Vegan Vietnamese Food Minneapolis 2026: iPho, Hai Hai & Quang

Vegan Vietnamese Food in Minneapolis: Where to Go

Vietnamese cuisine is built around fresh vegetables, herbs, rice, and noodles — a naturally accommodating structure for plant-based eating. The complication is fish sauce, which appears throughout the cuisine at a structural level: in broth, dipping sauces, marinades, and the fermented condiments that give Vietnamese food its characteristic depth.

Several Minneapolis Vietnamese restaurants handle this well, either by offering dedicated vegan preparations or by accommodating requests with real knowledge. Here is where to go.

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iPho Saigon — Frogtown, Saint Paul

iPho Saigon on University Avenue in St Paul's Frogtown neighborhood is the best Vietnamese restaurant in the Twin Cities for vegans. The mushroom-based pho broth is rich, properly fragrant with star anise and cinnamon, and satisfies in the way that a well-made meat broth satisfies — the kind of thing that makes you wonder why all pho isn't made this way.

The tofu banh mi is equally strong: properly charred tofu, pickled daikon and carrot, fresh cucumber and cilantro, jalapeño, and a vegan-friendly spread on a baguette with real crunch. It's one of the better sandwiches in Minneapolis regardless of dietary category.

The vegetable summer rolls (gỏi cuốn) with rice paper are naturally vegan — order extra peanut sauce on the side, which at iPho is made without fish sauce.

What to order: Mushroom pho, tofu banh mi, vegetable summer rolls.

Address: University Ave, Frogtown, Saint Paul | Lunch and dinner daily

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Hai Hai — Northeast Minneapolis

Hai Hai is technically inspired by the street food of Southeast Asia broadly — Vietnam, Thailand, Laos — rather than specifically Vietnamese. But the menu draws heavily on Vietnamese flavors and the restaurant is worth knowing about for vegans because of how well it handles plant-based eating.

The cocktail program is exceptional — creative rum and gin drinks that make this a strong date night option. The food menu has clear vegan markers, and the kitchen is accustomed to vegan requests. The rice paper rolls, tofu-based dishes, and herb-forward salads are the vegan sweet spots.

The atmosphere — open, plant-filled, vibrant — makes it one of the more enjoyable dining rooms in Northeast Minneapolis.

Address: 2121 University Ave NE | Dinner nightly, weekend brunch

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Ngon Vietnamese Bistro — Cathedral Hill, Saint Paul (Permanently Closed)

Ngon Vietnamese Bistro in Cathedral Hill permanently closed in 2026. It was the upscale Vietnamese option in the Twin Cities and was well-regarded for its dedicated vegetarian menu section, mushroom pho, and scratch-built broths. If you were a regular, iPho Saigon in Frogtown is the closest equivalent for serious vegan Vietnamese pho, with a mushroom broth built to the same standard.

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Quang Restaurant — Eat Street, Minneapolis

Quang is one of the longest-running Vietnamese restaurants in Minneapolis, located on the Eat Street corridor on Nicollet Ave. The menu is extensive, and the kitchen has been handling vegetarian requests for decades.

The tofu preparations and vegetable noodle soups are the vegan entry points. The spring rolls and rice plates with tofu are reliably available. It's not a dedicated vegan restaurant, but it's a well-run kitchen that knows what it's doing.

Address: 2719 Nicollet Ave S, Eat Street

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Tips for Ordering Vegan at Vietnamese Restaurants in Minneapolis

Ask about the broth. This is the most important question at any Vietnamese restaurant. Pho broth is almost always beef-bone based; ask if they have vegetable or mushroom broth. Many restaurants have it — they just don't advertise it prominently.

Fish sauce is in most sauces. The dipping sauce (nước chấm) that comes with spring rolls and banh mi is fish sauce-based. Ask for a substitute — good restaurants will offer you hoisin, peanut sauce, or soy-vinegar dipping sauce.

Summer rolls are often naturally vegan. Fresh summer rolls (gỏi cuốn) with rice paper, rice noodles, vegetables, and herbs are naturally vegan. Ask that they're made without shrimp (ask explicitly; shrimp is the default protein).

Pho toppings can be added on the side. If you're ordering at a restaurant where the broth question is unclear, ask for the bean sprouts, lime, basil, and jalapeño on the side — you can add them to whatever you're eating.

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Neighborhood Context: Vietnamese Restaurants in the Twin Cities

Vietnamese restaurants in the Twin Cities follow a clear geography. Frogtown on University Avenue in St Paul is the historical center of Vietnamese food in Minnesota -- a dense corridor with restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores serving the Vietnamese-American community that settled here. iPho Saigon sits in this corridor. Eat Street (Nicollet Ave in Minneapolis) has Quang and several other Vietnamese spots. Northeast Minneapolis has Hai Hai. Cathedral Hill in St Paul lost Ngon Vietnamese Bistro when it closed in 2026.

For home cooking exploration, United Noodles on East Lake Street stocks fresh herbs (Thai basil, perilla, saw-tooth herb), rice papers, rice noodles, and tofu varieties that open up DIY Vietnamese cooking possibilities.

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Price Range & Ordering Tips

iPho Saigon: Pho bowls $14-$17, banh mi $8-$11, summer rolls $7-$9. The best value is the mushroom pho — large bowl, substantial, properly filling. Add extra bean sprouts and fresh basil at the table.

Hai Hai: Higher price point ($16-$24 for mains), cocktails $12-$15. This is the date night or special occasion choice. The cocktail program is a legitimate reason to visit even if you're not hungry. Reserve on weekends — it fills up.

Quang: Among the most affordable on this list, $12-$16 range. The spring rolls are a perennial order and the tofu preparations are reliable. Cash preferred.

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Pro Tip

The Pho Broth Test: When you sit down at a Vietnamese restaurant that's new to you, order tea and ask your server directly: "Do you make a vegetable or mushroom broth for pho?" The answer tells you everything. A restaurant that has taken the time to develop a vegetable-broth pho cares about plant-based dining. iPho Saigon passes this test with the strongest mushroom broth in the metro -- built with the same attention as the meat versions.

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Vegan Vietnamese at Home

The Twin Cities has excellent Vietnamese grocery infrastructure. Shuang Hur Oriental Foods on Nicollet Ave and Sun Foods on East Lake Street carry everything needed for DIY pho: dried mushrooms for broth, rice noodles, fresh herbs, tofu, star anise, cinnamon sticks, and black cardamom. A proper mushroom pho at home requires about three hours of simmering and is completely achievable with these sources.

For a complete exploration of vegan Asian dining in Minneapolis, see our full vegan Asian restaurants guide. Browse the complete MPLS Vegan directory for all plant-based dining across the Twin Cities. Also see our best vegan restaurants Minneapolis 2026 guide for the full picture.