Miso Soup

A classic comfort food, miso soup is the bowl I turn to when I need something cozy and comforting yet light. It’s the perfect start to a meal or the most satisfying way to warm up on a cold day. If you’ve never made miso soup before, you may be surprised at how easy it is to make homemade. If you’re looking to try your hand at making this classic soup, keep reading on for all of my the best tips on making this Japanese staple:

How To Make Miso Soup

INGREDIENTS

• Dashi: Essentially, miso soup is just miso paste whisked into a dashi. Dashi is the Japanese word for stock—the most iconic type of dashi is made of kombu (dried kelp) and bonito flakes (smoked, dried tuna flakes). You can buy a powdered mix to make dashi, but if you’re able to get your hands on the real ingredients, you’ll have a more flavorful, intense stock.
• White Miso: There are many different types of miso pastes to explore. White miso—which I use here in my classic recipe—is lighter in color and sweeter. Once you buy your miso, use it to make countless other recipes, including our miso butter cod and a twist on an Italian classic, miso Bolognese.
• Scallions: Sliced scallions are going to bring mild onion flavor to the soup that works really well, as well as providing a slight bite. They are a popular garnish in a lot of Japanese cooking, and cooking in general.
• Dried Wakame: Wakame is a type of edible seaweed that is often found in miso soup. It has a lightly sweet, briny, umami flavor that complements the white miso very nicely, and provides a textural difference that helps round out the soup.
• Silken Tofu: Silken tofu is almost like custard in the sense that it is significantly softer than the tofu you may generally think of. It still has that slight soy flavor, but almost melts in your mouth for a very pleasant addition to miso soup.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

To make miso soup, the first thing you need to do is make the dashi. Start by placing your kombu into a pot of water and bringing it to a simmer. Once the water begins to simmer, remove the kombu. Allow the stock to come to a boil and then add in the bonito flakes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and allow the stock to simmer to cook for around 10 to 15 minutes. Strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve, taking care to press the solids to release as much liquid as possible. This will make sure you get as much flavor as you can out of the dashi.

Then return the dashi to the same pot and let it come back up to a simmer. Once simmering, whisk in the miso until dissolved, then add in the scallions and wakame and turn off the heat.

Divide the silken tofu among serving bowls and pour the finished soup over to serve.

The full list of ingredients and instructions can be found in the recipe below.

Recipe Tips

• Miso soup can be made with all kinds of stock. You can also sub out the bonito flakes in the classic dashi for any number of seafood, but my favorite is clams with red miso.
• Try out different miso pastes. Red miso is darker and has a more intense salinity and umami flavor. Barley miso, which is also dark, adds an incredible earthiness and is great to combine with a quart of almond milk, kombu, and root vegetables to create a very autumnal, creamy miso soup.

What To Serve With Miso Soup

A general rule to follow when looking for serving ideas with Japanese recipes is ichiju-sansai or 1 soup, 3 sides. Rice is a must, though which rice you prefer—white rice, black rice, sticky rice, or other—is up to you, then some sort of pickled vegetable, like kimchi, and another side, generally a protein, like our soy-marinated eggs or miso butter cod, or another vegetable like our steamed edamame. The sides are totally changeable each time, but the main idea is finding a sort of balance that fits together well and covers all your dietary needs.

Storage

Miso soup is generally best enjoyed the day of, but if you have leftovers, store in an airtight container in the fridge for around 2 to 3 days.