Vegetarian Singapore Noodles: A Complete Recipe

Vegetarian Singapore noodles are a stir-fried rice vermicelli dish built around curry powder, crunchy vegetables, and a quick toss in a hot wok — despite the name, the dish actually has more to do with Hong Kong-style Cantonese cooking than Singapore itself. This version skips the shrimp and egg found in many restaurant plates and replaces them with tofu and extra vegetables, so you still get the same smoky, curry-spiced noodles without needing any non-vegetarian ingredients.

Quick Facts

• •Total time: about 25 minutes
• •Serves: 3-4 people
• •Key ingredient: thin rice vermicelli noodles, not egg noodles
• •Curry powder (not curry paste) gives the dish its signature yellow colour and flavour
• •Extra crumbled tofu, lightly scrambled with turmeric, stands in for the egg found in restaurant versions
• •This batch of vegetarian Singapore noodles keeps well for a next-day lunch, straight from the fridge

Ingredients

Everything below comes together into one wok of vegetarian Singapore noodles, split into the noodle components and the sauce so nothing gets missed.

For the noodles:

• •200g dried rice vermicelli noodles
• •200g firm tofu, cut into small cubes or strips
• •1 tbsp oil, for frying tofu
• •2 tbsp oil, for the stir-fry
• •2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• •1-inch piece ginger, finely chopped
• •1 small onion, thinly sliced
• •1 carrot, julienned
• •1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• •1 cup bean sprouts
• •3-4 spring onions, cut into batons
• •Extra 100g firm tofu, crumbled, plus a pinch of turmeric (for the “scrambled” texture)

For the sauce:

• •1.5 tbsp curry powder (Madras or a mild curry powder blend)
• •1 tbsp light soy sauce
• •1 tsp dark soy sauce (for colour)
• •1 tsp sugar
• •½ tsp turmeric powder
• •2-3 tbsp water
• •Salt, to taste

Photo: Chinese vegetable stir fry noodles, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Method

Follow these steps in order and you’ll have a wok of vegetarian Singapore noodles ready in about 25 minutes.

This same swap-in approach — tofu and extra vegetables standing in for meat, egg, or shrimp — shows up across a lot of Asian vegetarian cooking; vegan Korean food leans on similar substitutions, and if you want to push the protein further here, high-protein vegetarian foods are worth stirring into the mix.

1. 1.Soak the noodles. Soak the rice vermicelli in hot (not boiling) water for 8-10 minutes, until pliable but still slightly firm. Drain well and set aside — do not overcook them at this stage, since they’ll cook further in the wok.
2. 2.Fry the tofu. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok and pan-fry the tofu cubes until golden on the edges. Remove and set aside.
3. 3.Make the sauce. In a small bowl, mix curry powder, soy sauces, sugar, turmeric, and water into a smooth paste. Set aside.
4. 4.Scramble the extra tofu. Push the fried tofu aside, add a little oil, then add the crumbled tofu with a pinch of turmeric and cook for 1-2 minutes, breaking it up so it takes on a scrambled, egg-like texture. Remove and set aside with the tofu.
5. 5.Stir-fry aromatics. Add the remaining oil to the wok, then add garlic, ginger, and onion. Stir-fry on high heat for 1 minute until fragrant.
6. 6.Add vegetables. Add carrot and bell pepper, stir-frying for 2 minutes until just tender but still crisp.
7. 7.Add the noodles and sauce. Add the drained noodles and pour the curry sauce mixture evenly over them. Use tongs or chopsticks to toss continuously so the noodles pick up an even yellow colour and don’t clump.
8. 8.Combine everything. Return the tofu and scrambled tofu crumble to the wok, along with bean sprouts and spring onions. Toss for another 1-2 minutes on high heat.
9. 9.Taste and serve. Adjust salt or soy sauce if needed, then serve hot, straight from the wok.

At this stage you’ve got a full plate of vegetarian Singapore noodles, evenly coloured and ready to eat straight away.

Vegetarian Singapore Noodles: Nutrition Notes

A serving of these vegetarian Singapore noodles (roughly a quarter of the recipe) comes in around 300-350 calories, with protein mainly from the tofu — expect about 10-12g of protein per serving. Rice vermicelli is a refined carbohydrate with little fibre on its own, so the vegetables in this dish are doing most of the nutritional heavy lifting, adding fibre, vitamin A, and vitamin C. If you want a higher-protein version, you can double the tofu or stir in some edamame along with the bean sprouts — either way, this bowl of vegetarian Singapore noodles stays a genuinely filling meal rather than just a side dish.

What Makes Singapore Noodles “Vegetarian”

The dish itself isn’t inherently non-vegetarian — the base of noodles, curry powder, and vegetables is naturally meat-free. What usually makes restaurant versions non-vegetarian is hidden non-vegetarian additions like shrimp, meat, or fish-based sauces used in some restaurant versions, along with egg. To keep your vegetarian Singapore noodles genuinely vegetarian when eating out, it’s worth asking the kitchen directly about these ingredients, since they aren’t always obvious from the menu description.