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.
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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!
So fast and easy to make. We like meat so I used chicken broth and left over chicken broth to use. Cut pieces of chicken to add some protein and mmmmmm. I have made this 3/4 times in the past month. So delish :)
Looking for more meatless meals and this was ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT!! Sauteed onion and garlic with the mushrooms. Added spicy chili sauce and green onion to the bottom of the bowl like another reviewer. No additional salt or pepper needed. I’m from New Orleans and love spicy food! Filling for meat-eaters. This was delicious and my sister loved it. A new staple in my rotation.
My boyfriend has cooked this recipe for me several times and I’m not complaining. We love the coconut milk.
Stellar recipe! My boyfriend isn’t usually into these vegan recipes and often has some meat on the side with them, but with the umami of the mushrooms and the fat from the coconut milk, we felt totally full and this was enough of a meal for him. He raved about it. Thanks!
We used regular button mushrooms because we couldn’t find baby bellas, but it still tasted great.
This is delicious! A yummy easy way to make ramen. Very creamy and oh so good!! Definitely making again.
So yummy!! Subtle coconut flavour! I added tofu and cabbage. But otherwise it was all the same. So incredible and easy! And best of all…cheap!! Thank you!!
This was great! The chili garlic paste is a must since there is no spiciness otherwise. I added some frozen corn kernels, cubed tofu, used bok Choy instead of spinach, and used sesame oil for extra flavor and it was awesome!! Easy and quick, but very satisfying. Husband loved it too, so I doubled the recipe and it made about three moderate sized servings.
I only had button mushrooms on hand, but a couple of shakes of fish sauce added extra umami to the broth. I also just had spicy Nongshim Shin ramen soup. It was delicious!
If you double the amount of mushrooms you still have odd amounts of coconut milk and broth. However, I add some sweet small bell peppers (about 4-6 small ones julienne). Then I use the full container of vegetable broth (32 oz) and coconut milk (13.6 oz) and it comes out great. I don’t mind keeping extra vegetable broth around, but an open can of coconut milk would definitely go to waste in my fridge. Btw, my 4 yo loves this.
I’m honestly shocked at how flavorful and delicious this is with such few ingredients! I added garlic to the mushrooms at the beginning but otherwise didn’t change a thing (except I doubled it!) and it was the perfect lunch. Approved by husband, too. I think the mushrooms add a great depth of flavor with very little effort.
Frozen corn is a great addition. I also added garlic powder because mushrooms and garlic are a natural match but I was feeling too lazy to mince the garlic. Chicken broth also works for non-vegans.
This was phenomenal, and will be a regular of mine now, like many of your recipes. It’s incredible how it is but i love spicy food so the second time i made it, i put a bitch of spicy chili sauce in the bottom of my bowl before adding the broth and noodles and it was still great!
I made this and it was excellent, and very easy! I used sesame oil I added crush red pepper, ginger, and garlic while cooking the mushrooms. I will be making this again. Thanks for sharing this creative, easy recipe!
Very good recipe. It is good as is, but would benefit from red chili flakes and possibly jalapeño added to the mushrooms. Otherwise- delicious!
Great recipe. Added purple onion to sauté with Cremona mushroom.
One question – is this good for next day and best way to re-heat, stove top?
Yes it’s great the next day! However we’d recommend storing the noodles separately so they don’t continue to absorb the liquid and get mushy.