This Vegan Tom Yum soup is spicy, tangy, and loaded with Vitamin C. It is a Thai broth-based soup that can be customized to your taste and comes together in just 10 minutes of your prep time. A low carb, low-calorie soothing soup for cold & flu season.
This soup makes a great side to my Vegan Thai Red Curry, Pineapple Fried Rice, and Green Thai Curry.
Do you love the spicy welcome soup you get at the Thai restaurant? It is the Tom Yum Soup! But did you know most restaurants will add fish sauce to it? The soup isn’t Vegan anymore if they do! I love making tom yum soup at home especially in fall & winter. Fall marks the beginning of the allergy season and continues until spring.
I am very susceptible to runny nose, cough, and headache in cold weather. Sipping on this soup is very comforting. Tom yum soup won’t cure a cold but it will definitely soothe your body. It is the easiest dump and cook soup that I make with just 10 minutes of my active time.
Low carb, low-calorie soup for a win!!
Tom Yum soup is indeed a guilt-free soup. It is not heavy on carbs or fat. No cream, butter, or milk are required to make this soup. It tastes amazing without all of these additions. It is loaded with Vitamin C and goodness of vegetables. This soup is gluten-free, vegan, and full of refreshing flavors from the lemon juice.
Consider having a bowl or two before your main meal or swap your evening coffee or even green tea with this more substantial option. I devoured bowls and bowls of this soup during my pregnancy when I was detected with gestational diabetes. Back then I kept it less spicy for me to avoid acid reflux. It is an excellent soup for folks having Diabetes. It won’t spike up your sugar level and keep you full between meals.
Authentic ingredients are great. But there is always a workaround!
Do you open up a recipe and the words galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves make you nervous?? This, in my experience, is the number 1 reason not to try Thai cuisine at home. But did you know there are always close substitutes that work as well as the authentic ones? I don’t have access to a great Asian grocery store and it is very difficult to source some of these ingredients. I assume this is your life story too!
We love Thai food and the restaurants near me do not serve great vegan Thai food. So I mostly make it at home. The substitutes are given below work like a charm and so close to the authentic. Use ginger instead of galangal. Add some lemon zest and juice instead of kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass. I like to use Italian basil instead of Thai and everything falls into place.
Ingredients to make Vegan tom yum soup
- Vegetable Broth or better than bullion – Please do not use just plain water to make this soup. Using broth will amplify the taste of this tom yum soup manifolds. It will taste like it has been simmering all day.
- Veggies – Mushrooms, Chopped cabbage, cucumber, celery, tomatoes, canned baby corn, and zucchini.
- You may add or swap the veggies to cauliflower, broccoli, and more variety of mushrooms.
- Spices – Red curry paste, salt, pepper.
- TasteMakers – Ginger, garlic, basil, cilantro, lemongrass, fresh lemon juice makes this soup simply amazing.
- Protein (totally optional) – I like to add some firm tofu cubes towards the end for making this soup more filling.
How to make Tom Yum Soup at home.
As I mentioned earlier, this is one of the easiest soups to make. All you have to do is chop the veggies, dump all the ingredients in the pot and let it simmer for few minutes. By the way, don’t bother to finely cut the veggies, big chunks totally work. I love to pressure cook this soup in my Instant Pot but any big pot over a stovetop will work.
Smart tips to make the best vegan tom yum soup at home
- Always keep in mind that this soup is spicy and tangy.
- Taste the soup several times and adjust the lemon or spicy sauce accordingly.
- Vegetable broth and tomatoes add a lot of taste to this soup in a short span of time, so please use it.
- Adding lemongrass, basil and cilantro will make the soup taste exactly like the restaurant one.
- Use an Instant Pot for hands-free cooking.
Possible substitutes for ingredients
- Tofu is optional. It just adds protein to the soup.
- Mostly Tom yum soup is made with mushrooms or mushroom broth, but if you don’t like it leave it out.
- This is a very brothy soup. But you can increase or decrease the number of veggies to your preference.
- Swap Thai curry paste with a store-bought vegan and gluten-free Thai soup base. Make sure it is without fish or oyster sauce.
- Swap lemongrass with 1 tablespoon lemon zest.
- If the soup base or curry paste is unavailable then at least add a splash of sambal olek or any red chili sauce, couple twists of black pepper, extra lemon juice, lemon zest, and garlic.
Where to find ingredients to make Thai food?
If you want authentic ingredients then your local Asian grocery store will have them. In the United States, stores like Safeway, Sprouts, Trader’s Joe, Whole Foods carry Vegan Thai curry paste in the noodle or Asian sauces aisle. You can easily find ginger, lemongrass, basil, cilantro in the produce section. Some stores sell crushed lemongrass paste in tubes. Check with the store associate for the same. Tofu is widely available in every grocery store.
Difference between Tom Yum and Tom Kha
The only difference between the both are that you add coconut milk to the latter. That is it. This is like 2 in 1 recipe. If you are in a mood to have Tom Kha then just add some coconut milk to this soup.
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Spicy Vegan Tom Yum Soup Recipe
Vegan Tom Yum Soup
Ingredients
To cook in the Instant Pot - 1st part
- 3-4 garlic cloves grated
- 1 ” ginger grated
- 1½ cups chopped cabbage
- 6-8 mushrooms roughly sliced
- 1 cup baby corn optional
- 2 stick celery chopped
- 1 stick of lemongrass chopped into big pieces
- 1 small zucchini chopped medium-sized chunks
- 6 cup vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoon red curry paste homemade or store-bought, see notes
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- Handful cilantro chopped
- Handful basil roughly torn
- A couple of twists of pepper
- Salt to taste
To add after cooking - 2nd part
- 1 small cucumber sliced
- 1 Roma tomato roughly chopped
- 1 cup firm tofu cut into cubes
- Fresh lemon juice 1-2 lemons
- 1-2 teaspoon sambal olek red chili sauce if you like it spicy
Instructions
- I have used 6 Qt Instant Pot.
- Put everything called for under the title “To cook in the Instant Pot - 1st part ” in the pot.
- Give it a stir.
- Switch on the Instant Pot. Press Manual LOW pressure.
- Adjust the time to 5 minutes. Turn the black knob on the top to the SEALING position.
- Once the pot beeps let it rest for 2 minutes then perform QUICK RELEASE.
- Always loosely cover the black knob with a dishcloth before turning it to a VENTING position.
- Carefully open the pot and add in cucumber, tomatoes, and tofu.
- Press saute mode and let the soup simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Switch off the Instant Pot and squeeze in a generous amount of lemon juice.
- Add more juice or red chili sauce if needed.
Notes
Making soup without an Instant Pot
- Follow the same steps for stovetop cooking.
- Simmer everything partially covered with a lid.
- Once it comes to a simmer, cook the broth for 6-8 minutes on medium-low heat.
- Then add tomatoes, cucumber, and simmer for additional 4 minutes.
- Taste it and add lemon juice accordingly.
Possible substitutes
- Tofu is optional. It just adds protein to the soup.
- Mostly Tom yum soup is made with mushrooms or mushroom broth, but if you don’t like it leave it out.
- This is a very broth-like soup. But you can increase or decrease the number of veggies to your preference.
- Swap Thai curry paste with a store-bought vegan and gluten-free Thai soup base. Make sure it is without fish or oyster sauce.
- Swap lemongrass stick with 1 tablespoon lemongrass paste or with an extra 1 teaspoon lemon zest.
- If the soup base or curry paste is unavailable then at least add a splash of sambal olek or any red chili sauce, couple twists of black pepper, extra lemon juice, lemon zest, and garlic.
Smart tips to make the best vegan tom yum soup at home
- Always keep in mind that this soup is spicy and tangy. Adjust the spice level to your taste.
- Don't bite into the lemongrass. Take it out before serving.
- Taste the soup several times and adjust the lemon or spicy sauce accordingly.
- Vegetable broth and tomatoes add a lot of taste to this soup in a short span of time, so please use it.
- Adding lemongrass, basil and cilantro will make the soup taste exactly like the restaurant one.
Nutrition
I made this soup last weekend and it was a huge success! Thank you for the recipe!
Glad you enjoyed it, wonderful cook. It is one of the easiest soups to make.
I’m not seeing where you show the “before cooking” (per #2 in the instructions. Please help!
Thank you for pointing it out. I have updated it more clearly. Hope you try it soon.