time; they’ve always felt like they were missing something—even though they had more ingredients than this one. But my partner and I both LOVED THIS PHO. I halved the recipe since it was just the two of us, and the measurements were easy to divide. I did take the time to char the onion/ginger (highly recommend) and next time I’ll be adding that pinch on red pepper flakes (which I didn’t do this time he should have). Going into the weekly lunch rotation for, sure!
Hooray! I’m glad you loved this one, Mikayla.
Loved
Thank you, Jade! I appreciate your review.
Thank you for the vegetarian version. I never get to try East Asian food in restaurants due to fish and meat content and I really wanted to try it and came across your recipe. I made it last night and my little girl and I licked the bowls clean – it was that good! I didn’t have Shiitake mushrooms so I substituted with regular white mushrooms and I also added a bunch of baby bokchoy and a bit of tofu cubes to make it more nutritious. But it still tasted so aromatic and fresh. Can’t wait to try the real deal with Shiitake next time!
Delicious Pho. I’ve made it a couple times. No bok Choy today so I’m improvising with spinach. Let’s hope!
How did it turn out, Kim?
This was sooooo good! I added some bok choy for a bit of extra green & could only get a pack of shiitake that were mixed in with king oyster, black fungus & oyster mushrooms & it was delish! I had missed the meatiness of good mushrooms! Thank you for another winning recipe
Wonderful, Jenny! I’m so happy you enjoyed it and added some different mushrooms. Thank you for your review!
My first try at pho but living in LA I have been very lucky to try some really good pho. Unfortunately this did not do it for me. Still okay.
Hi Rose, I’m sorry this didn’t live up to your expectation. Thank you for your feedback.
This was SO good, thank you for sharing. I added miso and kimchi and lots of lemon juice
You’re welcome, Lucia!
Fantastic recipe! I have made it over 20 times. I sourced fresher spices from an Asian grocery store and made my own Vege stock from scratch which made it taste even more amazing