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miso soup with mushrooms and spinach in a bowl with a spoon
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4.76 from 25 votes

Miso Soup with Mushrooms and Spinach

Miso soup is easy and rewarding to make at home. You'll start by making dashi, the world's easiest broth. Then you'll strain it into a clean pot, add a few stellar ingredients, and have a nourishing, comforting bowl of miso soup in minutes.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Additional Time30 minutes
Total Time55 minutes
Course: Soups
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: miso soup, mushroom miso soup
Servings: 4
Calories: 61kcal
Author: Carolyn Gratzer Cope

Ingredients

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

  1. 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.
  2. Bonito flakes are dried, smoked skipjack tuna. They impart a deep, smoky savoriness to miso soup.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.)
  8. Leftovers will keep for a few days in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat gently before serving.
I first published this recipe here way back in 2010. I've updated the post and recipe for clarity, but in essence it remains the same.

Nutrition

Calories: 61kcal | Carbohydrates: 5.4g | Protein: 4.8g | Fat: 2.5g | Fiber: 1.1g