Classic Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup is made vegan by simply replacing the chicken with healthy, hearty potatoes. Much healthier and still filling and comforting. This soup still has that classic comfort flavor and feel without the excess sodium. A bowl of this will fill you up and satisfy you perfectly.
CLASSIC VEGAN CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
Today, I’m sharing a classic with you. I grew up eating chicken noodle soup…honestly, who didn’t? That warm bowl of comforting soup that was overly loaded with salt, was somehow so satisfying. Of course, looking at the can of ingredients now is pretty gross. I do remember how the chicken in the can was always really rubbery and I would end up spitting most of it out.
When I became an adult my mom started making a chicken noodle soup recipe that she picked up from a newspaper. It was creamy and slightly spicy and incredibly delicious. Come to find out, it was made using a cream of mushroom can of soup! What?! I thought it was homemade 100%. Lol. Regardless, it was really yummy and I always requested it.
Instead of using actual chicken or even vegan chicken, I used healthy whole food potatoes! They are just as comforting, filling and satisfying. I love comforting soups and stews so much and it’s something that I thrive at when being creative in the kitchen.
You can make this for 8 easy ingredients, so simple and nothing fancy and completely plant-based.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
Full recipe and details on recipe card below.
- Carrots
- Celery
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Red potatoes or yukon gold potatoes
- Veggie broth
- Vegan bouillon cubes (see recipe below for alternate version)
- Dried thyme
- Nutritional yeast
- Noodles: Use regular or gluten-free. I used gluten-free brown rice spiral noodles.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
Step 1: Add the water (or broth if using the alternate version) and bring to a boil. Add the bouillon cubes (or spices version) and whisk to ensure thoroughly mixed.
Step 2: Add all of the veggies except the pasta. Bring back to a boil and stir well. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes until veggies are becoming tender, but not fully.
Step 3: Add the pasta and raise the heat to medium-high and bring back to a boil. Cook about 10 minutes or until the pasta is tender to your liking. If using gluten-free, it will cook faster, so watch closely so that it doesn’t become mushy.
Step 4: Taste and add any more salt, if needed, as this can greatly vary depending on the broth or quality of bouillon cubes used. I like a good grind of freshly ground black pepper to serve on top.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH THIS SOUP?
A perfect thing to serve with a delicious healthy vegan chicken noodle soup is my Vegan Caesar salad and have a really satisfying, healthy dinner.
MORE VEGAN SOUP RECIPES
- Vegan Red Lentil Curry Soup
- Low-fat Smoky Broccoli Potato Soup
- Vegan Cauliflower Curry Soup
- Creamy Vegan Lentil Soup
- Hearty Veggie Potato Stew
- Lazy Day Vegan Tomato Bisque
- Smoky Sweet Potato Black-eyed Pea Soup
Classic Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 4 large long carrots, sliced (you will need 1 1/2 cups sliced, 170 g)
- 4 large long celery stalks (you will need 1 1/2 cups sliced, 200g)
- 1 packed cup (160g) finely diced yellow onion
- 3 X-large garlic cloves, minced (about a tablespoon-15g)
- 3 small red potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (you will need 2 1/2 cups, 370g)
- 6-7 cups water (or broth, see update under NOTES)
- 2 vegan bouillon cubes (see update under NOTES for alternate version!)
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt (depending on your bouillon cube, this may need adjustment)
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 cups (170g, 6 oz) gluten-free brown rice spiral noodles
- optional garnish: fresh parsley and fresh lemon juice
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Prepare all of your veggies, spices and set aside.
- Add only 6 cups of the water (or broth if using the updated version below) to a large pot and bring to a boil, add the bouillon cubes (or all the additional spices listed under the updated version below in place using the bouillon cubes), thyme, salt, nutritional yeast and whisk to dissolve.
- Immediately add all of the veggies (carrots, celery, onion, garlic and potatoes). You are adding all of the ingredients except the pasta. Stir well and bring back to a boil. Once boiling, immediately turn to the lowest heat, cover and simmer around 10 minutes until the carrots and potatoes are becoming tender, but not fully.
- Add the pasta and bring back to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, leave the lid off and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the pasta is tender, but still firm. If using gluten-free pasta, it will cook much faster, so keep an eye.
- Taste and add any more salt, if needed, as this can greatly vary depending on the broth or quality of bouillon cubes used. I like a good grind of freshly ground black pepper to serve on top. If you want it more brothy, add more broth and adjust seasonings as needed to account for extra broth.
- Garnish with freshly chopped parsley and a fresh squeeze of lemon juice right before serving.
Notes
The Vegan 8 is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my full disclosure policy here.
Made this yesterday and it’s GLORIOUS!
perfectly quenched my campbells chicken noodle craving.
I didn’t have red potatoes on hand so i used russets, it was great.
THANK YOU!
Yay Kelley! I’m so happy to hear you loved this so much, thank you so much for leaving feedback!
This is the most delicious, authentic “chikin” noodle soup I’ve ever had. I used the broth alternative and my entire family gobbled this up like it was their job. Then, my husband proceeded to ask me for the leftovers for his lunch today. Huge, huge win at this household!!
Thank you so very much Lisa for such amazing feedback! I’m so happy you loved this so much and what a compliment, thank you!!
This soup is better than any chicken noodle soup I’ve ever had in days past. It has THE best flavors and we ate it in one sitting. I love the potatoes w the noodles and that shot of pepper w parsley at the end. Incredible.
Thank you so much Estee!! I’m so happy y’all loved it, I really appreciate the feedback!
I’m making this soup for the first time tonight. I always saute my vegetables before adding the broth, but I see the recipe says to just add the vegetables to the broth. I’m guessing the sautéing is not necessary? I’m so excited to make this.
Hi Michelle! Yes, it’s not necessary. Since I don’t use oil, there’s no sauteeing of the veggies prior. They all get cooked during the whole process with the broth while the soup cooks. I do this with all my soups and it works perfectly 🙂 Enjoy!
Awesome! Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! It’s on the stove now!
Wonderful! I hope you enjoyed it!
This soup is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing such a delicious recipe. We are having it again tonight!
Thank you so much Michelle! I’m so happy to hear it was such a hit, thank you for the feedback and star rating!!
I have a pot of this sitting on my stove making this raw, wet day seem a lot better. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
You are so welcome! Let me know how you like it!
Do you think chickpeas would make a good addition to this soup for some extra protein?
Sure, why not!
I’m trying Cranberry beans to satisfy my “but where’s the protein?” And “soups aren’t hearty enough” husband ;). I will comment tonight after I make it how it turned out.
Classic vegan noodle soup, so, so delicious & so easy to make! Love it!
I’m so happy you loved it Nicole, thank you for the feedback!
Making this right now! Made a few adjustments to work with what was in the fridge/pantry but oh my god does it look good! Thanks for all the vegan inspiration, currently transitioning from vegetarian to vegan and it’s blogs like this that are making it so easy 😀
This soup looked so good in the picture and the ingredients made my mouth water, so believe it or not, but I doubled the recipy because my husband is what we as children called a “Suppen Kasper” or in english a “Soup Clown” ( best I can do) but he loves soup and makes a meal out of it. Although he is already 79 he still works a few hours a week and takes his soups with him. He loved this one, because it is so filling and so very tasty. So now, I have some more to eat for me, thank you so much what a treat
I’m eating this soup RIGHT NOW! It’s so good. I never would have thought to put potatoes in my vegan chicken noodle soup. I substituted the vegetable bouillon for Better Than Bouillon Vegan No-Chicken based flavor because that’s what I had on hand. Normally, the vegan “chicken” noodle soup I’ve made in the past always had a terrible after taste that evidently only I could taste because it didn’t bother my family so I was a little apprehensive to make this because of that but I’m glad I made it because there is no bitter aftertaste!! Excuse me while I go into a food-coma now because I’m so full!!!
Haha! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this so much Samantha, thank you so much for the amazing feedback!
I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided to make hot soup when it was 103° outside but I’m glad I did. This recipe was very good. I made a few small changes – my celery wasn’t good, so I threw in some asparagus instead and I did half thyme, half rosemary. I also didn’t have any worstechire, so I threw in a little tamari. Other than that, I followed the recipe that used broth and seasonings. I usually have to add extra salt into most dishes but this one didn’t need anything extra. My bf really liked it and has already decided that he wants me to make it again soon.
Hello!
This recipe looks great! I would love to make it but my stove is broken ☹️. Can I make this in a crockpot?
Thanks!
Sarah
Hi Sarah! I have not tried it but give it a shot and let me know how it turns out. I would probably cook it on high to make sure the liquid cooks down some. That is a guess though, as I rarely every use a crockpot. Let me know!
The soup turned out great in the crockpot! It took about 4 hours to cook – 2 hours on high, 2 hours on low. I will definitely use this recipe again!
So glad it turned out, thank you so much for the feedback Sarah!
All hail to you for including weights!!!
A suggestion if you don’t mind – even with smaller amounts it would be helpful to have weights. I suggest to all cooks to go on Amazon and get a scale capable of weighing small portions of grams. There are things where it really makes a difference, as in my example below, but even with your own creations or things you do often, there are some things that you may want to be able to exactly reproduce.
I recently made something where I used a different sized salt than the creat0r of the recipe had (no degree of coarseness was mentioned and I used a fine-grained one) and it made a difference. The recipe came out inedible and I had to make another quantity of it with no salt and mix the two, thankfully it was a recipe that lent itself to that.
This could also make a difference with flake or powdered nutritional yeast, and even between brands of bullion cubes in which case I’d mention the brand you used so if people really wanted to replicate your results, they could buy what you did.
Just my slightly ocd take on cooking and weights, I’m sure this is lovely either way but as long as you’re so awesome as to include weights I figure why not go all the way there : )
Hi Bett! So glad you enjoy the weight measurements. I actually do try to include weight measurements on even smaller amounts on newer recipes lately. For something like 1/8 tsp though or something that small, my scale does not measure something that low accurately. I figured people could at least figure those really small teaspoons out though. As far as salt, I always always specify fine sea salt in my recipes. I hope that helps! 🙂
Just commenting to say this is by far the best mock chicken noodle soup I’ve ever had. Love the idea
Of adding potatoes for that comfort food feel .. Usually people add like tofu and it’s just not as good .. I added 1/2 cup dried green peas (and 3/4 cup water) for a bit of protein and added and extra tbsp each of onion powder and Italian seasoning (I didn’t use the bouillon). Thank you so much for this recipe!!
Yay, so very happy this is the best one you’ve ever had! Thank you so much for the feedback Kayla!
Thanks so much for this recipe. It is a favorite at my home. 🙂
So glad to hear that Dawn, thank you!
I’m sorry if this is a sill question but to the following directions:
“Add the pasta and bring back to a boil. Once boiling, leave the lid off and turn the heat to medium-high and cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until the pasta is tender, but still firm.”
Does this mean bring heat setting up to bring back to a boil or keep it at lo? Also, is the lid on during that part?
Every time I make this , my liquid disintegrates quite a bit. Please help!
Hi Amber, that means to raise the heat so it comes back to a boil, otherwise it will take much longer if you keep it at low. As soon as it’s boiling, turn the heat down to a medium-high and cook until the pasta is tender. And no, you do not have the lid on, otherwise it will cook down the pasta water too quickly. If your liquid is cooking down too much, you may just need to lower the heat some or maybe you are using a type of pasta that absorbs more liquid. Maybe try using less pasta? Hope that helps!
My friend, who is a vegetarian, is sick with a cold this week, so I made this for her and she loved it! Thanks so much!
So happy to hear that Sarah and that was so sweet of you to make it for her! What a good friend you are! 🙂 Thank you for the feedback!
Tried this tonight and it was a huge success! Meateating husband loved it and we will be having this again in the future! Thank you!
Awesome! That is wonderful news, thank you so much for letting me know Claudia!
OMG!! This soup is the best I’ve ever made, including all the years I was non-vegan. Thank you so much for this recipe!
The only change I made was using a package of fresh Japanese Udon noodles in long strands that I cut up into more bite-size pieces. And since they were fresh it took even less time for the soup to head to the serving table.
My husband just had some teeth pulled and couldn’t eat solid food but he could eat this soup — and chicken noodle is his favorite (he’s not vegan). This reminded him not only of the “real” soup but also of the chicken & noodles dish he gets at a restaurant, usually served over biscuits. I think traces of flour left on the fresh noodles gave the soup a thicker, creamier texture reminiscient of an aromatic delicious gravy.
The flavor was out of this world. Not kidding — this is such a winner. Grateful! thank you Brandi!
Can I tell you that your comment just made my day?! So very happy you loved it so much, thank you so much for the amazing feedback! Sharing it on my FB page!
I have Banza shells (made from chickpeas) on hand.
I was wondering your thoughts on using shells instead of spiral noodles.
Thank you!!! 🙂
Hi Jessica, any shape pasta you want to use should work just fine. I have no idea about how chickpea pasta will taste or hold up though, so I can’t comment on that part. Let me know how it turns out!
It turned out absolutely amazing !
Seriously one of the best soups I’ve made, going to reccomend to everyone!
The chickpea pasta worked perfect!
I am afraid of how much sodium this recipe has but regardless I’m in love 🙂 !!
So awesome! So glad to hear that! The sodium isn’t as bad if you don’t use the bouillon cubes!
Girlfriend and I were sick yesterday and since we’re both vegetarians, I made this for us. I used bouillon cube and skipped yeast. Since I’m Bosnian, we had a box of what we call “tjestenina” from our last trip to Eastern Europe and I used that in place of the pasta. Soup came out AMAZING.
Thanks a bunch!
Brandi, this soup was awesome! My son and I both got colds so this was perfect!! I did omit the potatoes and added chick’n strips. This will be a go to recipe, cold or no cold. Thanks again! Faye
This is the BEST vegan noodle soup ever! I use nutritional yeast all the time – on popcorn, to make cheese sauces – but never thought of adding it to soup. It really adds to the flavor and even makes it look like chicken soup. This is my go-to recipe during “soup” season which is pretty often living in the north, and it really does the trick when I’m under the weather. I love marjoram so I add that and at the end of the recipe I add frozen peas. Thank you Brandi for this banner soup recipe 🙂
I’m sure this has come up before but didn’t see it as I was scrolling along. I make this soup a lot. We love it! Do you know if it would freeze well? I haven’t tried because I was afraid potatoes would turn to mush. Thanks!
I just made this for my husband who is so sick with a cold. Of course I needed to make a vegan version of the old chicken soup recipe, since I am vegan and he is trying it out now. This was perfect, he loved it! He said it was flavorful and was a keeper, that’s what he says when he really likes a recipe that I try. I used the water with the low sodium Not-Chick’n bouillon cubes, also added the nutritional yeast. I will definitely be making this often.
That is so wonderful to hear, thank you so much Kathy for the feedback!
Was searching for a vegan soup recipe last night as I’m currently getting over a cold, and I stumbled across this recipe. I had to substitute a few ingredients with what I had on hand, vegetable stock for bouillon, spring onion for a white onion, and omitted the thyme. It tasted so good! Packed with a lot of flavour, this soup helped my sore throat as well as making me feel full all night. I reluctantly dished some out to my family as well, and they all thought it was great too. Thanks for the recipe!
Awww, I’m so glad it was such a soothing healing soup for you Natalie and helped you! Thank you for the feedback! Just fyi, under Note I have listed the version without a bouillon cube 🙂
did it , it’s very beautiful recipe and easy for people who follow plant based diet .
thank you for your efforts .
Wonderful Sarah, so glad you enjoyed it!
This is exactly the soup I have been looking for since I stopped eating meat 27 years ago! My family loves it (even my meat eating husband). I’m actually a bit happy our spring weather disappeared and soup weather has returned! So yummy! (I didn’t have the bouillon cubes so I made the alternate version, but am picking up the cubes today to try that version). Thank you!!
Wow, that is so awesome to hear Amy! So happy everybody all loved it! Thank you very much for the feedback!
Hi there! I think I forgot to post about how incredible this soup is the last time I made it. My whole family loved it! I’m making it again as we speak, even though I live in the Texas heat! Yummy nums!! Thank you for sharing all your wonderful recipes with us!
Thank you so much Melissa, that is so wonderful to hear! Sorry I missed this comment before!!
I noticed someone put it in a crockpot….at what point would you suggest putting noodles in so they don’t go to mush? Thanks in advance, can’t wait to make it later in the crockpot (too hot for the stove)
Hi Brittany, I am not sure since I never use a crockpot, but my guess would be at the very end after everything else is cooked, add the pasta and let it cook until it’s tender. That’s my guess though!
I’m not vegan-Yet!-but one big reason is because the recipes I come across have ingredients too hard to find, expensive, or just plain “what is that?!” to a newbie. Once I found this website I was hooked. Three kids ages 5-14 plus a meat loving husband makes this transition and journey hard. Since I’ve been making your recipes the amount of “yes, please, more” has drastically increased. I’m sooo glad I came across your recipes. You have made my “what’s for dinner?” challenge manageable. This is for dinner tonight. Cannot wait to try it.
Oh, Amy, this made me SO happy to hear! It is so much appreciated to hear from readers who are having such great success with my recipes. I am so glad to hear you ALL are loving the recipes so much! Thank you a million for letting me know!
This recipe is sooo yummy!!! Even better than the original chicken recipe lol. I just went vegan about 2 weeks ago and I caught a really bad cold — wasn’t sure how I would last without chicken soup. This recipe definitely did the trick and it’s super easy?! I couldn’t ask for more!!! This will definitely become a staple in my house! Thank you for the recipe!!!!!
Yay! So glad you loved this Lizzie! So glad it helped to make you feel better too. Thank you so much for the feedback!
I would love to make this soup in my pressure cooker/slow cooker instead of on the stove, how would I go about doing that?
Hi Celena! I’m not sure since I never use a slow cooker, so I’m not able to give advice on that. But this soup is really fast, so it is very easy to just do on the stove.
How can you leave out the step of sweating vegetables and spices first in fat? Surely this is how you get the most flavour out of vegetables. All soups have this ‘base’ step.
Hi Kimberly! I find that step absolutely unnecessary in some recipes and since I don’t believe in cooking my food in oil, I don’t saute these in oil. Judging by the ton of reviews all above, seems everybody thinks the soup is amazing and flavorful. I used to cook in oil and find NO difference in how delicious my food turns out. It really depends on the recipe I’m doing though, as well, as some I will saute the veggies first. But with oil, it’s just unnecessary calories/fat. If you want to saute them first before adding the remainder broth etc., then go for it! I just am about quick and simple sometimes. This soup is so flavorful, nobody would ever know if they were sauteed first.
My oldest son & I have been eating Plant Based for almost 3 months now. I love your recipes! Can’t wait to try this one! Our favorite recipe of yours so far is the Nacho Cheese sauce from your Mexican Casserole. It is the bomb!!! My youngest son who is Autistic & is a total Carnivore, loved the nacho cheese! I look forward to all your recipe posts!
Hi Fritzi! Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m so happy to hear how much your son enjoyed the cheese sauce and I apologize for just seeing this comment! Thank you for your support!
This was such a big hit with everyone. My mom made traditional chicken noodle soup and I had my vegan one to eat for myself. My family loved adding some of this soup to their chicken because the broth is so flavorful. And I was so happy for my own tastebuds. :).
Really wonderful meal. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
So awesome to hear that Allie, thank you so much for the wonderful review! Glad everybody enjoyed it!
My husband and I just finished this delicious noodle soup for lunch. We ended up having seconds and fortunately there is enough left over for another meal. Thanks again for another great recipe.
So wonderful to hear Carmen, thank you so much! I’m happy you both enjoyed it! Would you mind star rating the recipe, it helps me out so much, thank you?!
Sorry I forgot to rate the soup. Thumbs up all the way.
Thank you so much Carmen, I really appreciate it!
We love this recipe and can’t wait to make it a lot over the colder months. We add extra thyme and some parsley for extra flavor. The worst part about this recipe is that we don’t have enough left overs!!! =) haha Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear how much you all loved this recipe Jennifer, thank you so much for the review! I usually sprinkle in extra thyme as well because I love it so much!
Hi! I made this soup last night and it was beyond delicious 🙂 the whole family loved it. Thank you! I love your recipes
Yay Elisa! So happy your whole family loved it! Thank you so much for the lovely review!
The flavor was spot on. For some reason,though, I lost most of my broth. Maybe I let it cook too long? I added an additional 4 cups of water to get the consistency right. Tasted so good. Thank you for another great recipe.
Hi! So glad you loved the flavor! Sounds like there was too much pasta added and it will soak up all the broth or like you mentioned, letting it cook too long or at too high of a heat will cook the broth away. If you want to make sure this doesn’t happen again, you could always cook the pasta separately and just add some to the finished soup, that way it won’t cook away 🙂
I liked this very much… and not a big soup fan! I played with it some….did it in the Instant Pot. Saute the vegetables for a bit, throw in the rest of the ingredients. Manual for 4 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes then quick release. Vegies were soft and the pasta al dente. It worked! Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear that Karen, thank you for sharing!