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Vegetarian Japanese Food

, From Inari Sushi To Japanese Buddhist Cuisine

Quick Summary

Vegetarian Japanese food can be challenging to find in Japan, given the country’s ingrained food habits that lean toward fish, meat and fermented foods. Whether you're having curry rice or ramen with a rich broth, a sauce or condiment is likely to contain something non-vegetarian, such as seaweed furikake, bonito flakes, or dashi. Despite vegetarianism not being as popular in Japan, you can still find sustenance in their tofu, vegetables and soy-based dishes. 

Deep Dive

Find the best of vegetarian Japanese food, featuring simmered tofu pouches, miso-glazed vegetables, and temple soups developed by Buddhist monks who cooked without meat, fish, garlic, or onion. This article takes you through some dishes from vegetarian sushi called inari sushi, tofu-based dishes of goma dofu and wagashi, which are the sweeter fare. Learn how these dishes taste, when each is eaten, what goes into it, how it tastes and feels, and what it is usually served alongside. Aside from these, there is also ‘shojin ryori’, the vegetarian cooking style of Zen Buddhist monasteries, which dates back to at least the 12th century and prohibits meat, fish, and pungent vegetables like garlic, onion, and leeks, which follows similar principles as Ayurveda when it comes to tamasic and rajasic foods, and are believed to stir desire and disrupt meditation. So, here are some vegetarian Japanese food recipes.

Japanese Cuisine’s Tryst With Vegetarianism

Japan's Buddhist history combined with a largely agrarian, seafood-based diet that avoided four-legged animals for centuries meant meat-free cooking was never an unheard-of concept in Japanese cuisine. Temple kitchens developed ways to build umami without animal stock, like sautéing vegetables in sesame oil before simmering them in a kombu-and-dried-shiitake dashi, which eventually filtered into ordinary households.

1. Inari Sushi (Inarizushi)

Unlike typical sushi, inarizushi is a vegetarian Japanese dish that uses seasoned sushi rice stuffed into sweet-and-savoury simmered aburaage, or fried tofu pouches, with carrot, shiitake, or sesame seeds. This name traces back to Inari Ōkami, the Shinto deity of rice and harvest, whose messenger foxes were believed to love fried tofu. Unlike nigiri or maki, it's rarely found at upscale sushi restaurants; instead, it's a supermarket-deli and picnic favourite, often packed into bento boxes, first appearing in records from the late Edo period, in the mid-1800s. This sushi is slightly spongy and vinegared, served with accompaniments such as pickled ginger, soy sauce, and other bento items.

2. Kinpira Gobo

A Japanese Kinpira gobo is a side dish (okazu) made by stir-frying burdock root (gobo) and carrots in a savoury-sweet mixture of soy sauce and sugar, named after Kinpira Sakata, the strong, brave hero of a traditional Jōruri puppet narrative. It's more of a home-kitchen staple that, like the inarizushi, shows up in bento boxes or a multi-dish teishoku set meal and alongside rice and miso soup, topped with sesame seeds, at family dinners. This dish is crunchy yet tender, and somewhere between a stir-fry and a salad.

3. Kenchinjiru

Named for Kenchō-ji, the Kamakura temple, kenchinjiru is believed to have originated as shojin ryori. Root vegetables like daikon, carrot, konnyaku, and burdock are sautéed, then simmered in a plant-based dashi of kombu and dried shiitake, seasoned with soy sauce rather than miso. Temple lore says that the tofu should be crushed and torn into the pot, not cut, so it can be shared equally regardless of status. This dish is often prepared during winter for its comforting nature. This nourishing vegetarian Japanese food is often eaten alongside steamed rice, pickled vegetables, and other dishes as part of a full ichiju-sansai spread.

4. Goma Dofu

Despite the name, goma dofu is made from just three ingredients: ground sesame paste, water, and kuzu (kudzu) starch, with no soybeans at all. It's considered one of the more labour-intensive shojin ryori dishes, since sesame paste and kuzu starch used to be ground by hand, a task that took several hours and was assigned to novice monks as a character-building exercise. This vegetarian Japanese food is typically the opening course of a formal, kaiseki-style shojin ryori meal. The tofu is silky and custard-like, and is cooked until it thickens. Goma dofu is paired with grated wasabi and soy sauce, or a sweet miso sauce.

5. Nasu No Dengaku

An eggplant dish that takes a halved eggplant (nasu), which is grilled or roasted until the flesh feels custard-like, and is then coated in a sweet and savoury miso-mirin-sugar glaze. Dengaku is a style of preparing skewered dishes, and it takes its name from a rice-planting celebration dating to the Heian period, where skewered foods were said to resemble stilt dancers, and eggplant became one of its most popular pairings. Nasu no dengaku is a side dish or a light main dish at izakayas and home dinners, especially when eggplant is in season.

6. Kabocha Gratin

Kabocha gratin belongs to yoshoku, the Western-influenced cuisine adapted in Japan from the Meiji era onward, created to accompany rice and typically calling for dairy that wasn't part of traditional Japanese cooking. Sweet kabocha (winter squash), sometimes with a spoonful of miso, goes into a creamy white sauce, topped with cheese and panko breadcrumbs, then baked into a delicious dish eaten with steamed rice or bread, usually part of a yoshoku-style spread with soup, a delicious fusion vegetarian Japanese dish.

7. Wagashi

Wagashi is the umbrella term for traditional Japanese sweets made primarily from rice, agar, and azuki bean paste rather than dairy or eggs. Without eggs, most wagashi are vegetarian by default. So, here are the popular ones:

• Mochi: This wagashi is made from glutinous rice that is steamed and pounded into a soft, chewy sweet. Plain mochi is vegetarian because its main ingredients are rice and water, and fillings such as sweet red bean paste and fruits (daifuku) also fall in the same category, but for a vegan option, avoid dairy-based fillings like ice cream.

• Dango: These are chewy Japanese sweet dumplings made from rice flour and usually served on skewers. They are vegan when made with rice flour and plant-based toppings such as red bean paste, sesame, or sweet soy sauce.

• Anmitsu: A more elaborate kind of wagashi, this dessert is made with agar-agar jelly, fruit, red bean paste (anko), and sweet syrup (kuromitsu) poured over the top. It can also have peas, ice cream, dango, mochi, and fruit. 

• Dorayaki: Another sweet vegetarian Japanese food that consists of two small pancakes sandwiching a filling of sweet red bean paste. The typical red bean paste is made from azuki beans and sugar, but the pancakes commonly contain eggs, so if you are strictly vegetarian, be mindful.

• Kakigori: A summer staple that is a shaved ice dessert, topped with syrups (usually kuromitsu), condensed milk (rennyu), fruits, anko, mochi, roasted soybean flour (kinako), ice cream or matcha.

Most of these wagashi are tea-time sweets, festival snacks, and seasonal desserts, not part of a meal course. Some are served with green tea, whose bitterness balances the sweetness of these treats.

How These Vegetarian Japanese Dishes Compare

Savour Vegetarian Japanese Food Recipes

Famous Japanese food searches will give you ramen, noodle dishes and curry and seldom anything that is entirely vegetarian and even more so vegan. But there are vegetarian foods in Japan, and rest assured, if you happen to find yourself in Japan, you will not go hungry. More and more urban spaces in Japan are leaning towards veganism and vegetarianism, and given the country’s attention to detail, many restaurants sport the vegan or vegetarian sticker.