Tonjiru (sometimes called Butajiru) is a hearty pork and vegetable miso soup. With just 1 min in the Instant Pot, it will be the ultimate, comfy soup for fall and winter months!
When I was in college, I used to make a big pot of this pork and vegetable miso soup and ate it throughout the week. Not only it was a hearty miso soup for the soul and brainpower, but it also gave me good nutrients from the meat and all kinds of vegetables. This all-mighty miso soup is called Tonjiru (豚汁) or sometimes called Butajiru.
I’ve already shared a regular Tonjiru recipe that requires cooking on the stovetop, but today I’ll share the Instant Pot Tonjiru recipe. Although the actual cooking time is roughly the same as the stovetop method, the benefit of cooking Tonjiru in the electric pressure cooker is you can walk out of the kitchen once you press “start,” and go back to study, work, or spend the time with your family.
Key Ingredients for Tonjiru
Tonjiru is easy to make, especially if you already know how to make miso soup. For Tonjiru, you will prepare dashi – Japanese soup stock – ahead of time and then stir fry pork and vegetables first before adding dashi to cook them further. Let’s go over the key ingredients in detail below.
1. Pork
This miso soup won’t be called “Tonjiru” or “Butajiru” without pork (ton or buta) in it. In Japanese kanji characters, we write 豚汁 and read it Ton-jiru or Buta-jiru, depending on the Chinese reading or Japanese reading.
The cut of pork can be your choice, but in Japan, pork belly slices are the more popular choice for Tonjiru as it is more flavorful. The next choice is pork loin slices. If you cannot get ready sliced pork belly or pork loin at local Japanese/Asian grocery stores, you can cut the meat into thin slices or strips yourself (See the tutorial here).
2. Vegetables
The flavor essence of the soup comes from pork, but it actually features more vegetables. Common vegetables used in Tonjiru are root vegetables such as:
- carrots
- potatoes or satoimo (Japanese taro)
- daikon (Japanese radish)
- gobo (burdock root)
Besides the root vegetables, there are other ingredients you can add.
- konnyaku (kanjac)
- tofu or aburaage (deep-fried tofu pouch)
- shiitake mushrooms or shimeji
- bean sprouts (my mom always includes them)
- green onions/spring onions
We do not put leafy vegetables, but if you like to add, say spinach, I recommend blanching them separately and add directly to the soup bowl. This way, you can retain the bright green color and won’t overcook the leafy veggies.
3. Dashi (Japanese soup stock)
Because Tonjiru has a lot of ingredients that contribute to a decent tasting broth, you can get away by using water instead of dashi. However, my choice is always dashi because it gives more depth and umami that pork and vegetables don’t have. You can taste the difference right away.
I use the combination of kombu and katsuobushi for dashi (we call Awase Dashi) in the majority of my cooking, and this recipe is no exception. I highly recommend making homemade dashi, but if you’re in hurry, a dashi packet from Kayanoya makes a nice quick dashi in no time.
4. Miso (Japanese fermented soybean paste)
There is no specific type of miso you have to use for Tonjiru. If you like one type of miso (such as white miso, awase miso, or red miso), you can use it. If you are new to miso, read this post to get familiar with it.
For this Tonjiru, I used Enjuku Koji Miso from Hikari Miso®. I love the hint of sweetness that Koji Miso gives. More koji in the miso, the sweeter it tastes.
What Dishes to Serve with Tonjiru
My mom always served Tonjiru in a donburi bowl as it was the main dish, and accompany the soup with a grilled fish. Because Tonjiru has meat in it, she usually avoids meat as a main dish.
I follow the same way and usually serve a simple grilled fish such as Grilled Pacific Saury (Sanma), Grilled Mackerel (Saba Shioyaki) or Salted Salmon (Shiojake).
Tonjiru already has tons of root vegetables, so you can skip side dishes that contain similar ingredients, and instead, serve sides like:
- Tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelette)
- Simmered Koyadofu
- Instant Pot Kuromame
- Pickled Tomato
- Hijiki Seaweed Salad
Or if you’re really busy, just prepare a grilled fish and steamed rice, and that will still be an amazing nutritious meal!
Looking for Similar Comforting Miso Soups?
- Kenchinjiru (Vegetable Miso Soup)
- Sanpeijiru (Salmon Miso Soup)
- Miso Soup with Yuzu Kosho
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Instant Pot Tonjiru
Ingredients
- 2 Yukon gold potatoes (10 oz, 280 g)
- 1 onion (8 oz, 227 g)
- 5 oz daikon radish (2", 5 cm)
- 1 carrot (5 oz, 150 g)
- 1 gobo (burdock root) (4.8 oz, 135 g)
- 4.5 oz konnyaku (konjac) (½ block)
- ½ lb pork belly slices (tip: If you freeze the meat for about ½ hour ahead of time, it is much easier to cut)
- 6 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock; click to learn more)
- 1 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc)
- 2 green onions/scallions
- 8 Tbsp miso (more or less depending on miso; I used Enjuku Koji Miso from Hikari Miso)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Prepare Ingredients
- Cut the potatoes into ¼ inch (6 mm) thick slabs and then cut into sticks. Soak the potatoes in water to remove the starch, for about 15 minutes.
- Cut the onion into thin slices.
- Cut the daikon into ¼ inch (6 mm) thick slabs and then cut into sticks.
- Cut the carrot in half lengthwise, then cut into ¼ inch (6 mm) thick slices.
- Scrape the gobo skin with the back of the knife. Gobo has a delicious earthy taste right below the skin; therefore, you do not use a peeler to peel off the soft skin. Cut the gobo in half lengthwise.
- Thinly slice gobo diagonally. Soak in water for 15 minutes to get rid of the bitter taste. Optional: add a dollop of vinegar to the water to make the gobo white.
- Cut the konnyaku into ¼ inch (6 mm) thick slabs, then cut into sticks.
- Blanch the konnyaku in boiling water for 3 minutes to remove the smell. Drain konnyaku with a sieve.
- Cut the pork belly slices into 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick pieces. Tip: If you freeze the meat for about ½ hour ahead of time, it is much easier to cut.
To Cook
- All ingredients should be ready to go.
- Press the “Sauté” button on your Instant Pot and heat 1 Tbsp cooking oil.
- When the oil is hot, add the onion and coat with the oil. Then add the meat and stir to combine.
- Add all the vegetables and konnyaku.
- Stir to combine and then add in the dashi last.
- Dashi should cover the ingredients. The vegetables will release moisture so don’t worry if you feel the soup is not enough at this stage. If dashi is not covering the ingredients, add more dashi (or water).
- Press “Cancel” to stop the “Saute” menu. Close the lid and press the “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” menu. Then set HIGH pressure for 1 minute. Make sure the steam release handle points at “sealing” and not “venting”. The float valve goes up when pressurized.
- While the ingredients in the soup are being cooked, you can cut the green onions and set aside.
- When it’s finished cooking, the Instant Pot will switch automatically to the “Keep Warm” mode. Let the pressure release naturally for 30 minutes. If the valve hasn’t dropped yet, then quick release the air (be careful and cover your fingers with a mitten or kitchen towel).
- Open the lid and check if the hard vegetables are tender.
- Add miso. I used 8 Tbsp of Hikari Miso Enjuku Koji Miso.
- Dissolve the miso in a ladle before releasing it to the soup. Make sure to taste the miso soup. If you added too much miso, add dashi (or water) to dilute. If it’s not enough, add more miso ½ Tbsp at a time.
To Serve
- Pour the Tonjiru in a big bowl and sprinkle some green onions. Serve immediately. You can sprinkle shichimi togarashi or add a dollop of yuzu kosho for a spicy kick.
To Store
- Let cool completely and store in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. When you reheat, make sure not to over boil the miso soup. Tip: The best way to store miso soup is actually to store the soup BEFORE adding miso. You can take out the portion you will need into another pot and then add miso to taste. That way, you will always have the best tasting miso soup every time.
Equipment
- Instant Pot (a pressure cooker)
Deve essere buonissima, in Italia si trova solo la radice di cobo
N.
Hi Maria! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We hope you enjoyed this dish!
So happy to have found this site! Looks my new go to for Japanese food (Woks of Joy is my other favorite Asian site). I don’t have an instant pot but a pressure cooker. Just want to confirm…only 1minute? Even for a pressure cooker this seems awfully short especially for the pork belly.
Hi FJ, Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post! We are so happy to hear you enjoy the JOC site!
Yes. The cook time is 1 minute. However, the pressure cooker releases the pressure naturally for 30 minutes, so it continues cooking inside the pot.
We hope this helps!
Delicious as always Nami!! ☺️ A great first recipe for my Instant Pot
Hi Alex! Nami and JOC team are so happy to hear your first Instant Pot dish came out delicious!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
Here is a link to many of our Instant Pot recipes: https://www.justonecookbook.com/tags/pressure-cooker/
We hope you enjoy it!
My favorite thing about this recipe is that the proportions of vegetables/meat in this soup are absolutely perfect. Even though soaking some of the vegetables was sort of a pain, I think it kept the broth tasting pure and allowed those vegetables to better absorb the flavor. I also really appreciate the instructions on how to cut each vegetable– the only thing I changed was the carrots, which I cut into flower shapes 😉
Hi Kyle, We love your idea of cutting the carrots into flower shapes!🙂 Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.
こんにちは！
I haven’t made the recipe yet, but I have all the ingredients for it. I was curious, though.. I notice the stove top version and this version have some different ingredients and measurements from the Instant Pot version. Is there a specific reason for this, or is it just a variation of the same recipe?
Just curious!
Thanks,
J
Hi Jaclyn, Thank you very much for trying this recipe! The common vegetables used in Tonjiru are root vegetables, but besides the root vegetables, there are other ingredients you can add to this recipe. You can also add Yuzu Kosho or sesame oil or just simply Miso flavor etc. So we can say this is one of the variations. We hope this helps!
Made it last night. Excellent soup. thank you
Hi Yvonne! I’m so glad you enjoyed this miso soup! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
This was sooooooo goooooood!! Although it took me some time to cut everything, it was so worth it and the IP made it so easy. My son had it and asked if I could make this every week! Thank you Nami! I’ve only had my grandmother’s Tonjiru and this tasted so much like hers, I couldn’t stop eating it. But, what can I do with the other half of the konyaku? Can I use it in miso soup? It’s still summer so I’m not ready to make oden yet but I’m not sure what other recipes I can use it for… please help!
Hi Anita! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I love Tonjiru so much that I don’t mind (cooking and) eating it every week either. 🙂
I need to add more Konnyaku recipes on the site… How about these dishes?
https://www.justonecookbook.com/miso-dengaku/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/instant-pot-nishime/
Hi Nami,
Why does this recipe doesn’t use sesame oil and the stove-top Tonjiru uses sesame oil?
Which one do you like more?
Thanks!
Hi Jeannie! I make it with different versions of ingredients all the time! Sesame oil adds savoriness and depth, so if you want more flavor, definitely use it. Regular oil has no flavor, so it gives cleaner taste. It depends on what you’re after. 🙂
I just saw this dish in the opening for Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories (Season 2) the day after I made it! My family was pretty happy with this recipe. We only used half the miso suggested and they thought it was flavorful enough. Only downside is all the fat that doesn’t get skimmed off initially due to cooking in a pressure cooker, but that’s fine since I can just skim it when the leftovers cool
Hi Khang! Right, Master makes Tonjiru! 🙂 If the amount of oil bothers you, here’s 3 things you can do. 1) Cut off the fat (white parts!) from the pork belly when you cut into smaller pieces. This is the best solution for you before cooking. 2) Scoop some oil up with a ladle before adding miso. Or 3) Use different cut of the pork such as pork chop / pork loin, etc. Less fatty, more lean cut. 🙂 Hope this helps!
You should change #18 from miso soup to either dashi soup or just soup since there is no miso in the instant pot yet.
Otherwise I’ve made this recipe twice, not identical but very similar and my family loves it. I did it the first time with bacon and it’s like a bacon soup almost. Yum! Doing it again with cut up pork chops and the bacon as an condiment, like the green onions, but did cook the bacon first and use bacon grease to sauté everything. Will see how it turns out this time. 😊
Hi Laili! Thank you so much for fixing my sentence! I edited the instruction. I’m happy to hear you enjoy the recipe. I’m always curious – does the bacon make it too salty when you replace the pork belly? It’s not bad? I know some readers who can’t use pork belly slices use bacon instead, but I always wonder about the saltiness from cured bacon. Thank you again for letting me know the mistake. 🙂
This was really easy to make and very delicious. A lovely soup.
Hi Hope! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
O my goodness, なみさん、we made this tonight. It is luscious, so savory, and such nice textures with the veggies, the meat turned out perfect as well. And the aroma is such a treat. This will be one of our Thanksgiving lunches, when we’re feeding a crowd. Thank you so much!
Hi Tina! Awww thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback! I’m super happy and excited to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Yay! It’s great that we can make a big batch with the instant pot. Your guests will be very happy to have your delicious miso soup! Thank you for your kind words and for making my day!
Hi Nami,
My household avoids pork for health reasons. I know you wrote that this soup relies on pork for its taste but what do you think if I used chicken thighs? Do you think it will work? Also while in Nikko recently, we had a wonderful bowl of local “stew” called Suiten. No pork and mostly vegetables. Do you happen to have the recipe?
Thanks
Faye
Hi Faye! Sure you can use chicken; it’ll call 鶏汁 (Keijiru) instead of Tonjiru. And you’re talking about Suiton. This regional food is cooked with meat, vegetables, and the dough made with flour (not in noodle shape). I’ll add to the list! 🙂