Easy and umami-filled, this Clam Miso Soup will be a new addition to your favorite soup!
Both tofu and wakame seem to be the mainstream combination in miso soup, but did you know there are literally hundreds of varieties of this everyday Japanese soup?
Today’s recipe Japanese Clam Miso Soup (あさりの味噌汁) is another popular choice in Japan, and you can use different kinds of clams for this recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Japanese Clam Miso Soup
- Flavorful and delicious.
- So easy to make!
- A fancier version of the ordinary miso soup.
- Additional protein and nutrition.
Simple 3 Ingredients to Make Clam Miso Soup
- Dashi – When I make my clam miso soup, I like to use Kombu Dashi instead of my regular Awase Dashi made with kombu and katsuobushi. The umami from kombu matches perfectly with the delicious essence from clam stock. It feels like an oceanic culinary experience.
- Miso – It works with any miso type you have.
- Manila clams – Use good quality, fresh clams for this recipe. I also suggest using nothing but clams as the only ingredient in the soup. That means no tofu or wakame seaweed. If you like to enjoy clam miso soup, you do not want to mix up the delicate clam flavor with other ingredients. Garnish it with some chopped scallion would round everything up beautifully.
How to De-Grit Clams
It’s important to de-grit and to clean the clams before using them for your recipe. No one wants to taste or feel the sand in your food.
There are various articles on the Internet on how to de-grit clams and they will probably all work. In the US, popular methods include the use of cornmeal to get the sand out of clams. Clams purge the sand and grit out by ingesting the cornmeal.
In Japan, however, the most common method is by using simple saltwater. Fishermen and housewives all use this method and it’s how I de-grit and clean clams, too. If you are interested in the Japanese way, here’s how we do it.
Itadakimasu!
I hope you will give this easy miso soup a try! If you want a clear broth version without miso, check out the Japanese Clear Clam Soup (Ushio-Jiru) recipe.
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Flavorful manila clam soup in dashi kombu stock, garnished with green onion. The umami from kombu matches perfectly with the delicious essence of the clam stock.
- ½ lb Manila clams (227 g)
- 2 cups water (480 ml)
- 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) (2 x 2 inches or 5 x 5 cm)
- 2 Tbsp miso (I use Awase Miso)
- 1 green onion/scallion (finely chopped)
- 2 cups water
- 1 Tbsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
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Gather all the ingredients.
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De-grit clams by following my detailed How To De-Grit Clam post. Even though some packages may say “ready to use”, I highly recommend doing this process. Quick Summary: Add 1 Tbsp salt in 2 cups water in a bowl and let it dissolved completely. Tip: Place a sieve in the bowl so that any sand and grit the clams purge would stay on the bottom of the bowl instead of being consumed by the clams again.
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Add the clams inside the sieve without overlapping each other. The water level should be right around the clam’s mouth. If there isn’t enough salt water, make more using the same ratio (1 Tbsp salt for 2 cups water). Cover the bowl with aluminum foil to create a dark environment for clams and leave it in a cool place for 2 hours. This should give clams enough time to purge sand and grit.
- Wash the clams carefully with a brush. Clams are now ready to use.
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In a medium pot, put the clean clams, 2 cups water, and kombu and bring it to a boil over medium heat.
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When boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low.
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Skim off the scum using a fine-mesh skimmer. Tip: Prepare a cup/bowl of water and dip the skimmer in the water to clean.
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When all the clams opened up, turn off the heat immediately and do not overcook it. Remove and discard the kombu.
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Use a ladle and dissolve 1 Tbsp miso at a time before adding another tablespoon. Each brand of miso has different saltiness so adjust accordingly.
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Serve miso soup in individual soup bowls and sprinkle chopped scallion. When you need to reheat the soup, make sure you DO NOT BOIL miso soup because it will lose the flavor.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Hi great website and blog. Tried out your clam in miso soup recipe and it worked beautifully and easily too. My wife was pleased so I m in her good books. Marinating a few fillets of dorade bream in miso (followed your bass in miso recipe) and firing up the grill tomorrow or the day after. Your recipe is fairly close to Nobu’s recipe but his has a lot of sugar. Will it make any difference? Also I am using a taiwanese miso instead of japanese as it comes in smaller packs and cheaper too. I won’t be able to finish the standard packs of miso from japan.
Hi enjoyla! Thank you for your kind words. I’m so happy you tried out this recipe and enjoyed it! Hope the fish was good too. The traditional miso cod recipe requires only three ingredients: miso, sake, and mirin. Sugar is not necessary because mirin will add sweet soft flavor just enough to bring out the sweetness. I’ve never seen a Taiwanese miso before (didn’t know that exist!). Well, as you know, miso plays a big role in this dish since that’s the main ingredient. If you use very good miso, the result is amazing (regular miso works too). One day I hope you can try it out with Saikyo miso – the original miso for this recipe. 🙂
Thank you again for writing! 🙂
Hi. I only have the powder dashi kombu instead of the seaweed. how many tsp should i use? thanks!
For this much water, 1 tsp should be enough. Some people don’t use kombu and use the flavor only from the clams. 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
Thank you for all these recipes takes me back to home
Hi Ruriko! My pleasure. 🙂
I made this tonight. My husband loved it! Good thing I made a double recipe! I have cooked with fresh clams before, but NEVER did the recipe include instructions for degritting. I was amazed at the stuff that came out – and grossed out that I hadn’t done this in other recipes, like clam chowder. But I will from now on! I have learned many helpful things from you, Nami, and I appreciate it.
Hi Debbie! I’m so happy your husband enjoyed it. 🙂 The “degretting” method is pretty common in Japan but I was also surprised that American recipes don’t quite explain the degretting process in the recipes. I’m glad you got the stuff out before cooking! 😀
Should the clams be submerged in the salt water? If so, won’t the grit make their way back into the clams?
If they’re not submerged, how does the grit get removed?
Hi Sylvia! What I mean is that you don’t pour salt water that completely covers (like under water). I’m not sure about how other countries do this, but in Japan, we recreate the similar environment as ocean so we put just enough water to cover some parts of the shell, not entirely sunk under water. By creating the “comfortable” environment, the clams get relax and purge the grit. Which is why we also keep the clams in dark area. It might sound funny but that’s the common practice to de-grit.
To avoid the grit coming back to the clams, we use a sieve or something to raise the clams above the bottom of the bowl. So grit falls down to the bottom of bowl.
I also explained in here – similar setting:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/how_to/how-to-degrit-clams/
Thank you Nami! I followed your directions exactly, from the degritting all the way to the end, and it was the best clam miso shiru I’ve ever had.
Hi Sylvia! Yay! I’m so happy to hear that. One of readers also told me she was surprised how much her clams purge the grit following my recipe. I think there is a different way to degrit here in the US, but Japanese method works for me every time. 🙂
Can you use the instant dashi powder instead as substitute?
Hi Vivian! Sure you can do that. 🙂
Another fabulous dish! We added bonito flakes to the kombu and used mussels rather than clams, but it was delicious! The mussels made the broth sweet and so flavorful! Thanks!
Yay! Thank you for trying this recipe! I’m really happy to hear mussels worked too! Thank you for writing your kind feedback. xo
Made this tonight with ginger rice and a fantastic Indonesian salmon. The miso was exquisite and love by my family.
Hi Bob! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for trying and for your kind feedback. 🙂
I’m anxious to try this because I had the most delicious clam miso soup at a restaurant in Costa Mesa, CA called Murasaki. Hope to duplicate that!
Hi Frances! I hope you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Would canned clams possibly work in place of the fresh clams? They tend to be easier to get my hands on.
Hi Josh! Hmmm! That’s a tough question. I had never used canned clams….but I had used frozen one (and this one will work). Possible to get frozen clams? Only way to find out is to give it a try….. let us know if you try?
Sorry may I know what I can eat this with? Is this an entree or an appetizer? I’m wondering if this actually goes well with rice?
Hi Sarah! In Japan, we serve miso soup whenever we serve a bowl of steamed rice and a plate of pickles. We serve the main dish along 1-2 side dishes to make a proper meal. 🙂