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The preparation:
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Start by making Dashi. Either use instant Dashi, which you can prepare according to the package instructions. Or you can make Dashi yourself. It's not that hard! Here's a guide for that.
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If you are using solid vegetables that need to soften first, cook them in the Dashi now.
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Once they are soft, add the remaining ingredients, such as Wakame, (fried) tofu or cabbage.
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Stir well and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
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Now you can turn off the stove and add spring onions and miso paste.
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The miso paste must dissolve completely in the water.
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Now you just have to pour the soup into bowls, garnish and serve.
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Serve the miso soup with rice or as a side dish to a complete Japanese menu. Bon Appetit!
Table of contents:
Summary
Miso Shiru, or miso soup in Japanese, is celebrated as one of the most authentic Japanese soups, often served as a light appetizer in nearly every Japanese meal. This dish is not only delicious but also packed with health benefits and can be easily recreated at home with a few simple ingredients, including water, dashi broth, miso, wakame seaweed, green onions, and tofu. Regional variations exist, with family recipes adding unique twists. Miso itself is a fermented soybean paste available in various intensities, typically used as yellow or awase miso for soup. The site offers tips on additional ingredients that can enhance the soup, such as various vegetables, meats, and seafood, encouraging experimentation based on personal taste. Notable variations of miso soup are highlighted, including those featuring potatoes, pumpkin, spinach, and fried tofu, making Miso Shiru a versatile and beloved dish in Japanese cuisine.Besides ramen, miso soup - or miso shiru in Japanese - could well be the most authentic of all Japanese soups! It's part of almost every Japanese menu, acts as a light appetizer and is not only incredibly healthy, but also damn delicious! And it has one more advantage: You can easily cook miso soup at home. We'll tell you a truly authentic recipe here - it might even taste better than the miso soup you get at the Japanese restaurant next door!
What is miso soup made of?
Miso-shiru has only a few, perfectly balanced ingredients: water, dashi broth, miso, wakame seaweed, spring onions and tofu. But depending on the region and season, there are many variations of the classic miso soup. In addition, almost every family has its own miso recipe that has a slight individual twist.
In addition to the classic miso ingredients, other things can also be added to the soup - depending on your taste and preferences. By the way, if you don't know exactly what dashi broth is, we have a detailed article about it here:
You can easily prepare dashi in larger quantities, store it in the refrigerator for up to a week and then use it as you like in many Japanese recipes.
What is miso actually?
Miso is a fermented soybean paste. It is made from soybeans, grains, salt and the fungus Koji. Miso comes in different intensity levels, from very mild to extremely flavorful. These are distinguished by their color. For miso soup, you should use yellow or Awase-Miso. Caution: There are often differences in intensity and salt taste between the different brands. So take a little less miso at the beginning and then season to taste. Basically, one tablespoon of miso is used for about 200 ml of dashi. By the way, here we have a detailed article for you where you can learn everything about miso:
We recommend this miso:
What else goes into Shiro Miso?
Feel free to experiment here. Allowed is what tastes good! Different vegetables are great, for example:
- Leek
- Sweet potatoes
- Eggplant
- Cabbage (very delicious!)
- Mushrooms (Enoki, Maitake, Shiitake)
- Onions
- Spinach
- Carrots
- Bean sprouts
Meat and seafood also go well in Miso Shiro, for example:
- Beef
- Chicken
- Pork
- Mussels
Other possible ingredients:
- Sesame
- Aburaage (fried tofu)
- Egg
- Somen noodles
Well-known Miso Shiro variations
- Jagaimo Miso-Shiru: Potatoes, Tofu
- Kabocha Miso-Shiru: Pumpkin (Hokkaido Pumpkin)
- Hourensou Miso-Shiru: Spinach without Wakame
- Aburaage Miso-Shiru: Fried Tofu
Why is miso soup so healthy?
Miso Shiro is considered one of the secrets to the longevity of the Japanese! The delicious soup is extremely low in calories and only has about 100 calories per serving. It also provides many nutrients, such as zinc, vitamin K and manganese. It also has a lot of calcium and magnesium, both of which are excellent for bones. And finally, miso soup is considered to be very cholesterol-lowering.
How and when is miso soup served?
In Japanese restaurants in Europe, you often get miso soup as an appetizer, and therefore it is served before the main course. But in Japan, miso soup always comes to the table at the same time as the rice. It is therefore actually more of a side dish than an appetizer! Because of its mild taste, it is excellent for balancing salty dishes.
Tips:
- Never let miso soup boil after the miso has been added. Because of the cooking process, it loses a lot of aroma.
- This also applies to garnishes and herbs: These should be added only directly before serving.
- If you are using solid vegetables, you should first cook them in dashi until they are soft before adding other ingredients.
Comments
Hey Ryu, great recipe :) I think this recipe, even though it's very simple, is really delicious and authentic. Best regards, Kevin
Hi Kevin, thanks for your comment :) I'm glad you liked the soup :) Many greetings, Ryu
Hello, Thank you for the interesting information about Miso soup! Question about the preparation: in your recipe, the dashi paste is missing and you add (spring) onions twice. Could you please clarify this a bit? I assume that the dashi and miso pastes are added at the same time, and the spring onions only at the very end? Best regards, Christian
Hello Christian, thank you very much for your rating and your comment :) You’re right, we forgot to mention the Dashi powder in the description, we’ve now added it to point 1 :) The spring onions are added at the very end so they still have some crunch :) Best regards Ryusei
Why do you cook the miso with the soup? You actually shouldn't put it into boiling water because that causes the flavors to be lost.
Hallo Martina, you are absolutely right. We have adjusted it :) In the past, when Miso was not yet pasteurized, it was important not to heat Miso above 70 degrees, as the beneficial bacteria would die otherwise. But today, almost all Miso is pasteurized, so unfortunately there are hardly any microbes left in Miso. Nevertheless, you should still avoid overheating Miso, as you already mentioned. Best regards, Ryusei Hosono
Super site, I'm impressed—everything is super tasty and well described
Hi Heiko, thank you very much for your comment. I'm happy and motivated if you enjoyed it :) Many greetings Ryusei
Hi, I just made the miso soup and I’m really impressed. It’s very easy to make and really delicious :-) I’d like to vary it a bit and bring some variety in if I eat it more often (which I definitely will). What do you think about replacing the tofu or some of it and instead adding some fried (or cooked) chicken to the soup? Best regards, Marco
Hello Marco, of course you can do that, in principle there are no limits. Just try it out and if it tastes good, maybe let us know :) From my experience, the following ingredients go particularly well with Miso Shiru (miso soup): - Ofu - Crab - Potatoes - Tofu - Hokkaido pumpkin - Spinach - Wakame - Aburaage - Cabbage - Mochi - Clams - Fish a bit unusual, but still good are: - Carrots - Meat (all kinds) - Leek Best regards, Ryusei from RyuKoch
Although I'm an absolute disaster in the kitchen, I tried the recipe today with shiitake mushrooms and cabbage. Super delicious! I'll definitely be making this more often :)
Hello Karo, it seems you really can cook, otherwise you wouldn't have made such a delicious dish. We're very happy that you like the recipe and that it was tasty :) And always remember to experiment—you're sure to have a lot of fun doing so. Best regards, Ryusei Hosono
Hallo, A small note: if you use the linked Dashi broth, the soup is not lactose-free!
Hallo Uli, what exactly is in the dashi? I didn't find any dairy product in it. But maybe I overlooked something, so I would appreciate your reply. Best regards, Ryusei Hosono
I wanted to try a simple Japanese breakfast today and made miso soup in its basic version with tofu, spring onions, and wakame. It turned out a bit too salty. Was that too much miso paste or too much dashi powder? Other than that, it tasted really good and I’ll definitely try out versions with more vegetables in the future. The amount of 200g tofu per person seems too much in relation to the liquid. I didn’t even use half of it. Along with it, I had Tamago Kake Gohan, which was surprisingly good despite the simplicity of the recipe.
Hello Dirk, it depends. If the dashi powder contains salt, it could be due to either one. If it’s unsalted, then it’s the miso. In general, it’s the miso paste that adds the seasoning and salt to the soup. That’s why you should usually add a little less miso. I’m glad you liked it :) Best regards, Ryusei
I’ve cooked miso soup a few times now with different toppings. Most of the time, I have it as a side dish with a Japanese main course and rice. My most recent version: finely diced mushrooms, frozen spinach, and spring onions. Tastes fantastic and takes no more time and effort than a ready-made meal.
Hallo Dirk, That sounds really delicious, I have to try this combination as well. Thank you very much for the tip! :) Best regards, Ryusei
If the linked dashi contains flavor enhancers, the recipe is really a fail, or poorly researched. Or is flavor enhancer authentic in dashi .. :(
Hello Mareiko, Thank you for your comment! The recipe comes from my family, so I stuck to the ingredients we always use for it. In general, I know many Japanese people and others who regularly use this brand of dashi. However, I just did a little more research regarding flavor enhancers, and it looks like (at least from my point of view) we’re dealing here with quite common flavor enhancers. If you want to avoid these additional flavor enhancers, you can also make your own dashi. Kombu is usually used for this – but it contains a lot of umami (monosodium glutamate, specifically E621), which is also a flavor enhancer. By the way, the flavor-enhancing effect in kombu is one reason why it’s used so frequently in Asian cooking. I hope I was able to provide some clarity and that you’ll still enjoy this recipe! :) Best regards, Ryusei