It’s super easy to make authentic Japanese miso soup at home! My recipe shows you how to make quick and easy soup stock (dashi) from scratch and then make the classic miso soup with tofu and wakame seaweed. Homemade miso soup is not only delicious, but it also brings many great health benefits.
Miso soup is a staple in Japanese cuisine and is soup for the soul. We enjoy it almost every single day for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. As a Japanese home cook, I would also say that miso soup is probably one of the easiest soups you can make at home.
There are many paths to making miso soup, but once you know the basics, you will be able to branch out and customize. The goal of this post is to arm you with all the important knowledge so you can make yourself a bowl of authentic miso soup at home any time of the day. And trust me, what you make will taste 10,000 times better than the Japanese restaurants or the instant ones.
Table of Contents
What is Miso Soup?
Most Japanese meals are served with a small bowl of steamed rice and a traditional Japanese soup called Miso Soup (味噌汁). At its most basic, miso soup is simply made of 3 components:
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 that I show you today, we also use different savory ingredients such as veggies, meat, and seafood to make the soup. That’s why we can never get bored with it.
We’ll go over how it all works together in detail below.
How to Make Classic Miso Soup with Tofu and Wakame
In this post, we’ll master the most basic miso soup with tofu and wakame (seaweed). Once you know how to make this classic Japanese miso soup, you can easily make an endless variations by changing up the ingredients.
Step 1: Make Dashi (Japanese Soup Stock)
Dashi (だし・出汁) is Japanese stock and the base of many Japanese dishes. 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.
Five Types of Dashi
While you may not be familiar with dashi, it is actually the easiest and quickest broth one can make at home. There are 5 types of dashi that you can choose from. You can read my ultimate guide on how to make dashi if you are serious about making Japanese food at home.
To start, Japanese home cooks commonly use Awase Dashi (made with kombu kelp + dried bonito flakes) and Iriko Dashi (made with anchovies) for their miso soup.
💡Pro Tip
However, if you’re vegetarian or vegan, you can use Kombu Dashi (made with kombu kelp).
Three Ways to Make Dashi
Personally, I make my homemade dashi from scratch because it is so much simpler and straightforward than making chicken or vegetable stock! Fortunately, you can find all the ingredients in Japanese and most Asian grocery stores or online. Click here for the video tutorial on how to make dashi from scratch.
Some recipes online use instant dashi powder (dashi granules) for miso soup. However, I don’t recommend this option as most dashi powder brands contain MSG and additives and the flavor and fragrance do not last long.
If you’re still reluctant to make dashi from scratch, try a dashi packet instead of dashi powder.
💡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. With dashi on hand, you can make the basic miso soup in under 5 minutes!
Step 2: Add Miso Paste
Miso (味噌), fermented soybean paste, is made from soybeans, grains (steamed rice or barley), salt, and koji culture (麹, a fermentation starter).
Types of Miso
There are many different types of miso in the market. In the US, most miso available at the mainstream grocery stores goes by colors, such as white miso (shiro miso), red miso (aka miso), and yellow miso. Read this post if you want to deep dive into miso. If you are interested in making your own miso at home, read about it here.
Each miso paste and brand varies in saltiness and flavor. When it comes to miso soup, there is no “right” miso for your miso soup. All you need to remember is to adjust the amount according to taste. You can also mix two to three miso brands/types together for more complex flavors. If you have good quality miso, enjoy its unique characters by using just one type.
Try out different miso and find your favorite!
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 character that goes well with any ingredients.
💡Pro Tip
Dashi-included miso (だし入り味噌) seems convenient as you don’t need to prepare dashi; however, you can’t expect good health benefits from it. In order to keep the quality and taste and to prevent the expansion of the container, the manufacturer has to add additives and sterilize by heating, which stops the action of yeasts. Therefore, I don’t recommend getting dashi-included miso.
Miso to Dashi Ratio
💡Pro Tip
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).
How to Dissolve Miso
First, put the miso inside a ladle and slowly add the dashi into the ladle. Then, stir the miso mixture with chopsticks and let chunks of miso dissolve completely. You can buy the following tools to help dissolve miso.
- Miso Muddler (Miso Whisk)
- Miso Soup Fine-Mesh Strainer Set
Step 3: Add Tofu
There are three reasons why you add tofu last when you make miso soup with tofu.
- Silken tofu may break when you dissolve the miso paste in the soup.
- If you heat the tofu too much, the water in the tofu will escape and it will become hard.
- Tofu is edible (and delicious) out of the package (try Chilled Tofu and Tofu Salad recipes) and does not require cooking. You just need to reheat it.
Two Types of Tofu
- Silken or Soft Tofu (Kinugoshi Tofu 絹ごし豆腐) – Undrained and unpressed; the highest water content; a custardy texture.
- Medium to Medium-Firm Tofu (Momen Tofu 木綿豆腐) – Pressed; a spongy texture.
💡Pro Tip
The typical size for the tofu used in miso soup is ½ inch (1.3 cm) cubes.
Although it is very common to cut tofu on your palm in Japan (you have probably seen this in Japanese drama or manga), it’s not required. In fact, I recommend using a cutting board if you have never done this.
Two Important Cooking Tips
- Add miso paste to the soup stock right before serving. You can cook the ingredients in advance, but wait to add miso until you’re ready to serve.
- Never boil miso soup once miso is added because it loses nutrients, flavors, and aromas. If you turn off the heat right before boiling, this temperature (203ºF/95ºC) is considered the most fragrant stage for miso soup. And by the time you are ready to enjoy the soup, it is an ideal temperature (167ºF/75ºC) for drinking.
Let’s Make Miso Soup with Various Ingredients
Besides tofu and wakame seaweed, you can add so many seasonal and year-round ingredients to your miso soup. Here are some simple ones:
- Dense & root vegetables – carrot, daikon, potato, onion, gobo, taro, turnip, kabocha
- Soft & leafy vegetables – spinach, cabbage, leeks, eggplant, okra
- Mushrooms – shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, shimeji mushrooms.
- Tofu – aburaage (fried tofu pouch), koya dofu (freeze-dried tofu), yuba
- Seaweed – wakame, hijiki
- Noodles: cooked somen noodles
💡Pro Tip
For hard and dense root vegetables, start cooking them in cold dashi until they become tender, 5-10 minutes (depending on the vegetable and how it’s cut). Then, cook leafy vegetables in the simmering dashi for a few minutes. For mushrooms and tofu, cook them until heated after you add miso to the dashi.
Health Benefits of Miso Soup
Japanese people drink miso soup daily, as we believe this delicious and 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. Instant miso soup will not be as good since it tends to contain higher sodium and may include other preservatives. However, 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!
Other Variations of Miso Soup You May Enjoy
- Homemade Instant Miso Soup
- Vegan Miso Soup (with silken tofu and wakame seaweed)
- Vegetarian Miso Soup (with easy seasonal vegetables)
- Kabocha Miso Soup
- Tonjiru (Pork & Vegetable Miso Soup)
- Clam Soup (Asari Miso Soup)
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Homemade Miso Soup with Tofu
Ingredients
For the Dashi (makes a scant 4 cups)
- 4 cups water
- 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) (⅓ oz, 10 g per piece; 4 x 4 inches or 10 x 10 cm)
- 1 cup katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) (packed; I used a loosely packed 3 cups in the video for stronger flavor)
For the Miso Soup
- 7 oz soft/silken tofu (kinugoshi dofu)
- 4–5 Tbsp miso (use 1 Tbsp, 18 g for every 1 cup, 240 ml of dashi)
- 1 Tbsp dried wakame seaweed
- 1 green onion/scallion
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Cut 1 green onion/scallion into thin rounds.
To Make the Dashi (can make in advance)
- Add 4 cups water and 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) to a medium saucepan. If you have time, soak the kombu in water for 30 minutes. NEVER wash kombu and do not remove the white substance—that’s umami! These days, it‘s pretty clean, so just make sure there are no dirt particles.
- SLOWLY bring it to a boil (about 10 minutes) on medium-low heat so you can extract as much umami from the kombu as possible. Right before the stock boils, remove the kombu and set it aside for another use. (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.
- If you‘re not vegetarian/vegan, add 1 cup katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) to the kombu dashi and bring it back to a boil again. Once the dashi is boiling, reduce the heat, simmer for just 30 seconds.
- Turn off the heat and let the katsuobushi sink to the bottom, about 10 minutes. Then, strain through a fine-mesh sieve.
- 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. Reserve the spent katsuobushi and repurpose it; see the suggested recipes that follow at the end of the instructions.
To Make the Miso Soup
- Add the dashi to the saucepan. If you are using dashi from the refrigerator, bring it to simmer over medium heat and turn off the heat.
- Add 4–5 Tbsp miso. Put the miso in a ladle, slowly add the dashi into the ladle, and stir with chopsticks to dissolve completely. Here, I‘m using a miso muddler. If you accidentally add too much miso, dilute the miso soup with dashi (or water).
- Here, I‘m using a fine-mesh miso strainer, which helps you dissolve the miso faster. After dissolving the miso in the strainer, you may see rice koji (especially when it‘s koji miso). It‘s up to you if you want to include it in the miso soup or discard it (personal preference).
- Cut 7 oz soft/silken tofu (kinugoshi dofu) into ½-inch (1.3 cm) cubes and add to the miso soup. Tip: Add the tofu after the miso is completely dissolved; otherwise, you might break the tofu when stirring in the miso. Note: It is very common to cut tofu on your palm in Japan. However, I recommend using a cutting board if you have never done this.
- Add 1 Tbsp dried wakame seaweed to the pot. Reheat the miso soup until it is just hot. NEVER BOIL miso soup because it loses nutrients, flavor, and aroma. Add the chopped green onions right before serving to keep their fresh fragrance and color. Tip: If you worry about salt intake, I recommend rehydrating the dried wakame in a separate bowl of water to get rid of the saltiness, instead of rehydrating it in the soup itself.
To Serve
- Serve immediately. Place on the right side of the table setting; you can read about this in my post Ichiju Sansai (One Soup Three Dishes).
To Store
- In general, it‘s best to consume all the miso soup right away because it will lose its aroma and taste 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. However, you have to remove the tofu before freezing as the texture will change.
To Reheat the Miso Soup
- Heat the miso soup in a pot over medium heat, but do not boil. Miso loses its nutrients, flavor, and aroma at high temperatures.
What to do with the spent katsuobushi and kombu?
- Save the spent kombu and katsuobushi in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for up to a month.
- With the spent kombu, you can make Simmered Kombu (Kombu Tsukudani).
- You can also make Homemade Furikake (Rice Seasoning).
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on Mar 3, 2011. The post has been updated with new images and a video on April 3, 2017. The post was republished with more content on April 18, 2022. The recipe and blog content were revised and updated on June 7, 2022.
I made this just as Nami recommended and it turned out fantastic.
I’ve used packets before and was intimidated to make miso from scratch. But my sister in law just had a baby and I wanted to make her soup, and she said she liked miso, so I wanted to make miso soup from scratch for her sake. I was surprised that it wasn’t time consuming nor complicated. I went to Mitsuwa Marketplace to purchase all of my ingredients.
As a side note- As I examined types of seaweed- I see some kombu and seaweed are made in China and some kombu and seaweed are made in Japan. I opted for everything made in Japan.
Also, California seems to have found tests that say seaweeds have known ingredients that can increase risk of cancer or reproductive harm (Proposition 65). It’s a bit scary every time I see that label. But you’d think everyone in Japan would have cancer and reproductive issues if it truly is the case. So I just ignore it and buy the seaweed anyway.
Any thoughts?
Hi Umi! Thank you very much for using Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback.
We are glad to hear the recipe was easy to create homemade Miso Soup for your sister-in-law!
Regarding the Kombu and Seaweeds question, please read the note in this post:https://www.justonecookbook.com/kombu/
We hope this helps!🙂
Using your comprehensive guidance I have just made my first vegan miso soup, using dried oarweed (kelp) that I gathered last week and shiitake mushroom for the dashi, shavings of carrot, thinly sliced green onion and mushroom and white miso paste. My daughter and I tasted it but it wasn’t quite to our palate ( I’ve read that the Japanese palate is very subtle). One teaspoon of soy sauce per bowl brought it up just enough to fit our insensitive English palate ☺️. I may need to do more work on glutamate extraction and miso quantities! Thankyou for setting me off on this exploration ❤️
Hi Paul, Thank you for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
The Kombu we use for Japanese cooking/Dashi has 4 different types (https://www.justonecookbook.com/kombu/) and is usually dried for days to extract the flavor and then sold in a store. We have never tried this, but if you dried your kelp, you might taste more Umami from them.
We hope this helps with your next try.
Love making Dashi stock and Miso soup. I have been doing it for years. For the first time my Dashi stock has carbonation in it. Is it ‘bad?’ Should I throw it out?
(I recently started make Kombucha, which has natural occurring carbonation, and other fermented foods.)
Hi Dichosa, Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipes.
If you are not using the dashi right away, recommend storing it in the refrigerator for 3-5 days or freezing it for up to 2 weeks. How many days did you keep the dashi?
probiotics will wipe out by boiled soup right?
Hi Shiro! Yes, that is true. The higher temperature is not good.
[…] (三つ葉) is a Japanese herb that resembles Italian parsley. It’s used as a garnish in miso soups, rice bowls, chawanmushi, or folded into tamagoyaki. An herb native to East Asia, the entire plant, […]
Hi! I had a temperature question. I’ve read in various google locations that water temp above 115 effectively kills and negates all of the probiotic good things in the miso. However all the recipes I’ve found (including the excellent one here) will boil the soup ingredients, remove the heat, and then add the miso in. However this temp is definitely well above 115. I guess I mostly wondered how these two conflicting thing correlate with each other.
Hi Andrew! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s posts and trying her recipes!
Sure, you can reduce the soup temperature to 115F to benefit from probiotics from Miso if you prefer.
Miso loses its flavor once it is boiled in the soup, so we recommend turning off the heat to prevent flavor change, but we won’t do this to save the probiotic. Miso is more for seasoning to us, and we utilize them in our cuisine in different ways in Japan.
We also use Miso in different dishes, such as salad dressing, sauce, dips, etc., for these recipes where we get probiotic benefits.
We hope this helps!
Hi! Can I use Wakame to make the dashi? And then leave in the soup and eat it?
thank you!
Hi Eleonora! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
Wakame does look like Kombu, but they are different and don’t have much Umami flavor in them.
We recommend using Kombu for making Dashi.
We hope this helps!
Hi! Thank you for the recipe.
How about Kombu? Can I use it as Miso Soup ingredient?
(as Wakame substitute)
Hi Fitri! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe!
We do not recommend using Kombu as a substitute for Wakame in Miso soup. The soup will get slimy from Kombu, and Kombu has a tougher texture than Wakame.
Here is more detail about Kombu and Wakame.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/kombu/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/wakame-dried-seaweed/
We hope this helps!
Thank you for this recipe! It took me a while to locate all the ingredients but it was completely worth it. Extra thanks for providing measurements also in metric – makes reading the recipe much easier for me. Now I have homemade awase dashi in the fridge for the rest of the week, and can make as much soup as I want!
Hi Lin! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed Nami’s homemade Miso Soup recipe! Thank you very much for your kind feedback!
Here is the page link to other miso soups. https://www.justonecookbook.com/search/?q=miso%20soup
We hope you give it a try.😊
Hi Namiko! Big fan of your work. Great tutorials, clear and concise. Two questions: is there a brand of dashi packet you find premium? 2nd, a dishware question. Any chance the beautiful bowls pictured on the video front page above (red checkered, red lined, etc.) are available for sale. Many thanks.
Hi MCF! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and for your kind feedback!
We recommend the “Kayanoya” brand dashi packet. It is available to purchase outside Japan.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QRX9DWL?ref=exp_justonecookbook_dp_vv_d
As for the bowls in this post, Nami brought them from Japan when she traveled years ago. But here is a list of stores that may carry similar ones.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-japanese-tableware/
We hope this helps!
Thank you for this amazing recipe with perfect instructions and easy to follow. This is my go to miso soup and my husband (Japanese) cannot stop eating! I never have leftovers 🌷🤗🤗thank YOU!
Hi Adela! Aww. We are so happy to hear never have leftovers!🥰
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
I love this recipe! We make our own Miso and it’s fantastic. On another note, where can I find that awesome Shiitake Mushroom Chopstick Rest? 😅
Hi Bobby! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post!
Nami brings her Chopstick rest from Japan when she visits. You might be able to find a similar one in the Japanese Online Shop listed in this post.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-japanese-tableware/
We hope this helps!
I am so glad I found your website! Everything is concise and exact, and easy to understand! I tried the rice recipe and I can say without a doubt that I haven’t tasted proper rice until this one. Now I got my hands on instant dashi and miso (I live in a country were we can’t find the actual ingredients for proper dashi), so I’m excited to try miso soup!
Hi Tak! Welcome to JOC! We are so happy to hear you enjoy our website.
Thank you very much for your kind feedback!😊
This recipe looks amazing! I can’t wait to make it myself. Thank you!
Hi Stephen! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
We hope you enjoy homemade Miso Soup!
Hi Nami + Naomi! My family LOVES miso soup. Quick question, if I were to serve it with rice for breakfast, what kind of rice shall I use? Also, would the rice be plain or with furikake seasoning/mirin? Thanks so much, you are the best! c:
Hi Anya! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipes!
In Japan, we usually serve white steam rice for breakfast. However, it’s totally up to your preference, and it could be mixed rice or brown rice, etc.
Furikake or Nori is common but it not necesarry. 😉
Here, Nami has a post regarding Japanese breakfast, and you can learn more about it and learn how to prepare: https://www.justonecookbook.com/traditional-japanese-breakfast-at-home/.
We hope this is helpful!🙂
I’m pretty sure this isn’t a very Japanese thing to do but my simple go to meal before rushing to work is white rice and simple miso soup with spring onion (no tofu). While my rice is cooking I can quickly make up my dashi and miso soup which frees up my time. It’s pretty filling and the rice gives me the energy to pretty much do anything with the added bonus of being able to finish everything pretty quickly. I usually don’t have tofu on hand but when I do have the time I remind myself to add some just to make my miso a bit more exciting than it usually is.
Hi Ruwindu! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and sharing your cooking experience with us!
We are glad to hear you enjoyed Dashi and Miso flavor. To dress up the miso soup, you can add dry seaweed if you have one, or add some leftover veggie from preparing the dinner a night before is a perfect addition.
We hope this is helpful!