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Here’s how to make miso soup (with mushrooms and spinach, if you like) quickly and easily at home. It’s nutritious, soul-warming comfort food at its best.
Why we love this recipe
Miso soup deserves a place in every umami-lover’s repertoire. It’s a wholesome, holistic take on comfort, one that soothes both with its deep, rich flavors and with its obvious nutritive benefits. The process is very simple, and the results are very good.
Our version begins by hewing reasonably closely to tradition, by:
- Starting with a basic dashi, a simple broth of simmered kombu (an umami superstar among dried sea vegetables) and dried bonito flakes
- Adding a heaping spoonful of miso paste, some diced silken tofu, and sliced scallions
After that, you can decide whether to keep it simple or add ingredients to your heart’s content. I often add mushrooms and swap in baby spinach for the traditional wakame, so that’s what I’ve shared here. But you can add other starches, proteins, and vegetables too. Refer to the FAQ section below for guidance.
I first published this recipe here way back in 2010. I’ve updated the post for clarity, but the recipe remains the same.
What you’ll need
Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe. You can buy them all at a local Asian grocery if you have one nearby, at Whole Foods, or through the Amazon affiliate links below.
- Kombu is kelp, a type of seaweed. It’s jam-packed with umami and helps create a savory base for your miso soup. It comes dried and lasts for a long time. Buy it here.
- Bonito flakes are dried, smoked skipjack tuna. They impart a deep, smoky savoriness to miso soup. Buy them here.
- White miso paste is made from fermented soybeans. It has a salty, sweet, and savory vibe and is among the most mellow of the miso varieties. Buy it here.
- Silken tofu has a tender, more fragile texture than its “regular” counterpart. I like to use firm silken tofu since it’s reasonably easy to dice without having it all apart. Buy it here.
How to make it
Here’s what you’ll do to make a comforting, nourishing pot of miso soup (with mushrooms and spinach, if you like). You can see the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get all the details in the recipe card below.
- First, you’ll make the dashi — a clear, umami-powerhouse broth. Place the kombu and water into a pot, bring to a simmer but not a full boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
- Off the heat, add the bonito flakes and steep for 10 minutes, then strain.
- Mix a bit of the hot dashi with the miso paste until smooth.
- Pour the rest of the dashi back into a clean pot. Add tofu, mushrooms, and spinach, and warm through. Off the heat, stir in the miso and scallions. That’s it!
Expert tips and FAQs
Yes! The only ingredient you’ll need to change is the bonito flakes. Leave them out, and instead add five whole dried shiitake mushrooms in the first step along with the kombu and water. Strain them out before serving. Some people like to slice dried shiitakes and eat them, but I find them too rubbery. You’re welcome to add them to the final soup if you like.
This soup is very versatile. You can add a wide variety of vegetables, from thinly sliced bell pepper to snow or snap peas to shredded cabbage and beyond. You can add protein, from shrimp to cooked shredded chicken. And you can add cooked rice, ramen noodles, or rice noodles.
Starchy ingredients and longer-cooking proteins should be cooked before adding. Vegetables and flash-cooking proteins like shrimp can be added raw along with the mushrooms and simmered for a few minutes, just until done.
You can definitely make the dashi up to a few days in advance and store it in the fridge.
If you make the whole soup in advance, it will keep just fine for a few days, but make sure to reheat it gently, without boiling, so you won’t lose the nutritive benefits of the miso. (Miso contains live, active cultures that won’t survive very high temperatures — though it will still taste fabulous.)
Leftovers will keep for a few days in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat gently before serving.
Creator spotlight
As an umami devotee, I love cooking and sharing Japanese-inspired dishes with you. But I also want to yield the spotlight to creators with Japanese heritage. In the past couple of years I’ve been enjoying the work of Sara Kiyo Popowa at Shiso Delicious and Namiko Hirasawa Chen at Just One Cookbook. If you don’t know their work already, please check it out. I think you’ll love it too.
More favorite Japanese-inspired recipes
- Vegetarian ramen with rich, savory broth
- Spicy salmon roll
- Sushi rice
- Charred shishito peppers
- Spicy mayo
- Ramen eggs
- Chili-salted edamame
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Miso Soup with Mushrooms and Spinach
Ingredients
- 1 5- inch-square piece kombu
- 8 cups 1(900 ml) cold water
- 1 cup (5 grams) bonito flakes
- ¼ cup (60 grams) white (shiro) miso
- 8 ounces (277 grams) button mushrooms, sliced
- 12 ounces (350 grams) firm or extra-firm silken tofu, diced
- 3 ounces (85 grams) baby spinach
- ¼ cup sliced scallions
Instructions
Make the dashi
- Place the kombu into a medium-sized pot. You don’t need to rinse it, even if the package says you do. Pour in the water.
- Bring the water to a fairly brisk simmer, but not a full boil. Then turn down the heat and let it simmer very gently for 10 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and add the bonito flakes. Let steep for 10 minutes.
- Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot.
Make the miso soup
- Return strained broth to a low simmer. Ladle out about a half cup of the broth into a small bowl and whisk in the miso paste until smooth. Set aside for a moment.
- Add mushrooms and simmer until cooked to your liking, about 5 minutes.
- Add the diced tofu and the spinach and simmer for. a minute or so, until the spinach wilts.
- Off the heat, pour the miso mixture and the scallions into the pot and stir to combine.
- Ladle into bowls and serve.
Notes
- Kombu is kelp, a type of seaweed. It’s jam-packed with umami and helps create a savory base for your miso soup. It comes dried and lasts for a long time.
- Bonito flakes are dried, smoked skipjack tuna. They impart a deep, smoky savoriness to miso soup.
- White miso paste is made from fermented soybeans. It has a salty, sweet, and savory vibe and is among the most mellow of the miso varieties.
- Silken tofu has a tender, more fragile texture than its "regular" counterpart. I like to use firm silken tofu since it’s reasonably easy to dice without having it all apart.
- Truth be told, I like to. sauté the sliced mushrooms in a little bit of butter or oil before adding them to the soup, rather than letting them cook in the broth. But either way is fine.
- Vegan miso soup variation: Omit the bonito flakes, and instead add five whole dried shiitake mushrooms in the first step along with the kombu and water. Strain them out before serving. Some people like to slice dried shiitakes and eat them, but I find them too rubbery. You’re welcome to add them to the final soup if you like.
- You can make the dashi up to a few days in advance and store it in the fridge. If you make the whole soup in advance, it will keep just fine for a few days, but make sure to reheat it gently, without boiling, so you won’t lose the nutritive benefits of the miso. (Miso contains live, active cultures that won’t survive very high temperatures — though it will still taste fabulous.)
- Leftovers will keep for a few days in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat gently before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Hm. Depending on the size, two things come immediately to mind: polenta, and chicken-in-a-pot (or “poule en cocotte”, if you’re feeling French and fancy). Both are great classic comfort foods, the kind of thing that holds families together, and seems to befit a storied treasure like this.
Plus, if I do polenta? I love the challenge of cleaning pots, yessir… 😉
Lovely post! I think I’d make a spanish lentil soup first…and your miso recipe second!
I’ll have a boeuf bourguignon showdown using Julia Child and Thomas Keller’s recipes. I think it just seems fitting to cook something so close to my heart as an appreciation for this lovely pot.
I’d probably make miso soup, because for starters, I’m always making miso soup, and because it just seems like a good idea for its new owner to carry on its history. Then I’d probably do a follow-up with some coconut rice pudding. Can’t break in a new pot without dessert!
I would work my way through Anna Thomas’ “Love Soup” cookbook with this pot.
I made an okra stew for the first time recently. It was awesome, and gone way too fast, so I’m dying to try it again — given the proper pot and some decent okra at the market! 😉
My Daughter is coming home from college for a visit in three weeks. I would make her favorite Fettuccine Alfredo with crawfish tails. Sometimes I eat red Miso paste right out of the container, its good.
Take Care
Carolyn – What a beautiful pot – and, yes, I hang my head in shame for the 3 plus copper pots that need to be “refurbished” that are sitting in between our baskets of recycling – they are neither freecycled or recycled – or even cycled – they are stuck – but perhaps you have inspired some fresh movement. See moving isn’t such a bad idea 🙂
I’d probably make a potato leek soup. For some reason I always think of copper pots when making anything with leeks.
What a great idea for a giveaway! I would want to make a hearty chili as a last shout-out to winter :).