Spicy Miso Ramen

Delicious Spicy Miso and Tahini Vegan Ramen, made with a flavourful and umami-packed miso and tahini broth, ramen noodles, and a balanced variety of toppings.

Ramen is one of our favorite meals that we can have all year round and never get bored of it. Our Spicy Miso Ramen has everything we love about this dish: it's spicy, umami-packed, slightly creamy from the tahini, and served with the perfect selection of toppings. Served with some Vegan Gyozas as an appetizer, makes for the perfect meal.

We have tried many recipes with all kinds of ingredients. We bought cookbooks, read loads of blogs, and experimented in our kitchen. Finally, we can proudly say we've got it! We have the ultimate Vegan Ramen Recipe that we love and we want to share with you.

This Spicy Miso Ramen recipe was our first recipe on the blog, and now we just re-did it to make it simpler for you to cook it at home. You can as well check, our other Ramen Recipe, our Easy Vegan Miso Ramen, a family-friendly recipe, that can be made in 40 minutes.

Our Spicy Miso Ramen is:

• Vegan
• A noodle soup
• Spicy
• Japanese-style dish
• Umami-rich
• Filling and comforting

How to make the perfect Vegan Ramen Broth

Traditionally, ramen broth contains meat and is cooked for long hours to get a rich and flavourful soup. For us, vegans and vegetarians, this is much simpler. Vegan broth doesn't need to be cooked for hours in order to be delicious.

Ingredients for Miso Ramen Broth

Leek. To start our Ramen broth, we stir fry finely chopped leek until almost caramelized. The flavor you get from them it's incredible.

Tomato. Fresh tomato goes into our Ramen broth too, umami-packed and rich in flavor. You can substitute the fresh tomato for tomato paste or hydrated sun-dried tomatoes.

Ginger and garlic paste. For the garlic and ginger, we use a press to make a paste so the ingredients will release all their flavor into the broth.

Soy sauce. Use low sodium soy sauce for lower sodium content or tamari for a gluten-free option.

White miso paste. For our miso-tahini vegan Ramen, we use white miso paste.

Tahini. The other key ingredient. Tahini adds the perfect creaminess to the broth.

Kombu. This alge adds your broth more umami. You can substitute with dried shiitake mushrooms.

Step by Step Method

To make a delicious vegan miso-tahini broth, we follow these five simple steps:

1. First, make the base of the broth. Heat some coconut oil in a pot and add finely chopped leek, chopped tomato, garlic, and ginger. Using a big pot, stir fry leek for 10-15 minutes and then add a chopped tomato and garlic and ginger paste.
2. Leave all the ingredients cooking for 10 more minutes at low-medium temperature and transfer them into a blender jug. Everything gets blended into this lovely paste which will be used for our broth.
3. Transfer the vegetable paste back into the pot and add vegetable stock, kombu, miso paste, and soy sauce. Mix well and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Placing another pot on a flat surface, pour the broth through a strainer, to get a clear stock.
5. Add the tahini into the broth and mix until is well incorporated.

Our little Umami addition

To finish our miso Ramen broth, we prepare an umami-packed sauce that will be added to our noodles before adding the rest of the broth and ingredients.

Ingredients for our Umami kick

• Sesame Oil. You can use toasted sesame oil or chili toasted sesame oil if you love spicy ramen. I recommend using a mixture of both.
• Sriracha Sauce.
• Sweetener. We use maple syrup to add a little bit of sweetness to the dish, but feel free to use sugar or molasses.
• Garlic powder. Recently I found garlic and ginger powder combined in an Asian supermarket and added that to the mixture. It was delicious! You can use simply garlic powder if you have that on hand.
• Rice vinegar. Our last ingredient for this umami-rich sauce is rice vinegar.

Combine all these ingredients and make the perfect umami-packed sauce for this spicy miso ramen. We just add 1-2 tablespoons of it over our ramen noodles before adding the broth to the dish and believe me, it's just the perfect last touch to your miso ramen bowl.

Ramen Noodles

Choose the type of noodles that you love for your ramen. We have tried many brands and types of ramen noodles and we still can't decide which ones are our favorite.

We always go for fresh ramen noodles when possible. You can find fresh noodles in Asian supermarkets. When that is not an option, we use dried instant ramen noodles. They are easy to cook and the perfect combination for our broth. You can even make stir-fries with these noodles!

I would say for a miso-tahini ramen broth, wavy noodles go better than straight, and I prefer my noodles thicker rather than thinner. Just make sure you follow the package instructions when cooking them.

To get perfectly cooked noodles, after cooking them, place the noodles in ice water for a couple of minutes to stop them from cooking further.

Spicy Miso Ramen Toppings

For toppings, you can use what you can find in your fridge that is colorful and fresh and will add a little kick to your soup. Here is a list of our favorite toppings for this Miso-Tahini Ramen to inspire you:

• Edamame beans. We buy frozen edamame beans because they are easier to prepare. Just bring a pan of water to boil and add the frozen edamame beans. Cook for around 2-3 minutes and drain in a colander.
• Tofu. We prepare our tofu separately to get it really crispy. Heat some coconut oil in a pan and add the tofu cut into cubes or slices. Keep turning the tofu until is crispy and golden on each side.
• Mushrooms. Use shiitake, enoki, beech mushrooms, or any other type of Asian mushrooms of your choice. They will add more flavor to your spicy miso ramen and work amazingly with it. We normally like to cook them separately, apart from the enoki which we cook inside the broth for a couple of minutes.
• Fresh vegetables like shredded carrot, sliced tomato, pak choi, corn, spinach, scallions, spring onion, tomato...
• Grilled vegetables. Our favorite ramen place serves vegan ramen with a slice of grilled aubergine, pumpkin, or zucchini and it's delicious.
• Sesame seeds and toasted sesame chili oil. This is a MUST! The spicy oil gives your ramen an extra oomph and what would ramen be without a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds?

Vegetarian Miso Ramen Option:

• Egg: to prepare the perfect ramen egg, boil the egg for 7 minutes and plunge it into ice water. Leave it to sit for about 5 minutes before peeling off the shell.

Building your Miso Ramen Bowl

To serve proper Ramen, you need a proper Ramen Bowl. These bowls are wide and can hold a good amount of broth + noodles. They have enough space on the top to place all your toppings.

1. Place the umami mixture on the bottom of the Ramen Bowl.
2. Add your ramen noodles and coat them with the umami ingredients.
3. Add the broth.
4. Place your toppings
5. Serve your spicy miso ramen and slurp up!

FAQ and Tips

• Is Miso Ramen vegan? Normally restaurants have a miso ramen as a vegan option. The broth is made with miso and other ingredients such as garlic, ginger and vegetables. Sometimes though, the broth can be made with chicken stock or with added ground pork.
• Can I make this recipe without Kombu? Yes, you can substitute the Kombu by using dried shiitake mushrooms or simply not adding this ingredient. Kombu adds umami and if you have it on hand we recommend using it.
• How spicy is this Spicy Miso Ramen? We use sriracha and spicy sesame oil. The combination of both ingredients makes your ramen spicy enough. If you want a milder ramen, use regular sesame oil.

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4.78 from 22 votes

Spicy Miso Ramen

Delicious Vegan Ramen, made with a flavourful and umami-packed miso and tahini broth, ramen noodles, and a balanced variety of toppings.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese, vegan

Keyword: Miso-Tahini Ramen, Vegan Ramen

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

• 3-4 squares Ramen Noodles
• 1 tablespoon vegan butter or coconut oil
• 2 leek finely chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves sliced
• 2 cm fresh ginger grated
• 1 fresh tomato chopped
• 1 tablespoon white miso paste
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 kombu sheet
• 1.8 litre stock
• 1 ½ tablespoon tahini

Umami Addition

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil optionally spicy
• 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Toppings

• Edamame
• Tofu baked or fried
• Sweetcorn
• Pak Choi
• Mushroom

Instructions

• Cook the ramen noodles following the packet instructions and place them in ice-cold water or rinse them with cold water for a good while to stop them from cooking further.
• Heat the vegan butter or coconut oil in a pot over medium heat. Add finely chopped leek and cook for about 10 minutes. Stir until it becomes soft and add chopped fresh tomato and garlic and ginger paste. Cook for another few more minutes until fragrant.
• Transfer the ingredients into a blender and add the miso paste and soy sauce. Blend for a minute or two until the mixture becomes a paste.
• Transfer the paste back into the pot and add the stock and kombu, previously rinsed.
• Reduce heat to low and let it simmer for 20 minutes while you prepare the toppings.
• Mix in a separate bowl the sesame oil, sriracha, rice vinegar, maple syrup, soy sauce and garlic powder. This will give our ramen an extra umami kick.
• Remove the kombu and put the broth through a strainer, placing another pot underneath.
• Add the tahini into the broth, mix well until perfetly dissolved.

Build your Ramen Bowl

• Place 1 to 2 tablespoon of umami mixture to the bottom of the bowl.
• Add the noodles and mix.
• Pour the broth into the bowl.
• Place your toppings and serve.

If you tried our recipe, please leave a comment or tag us on Instagram @sixhungryfeet. We are always happy to see your creations!

Other Asian Noddle Soups:

• Vegan Pho with Tofu
• Thai Coconut Noodle Soup
• Vegan Khao Soi