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.
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Japanese Clam Miso Soup
Ingredients
- ½ lb Manila clams
- 2 cups water
- 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) (0.2 oz, 5 g; 2 x 2 inches, 5 x 5 cm per piece)
- 2 Tbsp miso (I use koji miso or awase miso)
- 1 green onion/scallion (finely chopped)
For Cleaning the Clams
- 2 cups water
- 1 Tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
To De-Grit and Clean the Clams
- As soon as you purchase the clams, you must purge them of sand and clean them following my tutorial. Use 2 cups water and 1 Tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and start this process 1 hour prior to cooking.
To Prepare the Clam Miso Soup
- In a medium pot, put the clean ½ lb Manila clams, 2 cups water, and 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) and bring it to a boil over medium heat.
- Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium low.
- 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.
- When all the clams open up, turn off the heat immediately and do not overcook it. Remove and discard the kombu.
- Use a ladle and dissolve 2 Tbsp miso. Each brand of miso has different saltiness, so adjust the taste of the soup by adding more water or miso (add a small amount at a time).
- Serve the Clam Miso Soup in individual soup bowls. Sprinkle with 1 green onion/scallion (chopped). When you need to reheat the soup, make sure you DO NOT BOIL the miso soup because it will lose its flavor.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container or in the pot and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
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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?
How would you use the frozen clams? I have some I got at Super H Mart and wondered if I still have to let them sit to remove the sand.
Hi Theresa! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
The majority of frozen clams are ready to use. The sand should have already been removed. 🙂
We hope this helps!
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! 🙂
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. 🙂
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
Can you use the instant dashi powder instead as substitute?
Hi Vivian! Sure you can do that. 🙂
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. 🙂
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! 😀
Thank you for all these recipes takes me back to home
Hi Ruriko! My pleasure. 🙂
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!
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! 🙂