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This vegan pancit canton recipe goes hard. Big flavor, barely any prep, and it's fast as heck to whip up. Your fam will think you had dinner catered by a legit Manila street food veteran, but you had the dinner made and all the dishes cleaned up before they even got to the table.
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This is like the Philippines' answer to veg lo mein! Chewy flour stick noodles that cling to sauce like they've got attachment issues, meaty, juicy soy curls doing the heavy lifting, and tons of nourishing veggies that stay snappy through the heat.
There's no fish sauce, shrimp, or pork belly to be found-yet every bite is nostalgic, rich, and ridiculously good. It's the dish that rounds out the leaderboard of my best vegan noodle recipes, alongside bangers like Vietnamese stir-fried noodles, Indonesian mie goreng, Indian hakka noodles, and Thai peanut noodles. Leftovers? If they even exist, you'll be guarding them while you sit in a rocking chair in front of the fridge with a shotgun in your lap.
Soooo yummy! I had trouble finding the pancit noodles, so I used some organic ramen wheat noodles I had on hand. Will definitely be making this one again...and again!!
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🥰Why you'll adore this pancit canton recipe
✊ Vegan AF: Like all my vegan Filipino recipes, this one's free from shrimp, fish sauce, meat, and nonsense. Come on. You know, no one has to die for you to eat some killer noodles.
⏱ Quick Stir-Fry Fix: Minimal chopping, no impossible-to-find ingredients, and it all comes together in one pan.
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: Like all of my vegan recipes, this one was perfected with testing and feedback by hundreds of recipe testers from all over the world-and they loved it!
🤫 Learn the secrets for perfect vegan Filipino meals
This guide to my most popular plant-based recipes from the Philippines is 100% FREE, & you'll love the actual heck out of it 🥰
🥕 Pancit Canton Ingredients
Soy Curls
These chewy, high-protein soy strips are a killer meat alternative. When soaked in hot broth, they plump up and absorb every drop of flavor, then get crispy-golden in the pan-perfect for capturing all that sriracha-hoisin glory. I also use them in my vegan tokwa't baboy, and my vegan pot pie recipe, where they totally crush it as a pork swap. Bonus: they're shelf-stable and gluten-free. But if you don't care about that, just swap them out with some pan-fried shreds of vegan chicken.
Sriracha
This fermented chili sauce brings that unmistakable tangy heat that makes pancit even better, especially if you're using my homemade sriracha recipe. Sambal oelek is a good sub for chunkier textures with more heat.
Tamari
This soy sauce cousin is brewed without wheat, making it naturally gluten-free, which works out perfectly, because my wife is, too, and that way I don't have to keep oodles of different bottles of soy sauce on hand. But if you've got regular soy sauce or coconut aminos (also GF) in your cupboard, those work great in this recipe too.
Vegan Shrimp Paste
For that deep, briny funk typical of pancit. Vegan shrimp paste nails it. Yellow or white miso is a decent backup if you're short on time or ingredients-it's less complex, but still delivers the salty-savory note that pancit needs.
Vegetarian Oyster Sauce
Savory and slightly sweet, this thick sauce is made with mushrooms, def. not oysters. I use it all over the place in my Filipino recipes like laing and my vegan sushi bake, where it adds that deep umami pop without the seafood. Hoisin sauce or kecap manis can be used as substitutes.
Pancit Canton Noodles
These instant flour stick noodles cook quite quickly for thicker noods and hold onto sauce almose as well as ramen. Not gluten-free, so swap with rice sticks if that's your thing in life.
Chili Garlic Sauce (optional)
This chili garlic sauce is straight-up firepower for your pancit canton. Packed with red chilies, garlic, and a subtle hit of acid, it gets fried in fragrant oil until golden and intensely aromatic. Drizzle it on at the end for extra flavor.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯Variations
Pancit Bihon
Glaze up tofu or soy curls in tamari and sriracha, then toss 'em into a fast sauté of vegetables and thin rice noodles that soak up all the umami magic. Unlike pancit canton, pancit bihon is totally gluten-free, so everybody gets a plate.
Pad Ba Mee
Thai-style wheat noodles get a fast wok treatment with tamari-glazed tofu, crunchy veg, and a spicy-sweet sauce that hits all the high notes. This pad ba mee's got a little heat, a lotta depth, and sometimes gets strips of mung bean egg on it.
Bihun Goreng
This bihun goreng (which is the thin-noodled version of bami goreng) uses thin rice vermicelli for that delicate but springy texture. Toss it up with tofu, crunchy veg, and kecap manis until glossy and golden.
📖 How to make pancit canton
If you're not here for photo walkthroughs and need to get your stir-fry on stat, just scroll down to the printable recipe card. For the rest of us, let's bring the montage energy:
Step One
Curls Just Wanna Have Fun:
Place soy curls in a medium bowl and cover with boiling vegetable stock. Let sit for 10 minutes, then drain and gently squeeze out the excess.
Step Two
Stirfry Hard:
Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. After 90 seconds, when the oil is hot, add soy curls and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.
Step Three
Quit Hoisin Around:
Add sriracha, hoisin, and tamari to the pan. Cook for 2 more minutes until the sauce caramelizes on the surface of the soy curls. Set aside.
Step Four
Mushin' Impossible:
Heat oil in a large wok or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant.
Step Five
Garls Barkley:
Toss in garlic, ginger, black pepper, carrots, and green beans. Stir-fry for 3 minutes until vibrant and just-tender.
Step Six
Boils in da Hood:
Add napa cabbage, stock (or water), vegan shrimp paste (or miso), and vegetarian oyster sauce. Stir, then bring to a boil.
Step Seven
Deal or Noodle?
Add noodles and toss with tongs until tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
Step Eight
Scallion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:
Season with salt to taste. Return soy curls to the pan and toss gently. Transfer to a platter and hit it with chili garlic sauce, scallions, and citrus wedges.
💡Serving Ideas
Serve up your canton noodles with vegan lumpiang shanghai to rock out two of the most famous Filipino dishes in one meal.
Need something creamy to round out the spice? Ginataang langka, ginataang gulay, and ginataang kalabasa all have you covered. Stack the plate with tofu sisig, vegan tokwa't baboy, or a heap of crispy vegetable okoy to keep things vibing crunchy.
Freshen up the whole meal with some achara, ensaladang talong, or ensaladang pipino for that briny, acidic dropkick.
And if you're a freak who can't live without desserts, go with karioka, that chewy mochi donuts slicked in ube vanilla glaze, or sip on sago't gulaman to wash it all down.
👉Top tips
- Hydrate With Heat: Use hot vegetable stock to soak your soy curls. This not only rehydrates them faster, but it also infuses flavor deep into the curls from the get-go.
- Watch The Noodles: Pancit canton noodles cook fast and are clingy by nature. Stir them with tongs so they don't clump or overcook. Nobody wants an impenetrable noodle blob with no veggies or fun stuff throughout it.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Totally. Swap in seared tofu, tempeh, roasted vegan chicken, or char-grilled mushrooms.
Flour stick noodles are ideal, but yakisoba noodles, ramen bricks (ditch the flav-o packet), or somen noodles are great. Even spaghetti can fill in, though it needs longer to cook, and I would recommend covering the pan so the liquid doesn't all evaporate by the time the spaghetti is done.
Make my vegan shrimp paste recipe! Use white or yellow miso. It mimics the salty-savory funk without needing specialty shops.
❄️ Refrigerating:
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Noodles may absorb liquid, so add just a little extra stock or water when you reheat them.
🔥 Stovetop Reheating:
Toss noodles in a skillet with 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable stock or water over medium heat. Stir gently until warmed through.
⚡ Microwave Reheating:
Cover loosely and heat in 45-second bursts, stirring between rounds. Add a splash of broth to rehydrate if needed.
🇵🇭You'll love these vegan Filipino recipes too:
Learn to make absurdly good vegan food from the Philippines in a super-fun recorded cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Vegan Pancit Canton Recipe
Ingredients
For the Optional Soy Curls:
- 1 ½ cups soy curls
- 1 ¼ cup boiling vegetable stock or boiling water
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon tamari
For the Guisado:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup onion diced
- 1 cup shiitake mushrooms sliced
- 4 teaspoons garlic minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons ginger grated
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ½ cups carrots julienne cut
- 1 ½ cups green beans cut into 1-inch sections
- 3 cups napa cabbage chopped
- 3 ½ cups unsalted vegetable stock or water
- 2 tablespoons vegan shrimp paste or miso
- ¼ cup vegetarian oyster sauce
- 8 oz. pancit canton noodles or flour stick noodles
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
Optional to Garnish:
- Chili garlic sauce
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
- Lime wedges or calamansi
Instructions
- Place the soy curls in a medium bowl. Pour the boiling vegetable stock over the soy curls and let stand for 10 minutes. Drain and gently squeeze out excess liquid.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. After 90 seconds when the oil is hot, add the soy curls and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the sriracha, hoisin sauce, and tamari. Continue to sauté for an additional 2 minutes until the sauce caramelizes on the surface of the soy curls. Set aside
- To cook the guisado, heat the olive oil in a large wok or Dutch oven over medium heat. After 90 seconds, when the oil is hot, add the onion and mushrooms. Cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions and mushrooms sweat.
- Add the garlic, ginger, black pepper, carrots, and green beans and stir-fry for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the napa cabbage, vegetable stock, vegan shrimp paste (or miso paste), and vegetarian oyster sauce. Stir to combine and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Once the contents of the pan are boiling, add the noodles. Toss with tongs until the noodles are tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed. If the contents of the pan become too dry, add 2 to 3 tablespoons of additional water or vegetable stock as needed while tossing.
- Season with salt to taste. Add the prepared soy curls and gently toss to combine. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with chili garlic sauce, scallions, and lime wedges or calamansi.
Notes
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Tee Hansen says
Soooo yummy! I had trouble finding the pancit noodles, so I used some organic ramen wheat noodles I had on hand. Will definitely be making this one again...and again!!
Dushenka Silberfarb says
This is a go-to recipe for us