Published: · by Julia Mueller · Updated: · This post may contain affiliate links.
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The first time I went out to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant with my family, I was very unsure of what to expect. I had the misconception that the meal would be your run-of-the mill greasy, heavy food, requiring a great deal of extra sweat time at the gym. I was surprised and delighted when I ordered pho soup and was presented with the largest bowl of fresh and flavorful ingredients I had ever happened upon in public.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, pho (pronounced ‘fuh’) soup is a classic Vietnamese dish.A typical pho includes rice noodles in broth, a combination of raw and sautéed vegetables, fresh herbs, and rare sliced steak. Since we’re making this meal meatless, we left out the steak and added in meaty sautéed shiitake mushrooms. I sautéed the shiitakes in butter and hoisin sauce, but you can easily switch out the hoisin for soy sauce or liquid aminos.
The broth for a traditional pho usually involves a whole lot of spices and a whole lot of simmering--sometimes for up to 3 hours if you're making the stock yourself! I wanted to make a pho that was doable for a weeknight meal, so I simplified things by making a quick ginger broth instead. I usually serve my pho with store-bought hoisin sauce and chili garlic sauce so that people can mix and match sweet and spicy flavors as desired.
You can easily add your favorite vegetables to this 30-Minute Vegetarian Pho too. Since it is spring time, you can throw in asparagus, snow peas, fennel, or sliced radishes; for summer, try thinly sliced zucchini or yellow squash or green beans. Tofu, seitan, or cooked slices of tempeh can be added to up the protein in this recipe too. Pho is highly customizable, so everyone can assemble their own bowls with their favorite add-ins. Who doesn't love that kind of dinner?!
Recipe
30-Minute Vegetarian Pho
A streamlined version of pho with a simple ginger broth base and shiitake mushrooms to make it meatless!
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Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes minutes
Course: Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine: American, Vietnamese
Diet: Vegetarian
Keyword: 30-Minute Vegetarian Pho, pho recipe, Vegetarian Pho
Servings: 4 to 6 servings
Calories: 119kcal
Author: Oh My Veggies
Ingredients
- 64 ounces homemade or low-sodium vegetable broth
- 6 green onions thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger peeled and grated
- Salt to taste
- 1 ½ tbsp butter
- 6 ounce shiitake mushrooms ough stems removed
- 1 ½ tsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 ounces rice noodles cooked according to package instructions
- 8 ounces bean sprouts
- 2 jalapeño peppers thinly sliced
For serving
- Fresh cilantro, basil, lime wedges, hoisin sauce, and chili garlic sauce or sriracha
US Customary - Metric
Instructions
In a large pot, combine the vegetable broth, green onion, grated ginger, and salt. Bring to a full boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
While the broth is cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté for about 6 minutes, or until tender, stirring frequently.
Stir in the hoisin and sesame oil and cook until the sauce thickens and coats the mushrooms, about 1 minute more. Remove from heat.
Divide the rice noodles between four to six large bowls, then fill each bowl with the ginger broth. Add bean sprouts, sliced jalapeños, shiitake mushrooms, fresh basil, and cilantro and serve with lime wedges, hoisin, and chili garlic sauce.
Nutrition
Calories: 119kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 5gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 54mgPotassium: 300mgFiber: 5gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 276IUVitamin C: 19mgCalcium: 31mgIron: 1mg
Craving more veg-friendly recipes? Shop our collection of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, including our new Vegan Thanksgiving and Vegan Christmas cookbooks!
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About Julia Mueller
Julia Mueller writes the food blog, The Roasted Root, and is the author of Delicious Probiotic Drinks and Let Them Eat Kale!. A Lake Tahoe native, Julia loves to play outdoors, and enjoys developing recipes that are nutrient-dense and approachable to make any night of the week.
Reader Interactions
Comments
Ann says
Sounds just as delicious as it looks! I will try, since all my children are in collage Ive been adventurous in cooking.
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Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Health says
pinned!! I cant wait to try the vegetarian version already...
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Julia Mueller says
Thanks for sharing, Dixya! Let us know when you try it 🙂
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dishing up the dirt says
yum! I love pho and this is definitely happening at our house very soon. Lovely recipe Julia!
Julia Mueller says
Wahoooo!! Thanks, Andrea! I bet you and Taylor would adore the recipe 🙂
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Jacki @ Two Forks One Love says
My first attempt at homemade pho was a giant flop and it took forever to make. I might have to try this one -- it sounds delicious and I love that it's so fast!
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Julia Mueller says
Yes, yes, yes! Give it a go! It's so easy, tasty, and fast - a perfect pho fix without the huge time investment 😀 Thanks, Jacki!
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Polly @ Tasty Food Project says
Pho is one of my favorite dishes ever! I never tried a vegetarian version but this looks delicious!
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Julia Mueller says
You and me both, Polly! Hope you try it out!
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Nicky @ Little Family Adventure says
I love Pho but rarely make it at home because of the time it takes to make the broth. I can't wait to try this recipe. Thanks
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Julia Mueller says
Yeeeeaah! This 30-minute recipe's definitely your time saving solution!
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Meg van der Kruik says
This is just stunning! Love love love!
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Julia Mueller says
Awwww, thanks Meg!! Yooooou'd love it! 🙂
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Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
I love pho, what a great weeknight recipe!
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Julia Mueller says
Thanks, Laura! It's amazing how quick this recipe comes together. So simple and tasty!
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Hannah @ CleanEatingVeggieGirl says
I have been wanting to see what all of the hype is about when it comes to pho for awhile now, but have only ever seen meat versions. Thanks so much for sharing this veggie version 🙂
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Julia Mueller says
You got it, Hannah! Pho's lots of phun <- sorry 😉
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Connie at Bird and Seed says
Mmm, a nice bowl of Pho sounds awesome right now. The basil and cilantro combo have always been a fave of mine. Pacific Foods makes a vegetarian Pho broth that I found to be pretty good and had appropriate fennel and star anise flavor going on... if one was planning on buying broth anyways, this one is worth a try.
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Julia Mueller says
I love a lot of fresh herbs in pho and feel you can't go wrong with an easy peasy recipe like this. Enjoy!
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ami@naivecookcooks says
Such a delicious looking recipe!!
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Julia Mueller says
Thank you, Ami!
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Courtney @ The Fig Tree says
This looks delicious Julia! My sister-in-law was in Vietnam last year and kept telling me how delicious the Pho was. Every time I've gone to a Vietnamese restaurant in hopes of trying Pho, it always has meat and fish sauce. I'm so excited to make this at home and finally try pho! Great recipe for a quick week night meal 🙂
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Julia Mueller says
I'm envious of your sister-in-law - It would be amazing to travel to Vietnam and enjoy authentic pho! Happy to hear you're bringing the pho takeout in! 😀
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The Gilded Sprout says
Fantastic recipe! I am always on the lookout for vegetarian pho. It is so comforting!
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Julia Mueller says
I'm a big fan too. I love how filling it is, yet how healthful it is at the same time. I'm always so pleased with meals that are big in flavor and have lots of variety. Hope you enjoy!
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Grace @ FoodFitnessFreshAir says
Those glistening shiitakes - beautiful. Love how impressively quick this is.
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Julia Mueller says
I have no qualms about making this recipe over and over and over. It's so fun, easy and quick!! Have a great weekend, Grace!
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The Green Recipes says
Oh...I wish this bowl of Pho appeared in front of me right away. It looks really really delicious!!
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Julia Mueller says
Yeeeeeah! You and me both! I can always go for a steamy bowl of pho. Let us know if you give 'er a go!
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Joanne says
I made my first veg pho this past year and it has got me hooked! Your ginger broth sounds much more lovely than the five-spice-based broth I made. Want to slurp up this bowl so bad!
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Julia Mueller says
So glad you like the idea, Joanne! A 5-spice broth sounds brilliant too - I'll have to try that out next time I make pho 🙂
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Melissa @ Nourish By Melissa says
I actually went out for chinese and had vegetarian pho last week, which was delicious! Thanks for sharing this recipe so I can now recreate it at home 🙂
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Julia Mueller says
Isn't veggie pho the best?! Let us know if you try out the recipe and I hope you had a great weekend!
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Tara says
Fantastic! I made this tonight and both the hubby & I really enjoyed it!
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Julia Mueller says
I'm so happy to hear it, Tara!! There's nothing like a huge bowl of noodles in broth with sauteed shiitakes. It's all about the small things in life, right? Thanks for trying out the recipe and for giving us your feedback! 😀
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Sam smlth says
Real Pho broth is actually made with bone marrow!
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Kiersten Frase says
We know that. This is a vegetarian food blog--do you really think we're going to make the broth with bones? If you're looking for an authentic pho recipe, there are hundreds of them on other websites.
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Emily says
I have been looking for a recipe like this one for a while, cannot wait to try it! Thank you for all of the beautiful recipes 🙂
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Julia Mueller says
Awesome, Emily! I'm so glad you're excited to try the pho. Let us know what you think and thanks so much for your kind compliment!!
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Jessica says
This was absolutely delish! My 4 year old scarfed it down! This was the very first recipe I found and made on this site and it was a huge success. We are trying to go more vegetarian and recipes like this make it easy for a family that is used to eating meat every night. Highly recommend!
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Delea says
I made this last night. I don't like mushrooms so I just drizzles some oil and hoisin into the broth as it was boiling. To compensate I added raw chopped carrots and broccoli when I poured the broth over the noodles (I like the veg crispy like they are in the Vietnamese restaurant near my house). I found my noodles didn't soften enough so I microwaved it for one minute and it was perfect! I kept my noodles, broth and veggies separate for lunch so it wouldnt go soggy and it is delicious today too! Great recipe!
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Barbara says
Made this last night. It was delicious. I had some Vietnamese Brown Rice Noodles with Seaweed on hand and used them. My 13 yr old loved it!
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Blaie says
I made this tonight, it was so easy and delicious
Thank you
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Tiff says
I'm Vietnamese & I grew up on my mom's homemade pho ga (chicken). It's the best pho ga on the face of this planet & I've tried my own hand at making vegetarian pho a few times (all delicious!). While this recipe is gorgeous & looks delicious, it's not really pho. The absence of the essential pho spices (fennel, cinnamon, coriander seeds, star anise) makes this recipe more of a delicious shiitake mushroom noodle soup. Pho also needs an entire yellow onion that has been grilled & kept in the broth. You could pop that into the oven at 425 with some light oil for 15 minutes & then plop it into the soup to additional sweetness. Hoisin sauce & Sriracha (not chili garlic sauce) are the common condiments one uses for pho. The herbs are on point though! I applaud your photography & recipe, but you gotta add those spices in it to call it pho! Vietnamese moms all over would roll their eyes if they couldn't taste or smell the spices of pho in a dish you call pho. I'm really not trying to be contrarian - it's the soup of my peoples, gotta get them spices down, girl!
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