Simple Miso Soup (vegetarian)
A quick, comforting Japanese miso soup with kombu–shiitake dashi, silken tofu and wakame. Light, umami-rich and ready in under an hour.
This is the sort of miso soup that makes you feel like you’ve nipped into a small Tokyo eatery — simple, clean and impossibly comforting. Using kombu and dried shiitake keeps it vegetarian while delivering proper umami.
It’s a brilliant pantry-staple: make the dashi in advance, then finish the soup in minutes. Perfect as a starter or a light lunch with a piece of grilled fish or rice on the side.
Ingredients
- 1 l water
- 10 g dried kombu
- 10 g dried shiitake mushrooms — about 3–4 medium dried shiitake
- 60 g miso paste — white or mellow miso works best
- 200 g silken tofu — drained and cut into 1.5 cm cubes
- 5 g dried wakame — about 1–2 tablespoons dried wakame
- 2 spring onions — trimmed and thinly sliced on the diagonal
Equipment
- fine sieve
- ladle
Instructions
Place the water, dried kombu and dried shiitake mushrooms in a medium saucepan. Cover and leave to soak at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Put the dried wakame in a small bowl with cold water to rehydrate for 10 minutes, then drain and set aside.
After the kombu and shiitake have soaked, place the saucepan over a medium heat and slowly warm until small bubbles appear at the edge — do not let it reach a rolling boil. Remove the kombu just before the liquid boils.
Once the kombu is removed, simmer gently for 5 minutes to extract the shiitake flavour, then remove the pan from the heat and strain the dashi into a jug, discarding the solids (reserve the shiitake if you want to slice them into the soup).
Return about two ladles (150–200 ml) of warm dashi to a small bowl. Whisk in the miso paste until smooth, then pour the miso mixture back into the pan with the rest of the dashi over very low heat.
Gently add the silken tofu cubes and the rehydrated wakame to the warm miso dashi and heat for 2 minutes until warmed through. Keep the heat low; the soup should never boil.
Divide the soup between four bowls, scatter over the spring onions and serve immediately.
Tips
- Do not boil the soup after adding miso — keep the heat low to preserve flavour and nutrients.
- If you prefer a clearer broth, strain the dashi through a fine sieve lined with kitchen paper.
- Make the kombu–shiitake dashi up to 24 hours ahead and keep chilled; reheat gently and add miso just before serving.
- Reserve and slice the rehydrated shiitake to add back into the soup for extra texture and flavour.
- Taste for seasoning at the end; different miso pastes vary in saltiness, so you may not need any extra salt.
Substitutions
miso paste → red miso in the same weight (60 g) for a deeper, more savoury flavour
Noticeably differentdried shiitake mushrooms → katsuobushi (bonito flakes) 10 g added after removing kombu and strained out for a fish dashi (use only if not vegetarian)
Noticeably differentsilken tofu → firm tofu 200 g, cut into slightly larger cubes for more texture
Stays closedried wakame → a handful (30 g) of baby spinach added at the end for a green alternative
Noticeably different
Nutrition
Per serving · estimated
- 84
- Calories
- 6 g
- Protein
- 6 g
- Carbs
- 4 g
- Fat
- 2 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
- Sugar
- 800 mg
- Sodium
FAQ
Can I use instant dashi granules?
Yes — dissolve 1–1.5 teaspoons of instant dashi granules in 1 litre of hot water, then proceed with the recipe. It’s quick and still tasty, though slightly less nuanced than kombu–shiitake dashi.
How long will the soup keep?
Stored in an airtight container in the fridge it will keep for 2 days. Reheat gently and add a little extra miso if the flavour has weakened.
Why must I not boil miso?
Boiling alters miso’s delicate flavours and destroys beneficial enzymes. Always dissolve miso in a little warm dashi and add to the pan off the heat or over very low heat.
Is this recipe vegan?
Yes — as written it is vegan because the dashi is made from kombu and dried shiitake. Using katsuobushi (bonito) would make it non-vegan and non-vegetarian.
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