Quick Japanese Miso Soup

Bowl of Japanese miso soup with pumpkin and tofu.

Quick Japanese Miso Soup

Make this quick and easy miso soup recipe in just 10 minutes! Filled with the rich umami flavours of dashi and miso paste, enjoy this classic Japanese soup as a main or side for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Course Breakfast, Soup

Cuisine Japanese

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 5

Total Time 10

Servings side serves

Calories 74kcal

Author Wandercooks

Cost $10

Ingredients

4 cups water
2 tsp dashi powder (kombu dashi for vegans)
100 g pumpkin Kabocha, Kent or Jap, skin cleaned, diced into chunks
1 onion sliced
100 g firm tofu sliced into 1-2 cm cubes
1 tbsp wakame seaweed dried, strips
4 tbsp white miso paste
2 tbsp spring onion / green onion sliced

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Pour water and dashi powder into a large saucepan and bring to a boil.
4 cups water, 2 tsp dashi powder
Add the pumpkin and onion and boil for 5 minutes until the pumpkin has softened. Tip: If you can break a pumpkin piece in half with your chopsticks, you know it’s soft enough!
100 g pumpkin, 1 onion
Add tofu and wakame seaweed and cook for a further minute to warm the tofu through without it breaking up.
100 g firm tofu, 1 tbsp wakame seaweed
Take the soup off the heat. Dissolve the miso paste into the soup using a strainer and chopsticks or a spoon. Tip: If you don't have a sieve or find this process tricky, just place the miso paste into a small bowl and top with a few spoonfuls of broth. Stir until dissolved, then pour into the soup.
4 tbsp white miso paste
Transfer soup into serving bowls. Garnish with spring onion / green onion and enjoy!
2 tbsp spring onion / green onion

Video

Notes

Miso Paste - We usually use white miso paste (shiro miso) which is slightly sweet with a mild umami flavour. You can use red miso paste (aka miso) if you prefer, which has a saltier, more intense flavour, or even a blend of both if you like.
Dashi Stock - Make your own dashi stock using kombu and/or bonito flakes, or use dashi powder for convenience.
Wakame Seaweed - This is usually sold dried in small curls, and unfolds as it cooks.
Tofu - You can use firm or silken tofu in this recipe. Firm tofu holds its shape really well, so we'll use it if we want to have extra soup for leftovers the next day. Silken tofu can sometimes fall apart, but is equally delicious, so pick whichever style you prefer!
Pumpkin - Kabocha, Kent or Jap pumpkins all soften quickly and are nice and sweet. You can even leave the skin on for extra nutrition! Sub with just about any variety of pumpkin or squash you have on hand (but check whether the skin is edible first).
Onion - You’ll need regular white or brown onion for the soup, and green onions / spring onions to garnish. The texture of the simmered onion is amazing! Feel free to slice into thin strips or chunky segments, it's up to you.
Broth Intensity - If the broth is a little too intense for your taste, you can tone it down by adding a little more water.
Storage - Miso soup will last 1-2 days in the fridge in an airtight container. While it can technically be frozen, we don’t actually recommend it as it can damage the probiotics in the miso paste.
Add Veggies - Try it with grated or simmered daikon radish, carrot, zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, bok choy or spinach.
Add Seafood - Instead of tofu, you can try it with mackerel (saba miso soup) or prawns.
Add Mushrooms - This soup is amazing with the addition of shiitake, shimeji or enoki mushrooms!
Optional Garnishes - Traditional garnishes are aonori seaweed flakes and shichimi togarashi chilli powder. We also love it with gomashio sesame seeds or a few drops of rayu chilli oil.

Nutrition