With soft pasta noodles and juicy jackfruit swimming in a savoury broth, my vegan chicken noodle soup is all things comforting and cozy. This recipe is one of my favourites from my cookbook, Great Vegan Meals for the Carnivorous Family. I hope you love it as much as I do.
This recipe was originally published in my cookbook Great Vegan Meals for the Carnivorous Family and on this blog August 20, 2019. It was republished on 22 May, 2024 with step-by-step images, ingredient substitutions and new images.
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Why You'll Love This Vegan Noodle Soup
Reader Review. "I’ve made this soup many times for my family, we all just love it, teenagers and toddlers included. We make it with oyster mushrooms. They become so tender and buttery. Thanks for a simple and tasty recipe." (Sarah) ★★★★★
This vegan chicken noodle soup takes me back to my childhood. It is a proper trip down my culinary memory highway. It tastes like chicken soup, it looks like chicken soup but no chickens we harmed in the making of this slurp-worthy soup.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Jackfruit. To make this soup I first needed to decide on a chicken substitute. Jackfruit was an obvious choice but I've also made this soup for a fundraiser at my daughter's kindy using shredded oyster mushrooms.
Both are perfect substitutes for chicken - check out the mushrooms in action in an awesome Mushroom & Chickpea Tikka Masala.
Mirepoix. It's a fancy word for onion, carrot and celery to begin building depth and flavour.
Stock + aromatics. The stock is a no-brainer - vegetable. However getting the rich, deep flavours of traditional chicken noodle soup required a little playing but where there is a will there is a way. Tamari, nutritional yeast and white pepper came to the party to impart body and oomph. Add traditional herbs, a little lemon zest and soup is served.
Spaghetti. It's traditional, but you can also use a little elbow pasta or a smaller noodle.
Spinach: Because it's good for you! Eat your greens.
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1.
Firstly, you'll need to drain and rinse the jackfruit before cutting each piece in to thin slices from the longest point of the triangle. Transfer it to a bowl with the tamari, white pepper and nutritional yeast and stir to combine. Leave it to do its thing.
Step 2.
Add olive oil to a large soup pot or large saucepan and heat over low to medium heat. Next, add the garlic, onion, celery, carrot, bay leaves and thyme and sauté for 5 minutes. Now, add 2 tablespoons of water and cook, covered, for around 5 minutes or until the vegetables have softened.
Step 3.
Add the jackfruit and sauté for 3 minutes pulling it apart gently with a fork as you cook.
Step 4.
Now go ahead and add your stock + 2 cups of water and bring the whole thing up to a boil. Reduce the heat to low-ish and simmer for 20 minutes.
Step 5.
Add the lemon zest and broken spaghetti, cooking for another 7 minutes or until the pasta is just al dente.
Step 6.
Once you've done that, take out the bay leaves and thyme (no-one wants to bite down on those), stir in the baby spinach and season with a little salt to serve.
Variations
Simple and so delicious. This vegan chicken noodle soup is super authentic and comes together using ingredients most of us have in our kitchen.
FAQs
As is, no. But, you can use tamari sauce and gluten-free pasta to make it easily gluten-free.
More Vegan Soups to Try
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Make This Recipe
Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup
Equipment
- Soup Pot
Ingredients
- 400 grams young jackfruit 14-oz can
- 2 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1½ tablespoon olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 yellow onion finely diced
- 2 celery ribs (stalks) diced, roughly ¾ cup
- 1 carrot (medium) peeled and diced
- 2 bay leaves (fresh) or 1 dried bay leaf
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoon water
- 1 litre (1 quart) vegetable stock
- zest of half a lemon
- handful (100 grams) dried spaghetti (around 3 oz) broken up
- 1 cup finely sliced baby spinach
- a good pinch of salt
Instructions
- Drain and rinse the jackfruit and cut each piece in to thin slices from the longest point of the triangle. Put the sliced jackfruit in a bowl with the tamari, white pepper and nutritional yeast and stir to combine. Set aside.
- Add the olive oil to a large soup pot or saucepan and heat over low heat. Add the garlic, onion, celery, carrot, bay leaves and thyme and sauté for 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of water and cook, covered, for around 5 minutes or until the vegetables have softened.
- Add the jackfruit and sauté for 3 minutes pulling it apart gently with a fork as you cook.
- Add the 1L of stock + the 2 cups of water and bring the soup up to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add the lemon zest and the broken spaghetti, cooking for another 7 minutes or until just al dente - the spaghetti will continue cooking in the hot soup after you take it off the hob.
- Remove the bay leaves and thyme, stir in the baby spinach and season with salt (a good pinch should do it) to serve.
Sarah says
I’ve made this soup many times for my family, we all just love it, teenagers and toddlers included. We make it with oyster mushrooms. They become so tender and buttery. Thanks for a simple and tasty recipe.
Amanda says
Amazing! I am so happy you and your family enjoy this soup. It is one of my favourite recipes. So simple and yum. Thanks for reaching out, Sarah 🙂
Chrissie says
Making this now and noticing the recipe calls for 1 liter of liquid but the instructions only calls for 2 cups. Looks delish, can't wait to cozy up with a bowl of it and some crusty bread 🙂
Amanda says
Hiya Chrissie! Thanks for the feedback - I did have the stock and the water in the instructions but it wasn't very clear. Sorry about that. I have fixed it up now. It reads "1L of stock + 2 cups of water" so I hope that's clearer. I hope you enjoyed the soup and thanks again. Take care 🙂 A.
Mia says
Seems Delicious, But what about the "Chicken Noodles"? Are you sure these chicken noodles are 100% Vegan? If yes please do let me know then I would go and give it a try.
Amanda says
Hi Mia,
Thanks for your note. If you have a look at the recipe there are no "chicken noodles'. The noodles are simply dried spaghetti (egg-free) and the "chicken" part is shredded jackfruit or oyster mushrooms if you prefer. This is a plant-based version of the classic chicken noodle soup. All vegan, I promise. 😉 I hope you enjoy it. A
Braden says
The photos in this post are stunning! Thanks for sharing Amanda!
Amanda says
Thanks so much Braden!