Simple Mushroom Miso Soup Recipe

Make your own authentic, delicious, and easy mushroom miso soup in 10 minutes! This cozy yet healthy soup will keep you warm on those chilling mornings!

Miso soup is a beloved traditional dish in Japan and is enjoyed as an everyday staple in many households. Adding mushrooms to the soup is an excellent idea as it can provide a unique texture and rich umami flavor that perfectly complements the miso paste.

With its simple ingredients, this flavorful soup is sure to be a hit with your family and friends. Give it a try, and enjoy miso soup's warm and comforting taste!

This recipe is for you if:
• You love Japanese miso soup.
• You want to make mushroom soup.
• You are looking for an easy mushroom recipe.

Let me walk you through the ingredients and the instructions. If you want to check the recipe, jump to the recipe. Let's get started!

Jump to:

• About This Recipe
• How to Make Miso Soup
• 📋 Ingredients
• Where to Buy Japanese Ingredients
• 🔪Instructions
• Storage
• Vegan Adaptable
• Variations
• What to Serve With
• Thanks For Stopping By!
• FAQ
• 📖 Recipe
• Simple Mushroom Miso Soup Recipe
• 💬 Comments

About This Recipe

• Simple Japanese miso soup recipe
• Use four types of mushrooms
• Ready in under 10 minutes
• Japanese ingredients explained
• Easy to adapt for vegan/vegetarian

How to Make Miso Soup

First, let me briefly walk you through how to make miso soup before diving into the recipe. Traditional miso soup is made from three basic components:

• Miso paste
• Dashi (soup stock)
• Ingredients of your choice (such as vegetables and tofu)

I will give more details about each component in the following section.

How to make it is simple and easy as follows:

• Step #1 - Cut ingredients
• Step #2 - Add dashi (soup stock)
• Step #3 - Bring to a boil and simmer
• Step #4 - Add miso paste and dissolve

Did you get the idea? Great! Let's move on to the ingredients!

📋 Ingredients

Here are the ingredients (amounts are in the recipe card below).

• Mushrooms (Shiitake, shimeji, eringi, and maitake)
• Green leaves
• Dashi powder
• Miso paste

See more details on each ingredient below.

Mushrooms

There are so many variations of mushrooms in Japan. They are healthy and rich in dietary fiber and Vitamin D.

You can use any mushroom. I used shiitake, eringi, shimeji, and maitake mushrooms in this recipe to show you different types of Japanese mushrooms.

Pick a mushroom you are familiar with, or try a new one from the list below.

• Shiitake mushrooms
• Eringi mushrooms
• Shimeji mushrooms
• Maitake mushrooms
• Enoki mushrooms
• Hiratake mushrooms
• Kikurage mushrooms
• Nameko mushrooms

Green Leaves

You can use any leafy greens. Firm leaves like daikon leaves, which I use in this recipe, can withstand longer cooking times, while soft leaves like spinach should be added after boiling water to preserve their texture and color.

Dashi Powder (Soup stock)

Dashi broth (soup stock) plays an important role in giving miso soup its unique depth of flavor and aroma.

We use the ingredients below for making dashi in Japanese cooking. They are used by themselves or combined together.

• Katsuobushi (Bonito flakes)
• Kombu seaweed (Kelp)
• Dried shiitake mushroom
• Niboshi (Baby anchovy)

Here are variations of Dashi powder:

• Kombu dashi powder - made from Kombu seaweed. It's vegan. The flavor is mild.
• Katsuobushi dashi powder - made from katsuobushi (bonito flakes), kombu, and shiitake mushroom. This brings a well-balanced umami flavor.
• Niboshi dashi powder - made from niboshi (baby anchovy), katsuobushi (bonito flakes), kombu, and shiitake mushroom. It has a more intense flavor than the other two.

Choose the one that suits your preference, but if you are unsure, pick katsuobushi dashi, which is standard for miso soup. I picked kombu dashi in this recipe.

Homemade Dashi Soup

It's easy and quick to use store-bought dashi powder, but homemade dashi soup makes your soup more delicious.

Dashi recipes - How to make it from scratch

• Vegan Dashi (Shiitake Mushrooms and Kombu Seaweed)
• Awase Dashi (Katsuobushi and Kombu Seaweed)
• Niboshi Dashi (Baby Anchovy)

Niboshi is my favorite. When you have time, try these recipes!

Miso Paste

Miso is flavorful, savory, and salty fermented soybean paste, an essential seasoning for Japanese cuisine. It's a nutritious-rich and healthy ingredient used in many dishes (see the benefits here).

Have you ever seen miso with various colors? The darker miso means aging longer (the Maillard reaction), has a rich flavor, and tastes less sweet than light-colored miso.

White miso paste (shiro miso) is the way to go for a sweet and mild taste. If you're looking for more rich flavor, try red miso (aka miso). 

Click here to learn about miso paste.

Where to Buy Japanese Ingredients

If you live in the US, you can find Japanese ingredients in the list below.

• Japanese market: Mitsuwa Marketplace, Marukai
• Asian market
• Whole Foods Market
• Health food stores
• Online stores: Instacart, Walmart, Amazon

🔪Instructions

Let me show you how to make it. You can also watch this recipe video.

1. Slice mushrooms.
2. Chop daikon leaves.
3. Put the mushrooms, daikon leaves, and dashi powder in a medium pot or saucepan.
4. Add water.
5. Bring to a boil on medium heat.
6. Lower the heat and simmer for 2 minutes.
7. Turn off the heat and add miso using a miso measuring whisk (if you have it).
8. Stir gently until it dissolves.

Serve immediately while it's still hot! For an authentic Japanese touch, serve it in a small bowl called an "owan" and savor the tasty goodness!

Helpful Tips

• Always add miso paste after turning off the heat. If you boil the miso, you will lose the nice flavor.
• It's easy to add miso paste with a whisk (see below).

Miso Measuring Whisk

This Miso measuring whisk is a MUST tool for making miso soup.

You can easily measure and scoop miso paste. All you need to do is put this whisk into the miso container and turn it around! Plus, you can put the whisk into the soup directly to dissolve the miso.

I love it so much! I highly recommend having this simple tool if you make miso soup often!

Storage

Fresh miso soup is the best, but if you have leftover soup, let it cool and keep it in the fridge. Transfer the soup to a glass jar and store it in the fridge. It will be good for 2-3 days.

I don't recommend putting it in the freezer because freezing and thawing change the flavor of the soup.

Vegan Adaptable

Is miso soup vegan? No, because miso soup's essential ingredient is dashi, usually made from fish.

But it's easy to make it vegan using vegan dashi. You can use kombu dashi powder or make vegan dashi (Shiitake mushroom and kombu seaweed) from scratch. Just replace regular dashi with them, and you will have a vegan miso soup.

Variations

Ingredients for miso soup are limitless, so we don't get bored eating it every day. Here are other ingredients you can add to mushroom miso soup:

• Wakame seaweed
• Silken tofu
• Firm tofu
• Bok choy
• Green onions
• Spring onions
• Moyashi
• Fresh ginger

And many more!

What to Serve With

You can serve your soup with Japanese rice and other traditional dishes to give it a more authentic feel. Here are some recipes you might want to try:

• Mushroom Miso Soup
• Japanese Steamed Rice
• Japanese Teriyaki Tofu and Mushrooms
• Japanese Napa Cabbage Coleslaw
• Nori Tamagoyaki

Thanks For Stopping By!

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog♡. If you've tried this recipe (or any other recipe on the blog), please give it a star rating below!

Also, feel free to leave comments if you have any questions. I love hearing from you!

Chef JA Cooks is a Japanese food blog that shares simple and healthy Japanese home cooking recipes, including vegan and vegetarian. From traditional Japanese recipes to modern recipes with step-by-step instructions.

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• 8-Minute Tofu Miso Soup
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• Daikon Miso Soup (Niboshi Dashi)
• Summer Vegetable Miso Soup
• Japanese Napa Cabbage Soup

FAQ

📖 Recipe