I hope I’ve convinced you to experiment with leftovers in your fridge by now. Most of my favorite recipe creations have come from me just piling whatever I have leftover in my fridge into a bowl or pot, and seeing how it turns out, including this Vegan Creamy Mushroom Ramen. I’m not kidding when I say this is one of the best things I’ve ever tasted, and it only takes about 15 minutes and a handful of ingredients. #totalwin
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I had some coconut milk leftover from making my Easy Cauliflower and Chickpea Masala on Facebook live the other day, plus Aldi had baby bella mushrooms on sale for $1.69 per container 😱 so I had purchased some of those with the intent of roasting them, which didn’t happen. I came home ravenous for carbs after Orange Theory, saw that coconut milk and the mushrooms in my fridge, and immediately knew what I needed to make!
The super simple broth for this ramen (vegetable broth + coconut milk) is so freaking good that I’m 100% going to be making a regular “cream” of mushroom soup with this method in the near future. So if you don’t like ramen but love creamy mushroom, just hang tight. ;)
What Kind of Mushrooms Should I Use?
Definitely try to get baby bellas or full sized portabella mushrooms for this recipe. The deep color and robust flavor of these mushrooms makes a big impact, and I think regular button mushrooms would fall flat.
What Kind of Coconut Milk Should I Use?
I used full-fat coconut milk in a can for this recipe and it made the broth extremely rich and delicious (and surprisingly it didn’t taste like coconut). I think you might be able to get away with using light coconut milk, but just be aware that the broth won’t be nearly as creamy or thick. I do not suggest using the dairy milk substitute type of coconut milk that comes in a carton. It is FAR too thin. Only canned coconut milk for this recipe.
What Kind of Ramen Should I Use?
I used the super basic, super cheap, 25₵ per pack ramen. Nothing fancy needed here. I did toss the seasoning packet and use my own vegetable broth, though (Better Than Bouillon).
What Else Can I Put in My Vegan Creamy Mushroom Ramen?
Whatever you want! Ramen is one of those great “catch all” dishes that is good for tossing all your leftover vegetables and proteins into. Check out my post about 6 Ways to Update Instant Ramen to see what other fun things I like to put in my ramen. Some quick ideas are tofu, sliced bell pepper, sesame seeds, or shredded cabbage or carrot.
Vegan Creamy Mushroom Ramen
Servings 1 (or two)Ingredients
- 1/2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.02)
- 4 oz. baby bella mushrooms ($0.85)
- 1.5 cups vegetable broth ($0.20)
- 1 handful fresh spinach ($0.53)
- 1 package ramen noodles (discard seasoning) ($0.25)
- 1/2 cup coconut milk (canned) ($0.66)
Optional Garnishes
- 1 green onion, sliced ($0.11)
- 1 Tbsp chili garlic sauce or sriracha ($0.13)
Instructions
- Slice the mushrooms. Add them to a small sauce pot with the cooking oil and sauté over medium heat until the mushrooms are soft, dark, and all the moisture in the bottom of the pot has evaporated.
- Add the vegetable broth, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring the broth up to a boil. Once boiling, add the ramen noodles (without the seasoning packet) to the broth. Cook the noodles in the boiling broth for about 3 minutes, or until tender.
- Turn the heat off, add a heaping handful of fresh spinach, and stir until the spinach is wilted (about 30 seconds). Pour the coconut milk into the pot and stir to combine.
- Serve the Vegan Creamy Coconut Ramen as-is, or with garnishes like green onion or chili garlic sauce.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
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Love Mushroom Soup? Try our Creamy Mushroom Soup recipe.
How to Make Vegan Creamy Mushroom Ramen – Step by Step Photos
Slice 4 oz. baby bella mushrooms (about 4-5 mushrooms or half of an 8 oz. package). If you want to do full sized portobella mushrooms, just slice the caps in half, then slice crosswise into thin strips.
Add the sliced mushrooms to a small saucepot with about 1/2 Tbsp cooking oil (your favorite type of oil to cook with, any type is fine). Sauté the mushrooms over medium heat until they are soft and dark, and all the liquid they release has evaporated out of the pot.
Add 1.5 cups vegetable broth to the pot with the mushrooms. I use broth made with Better Than Bouillon broth concentrate. Turn the heat up to medium-high and allow the broth to come up to a boil (this goes faster with a lid).
Add one “brick” of ramen noodles (discard the seasoning packet) to the broth and continue to boil for about 3 minutes, or until the noodles are tender.
Turn off the heat and add a heaping handful of fresh spinach to the soup. Stir until the spinach is wilted (about 3o seconds).
Finally, pour in 1/2 cup coconut milk (the canned kind, not the dairy milk substitute kind in a carton). Stir to combine.
And that’s literally all it takes! Done in about 15 minutes. You can serve it as is, or add some fun toppings.
I added sliced green onion and some chili garlic sauce to mine. The sharp chili garlic sauce added a nice contrast to the super creamy broth!
Super Tasty!
I made this today for lunch, with the only difference being I just used store bought sliced mushrooms and added soy sauce at the end to taste. I dunno if that’s vegan but I am not so it worked out haha. Highly recommend to anyone looking for a quick and filling meal
Made this tonight. It was so good! Going to be on our rotation now!
Added frozen corn and cherry tomatoes we had in the fridge.
Thank you!
I googled “cheap healthy nutritious vegan recipes” yesterday because after moving out of my parents house a few months ago, I got lazy cooking pasta everyday and justifying it bc it made life easier in the short term for grocery shopping. I wanted to get creative again with my cooking
After I found this recipe, I got excited because I love ramen but haven’t had it in awhile. I also wanted to incorporate fresh produce (like mushrooms and green onions) into my diet again. So I headed to Aldi’s, found baby Bella mushrooms for sale at the same price (1.69) 😍 and rushed home to cook this (with everything but spinach bc I don’t like spinach lol)
After making it, I was completely satisfied with the end result. It doesn’t take long to prepare, is easy for beginners to follow along the recipe, and it is delicious. A bonus is that my body feels good after eating it, which is a sign that what I put into my body was good for me (not 100% sure about the instant ramen lol but everything else was good)
The only thing I would fix about this recipe for myself is the instant ramen – love it, but it isn’t the healthiest from my research. I will look into substitutes for that for my own cooking in the future :)
Overall 5/5
Try Oceans Halo brand ramen. I got it at Kroger, but I’m sure other stores carry it. It’s the best!
This is on our regular meal rotation now! Can you recommend what we can do with the rest of the coconut milk? I hate to waste it!
Hi Nikki! A good recipe with coconut milk and mushrooms is mushroom stroganoff! I highly suggest using your leftover ingredients on mushroom stroganoff.
If the seasoning packet wasn’t used how is this over well over 3k grams of sodium?
I double-checked the ingredients that the nutrition calculator was pulling the data from and it was pulling from ramen *including* the seasoning packet. It also had selected a chili garlic paste that is more like gochujang, a very thick and salty paste. I recalculated using ramen without the seasoning and sriracha, which looks far more accurate.
Can you add an egg to this and when would you add ?
I would probably soft boil an egg separately and then just add it in before serving.
I’ve made this about 15 times now because it is just SO DANG delicious! And quick and easy too!! I love it and it’s now a staple meal in my house.
No spinach, but I had some kale. Cut it into ribbons and then just threw it in with the noodles so it wouldn’t be tough and chewy. Made an excellent substitute. Great recipe!
It’s not often that I find a recipe that is very easy, quick, tasty and healthy. Perfect comfort food when you are a bit under the weather.
Delicious and unique! We threw in some string beans from our garden, for crunch. Will make this again!
I don’t know if I have already commented on this recipe, but OMG it was so GOOD! My daughter is vegetarian so I am always looking for recipes that are easy and filling. Plus, I love ramen noodles. This was amazing and my daughter now has it on her “mom, can you make” list!
This is so delicious! I added a heaping tablespoon of chili garlic sauce, a dash of red pepper flakes, a soft boiled egg, lots of green onions and sesame seeds on top! Oh and lots of siracha :)
I can’t stop making this recipe! I’ve followed it exactly several times, but added a fried egg today and it was glorious!
So yummy! Did is as written the first time with a soft boiled egg added and it was delicious, but I definitely plan to use this as a base for future ramen meals!
I was skeptical of this one – no spices or anything? The reviews convinced me to give it a try and I was so happy to be wrong. Plus it was super quick and easy! I like to add a handful of frozen edamame with the noodles. The only other variation I made was to chop the mushrooms and spinach up smaller. This recipe is pretty rich as written and I might reduce the coconut milk a little in the future.