Miso soup consists of vegetables and fermented soy paste, so it’s gotta be vegan, right?
Well, not always.
Miso soup is made from miso paste and dashi stock. While it’s true that miso itself is vegan, that is not always the case with dashi.
Dashi is traditional Japanese stock made from a wide variety of ingredients such as kombu seaweed, mushrooms, and other dried ingredients like dried sardines or bonito flakes.
To make a vegan miso soup, substitute the regular dashi stock with vegetable stock. If you want to make a more authentic Japanese dashi, don’t forget to use kombu seaweed and shiitake mushrooms. They are one of the most flavorful bases you can find to make authentic vegan dashi.
Vegan dashi is relatively easy to make, here’s a simple recipe on how to make it.
Japanese Vegan Dashi
Ingredients
- 10 g Kombu Kelp
- 10 g Dried Shiitake Mushroom
- 15 g Soybeans
- 1 pc Kanpyo dried gourd strips
- 1 L Water
Instructions
- Before preparing the soup stock, lightly roast soybeans in a frying pan to bring out the fragrance.
- Soak all of the ingredients in water and leave overnight (one night).
- Boil the already soaked ingredients with medium heat until just before boiling,after that, boil for about 20 minutes on low heat.
- Drain the ingredients from the soup with a strainer, and the dashi is completed!
Vegan Miso Soup Recipes
Now that you have the all-vegan dashi, let’s make miso soup.
The basic miso soup will have wakame seaweed, tofu, and green onion. However, you can put whatever vegetables you like into your miso soup. To give you some ideas, here are some of the most common vegan ingredients to add to miso soup:
Vegetables: Onion, radish, eggplant, cabbage, sweet potato, carrot, pumpkin, tomatoes, leafy greens.
Mushrooms: Nameko, enoki, shimeji, shiitake
Others: Natto, fried tofu
Feel free to have fun and get creative with the miso soup ingredient!
In this article, we will present some variation recipes instead of the classic ones. To see how to make the classic miso soup, click here.
Recipe 1: Eggplant Miso Soup
Eggplant Miso Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Small Sized Eggplant
- 5 g Green Onions
- 1 tbsp Miso
- 400 ml Vegan Dashi
- ½ tbsp Vegetable Oil
Instructions
- Cut the eggplant into small pieces.
- Add vegetable oil to a pot over medium heat, stir fry the eggplant to let the surface sear a little. This will bring out the aroma from the vegetable.
- Pour the vegan dashi stock, Let the water boil until the eggplant is soft.
- Lower the heat. Then dilute the miso on a ladle with the broth and mix it into the soup.
- Sprinkle chopped green onion on top
Recipe 2: Sweet Potato Miso Soup
Sweet Potato Miso Soup
Ingredients
- ½ Japanese Sweet Potato (Small Size)
- 1 tbso Miso
- 400 ml Vegan dashi stock
Instructions
- Cut the sweet potato in half. Then cut it into small, bite sized pieces
- Boil the sweet potatoes in a pot using dashi stock until it is soft.
- Lower the heat, dilute the miso paste on a ladle with the broth and mix it into the soup
Recipe 3: Radish & Carrot Miso Soup
Radish & Carrot Miso Soup
Ingredients
- 100 g Carrot
- 100 g Radish
- 1 tbsp Miso
- 400 ml Vegan Dashi Stock
Instructions
- Cut the radish and carrot thinly. They are vegetables with dense texture, so it's important to cut them thin and small so they cook easily
- In a pot, boil vegan dashi stock, then add in the radish and carrot pieces
- When the broth has boiled and the vegetables are softened, lower the heat. Dilute miso paste in a ladle and mix it thorougly into the soup
Recipe 4: Umeboshi Miso Soup
Umeboshi Miso Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Umeboshi (Feel free to use less if the taste is too strong for you)
- 50 g Vegetables
- 400 ml Dashi Stock (Can be replaced with veggie broth)
- 2 Tsp Miso
Instructions
- Cut your preferred vegetables into small pieces.
- Boil the dashi stock (can be replaced with meat or vegetable broth) in a pot. Add the vegetables then lower the heat to medium.
- After the vegetables soften, add the umeboshi. Turn off the heat and dilute the miso.
Interested in making homemade miso?
Classic Miso Soup
The Basic Tofu Miso Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Dashi Packet
- 2 tablespoons Miso Paste (1 tablespoons: 15-16g)
- 2 blocks Soft Tofu
- 10 g Wakame Seaweed
Instructions
- Make the Dashi StockPut 1 packet of dashi pack (10g) to 800-1000ml water in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove the bag after few minutes. To make 2 servings, please only use 400 ml dashi stock.
- Prepare the Ingredients and Add into the PotCut the tofu into small cubes. Then, add the tofu and wakame seaweed into the pot. Let it cook for 1 minute.
- Add Miso Paste After Turning Off the HeatLastly, turn off the heat and dilute the miso paste in a ladle and mix it into the soup. Miso aroma and good nutrients can evaporate in high heat. So it is recommended to add miso after you turned off the heat completely.
Notes
About Miso Soup
When you order a set menu in a Japanese restaurant, you will most likely find miso soup as one of the side dishes that is served.
Miso soup is a simple heartwarming dish that is made from dashi stock and miso paste. Usually, the soup will have ingredients like vegetables, tofu, wakame seaweed, and other seasonal produce.
Though it may look like it’s vegetable-based, miso soup is not always vegan. Most miso soup uses fish-based dashi, so if you’re especially looking for vegan miso soup, be careful when you check the dashi stock base.
Want to learn more about miso soup or miso? Check out the related articles here.
Recommended Products
The Handmade Miso Set is a set of ingredients and preparation containers, which you can easily use to make miso at home.
Finished amount: approximately 2,5kg. Using both wheat koji and rice koji, you can make the balanced taste of “Mixed Miso.”
