As soon as the weather gets chilly I know you'll be craving a big bowl of my vegan chicken noodle soup!
Chicken noodle soup is one of my favorite meals from childhood, and that still rings true today, at 41! I had to recreate the nostalgia and make a vegan chicken noodle soup that's just as hearty. In fact, this soup is BETTER than that of my childhood. Because it's homemade you can throw lotsa noods in it. Why have it any other way?!
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ingredients for vegan chicken noodle soup
The components are actually entirely the same but you have to swap out chicken stock and the chicken, obviously. Luckily there are plenty of suitable plant-based substitutes to use instead. You'll see in the recipe video that I used Tofurkey Slow Roasted Chicken pieces and in the past I've also made this recipe using Yves brand chicken. You could even hand-shred firm tofu or smoked tofu similar to what I did for the tortilla soup recipe. Don't forget... there's a printer-friendly version of the recipe available via a button in the recipe window!
- vegan chicken pieces
- yellow onion
- celery
- carrot
- garlic
- vegetable stock or vegan chicken-flavored stock
- fettuccine (or other noodles of your choice)
- parsley
- vegetable oil
- dried basil
- ground sage
- fresh thyme
- sea salt and ground pepper
how to make vegan chicken noodle soup
This whole recipe is done in one pot and it'll take ya 30 minutes to whip up. Like with all soup recipes, my advice is to get everything thing prepped and cut before you start cooking away on the stove!
In a stock pot heat vegetable oil and brown the vegan chicken pieces.
Add spices and continue to brown the vegan chicken.
Add chopped onion and sauté until softened and fragrant.
Add a little bit of the stock to degalze the bottom of the pot.
Add chopped celery and carrot, cooking for about 5 minutes.
Add minced garlic and sauté for about 2 minutes.
Add the vegetable stock and noodles and bring to a boil.
Cook until noodles are al dente and add parsley in the last 2 minutes of cooking.
substitutions
- vegan chicken - you can use tofu instead as I mentioned above. Break it up into chunks and then brown it exactly the way the recipe instructs. It might need longer to brown and get somewhat crispy. You could also leave this out entirely and just have a chicken-flavored noodle soup.
- pasta - I haven't made this with gluten-free pasta because I personally don't think it will be as good, but if you have to, I'm sure it will work. I just worry because rice pasta tend to get very starchy and goopy so it could mess with the base of the soup. I would try corn or quinoa pasta for a gluten-free option.
- vegetable stock - I almost always buy and use low-sodium stock in my recipes, and then I add salt to taste at the end. Especially when it comes to soup. I know tastes can vary on saltiness so there needs to be some room for you to do what you want. I also think using a vegan chicken-flavored bouillon paste or cubes would be better in this recipe if you can get your hands on the product. I use that every time I make this recipe now, but at the time of developing it they weren't as readily available.
storage
Because this soup has noodles in it, they will soak up more liquid. You'll notice leftover soup has softer noodles and less broth. I usually reheat it in a pot with a little more water and salt to taste. I only add a little bit of water, not so much that it dilutes the flavor too much. I doubt you'll have this for more then a couple days, but you can freeze leftovers as well.
vegan chicken noodle soup
Ingredients
- 170 g meatless chicken strips (approximately 2 cups)
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon fresh thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried sage
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 C diced yellow onion
- 8 C low-sodium vegetable stock
- 1 C diced carrot
- 1 C diced celery
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 200 g fettuccine
- ¼ C fresh parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
- Pull apart the meatless chicken strips with your hands to make smaller pieces that look shredded.
- In a large pot heat oil over medium heat, add meatless chicken strips and brown for about 1 minute.
- Add the basil, thyme, sage, sea salt, and ground black pepper and continue browning the strips for another 5 minutes.
- Add onion and sauté for another 2 minutes, allowing them to soften and sweat, stirring occasionally.
- At this point, add a little bit of low-sodium vegetable stock to lift up the brown bits off the bottom of the pot. Then stir in celery and carrots and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Then add minced garlic and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add all the vegetable stock and noodles (you can use any pasta of your choice, which may vary the cook time, and optionally you can break the long fettuccine noodles in half to fit in the pot) and stir to combine.
- Cover the pot with a lid, lower the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the noodles are tender and cooked through.
- In the last 2 minutes of cooking, add in parsley.
Haley
I made this yesterday and finished it by myself in under 24 hours. It's amazing. Great recipe to make for non-vegans as well. I plan on making it for my family when I see them over the holiday's! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Alanna Girard
Please make this soup it will change your life.
Kayla Strother
How many servings does this recipe make?
KC
At the top it said that it makes 6-8 servings. 🙂
Clarina
Now this is hell of a soup! I used root celery, because it was all I could find and my "chicken" feel apart into tiny tiny pieces, so I ended up having a chicken mince soup 😀 Still delicious.
plasterer bristol
This recipe went down a treat with the family. Tastes great. Thanks for sharing.
Simon
Jessica DeJesus
My husband and I became vegetarians about 6 months ago, and we are trying now to go fully vegan (today is the first day!) and I have had this recipe on my list for a few months now and I made it today for the first time. Holy guacamole it is AMAAAAAAZING! My husband and I both agreed it is the best thing we've eaten since becoming vegetarian and hopefully vegan. Just wanted to say thanks for your guys awesome blog and amazing recipes, and for helping people like me and my husband better ourselves!
Much love,
Jess and Scott
Lauren Toyota
awww hey Jess and Scott! That's fantastic. So happy you like the recipe! Hope you try more too and congrats on going VEGAN <3
michelle
this is what schools need to teach I heard the home economics classes are going away. besides that items like this . we need more of this in schools less processed foods . I put my mother and I on a mostly vegetables diet wouldn't believe the deference . still some meats but not as much maybe once a month . the change is just about an eye opener. thank you for the recipe's I could had never done it with out them . no more bloating , her cholesterol is normal her weight is going steady . I myself have noticed a lot also . no more bloating or swelling . thank you so much very much
fincayra
Does anybody know if tofu would be a good substitute for vegan chicken? Because I can't find something that resembles vegan chicken in Germany and I would really like to try this soup.
Amoret
I made it without the chicken and it was still delightful!!
Travis
I always use tofu in this recipe. I cut it into small pieces then season it with salt and pepper then bake it in the oven for 10-12 minutes at 425. Then I just throw it into the soup. It’s great.
Stephanie
I have better than bouillon vegan chicken broth, would that be a good substitute instead of the vegetable broth or should I pick up vegetable broth?
Lauren Toyota
Ya that would work great. I haven't tried it but I imagine it would taste EVEN more like chicken noodle soup! I still can't find the vegan version at any grocery store :/
Holly Emery
I’ve just finished eating this. It’s delicious! I’ve batched a lot to have for my lunches, but I’ve already eaten two bowl fulls!
Jaime
Hi just wondering, what brand of "chicken" strips do you use? I tried garden and I don't really like them. Thanks so much I love watching you guys on YouTube and I have learned so much from you
Lauren Toyota
I used tofurkey slow roasted chicken pieces. Theres a brand by Yves that would work as well. I don't believe Gardein makes an a chicken piece that's not breaded? Unless you used the thawed scallopini chicken "breasts" - it's all pretty much the same formula though!
Sal
Delicious! It really hits the spot for some chicken noodle soup. I've made it like 100 times. Thanks for sharing!
Em
Planning on making a big batch of this soon. I have one semester of classes left and tend to get sick. I was just wondering, would I be able to freeze the noodles along with the soup?
Alex
I made this soup today and it was sooooooo delicious! Only problem is that a few hours later and all of the liquid has been absorbed? 🙁 not sure what to do with it now cos I have so much left. Should I just add more stock when it comes to eating another portion?
Jess
Should help if you keep your noodles and soup separate until you're ready to eat. If you have leftovers continue keeping them separate.
Lauren
This soup is incredible! It is -23 here and I wanted a warm soup for dinner. I made it with tofurky seasoned strips and it was amazing! I can't wait to have the leftovers tomorrow for lunch. 🙂
Fabi
The typed recipe on here at the end says to lower the temp after the noodles are added, but on the video you say to turn up the heat, so I was wondering which is it? About to make the recipe!
Chanea
Making this night for amily. We are geeked. Perfect for this snowy day
Chase
Love love love this recipe! I don't have many tofurky products around me and used gardein chickn scallopini and it tasted delicious 🙂 perfect for bringing to work for lunch! 😋
Melody
made tonight - GREAT recipe! and easy! I will be making this again this winter for sure.
Nannette
Made this recipe yesterday (doubled). Had 1/2 left. Noodles absorbed liquid so I added a pat of butter, heated in microwave was totally delicious both ways.
Josephine
THIS WAS AMAZING!!!! and just in time for flu season
Julie
Thank You for sharing this recipe! It is simply the best soup ever! It's comfort in a mug! My whole family loves this ( kids 11/2and 5 years old)! So good!
Jess
I was wondering why you are so happy at the start of 2017. Then you said you're in Canada. You have Justin and we're struck with Trump. Waaaaaah!! ),:
Kate
I'm planning on making this with some firm tofu I have, I don't have any "chicken" strips, any tips on how to prepare tofu for soup?
Christine Lee
Stick a whole container tofu in the freezer, the day before you're going to make it, put it in the refrigerator the night before to thaw it, and at lunchtime, puncture the package to get rid of the liquid. It will release a ton of the tofu juices and be spongey, and chewy/meaty in texture.. like chicken! Pull it apart into strips and then saute on a pan to get it browned. Look up freezing tofu, it's awesome.
Arugula
Fantastic as Hot for Food recipes always are! I've made this several times and it is incredible! I use gardein chik'n strips when I make it.
Christine Lee
This is so damn good, Lauren! I thawed Gardein's chicken scallopini and cut it into bite size pieces. Perfect.
Shauna Campbell
How many cups of chicken do you get out of 1 box of the Tofurky chicken? Trying to figure out how many boxes to order!
Lauren Toyota
2 is good!
Christina Cole
Made it for my non-veg roommate and he loved it! Said it was "somehow more chicken soup than actual chicken soup". My other roommate also approved and asked for it to be added to the rotation. Overall a delicious success and I would recommend to others to make it.
Note: I substituted tofu for the chik'un, fresh sage for dried, and dried thyme for fresh and added a diced potato and it still came out phenomenal.
Audrey
Best easy vegan soup!
Kristin
Best vegan soup!
Jessica Solano
Whenever I make this, my family goes nuts over this soup. It’s so flavorful and amazing. I use the quorn chicken fillets because I’m vegetarian, and swap the the fettuccine noodles for egg noodles and it whips up in about 20 mins! One of my favorite soups, so so flavorful and amazing!
Lauren Toyota
YAAAY!