Japanese Clear Clam Soup (Ushiojiru) あさりの潮汁

This classic Japanese Clear Clam Soup (Ushiojiru) is made with kombu dashi broth and Manila clams. It‘s a light flavorful soup with only a few ingredients that takes just 15 minutes to prepare. It’s traditionally served for Girls’ Day (Hinamatsuri).

As Japan is surrounded by the ocean, we have abundant fresh seafood to enjoy in our soups. Today’s recipe, Japanese Clear Clam Soup (Ushiojiru) (あさりの潮汁), is one of the classic soups enjoyed throughout Japan.

It is an easy soup to make that does not contain miso and is fantastic for anyone who wishes to try all styles of Japanese soups!

What is Japanese Clear Clam Soup?

Japanese clear clam soup, also known as Ushiojiru (潮汁), is a clear soup made with seafood such as white fish or clams and seasoned with only salt and sake.

“Clear broth” or sumashi-jiru (すまし汁) doesn’t mean it’s plain water. For Japanese clear broth, we use various dashi broths made from kombu or a combination of kombu and katsuobushi.

When using clams in the soup, we want to make sure that the flavors coming from the clams are prominent. Therefore, we use dashi broth with the most subtle flavor—Kombu Dashi.

While the most commonly used Awase Dashi is great for making everyday miso soup, its flavor is a bit too strong and might overshadow the delicate flavors of the clams, so I wouldn’t recommend using it.

Ingredients for Ushiojiru

• Manila Clams
• Water
• Kombu – The little piece of kombu has so much umami in there that you should extract the flavors slowly (pre-soaking and slowly heating up).
• Sake
• Salt to taste
• Mistuba (Japanese parsley), for garnish

How to Make Japanese Clear Clam Soup

1. De-grit the Manila clams (mostly inactive time for 1 hour).
2. In a saucepan, place water, kombu, and clams, and start cooking on medium heat. If you have time, you can steep the kombu in water first (this is a cold brew kombu dashi).
3. When the liquid is almost boiling, discard the kombu and skim off the foam and scum from the surface of the broth. When boiling, reduce the heat.
4. When all the clams open up, add a splash of sake. Taste and season the soup with salt, if needed.
5. The soup is now ready to serve. Garnish with mistuba (optional) in the individual soup bowls.

Recipe Tips

• Use fresh and good-quality ingredients. As the recipe is so simple, I can’t stress enough that the quality of ingredients and attention to detail for cooking this soup does matter. Use fresh clams as they are flavorful and succulent.

• De-grit the clams (even though they are ‘ready-to-use’) so your soup won’t have any sands or grits that might be off-putting. I have a detailed guide on how to de-grit clams (Japanese way). You’ll be surprised how much stuff comes out from the so-called “ready-to-use” clams you purchased from the store.

• Try tasting the soup before and after adding sake. Sake is made with fermented rice and it has umami and sweetness in there while masking the unwanted smell that sometimes accompanies seafood. After adding sake, don’t you feel the essence of the broth sharpen up? It’s a bit hard to describe, but the Japanese believe in the magic of sake and the big difference it makes with a dish.

Japanese Clear Clam Soup for Girls’ Day

As many of you already know, clear clam soup is a signature dish to serve on Girls’ Day (Hinamatsuri), which falls on March 3rd in Japan.

The soup is usually served with Chirashi Sushi, colorful sushi with ingredients scattered on top of seasoned sushi rice. Some sweets like Sakura Mochi and Hanami Dango are served as well. Please read more about this custom here.

Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.

Japanese Clear Clam Soup (Ushiojiru)

4.86 from 7 votes

This classic Japanese Clear Clam Soup (Ushiojiru) is made with kombu dashi broth and Manila clams. It‘s a light flavorful soup with only a few ingredients that takes just 15 minutes to prepare. It‘s traditionally served for Girls‘ Day (Hinamatsuri).

Print Pin

Prep Time: 5 minutes mins

Cook Time: 10 minutes mins

De-Gritting Time: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time: 15 minutes mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 lb manila clams (16–20 pieces)
• ▢ 4 cups water
• ▢ 1 kombu (dried kelp) (2 x 2 inches, 5 x 5 cm)
• ▢ 1 Tbsp sake
• ▢ ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• ▢ 2–3 sprigs mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (for garnish)

Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

 

To De-grit the Clams

• After you purchase your manila clams, you will need to de-grit them (mostly inactive time for 1 hour). Even though they are “ready to use,” I highly recommend doing this process. Please see my post on How to De-Grit and Clean Clams.
  

To Cook the Clam Soup

• Gather all the ingredients.
  
• Put 4 cups water, 1 kombu (dried kelp), and 1 lb manila clams in a saucepan and start cooking on medium heat. If you have extra time, I recommend adding kombu to the water first to let it steep for a longer time.
  
• When small bubbles are around the edges of the pot and water is almost boiling, discard the kombu. You can also skim off the foam and scum from the surface to make a very nice clear broth. When it starts to boil, turn down the heat.
  
• When all the clams open up, add 1 Tbsp sake. Taste the soup and add ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, if needed. The clams will get chewy and hard when you cook them for a long time, so turn off the heat and serve. Pour into individual soup bowls and garnish with 2–3 sprigs mitsuba (Japanese parsley).
  

To Store

• Keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 2–3 days.

Nutrition

Calories: 20 kcal · Carbohydrates: 1 g · Protein: 3 g · Fat: 1 g · Saturated Fat: 1 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 1 g · Trans Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 5 mg · Sodium: 147 mg · Potassium: 26 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 1 g · Vitamin A: 52 IU · Vitamin C: 1 mg · Calcium: 42 mg · Iron: 1 mg

Author: Namiko Hirasawa Chen

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: clam soup, osuimono

©JustOneCookbook.com Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any website or social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.

Did you make this recipe?If you made this recipe, snap a pic and hashtag it #justonecookbook! We love to see your creations on Instagram @justonecookbook!