Spicy Vegan Pho
Hey guys! I’ve been meaning to share this Spicy Vegan Pho recipe with you for awhile now, and this weekend, I made it happen.
It’s been COLD, windy, and grey this weekend, the man-creature contracted the flu last week, and while I escaped the flu, I DO seem to have caught some sort of mild stuffy-nosed cold. In between my snuffling, I decided needed to binge-watch Scrubs and eat chocolate make real food. And people, this vegan pho soup is HEALING. Rice noodles swimming in broth with a spicy kick soothe your soul while the mega amounts of vitamin C found in the yellow onions and the lime juice give your immune system some nutritional support. So here it is – Spicy Vegan Pho – it’s the Vietnamese equivalent of Chicken Noodle Soup. Easy, warm, comforting and bonus: The spicy food helps ease the sinus congestion symptoms.
If you wanna know how EASY this Spicy Vegan Pho soup is to make, I made it in about 45 minutes (and that was WITH all my photographing for this post) and it’s a one-pot recipe. If my stuffy-nosed, fatigued self can do it, I KNOW you can. Man-creature enjoyed watching me, shuffling around in my pajamas in the kitchen with my camera, standing on a chair, taking photos of soup.
Cold season is upon us, but that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with canned soup and crackers, so wash your hands, disinfect the counters (and door knobs, and faucets….) and then make this Spicy Vegan Pho, pronto!
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 2 yellow onion, sliced
- 4-5 cloves garlic, peeled & sliced
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 container shitaake mushrooms, sliced
- 6 stalks green onion, diced
- 1-2 jalapeno, sliced
- 1 knob ginger, Minced
- 2 stalks lemon grass, about 4 inches each, sliced
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 package brown rice noodles (I used gluten free brown rice spaghetti noodles)
- First, prep your ingredients. Slice up your onions, garlic, mushrooms, green onion, jalapeno, lemongrass. Mince ginger, juice lime.
- In a large stockpot, heat the extra virgin olive oil.
- Add yellow onion slices and cook until translucent.
- Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
- Turn down to a simmer and add garlic, ginger, lemongrass, lime juice, sliced mushrooms, and half of the jalapeño.
- Let simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add rice noodles and turn heat back up to boil for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to low.
- Add half the green onion and serve once noodles are soft.
- Garnish with remaining green onion and jalapeno and serve warm.
Spicy Vegan Pho Soup – Step by Step Instructions
NOTE about soup texture:
A quick aside before we get started about broth texture – Traditional Pho has a thin, mostly clear broth. This recipe produces a thicker, creamier broth, due to increasing the temperature near the end to cook the brown rice noodles. I enjoy the thickened broth – it soothed my throat and stomach, but if you want the thinner, lighter broth it’s easy peasy – either a) don’t increase the temperature when you add the rice noodles and let them just soften naturally in the warm broth (this may take longer, depending on your noodles), or, just cook up the rice noodles separately, then drain them in a colander and add them to your soup at the end just before serving.
First, prep your ingredients. Slice up your onions, garlic, mushrooms, green onion, jalapeno, lemongrass. Mince ginger, juice lime.
Lemongrass is an herb that comes in the form of a hard stalk.
A Quick Note about Lemon Grass:
Lemongrass has an an herby-citrusy flavor that is wonderful in lighter dishes like this Pho soup, but if you’re more used to seeing it in a fragrance in hand soaps and air fresheners, you’re not alone. You can find it in the fresh herb section at your local supermarket or asian grocery. It’s not leafy like basil, it’s a hard stalk. Don’t be intimidated if your lemongrass feels hards or crunchy – it will soften once you slice it up and add it to the soup.
Fun fact: onions are packed with Vitamin C. Since this Spicy Vegan Pho has 2 of them AND lime juice, you’re good to go.
In a large stockpot, heat the extra virgin olive oil. Add yellow onion slices and cook until translucent.
Mmmm…broth. Arguably the most scrumptious part of Spicy Vegan Pho
Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
Turn down to a simmer and add garlic, ginger, lemongrass, lime juice, sliced mushrooms, and half of the jalapeño.
Let simmer for 10 minutes.
Next, add rice noodles and turn heat back up to boil for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to low.
Add half the green onion. Once rice noodles are softened, the Spicy Vegan Pho is ready to serve.
Viola. You now have Spicy Vegan Pho Soup. How easy was that??
Garnish with remaining green onion and jalapeno and serve warm.