Best Vegan Tom Yum Soup ? A bright, flavorful hot & sour Thai soup abundant with fresh veggies & healthy ingredients. Your taste buds are going to say “yum yum” with this delish & nutrish plant-based soup! Oil-free and gluten-free.
About once or twice a month, I crave for a bowl of vegan tom yum soup.
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There is just something about the intense citrusy tartness and flavors of lemongrass, fresh lime, spicy chiles, and colorful veggies that I adore.
The first time I tried tom yum soup was at a small Thai restaurant in North Hollywood. I had ordered won ton soup and my husband decided to try something new, which of course, I had to sample. Let’s just say, his tom yum won over my won ton. We were both hooked, immediately.
As soon as we got back home, he went on a quest to make his own tom yum soup. The challenge was, many of the key ingredients weren’t items we kept on hand. In fact, some we hadn’t ever heard of, like kaffir lime or galangal. After doing a bit of research, he visited a local Asian market and found the ingredients he needed. A couple hours later, we had a big pot of the best vegan tom yum soup!
What is Tom Yum Soup?
According to Wikipedia, tom yum or tom yam is a type of hot and sour Thai soup, usually cooked with shrimp (prawn). Tom yum has its origin in Thailand.
The words “tom yam” are derived from two Thai words. Tom refers to the boiling process, while yam refers to a Thai spicy and sour salad. Tom yum is characterised by its distinct hot and sour flavours, with fragrant spices and herbs generously used in the broth. The soup is also made with fresh ingredients such as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lime juice, fish sauce, and crushed red chili peppers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_yum
With our vegan tom yum soup recipe, we omitted all the animal-derived ingredients. It’s so much better for us, the animals and the planet!
How to Make Vegan Tom Yum Soup
The first thing you should know is this soup is easy to prepare. Don’t let the exotic-sounding ingredients scare you. Chances are, you’ve seen most of these in your grocery store and didn’t know what they were! You should be able to find these ingredients at most Asian markets, organic produce stores or at many local supermarkets.
? Not to worry if you can’t locate an ingredient – you can substitute it with something similar, such as:
- Galangal root – use ginger root
- Cilantro – use dried coriander
- Thai Chiles – use Chile de arbol (use less – they’re HOT) or red pepper flakes
- Kaffir lime leaves – use dried/powdered Kaffir lime leaves
?Here are the basic veggies/ingredients we like to use in this soup:
- Bok choy
- Carrots
- Mushrooms
- Tomatoes
- Onion
- Lemongrass
- Limes
- Onion
- Tofu
? There are lots of other great veggies/ingredients you can add to this soup! Go for it! Be creative!
- Baby corn
- Squash
- Water chestnuts
- Bean sprouts
- Broccoli florets
- Snow peas
- Green beans
- Rice noodles
- Steamed rice
For the batch of tom yum soup we made for this post, we didn’t have tomatoes on hand, but we did have some mini squash, so we added those to the soup. They were delicious! Don’t hesitate to add or switch out veggies in your ingredients. You really can’t go wrong.
See our recipe below for all the details!
Finely dice onion & garlic 
Saut? onions & garlic 
Add broth & water 
Combine lime zest & vinegar 
Add to broth 
Rinse lemongrass & peppers 
Cut into strips 
Place with lime leaves/seasonings on cheesecloth 
Bundle into a sachet with string 
Place sachet in broth 
Rinse bok choy 
Cut in half lengthwise 
Peel carrots 
Slice carrots 
Add bok choy & carrots to broth 
Rinse mushrooms 
Add mushrooms to broth 
Rinse squash 
Roughly chop squash 
Add to broth 
Drain and cube tofu 
Add to broth 
Remove sachet 
Enjoy!
yum yum tom yum!
If you enjoyed this recipe, check out these other favorite vegan soups!
very vegan ? very good
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Best Vegan Tom Yum Soup
Equipment
- 7 qt or larger soup pot
- Long spoon
- Cheese cloth or sachet bag
Ingredients
- 1/2 onion red or yellow, diced
- 6 cloves garlic diced
- 32 oz vegetable broth
- 6 cups water filtered
- 3 whole limes juiced
- 1 tbsp lime zest
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cuo cilantro fresh, chopped or 1 tsp dried coriander
- 4-5 stalks lemongrass cut in 3" lengths
- 10-12 whole Thai chiles sliced and de-seeded
- 1 piece Galangal root
- 6 – 8 leaves Kaffir lime or 1 tbsp dried Kaffir lime leaves
- 1 tbsp agave nectar or brown sugar – optional
- 1 package tofu extra firm
- 8 – 12 whole baby bok choy thoroughly rinsed, quartered lengthwise, then cut 1/2
- 4 – 6 whole carrots peeled & sliced
- 1 cup mushrooms your choice
- 2 cups tomatoes fresh, firm tomatoes cubed into 1" – 2" pieces
- salt or pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place 7 qt. (or larger) soup pot over medium-high heat.
- Add onions and a small amount of water. Saut? until transparent.
- Add garlic, stir frequently making sure not to burn.
- Add vegetable broth and rest of water.
- Add lime juice and zest. Stir to combine.
- Add vinegar.
- Create sachet by placing cilantro, lemongrass, chiles, galangal root (or ginger), Kaffir lime leaves (or powder), in a food-safe sachet bag or, bundle in a piece of cheesecloth tied with string.
- Place sachet into broth and bring to a boil.
Tom Yum Veggies Tofu
- Drain tofu and cube into 1" pieces.
- Thoroughly wash and rinse bok choy. Slice in quarters lengthwise, then cut pieces in half.
- Wash & peel carrots, cut into bite-size pieces.
- Thoroughly wash and rinse mushrooms. Small mushrooms can be kept whole, larger mushrooms should be sliced.
- Cut tomatoes, and other optional veggies into large bite-size pieces.
- Add all to broth. Lower heat and simmer for at least 45 minutes – 1 hr.
- Remove sachet with tongs, squeezing out the excess liquid & flavor into the soup. Discard.
- Add extra agave/sugar or salt and pepper to taste, as desired.
- Serve soup hot, garnish with fresh cilantro.
Notes
- Galangal root – use ginger root
- Cilantro – use dried coriander
- Thai Chiles – use Chile de arbol (use less – they’re HOT) or red pepper flakes
- Kaffir lime leaves – use dried/powdered Kaffir lime leaves
- Baby corn
- Water chestnuts?
- Bean sprouts
- Broccoli florets
- Snow peas
- Green beans
- Rice noodles
- Steamed rice