Vegan noodles: What they’re made from & how to make them

Vegan noodles – know how to make them? Would you like to learn how to whip some up, using all sorts of different types of food?

Consider this article your guide to noodle-making greatness. Use it to get you thinking about all things noodles and inspire some delicious noodle dishes.

12 types of food you can use to make noodles

There’s all sorts of fruit and veg you can use to make noodles. They include:¹

Potatoes
Sweet potato
Carrots
Cucumber
Broccoli stems
Beets
Turnips
Horseradishes
Courgettes
Apples
Pears
Rhubarb

Food you can use to make vegan noodles

Most fresh noodles contain egg, which isn’t on the vegan-friendly list due to the fact eggs are produced by an animal and vegan diets are plant-based.^2,3

However, most packaged or boxed pasta is vegan-friendly because it tends to contain one or two plant-based ingredients, such as semolina and wheat flour.⁴

What you can use to make your own vegan noodles

You can make vegan noodles from most of the ingredients listed above, so that’s:

Potatoes
Sweet potato
Carrots
Cucumber
Beets
Turnips
Horseradishes
Courgettes
Rhubarb

It’s also not uncommon for vegan pasta to made from rice, beans, legumes, sea kelp, yams and sweet potatoes.

How to make vegan noodles

The most common way of making noodles from fruit and veg is to use a spiral vegetable slicer, or a spiraliser. Food that’s wide and long and has a hard flesh, such as butternut squash and potatoes, tend to work the best in spiralisers.⁵

Don’t have a spiraliser? You can make noodles without using one. Simply use a:

Vegetable peeler or;
Paring knife or;
Julienne peeler or;
Small mandolin slicer instead

Vegan noodle recipes you can try at home

Vegan Singapore Noodles

What you’ll need:

For the sauce:

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1 to 2 tbsp coconut sugar
1 large lime, juiced

For the noodles:

6 oz thin brown/vermicelli rice noodles
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 white or yellow onion, thinly sliced
3/4 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced
12 whole snow peas
1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
4 tsp curry powder

For serving:

8 oz of extra firm tofu (pressed dry and cubed)
Sriracha or chilli garlic sauce
2 stalks green onions, thinly sliced

How to make them:

Add the rice noodles to a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and set aside.
Make the sauce by adding minced garlic, tamari or soy sauce, coconut sugar and lime juice to a mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Then taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Set aside.
Heat a large skillet over a medium/high heat. Once hot, add half of the toasted sesame oil (1 tbsp), onion and red bell pepper. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently or until the onion is soft and translucent.
Add the snow peas, 1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce and 2 tsp curry powder and stir. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, then remove from the pan and set aside.
To the still hot skillet, add remaining sesame oil (1 tbsp), cooked rice noodles, sauce and the remaining 2 tsp curry powder). Sauté for 1 minute, tossing frequently with tongs to disperse the sauce and curry powder.
Add the vegetables back in and toss to coat. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes more, then remove from the heat.
Serve with your desired toppings. This dish benefits greatly from a little hot sauce, such as Sriracha. It’s best eaten when fresh, though leftovers keep for 2 to 3 days covered in the refrigerator. Reheat in the microwave or in a saucepan over a medium heat.⁶

How to incorporate tofu into the recipe:

To add tofu, double the amount of sauce. Then pour half into a separate mixing bowl.
Add 1 extra tablespoon of coconut sugar and whisk thoroughly to combine.
Add pressed, cubed tofu to a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake in a 400 degree F (204 C) oven for 30 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
Before cooking the vegetables, add the tofu to a lightly-greased skillet over a medium/high heat and add sauce.
Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until the sauce has absorbed and the tofu is very hot and somewhat glazed.
Remove from pan and set aside, then continue with recipe as instructed. Add the tofu back in with the vegetables (see step 6).

Vegan ramen noodles

What you’ll need:

2 garlic cloves
Thumb-sized piece ginger, sliced
1½ tbsp white miso paste
1 tbsp white sesame paste or tahini
15g dried shiitake mushrooms
1l vegan stock
2 tbsp soy sauce
200g firm tofu, cut into chunky cubes
1 tbsp cornflour

How to make them:

Crush the garlic, then put it in a saucepan with the ginger, miso, white sesame paste, mushrooms, stock and soy. Cover and let bubble for 5 mins until the ginger is soft. Strain into a clean pan and discard everything left in the strainer.
Cook the tofu. Toss it in the cornflour and heat the oil in a frying pan. Fry for a few mins on each side. Cook the noodles for 1 min less than pack instructions, so they retain a little bite. Drain and leave in the pan.
Add the pak choi and whites of the spring onions to the broth and gently reheat for 1 to 2 minutes until the greens have just wilted.
Divide the noodles between two deep bowls, pour over the broth and veg. Top with the tofu, beansprouts, carrot and ginger matchsticks, green parts of the spring onions and a drizzle of sesame oil.

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Last updated: 30 November 2020

Sources
1 https://www.cottercrunch.com/veggie-noodles-and-fruit-noodles-without-a-spiralizer/
2 https://www.peta.org/living/food/is-pasta-vegan/
3 https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/the-vegan-diet/
4 https://www.peta.org/living/food/is-pasta-vegan/
5 https://www.cottercrunch.com/veggie-noodles-and-fruit-noodles-without-a-spiralizer/
6 https://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-singapore-noodles/