Is Ramen Vegan? Usually Not — But Ours Is, and Here's How
Intro
No — traditional ramen is almost never vegan.
Most ramen broth is built on pork bones, chicken, or fish — and even the "vegetable" ones often hide dashi made from bonito or sardines. The noodles sometimes contain egg. The toppings usually include meat.
For vegan travelers, ramen is one of the hardest dishes to eat safely in Japan. Which is a shame, because it might be the dish you most want to try.
So we set out to fix that. This is how we make a vegan ramen that even meat-eaters tell us is the best they have had in Japan.
(Note: We teach this exact ramen in our 100% plant-based cooking class in Arashiyama, Kyoto — more on that at the end.)
Why most ramen isn't vegan
Ramen is built in layers, and almost every layer traditionally contains animal products.
The broth is usually made from pork bones (tonkotsu), chicken, or fish. Even lighter shoyu and shio broths are typically built on a dashi of katsuobushi (dried bonito) or niboshi (dried sardines). The tare (seasoning base) can contain fish or animal extracts. The noodles sometimes include egg. And the classic toppings — chashu pork, soft-boiled egg, niboshi — are animal-based.
A bowl of ramen that looks simple can have animal ingredients in four or five different places. This is why "is the broth vegetarian?" is rarely enough to ask.
How we build a vegan ramen broth that actually tastes like ramen
The secret is not one ingredient. It is layering.
We use three different vegan dashi, combined in a balance we refined over several months of testing. Each one brings something the others cannot, and together they create an umami far greater than the sum of its parts:
・A vegetable dashi (chickpeas, cabbage, onion, carrot)
・A mushroom and tomato dashi (shiitake, mushroom, enoki, cherry tomato)
・A kombu and dried shiitake dashi (Rausu kombu, dried donko shiitake)
To this we add a kaeshi — a seasoning base of soy sauce, mirin, and beet sugar — and a finishing oil, either scallion-ginger or garlic, depending on taste.
Each dashi, plus kaeshi, plus oil — that is the foundation of our vegan ramen. For our shoyu broth, we layer the vegetable and mushroom-tomato dashi. For our miso broth, we layer the kombu-shiitake and vegetable dashi.
We deliberately choose ingredients that travelers can find back home. We cannot cover every country, but the principle — layering dashi to multiply umami — works in any kitchen.
Why we refuse to make "good enough" vegan food
When we were first developing this ramen, someone we know — not vegan themselves, but familiar with vegan food — told us they often found plant-based dishes a little disappointing in flavor, and suggested we needn't worry too much about taste.
That comment stayed with me, but not in the way they meant it. It made me want to create a ramen that was genuinely delicious — not "good for vegan food," just good.
That belief runs through everything we cook. We choose each basic seasoning with care — traditional Kyoto ingredients, certified organic soy sauce and sugar. We believe your body is made from what you choose to eat, so we want to serve food that is good for you, and that we would happily eat ourselves.
It does not stop at flavor. We care about how each dish looks on the plate, and about serving hot food genuinely hot — which means timing everything to the moment it is ready. That kind of attention is only possible because it is just the two of us, cooking for one group at a time.
What this means for vegan travelers
If you want to eat ramen in Japan as a vegan, do not assume any bowl is safe unless it is clearly labeled vegan. Specialized vegan ramen shops exist in larger cities, but they are still rare.
The most reliable way to enjoy truly vegan ramen — and to understand how it is built — is to make it yourself. Once you understand the idea of layering dashi, you can recreate it long after your trip ends.
Call to action
Come make it with us.
In our vegan cooking class in Arashiyama, Kyoto, you will build this ramen broth from scratch — all three dashi, the kaeshi, the finishing oil — and leave with the recipe so you can make it at home.
100% plant-based and dashi-free. One group per session. Every ingredient explained.
Join Our Vegan Cooking Class in Kyoto →