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Vegan Fire Noodles

March 31, 2020 by Lisa Le 24 Comments

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These vegan fire noodles are inspired by the Samyang chicken flavour ramen noodles that are vibrant red and spicy! The original contains artificial chicken flavour, which a few people have been concerned about being not vegan, so I decided to go ahead and attempt to make it from scratch!

red ramen noodles topped with sesame and nori in a bowl, overhead

I’m not sure what it is about 2020, but with everything that’s been happening lately, I’ve been craving comfort food. To me includes lots of rice, noodles, and flavours from Asian cuisines that I have turned to when things get a little stressful. I’ve been cooking up so much rice, stir-fry, and noodles, and if possible, dunking everything in nuoc cham if I can. For example, the pumpkin curry I made last week was delicious and reminded me how much I love the magical trio of garlic, coconut milk, and curry pastes.

Lately I’ve been experimenting with this vegan fire noodle dish, which has reminded me how chewy noodles smothered in a spicy, vibrant red gochujang-based sauce is such a comforting way to warm you up from the inside out (not only with just hot noods but also spice haha)

chopsticks holding red noodles up

I made my first homemade version of this in a recent YouTube vlog and I wanted to revise the recipe to really be saucy and stick to the noodles the way the Samyang chicken noodles’ sauce did. After deep diving on some Reddit forums and reading other people’s renditions of this recipe, I finally figured out that cornstarch is all I needed to get it to that consistency.

Duh.

I should have known that.

The umami is typically brought on from their artificial chicken flavour, which I tend to mimic in other dishes with mushroom broth powder and I decided to add a touch of MSG for that extra layer of umami. You can leave that out if you don’t have that, but the the MSG and mushroom broth powder fulfills a certain component of the savoury body that the soy sauce alone cannot. It really does elevate the savoury flavour.

red ramen noodles topped with sesame and nori in a bowl, set on a blue kitchen cloth on a black surface, from the front

And like in my video, if you want to melt a slice of vegan cheese on top (I used Chao cheese, original flavour), it adds another layer of creaminess that is simply delicious. But totally not necessary. But the cheesy creaminess helps mellow out the spice a little bit if you can’t handle that spice level. If you want to dial back the spiciness of these vegan fire noodles, you can reduce the gochugaru (the red pepper powder) down to 1 tsp instead of the 1 tbsp, but the gochugaru is what gives this dish that vibrant red colour. Plus the spice is kind of the point hahaha.

Adding some stir fried greens like bok choy, yu choy, or gai lan on the side can help mellow out the spice and give your digestion some fibre to work with in tandem with the spice XD

  red fire noodles in a bowl topped with a slice of melted american-style cheese

red ramen noodles topped with sesame and nori in a bowl, set on a blue kitchen cloth on a black surface, from the front
Print Recipe

Vegan Fire Noodles

A veganized version of the firey korean chicken flavour ramen noodles that is nearly as easy as the packet noodles!
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Cook Time15 minutes mins
Total Time25 minutes mins
Servings: 1 serving

Ingredients

For the sauce

  • 1 tbsp 15 mL/16 g gochujang (red pepper paste)
  • 1 tbsp 15 ml/ 4 g gochugaru (red pepper powder)
  • 1 tbsp 15 mL soy sauce
  • 1 tsp 5 mL brown sugar
  • 1 tsp 5 mL sriracha
  • 1 tsp 2 g cornstarch
  • 1 tsp 5 mL sesame oil
  • 1 clove of garlic I used a fat one
  • 1/4 cup 60 mL of water from cooking ramen noodles
  • Optional: 2 pinches of MSG and/or 1/4 tsp mushroom broth powder

For the ramen

  • 1 ramen noodle cake whatever you prefer, but I love the Samyang ones

Optional Garnish:

  • Toasted sesame seeds to top
  • Roasted nori on top cut into small strips

Instructions

  • To make the sauce, in a bowl, combine gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, brown sugar, sriracha, cornstarch, sesame oil, a crushed clove of garlic (or finely minced) and if using, MSG or mushroom broth powder (this really improves the umami/savouryness).
  • In a pot, cook your ramen noodles until done, strain and reserve 1/4 cup (60 mL) of liquid in the pot.
  • Add the sauce to the water and cook for about 1 minute over medium heat, stirring well to incorporate and allow the cornstarch to thicken the mixture. Add the noodles back into the pot and stir well to coat the noodles. Transfer to a bowl and garnish with toasted sesame and nori!
  • Serve alongside your favourite protein: I tend to just panfry some tofu to put on top or air-fry some of your favourite frozen vegan mock meats to enjoy with it.
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Filed Under: Asian, Dinner, Gluten-Free, Lunch, Noodles, Vegan recipes Tagged With: fire ramen, gochujang noodles, korean red pepper noodles, vegan, vegan fire noodles

About Lisa Le

Lisa is the thirty-something, nerdy, procrastinating, feminist blogger and photographer behind The Viet Vegan. She loves spicy foods, noodles, and food in bowls.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Eryn says

    April 28, 2020 at 11:52 PM

    thank you for this. since i saw it in your vid i have made this about 6 times in 3 weeks and i want to eat it daaaaily! :9

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      June 8, 2020 at 4:33 PM

      Ahaha I am so happy you love it so much! 6 times in 3 weeks! I’m honoured :D

      Reply
    • Abi says

      September 5, 2020 at 8:56 AM

      how does it taste? is it similar to the samyang fire noodle sauce?

      Reply
  2. Lauryn says

    September 7, 2020 at 2:35 PM

    Hi, I am allergic to gluten and I’ve been searching everywhere for a recipe that tastes just like or even similar to samyang fire chicken ramen that is gluten free, but I can seem to find a way to make them the way the samyang tastes and the only thing that is in the way is the soy sauce and the wheat flour noodles. But I don’t know how to make it with the other ingredients. If anyone can make it gluten free with its same chewing noodle and spicy/cheese flavor please >.< I don’t think I can live without those noodles T-T.

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      September 9, 2020 at 6:12 PM

      Hi there! You could use a GF ramen (Lotus Foods makes a GF one that seems alright). This recipe is made to taste similarly to the Samyang chicken ramen, and aside from the soy sauce (sub with tamari), this recipe is gluten-free.

      Reply
  3. Ree says

    October 17, 2020 at 6:12 PM

    Is it as spicy as the Samsung noodles? Seems like the heat is only from gochujang and chili powder, which are not really that spicy on their own

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      October 24, 2020 at 2:35 PM

      Hi Ree, no, as I mentioned in the blog post, it’s not quite as spicy. If you want it to be spicier, you can add more chili powder and chili oil

      Reply
  4. elle says

    January 19, 2021 at 10:54 AM

    looooove this!!! made it yesterday for myself but used egg noodles and my brother ended up finishing it -_- haha boiled dried shiitake mushrooms in the place of the mushroom broth powder since i didnt have any. beautiful texture and delicious recipe. will make again soon for sure! <3

    Reply
  5. Haydn says

    February 9, 2021 at 3:38 PM

    Hi – love this! Just one question – is it really a tablespoon of red pepper powder or should that read teaspoon? Thanks

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      February 15, 2021 at 5:59 PM

      It’s a tablespoon! It’s not called fire noodles for no reason haha. You can reduce it to 1 tsp if you like.

      Reply
  6. Grace says

    April 2, 2021 at 6:28 PM

    Hey,
    I noticed that it says it only yields one serving. Is it okay to triple this recipe (for me, my mom, and my brother) or will that be too spicy?

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      April 8, 2021 at 1:24 PM

      As long as you use the same proportion of ingredients, the spice level will be the same lol.

      Reply
  7. Unknown says

    May 27, 2021 at 11:04 AM

    What If you don’t got gochujang what do you use for a subsitute?

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      June 4, 2021 at 12:25 PM

      Gochujang gives the bulk of the flavour for this, but you could substitute maybe 1/2 tsp red curry paste? It would change the flavour a lot (also I recommend heating up the sauce a bit more), but that would also be tasty.

      Reply
  8. mary says

    June 6, 2021 at 2:09 AM

    I’ve made these twice now! I omitted the gochugaru because my stomach can’t handle spicy foods well and it was still delicious. I will continue coming back to this recipe, thank you!

    Reply
  9. sofia says

    July 17, 2021 at 6:27 PM

    Hi, do you think that this sauce could be made and saved in big batches to use later? And if so should it be stored in the fridge?

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      July 21, 2021 at 7:31 PM

      I’m not sure! I haven’t tried, but I imagine you could. Yes I would store it in the fridge, it’ll also thicken a lot once chilled because of the sugar and cornstarch content, so when you use it, I’d recommend reheating with your noodles + some of the starchy noodle water.

      Reply
  10. D says

    October 16, 2021 at 11:49 AM

    Hi, can I use soba or buckwheat noodles instead?

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      October 16, 2021 at 11:51 AM

      Use whatever noodles your heart desires :)

      Reply
  11. Marie says

    December 29, 2021 at 10:13 PM

    Cannot say enough about how I love this sauce!!!!! But I am a bit of a sweet tooth….should I add more brown sugar? Or what do you recommend so’s that I don’t mess with the heat? Hotter is better, but milder? Not in my vocab…..

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      February 7, 2022 at 10:02 AM

      If you’d like, definitely add more sugar! You could add more gochugaru if you want more heat :)

      Reply
  12. Rachel McLaren says

    January 11, 2022 at 11:14 PM

    I’m not vegan, I was just out of noodles and decided to try this recipe. It’s crazy close to the real thing just less spicy! I added 2 tsp of crispy chilli oil. I miss the texture of the Samyang noodles does anyone know if they sell just the noodles?

    Reply
  13. Alca says

    April 21, 2022 at 3:58 PM

    This tastes amazing! I just finished mine, and it tastes very similar to the Samyang noodles (the light version). Love this, thank you for the recipe! <3

    I don't have Gochujang, so I used miso paste, cayenne powder, and paprika substitute.

    Reply
  14. Akasha says

    September 29, 2023 at 9:21 PM

    This was exactly what I was looking for/craving. Just a wonderful sauce for noodles, not a soup. Perfect! Hit the spot. (Of course I added more Siracha). Also topped w/scallions too. Deff a must for a quick meal.. love it!

    Reply

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