Even though it has been another hot summer in Sacramento, I still enjoy eating noodle soup for dinner. For example, this zucchini noodle soup is something I made many times in the last few weeks. It is one of my favorites. I made a rich broth out of tomatoes, coconut milk, and fragrant herbs and spices, and tossed in a ton of zucchini noodles to keep the dish light. This noodle soup is truly a celebration of summer produce.
For protein, I serve the noodles with pan-fried tofu, a recipe that I learned from Andrea Nguyen’s The Pho Cookbook. When I first tried her recipe, I was pleasantly surprised by how little oil was required to sear the tofu—just 1 tablespoon. Furthermore, even though the flavoring of the tofu consisted only of 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, I found the tofu pieces to be quite flavorful. The tofu is even better when you steep them into the broth! 
CAN YOU MAKE THIS WITH OTHER NOODLES?
Yes, absolutely! You can use dry noodles, such as rice noodles, or even butternut squash noodles. I would cook the dry noodles separately in a pot of boiling water because they can absorb a lot of water. I prefer noodle soups served with copious amounts of broth, so I don’t want too much of that broth to be soaked up by the noodles.
LOOKING FOR MORE NOODLE RECIPES? TRY THESE:
- Hot & Sour Coconut Noodle Soup
- Easy Coconut Red Curry Stir Fry Noodles with Glazed Tofu
- Soba Noodles with Almond Butter Sauce
- Teriyaki Noodle Stir Fry
- Complete Noodle Archives
Zucchini Noodles with Tomato & Coconut Broth
Ingredients
Pan-Fried Tofu
- 1 (14-ounce) package of extra-firm tofu
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Noodles & Broth
- 2 pounds zucchini (907g), (see note)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup diced yellow onions
- 2 tablespoons minced ginger
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 7 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
Toppings
- 1 carrot, peeled and julienned
- cilantro
- sliced scallions
Instructions
Prepare the tofu
- Remove the block of tofu from the package and wrap it around a layer of paper towels. Place the wrapped tofu on a plate and place a stack of plates on top. Press the tofu for 15 minutes.
- Unwrap the tofu and cut it in half, crosswise. You should have 2 short rectangular blocks. Slice each block into 4 slices so that you have 8 pieces total. Cut each slice on the diagonal so that you end up with 16 triangles.
- Pour the soy sauce into a large nonstick pan. Take a piece of the tofu, and drag it around the soy sauce. Flip the tofu over to cover all sides with soy sauce and leave the piece of tofu in the pan. Continue with the remaining pieces of tofu, until all the soy sauce has been absorbed by the tofu, and all the pieces are in the pan. Fry the tofu over medium heat for about 4 minutes, flipping halfway. It’s perfectly fine if the pan is dry at this point. Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pan, and continue cooking the tofu for another 3 to 4 minutes, flipping it halfway. Transfer the tofu to a plate.
Prepare the Noodle Soup
- Trim the ends from the zucchini and make noodles with a spiralizer. Give the noodles several rough chops to make the noodles shorter. Transfer the noodles to a plate. After you make the zucchini noodles, you’ll be left with several cores from the zucchini. Slice the core into thin slices.
- In a pot, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add the onions and cook for about 3 minutes over medium-high heat, until the onions soften. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sliced zucchini core, and coriander and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. The tomatoes should have broken down by this point.
- Add the salt and vegetable broth, cover the pot with a lid, and bring the broth to boil. Stir in the coconut milk. Give the broth a quick taste and adjust the seasoning according to your taste. Turn off the heat and add the zucchini noodles. The heat from the broth should soften the zucchini noodles in a few minutes.
- Serve the noodles in bowls along with julienned carrots, sliced scallions, cilantro, and the tofu.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Lisa, I’m obsessed with your golden brothy soups and this one is no different! Thanks for including info about other noodle options for those of us sans a spiralizer. Can’t wait to make this!!
Lisa Lin says
Thank you, Alanna!!!! <3
Didi says
I made this soup and I loved it. My kids also like it which is a bonus. I’m using zoodles with everything at the moment so this recipe fits the bill! It was delicious. I’ll be making it a lot more in the near future.
Lisa Lin says
Thank you, Didi for trying the recipe! Glad you enjoyed it!
Tanya says
Did you use fresh tomatoes? Looking forward to trying this recipe!
Lisa Lin says
Yes, I did!
Tanya says
Just finished devouring this dish -despite a current heat wave. All your recipes look so delish and beautiful. Looking forward to trying more.
Lisa Lin says
Tanya, Thank you so much for trying this! Glad you enjoyed it!
Sandy says
I made this tonight, so good! The store was out of zoodles so I got spiralized butternut squash that turned out to be rancid, so I added mushrooms! Tasty but I want to try zoodles so will have to try again, darn! I loved the shoyu marinated tofu, and the cilantro added the perfect touch. I added a squeeze of fish sauce and lemon… love your blog and can’t wait to try more recipes!
Lisa Lin says
Sandy, thank you SO MUCH for making this! I’m so glad that you enjoyed it!
Ineke says
I just made this soup, delicious! So many different flavors in your mouth.
I added the carrots with the zoodles in the broth to make them a little bit softer but still crunchy and added some bokchoi.
Thanks so much for this recipe.
Lisa Lin says
Ineke, thank you for making the recipe! So glad you enjoyed it!
Marilen says
I made it but it had too much liquid. Seven cups of vegetable broth seems too much in my opinion. It watered down the taste.
Lisa Lin says
Hi, Marilen. Thanks for the feedback. I will make this soup again and try to tweak it where necessary.
Jenna says
Hello! I plan to try this out this weekend and I’m so excited. I am curious though, how many days is this good for? I live alone and wanted to meal prep this for the week but I wasn’t sure what the “best by” date would be.
Thank you!
Lisa Lin says
If you keep the broth and the zucchini noodles separate, the broth should keep in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. When you are ready to eat, just warm up the soup and add the zucchini noodles. You can also prep the tofu ahead for 4 to 5 days, but the texture won’t be the same as freshly pan-fried tofu.
Stacey Gmitter says
I am planning to make this recipe this evening. Have you tried bone broth over vegetable broth? I am wondering if it would still be just as good with the substitution
.
Lisa Lin says
Just answered your other comment! In case you don’t see it, bone broth should be great!
Stacey says
Sorry, I don’t know why my comment posted twice. User error I guess. Thank you for the info. I decided to go with vegetable stock this go round.
Stacey says
I am planning to make this recipe this evening. Have you tried bone broth over vegetable broth? I am wondering if it would still be just as good with the substitution
.
Lisa Lin says
I haven’t done bone broth, but I have used chicken broth before, and it was great. I think the bone broth (assuming it wasn’t seasoned with very strong spices) would work well here.
Jessica says
This was delicious but broth was a little bland. I added rice vinegar at the end, and we doctored it up at the table with splashes of soy or ponzu sauce, sriracha, and seaweed seasoning. I loved the method for searing the tofu and will incorporate it into other dishes in the future. Zucchini noodles had a great texture. It makes a ton – I only used 4 cups of vegetable broth and I still have a ton of leftovers.
Lisa Lin says
Hi, Jessica. Thanks for all your cooking notes!
Stacey says
This was a simple and delicious recipe. I used chicken in place of the tofu due to my thyroid disease. I also added shiitake mushrooms. I will definitely be making this again.
Lisa Lin says
Thanks for trying it, Stacey!
Elaine says
Healthy and tasty!
Haley says
This recipe was so freaking delicious!
Anna says
I made this last night and it was delicious. It was not only healthy but also filling. I do not own a spiralizer so I subsituted rice noodles for the zoodles. I added a little curry powder at the end for a little extra flavor. Overall, I will definitely be making this again! Thank you for providing such fantastic recipes. I can’t wait to try making some of your dumpling recipes!
Lisa Lin says
Thanks for making it, Anna! Glad you enjoyed it!
Elizabeth says
This was incredible !!! I used Miso instead of Vegetable Broth and added 2 tsp of curry powder. I’ve never eaten tofu this way – so delicious. Very clever. Thank you ; )
Lisa Lin says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Elizabeth! Thanks for trying the recipe!
Melissa Grannum says
While doing a 10 day plant based food challenge with a friend, I happened upon this recipe. It was easy to follow and absolutely delicious! I did just a few things differently: I used 4 cups of vegetable broth and didn’t add salt (I used a salted veg broth ☹️) The second time around, for lunch, I strained it to remove the zucchini ‘core’ that was left behind after spiralizing; it made broth too chunky. I cut triangles into cubes, reheated on stove top and added some chopped peanuts for garnish on final product. This is a winner!! Thanks, Lisa!
Lisa Lin says
Hi, Melissa! Thank you so much for trying my recipe! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
Anna Savoie says
I’ve made this recipe a few times because it’s easy, healthy, nourishing and very tasty. I highly recommend.
Lisa Lin says
Thank you!!