Aside from kombu dashi, shiitake dashi is another great option for vegetarians and vegans to make Japanese stock. To make flavorful and intense shiitake dashi, it is as simple as soaking dried shiitake mushrooms in water.
Dashi (Japanese soup stock) is a Japanese soup stock, and it is a fundamental ingredient in many Japanese dishes to create authentic flavor. Today I want to share how to make Shiitake Dashi (干し椎茸の戻し汁/椎茸のだし).
What is Shiitake Dashi?
Shittake Dashi (干し椎茸の戻し汁/椎茸のだし) is the liquid created from re-hydrating dried shiitake mushrooms in water.
As opposed to regular vegetable broth, we use Shiitake Dashi and Kombu Dashi as the only vegetarian and vegan dashi in Japanese cooking. These soup stocks allow you to cook authentic Japanese dishes without sacrificing the flavors.
In this post, I will show you how to re-hydrate dried shiitake mushrooms and make Shiitake Dashi for preparing food.
Shiitake Dashi for Vegetarians and Vegans
Shiitake Dashi is more of a by-product from rehydrating dried shiitake mushrooms with a small amount of water. Since the soaking liquid has good nutrients and flavors, we never throw away and try to find a good use for it in cooking. We usually combine the liquid with other kinds of dashi to enhance the flavor and add umami; however, we rarely used shiitake dashi as its own.
Since I moved to the US, I learned that a lot of vegetarians and vegans here use diluted shiitake dashi (the soaking liquid) as a vegetarian/vegan-friendly stock in their Japanese cooking.
In Japan, Kombu Dashi is usually the only and most commonly used “vegetarian/vegan dashi” because shiitake dashi has an intense flavor that it could be too strong for subtle Japanese seasonings. However, if you enjoy the deep and rich shiitake dashi flavor, you can definitely use this soaking liquid as dashi to cook Japanese food.
Watch How to Make Shiitake Dashi
Aside from kombu dashi, shiitake dashi is another great option for vegetarians and vegans to make Japanese stock. To make flavorful and intense shiitake dashi, it is as simple as soaking dried shiitake mushrooms in water.
2 Important Tips to Get the Best Flavor from Dried Shiitake Mushrooms:
Good dried shiitake mushrooms are expensive, but the flavors and texture are amazing. Oita prefecture (大分県) in the Kyushu region is known for the best quality dried shiitake mushrooms.
- Buy thick mushrooms with deep white fissures on the cap (more flavor).
- Use cold water to soak dried shiitake mushrooms to slowly bring out the flavor from mushrooms, preferably overnight.
To make shiitake dashi, please note that we can only use dried shiitake mushrooms because fresh shiitake mushrooms do not have the same deep and intense flavors as the dried ones.
Make-Ahead Japanese Soup Stock for Vegetarian Cooking
Shiitake dashi stores well in the refrigerator for 2-3 days and up to 1 month in the freezer, so you can prepare your stock ahead of time. Whenever you make miso soup or noodle soups, you will always the dashi in hand.
Here are some vegetarian and vegan-friendly recipes with dashi that you may like to try:
- Vegetarian Ramen
- Vegan Miso Soup
- Spinach Ohitashi (Japanese Spinach Salad)
- Kenchinjiru (clear soup with root vegetables and tofu)
- Kitsune Udon
The Ultimate Dashi Guide on Just One Cookbook
Dashi plays an important role as a flavor enhancer in Japanese cooking, so you don’t need to season the food with too much salt, fat, and sugar. Rich in minerals and other vitamins, dashi is considered a healthy ingredient in our daily diet.
There are five different types of dashi you can use in Japanese cooking, including vegetarian and vegan dashi (*).
- Kombu Dashi → made from kombu (dried kelp)*
- Katsuo Dashi → made from katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
- Iriko Dashi → made from iriko or niboshi (dried anchovies/sardines)
- Shiitake Dashi → made from dried shiitake mushrooms*
- Awase Dashi → made from a combination of all above or two (e.g., kombu + katsuobushi)
If you are new to different types of dashi, check out my Ultimate Dashi Guide post.
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Aside from kombu dashi, shiitake dashi is another great option for vegetarians to make Japanese stock. To make flavorful and intense shiitake dashi, it is as simple as soaking dried shiitake mushrooms in water.
- 3 dried shiitake mushrooms (20 g; See Notes)
- ½-⅔ cup water (120-160 ml) (enough to cover mushrooms)
- 3 dried shiitake mushrooms (20 g; See Notes)
- 2 cups water (480 ml)
Gather all the ingredients. Check if there are any dust or dirt trapped under the gills of the mushrooms, and if there are, use a pastry brush to clean. Do not wash it under water.
- Ideally, you want to make shiitake dashi ahead of time. Place the mushrooms in a mason jar or an airtight container and pour cold water to cover the mushrooms (and wet them). Let them soak in the refrigerator for a few hours or preferably overnight. However, if you are in a hurry, place the mushrooms in a bowl and soak them in warm water (body temperature) for 15 minutes or until softened. Put something heavy on top of the mushrooms so that they will be submerged under warm water and become fully re-hydrated.
- When shiitake mushrooms are tender, squeeze to drain, reserving the liquid.
Rehydrated shiitake mushrooms are ready to use. Remove and discard the tough stem of the mushrooms with a knife. You can use these rehydrated shiitake mushrooms as if you use raw shiitake mushrooms.
Run the soaking liquid through a fine sieve (catch any dirt etc). Use the concentrated shiitake dashi for cooking, by adding in the sauce, steaming, seasoning, etc. No wasting!
If you plan to save for later, you can store in the refrigerator for 2-3 days and 1 month in the freezer.
- Gather all the ingredients. Check if there are any dust or dirt trapped under the gills of the mushrooms, and if there are, use a pastry brush to clean. Do not wash it under water.
Soak the shiitake mushrooms in 2 cups water. If you have time, let them soak in the refrigerator for a few hours or preferably overnight. If you’re in a hurry, soak them in warm water for 15 minutes or until softened.
After soaking for several hours...
- When shiitake mushrooms are tender, squeeze to drain, reserving the liquid.
Rehydrated shiitake mushrooms are ready to use. Remove and discard the tough stem of the mushrooms with a knife. You can use these rehydrated shiitake mushrooms as if you use raw shiitake mushrooms.
Run the soaking liquid through a fine sieve and use it for cooking (this is the shiitake dashi). If you plan to save for later, you can store in the refrigerator for 2-3 days and 1 month in the freezer.
Dried shiitake mushrooms: This can be found in Japanese/Asian/Chinese grocery stores. The weight of each dried mushroom varies from 5 grams to 10 grams depending on the size and thickness.
Rehydration of dried shiitake mushrooms: It’s recommended to use cold water to soak dried shiitake mushrooms to slowly bring out the flavor from mushrooms preferably overnight.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in March 2015. The images and recipe have been updated in April 2019.
Namiko ,thank you for this recipe. You said to rehydrate at least overnight, would more than overnight,say 3 days, makes it taste bettter?
Hi d! Actually, if your dried shiitake mushrooms are thick (usually cost more), it requires more than 24 days, and recommended for 2-3 days to get the whole flavor come out. I don’t think it’s necessary to soak for 3 days for thin regular kind. It won’t make much difference I think. 🙂 Hope this helps!
konnichiwa, Nami-san..
i can’t tell how happy i am that i found your site while searching for japanese dishes.. ^^ i’ve been in love with japanese dishes and wanted to make them at home and your recipes are really easy to understand even for a beginner like me.. i’m gonna try making them all starting from tomorrow! \^O^/ except for some recipes since i can’t get some of the ingredients in my countries.. anyway, arigatou gozaimashita! i’ll be your fan forever! pls update more recipes in the future! <3
Konnichiwa, Chiemi-san! I’m so happy to hear you enjoy reading my blog! 🙂 I hope you can find ingredients you need in your area. Thanks very much for following!
I just made shiitake dashi soup. I now want to make Miso soup. I usually make my Miso from scratch by boiling 4 cups of water, putting the konbu in the heated water for 15 minutes, discarding it, adding the Bonito flakes and simmering for 5-10 minutes m. I then remove the Bonito flakes, making the dashi. I then add tofu, wakame (that’s been hydrated) and mushrooms and simmer for another 5 minutes. Using a cup of the broth I place in bowl with miso paste, stir until dissolved and place back in soup pot and stir. I then add scallions. My question – and there is one here – if I’ve already made shiitake dashi broth, do I delete the konbu and/or the bonito flakes steps when making Miso soup with shiitake dashi? Or do I still add them?
HI Kazy! Typically, shiitake dashi is too weak to make miso soup, so we always combine with other dashi (it’s more like you use regular dashi and add shiitake dashi. We sometimes need the shiitake from dried shiitake, so we soak in water, and we don’t want to waste that leftover liquid (shiitake dashi) so we add the liquid into dishes, including miso soup. 🙂 Hope this helps!
Thank you. That answers my question. Can’t wait to make my Miso soup now.
You’re very welcome! Enjoy! 🙂
I like to grind up the whole dry shiitake into a find powder and use that. If you use the soaked shiitake method they really are not too tough to eat, and as a matter of fact, the stems have the most flavor. Just slice very thin.
Actually, if you really want flavor, grind up dried porcinis into a powder. There is nothing better!
Hi Len! I guess that method would work too! However, this is the traditional Japanese approach when we make shiitake dashi. 🙂 We eat shiitake stem as well. 🙂
Thank you. Does this process work for dried shiitake pieces as well. And can you freeze the shiitake dashi?
Hi Donna! Do you mean “fresh” shiitake as I use “dried” shiitake for this recipe? Dried shiitake is packed with flavor and you can’t use fresh one for this recipe. And yes we can freeze the dashi. 🙂
Maybe I might misunderstood. What are dried shiitake pieces? There are small pieces of dried shiitake instead of whole piece?
I know very little about cooking, but I was trying to find a basic meatless broth without added sodium, to use in cooking. According to the recipes I have read, I should be able to make a flavorful broth from dried shiitake mushrooms. I bought a package of sliced dried shiitake mushrooms from Asian grocery store. I soaked the dried mushrooms and then simmered till the slices were tender and edible, but I do NOT detect any umami flavor or any other flavor from the shiitake mushrooms. I found another recipe that calls for shiitake plus onions, leeks,, carrots, and spices. Adding the leeks does create at least some flavor though not much unless I added salt, which I don’t want to do, and if the only real flavor is coming from the leeks, then I don’t need the shiitake mushrooms or the onions and carrots, do I?
I also wanted to try to make a dashi from kombu and bonito flakes, but I suspect that there is already a high level of sodium added tomake the dry bonito flakes and the kombu, even if I don’t add any more salt.
Hello L Carter! I personally don’t think kombu is salty. Generally for 100 g kombu, salt is about 6-8 g (it can vary depends on kombu). So if it’s 5 g, salt is 0.3-0.4 g. For bonito flakes, it’s 1.2g for 100g. I think you can cut down on salt somewhere else but use kombu and bonito flakes to get umami. 🙂 With good umami, you don’t need to add salt to flavor. By the way, the white parts on kombu is not salt – that’s umami, so don’t wipe off. 🙂
hello, very good in written and easy to understand. thanks for the recepi.
i gonna try. (^_^)
Hope you enjoy my recipes! 🙂
Hi Nami-san,
I was wondering if a shiitake dashi can also last as long as other dashis?
Hi Vanessa! Thanks for asking! In the fridge, 2-3 days, and in freezer up to 1 month. I’ll add the info in my recipe. Glad you asked! 🙂
How many mushrooms should I use if I am making 4 cups of miso soup?
Hi Nancy! It’s a little bit difficult question. We don’t use shiitake dashi ONLY to make miso soup. It’s way too strong (mushroom taste/smell) for dashi for miso soup. If we are going to use it, it will be only 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup for 4-6 cups of kombu dashi (vegan) or awase dashi (bontio flakes & kombu combo). Hope this makes sense. 🙂
Hi Nami-san! I tried your tonyu nabe the other day and loved it. The problem is, I now have an abundance of shiitake dashi since we rehydrate them first before putting them into the nabe. Can you recommend some recipes that I can use them for? Preferably one that does not need accompaniment of another dashi since we are running very low on awase dashi. Thank you!
Hi Rebecca! I’m so happy you liked Tonyu Nabe recipe! You can use for cooking mixed rice (Takikomi Gohan), soup (including miso soup or clear soup), and simmered dishes (I have simmered dish category in Recipe index). You can use it solely. Hope this helps…
When do you use fresh shiitake? I was wondering if I can use fresh shiitake to make the dashi. I don’t think it will have intense flavor but it will have some flavor right? Thank you.
Hi Yu! We use fresh shiitake as an ingredient for many recipes, but we do not use fresh shiitake to extract the flavors for making dashi. When you bite into shiitake, you can taste it but it won’t yield much flavor by cooking it.
Hi, thanks for the recipe! How many grams of shiitake would that roughly be?
HI Artur! I just measured and updated the recipe. Each dried shiitake mushroom is roughly 5-7 grams (one had 11 g!). It depends on the cap and stem’s sizes and thickness.
Thank you!
Hi there! Looks really good. I wonder though- what do I do if I want a litre? Do I just add water or should I scale it all up so I use about 10 times as many shiitake? I mean – I want to use it for miso ramen – but 120 ‘ll is not enough soup for two people 🙂
Hi Jonas! I have edited the recipe so it makes more sense for everyone. In Japan, we actually consider the rehydrated shiitake mushrooms as the main purpose of doing this process. The leftover liquid is considered more like a secondary product and call it “modoshi-jiru” which means the liquid came from rehydration. We don’t want to throw away such liquid so we use it for cooking, but we do not make “shiitake dashi” for using it as dashi. The “modoshi-jiru” is always used with other dashi and not used solely. But I know a lot of people (outside of Japan) like the flavor of shiitake dashi and use it as main dashi and especially popular among vegan/vegetarians. So I edited the ingredient section in the recipe and the method of preparation is the same.
If you need to rehydrate the mushrooms for your recipe
2-3 Dried shiitake mushrooms (10-20 g; See Notes)
½ cup water (120 ml) (enough to cover mushrooms)
If you need the liquid (shiitake dashi)
2-3 Dried shiitake mushrooms (10-20 g; See Notes)
2 cups water (480 ml)
Thanks a lot! It makes a lot of sense – so it can be mixed with kombu dashi?
What should the balance be? How much shiitake dashi for 1 liter kombu?
And can the dehydrated mushrooms be used in ramen or should they be fried or anything first (after they are rehydrated)
Hi Jonas! Yes, you can mix with kombu dashi. In Japan, it would be mainly kombudashi and we add “modoshi-jiru” (leftover liquid from rehydrating). The flavor is totally up to you. There is no “wrong” for this. You can use the mushrooms – should be cooked after you hydrated. You can simmer with soy sauce, sugar, sake, mirin etc. But remember, these mushrooms taste strong, so you may want to want to slice thinly and cook in seasonings.
Awesome! Thanks a lot!