It’s super easy to make authentic Japanese miso soup at home! As the daily elixir of the Japanese diet, homemade miso soup is not only delicious, it also brings many great health benefits. Learn how to make this nourishing soup at home with this recipe and my video tutorial.
Many of you probably have tried miso soup at least once if you have visited Japanese restaurants. In the US, it is usually served before the main meal with a salad. However, in Japan, miso soup is ALWAYS served at the same time as steamed rice is served.
I may be biased, but miso soup is probably one of the easiest soups you can make at home! At the end of this post, you should feel pretty confident to make yourself a bowl of authentic miso soup at home. And trust me, what you make will taste 10,000 times better than the restaurant or instant one.
What is Miso Soup?
Most Japanese meals are served with a bowl of steamed rice and a traditional Japanese soup called Miso Soup (味噌汁). Depending on the region, season, and personal preference, you can find many varieties of miso soup enjoyed in Japan. In addition to the classic tofu and wakame combination, we also use a lot of different ingredients to make the soup. That’s why we can never get bored with it.
Miso soup is simply made of 3 components: dashi, miso (soybean paste), and your choice of ingredients. We’ll go over how it all works together in detail below:
Part 1: Dashi (Japanese Soup Stock)
Dashi (だし・出汁) is Japanese stock, and it is a fundamental ingredient in many Japanese dishes. If you’re looking to make authentic Japanese miso soup, you will have to use dashi as the soup broth and not any other types of broth. Miso soup is not miso soup without dashi.
While you may not be familiar with dashi, it is actually the easiest and quickest broth one can make at home. There are quite a few methods to make dashi. Japanese home cooks commonly use Awase Dashi (made with kombu kelp+ dried bonito flakes) and Iriko Dashi (made with anchovies) for their miso soup. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, you can use Kombu Dashi (made with kombu kelp).
I make my homemade dashi because it is so much simpler and straightforward than making chicken or vegetable stock! You can find all the ingredients in Japanese and most Asian grocery stores. Click here for the video tutorial on how to make dashi from scratch.
I have a detailed post on How to Make Dashi (The Ultimate Guide). It’s worth reading if you are serious about making Japanese food at home.
Some recipes online use instant dashi powder or granules for miso soup. However, I don’t recommend this option as most dashi powder brands contain MSG and the flavor and fragrance do not last long.
Pro Tip! Japanese cooking requires dashi in many recipes. You can make a big batch of dashi and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days or in the freezer for 2 weeks and it’s always ready to go. Use dashi for different recipes throughout the week and if you have any leftovers at the end of the week, make miso soup to finish up your weekly batch. With dashi on hand, you can make miso soup in under 10 minutes!
Part 2: Miso (Soybean Paste)
Miso (味噌), fermented soybean paste, is made from soybeans, grains (steamed rice or barley), salt, and koji culture (麹, a fermentation starter). There are many different brands and varieties of miso paste in the market.
My favorite miso is this Kodawattemasu from Hikari Miso (slow-aged red koji miso) as the flavor is the most versatile. It has a more rounded flavor that goes well with any ingredients.
Each miso paste and brand varies in saltiness and flavors, so do adjust the amount of miso according to taste. You can also mix 2-3 types of miso together for more complex flavors. Otherwise, if you have good quality miso, enjoy its unique characters.
To learn more about miso on my blog, click here. If you are interested in making your own miso at home, read about it here.
A typical Japanese miso soup bowl holds about 200 ml of liquid. As a general rule, we add 1 tablespoon (18 g) of miso per one miso soup bowl (200 ml dashi).
The most important tip to remember – NEVER boil miso soup once miso is added because it loses flavors and aromas.
Part 3: Your Choice of Ingredients
I assume most of you have tried tofu miso soup (how to cut tofu) at Japanese restaurants. Have you tried miso soup with other ingredients? In Japan, because we drink miso soup every day, we switch up the ingredients all the time.
Follow these quick tips when you use different vegetables or seafood for your soup:
- Cook ingredients in succession based on their density.
- Add root vegetables into dashi first before boiling.
- Let them simmer until they become tender.
- Add other quick-cooking ingredients.
- Add garnishes such as green onions/scallions and mitsuba (Japanese herbs) only right before serving.
Ingredients that are added BEFORE bringing dashi to a boil
- Carrot
- Clams
- Daikon radish
- Kabocha squash/pumpkin
- Manila clams
- Onion
- Potato
- Turnip
Ingredients that are added AFTER dashi is boiling
- Aburaage (deep-fried tofu pouch)
- Bean sprouts
- Cabbage/napa cabbage
- Egg
- Eggplant
- Green onions/scallions
- Mushrooms such as enoki, maitake, nameko, shiitake, shimeji, etc
- Negi (long green onion/leeks)
- Okra
- Somen noodles
- Spinach
- Tofu (silken or medium-firm)
- Wakame seaweed
- Yuba (soybean curd)
Health Benefits of Homemade Miso Soup
Japanese people drink miso soup daily as we believe this delicious, healing soup is a gateway to great health. Just like green tea, you can safely say miso soup is the elixir of the Japanese diet. Here are just some of the health benefits of miso soup:
1. Helps maintain a healthy digestive system
With its beneficial probiotics, drinking miso soup helps to improve your overall digestion and absorption of nutrients.
2. Good Source of Nutrients
Miso is rich in minerals as well as copper, manganese, protein, Vitamin K, and zinc. Therefore, drinking a bowl of miso soup a day is like taking a natural supplement for your health.
3. Good for bones
Miso soup provides many bone-building minerals like calcium, magnesium, and manganese, which helps to reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis.
4. Improve your heart
The natural chemical compounds in miso, such as Vitamin K2, linoleic acid and saponin, are known to reduce the risk of heart disease and lower cholesterol.
To enjoy the amazing health benefits of miso soup, you will want to make your own miso soup. The instant miso soup will not be as good since they tend to contain higher sodium and may include other preservatives. There are some good brands out there, so just be sure to read the label.
Now that you’ve learned how to make miso soup at home, I hope you enjoy this nourishing soup every day!
Looking For More Nourishing Soups & Stews?
15 Favorite Japanese Hot Pots, Soups & Stews
Other Variations of Miso Soup You May Enjoy:
- Homemade Instant Miso Soup
- Vegan Miso Soup (with tofu and wakame seaweed)
- Vegetarian Miso Soup (with easy seasonal vegetables)
- Tonjiru (Pork & Vegetable Miso Soup)
- Clam Soup (Asari Miso Soup)
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Miso Soup
Video
Ingredients
For the Dashi (makes a scant 4 cups)
- 4 cups water
- 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) (⅓ oz, 10 g; 4 inches x 4 inches or 10 cm x 10 cm)
- 1 cup katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) (packed; I used a loosely packed 3 cups in the video for stronger flavor)
For One (200-240 ml) Bowl of Miso Soup
- 1 cup dashi (Japanese soup stock; click to learn more)
- 1 Tbsp miso (18 g)
- Ingredients of your choice (please read the blog post)
- green onion/scallion (finely chopped)
Instructions
To Make the Dashi (Can be Made in Advance):
- Clean any dirt off the kombu with a damp towel and soak the kombu in water for 30 minutes or overnight (preferred). NEVER wash kombu and do not remove the white substance—that’s umami! These days, it's pretty clean, so you can usually skip this cleaning step. Just make sure there are no dirt particles.
- After 30 minutes (or overnight), the kombu is rehydrated. This liquid is called cold brew Kombu Dashi.
- Pour the kombu dashi and kombu into a saucepan. SLOWLY bring it to boil on medium-low heat so you can extract as much umami from kombu as possible. Right before the stock boils, remove the kombu. If you leave the kombu, it gets slimy and yields a bitter taste. Now, what you have is Kombu Dashi. If you’re vegetarian/vegan, use this kombu dashi for your miso soup. What to do with the used kombu? You can reuse it to make Simmered Kombu or Homemade Furikake Rice Seasoning.
- If you're not vegetarian/vegan, add the katsuobushi to the kombu dashi and let it simmer for 30-60 seconds. Turn off the heat and let it steep for 10 minutes.
- Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and now you have roughly 4 cups of Awase Dashi. You can store the dashi in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days and in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. Repurpose the used katsuobushi to make Homemade Furikake Rice Seasoning.
To Make the Miso Soup
STEP 1 – Add the Dashi
- Here, I demonstrate how to make 2 servings of miso soup. Add 2 cups (480 ml) dashi to a saucepan and set over medium heat. You can use the formula of 1 cup (200-240 ml) dashi + 1 Tbsp (18 g) miso = 1 serving of miso soup. If you add more ingredients/vegetables, the amount of soup will increase, and you will also need more miso.
- Are you in a hurry and have no time to make dashi? You can use a dashi packet or dashi powder from the store to make instant dashi.
STEP 2 – Add the Dense Ingredients (BEFORE bringing the dashi to a boil)
- If your miso soup doesn't include hard ingredients or clams, go to the next step. Add the hard ingredients like root vegetables to the saucepan. Once boiling, lower the heat and simmer until they become tender. If you're making Clam Miso Soup, add the clams to the cold brew kombu dashi, then bring it to a gentle boil. Once the shells are open, turn off the heat (do not overcook).
STEP 3- Add the Quick-Cooking Ingredients (AFTER the dashi is boiling)
- If your miso soup doesn’t include these ingredients, bring the dashi to a boil and go to the next step. After the dashi starts boiling, add in the soft vegetables like leafy greens, mushrooms, and deep-fried tofu pouches because they require less cooking time. At this point, keep the soup at a simmer and make sure it stays warm (DO NOT OVERBOIL).
STEP 4 – Add the Miso
- Add a small amount of miso at a time (you can start with 2 Tbsp miso for 2 cups dashi). Put the miso inside a ladle, slowly add the dashi into the ladle, and stir with chopsticks to dissolve the miso completely. You can buy a miso muddler or a fine-mesh miso strainer, which helps you dissolve the miso faster. If you accidentally add too much miso, dilute the miso soup with dashi (or water). NEVER OVERBOIL miso soup because it loses nutrients, flavor, and aroma.
STEP 5 – Add the Tofu
- Add the tofu after the miso is completely dissolved; otherwise, you might break the tofu when stirring in the miso. If you add chilled tofu from the refrigerator, the miso soup will get cooler. Reheat the miso soup until it is just hot, but NOT BOILING.
STEP 6 – Add the Wakame and Green Onions
- Add the rehydrated wakame (seaweed). I recommend rehydrating dried wakame in a separate bowl of water to get rid of the saltiness, instead of rehydrating it in the soup itself. Add the ingredients that do not require cooking such as the chopped green onions, mitsuba, yuzu, and blanched spinach right before serving to keep their fresh fragrance and color.
To Serve:
- Serve immediately. Place on the right side of the table setting (read about this on Ichiju Sansai (One Soup Three Dishes); see the diagram).
To Store:
- In general, it's best to consume all the miso soup right away because the aroma and taste will be lost as time passes. Let your miso soup cool to room temperature (up to 4 hours; any longer and it will spoil) and then refrigerate. Keep for up to 2 days in the refrigerator. If you want to make a big batch to store for later, it's best to refrigerate the soup without adding the miso. When ready to use, add the miso only for the portion you need. You can freeze miso soup for up to 2 weeks. If the soup contains potatoes or tofu, remove them before freezing as the textures will change.
To Reheat Miso Soup:
- Heat the miso soup in a pot over medium heat, but do not overboil. Miso loses its nutrients at high temperatures.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on Mar 3, 2011. The post has been updated with better pictures, a new video, and more detailed recipe (same recipe).
