Wakame Seaweed Miso Soup

Make your wakame seaweed miso soup at home with this simple recipe! This classic Japanese dish is perfect for anyone who loves healthy, flavorful soups.

Would you like to try authentic Japanese miso soup?

Wakame seaweed miso soup is one of the popular choices in Japan. The simple flavor of the seaweed combined with the savory broth makes this soup very comforting!

You might think making miso soup would be complicated, but it's the easiest soup and will be ready in under 10 minutes.

This recipe is for you if:
• You love miso soup.
• You want to make seaweed miso soup.
• You are looking for easy wakame seaweed miso soup 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
• 🔪Instructions
• Vegan Adaptable
• Variations
• What to serve with
• Thanks For Stopping By
• FAQ
• 📖 Recipe
• Wakame Seaweed Miso Soup

About this recipe

• Wakame seaweed recipe
• Simple Japanese miso soup recipe
• Only five ingredients and 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.

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.

And how to make it is so 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).

• Dried wakame seaweed
• Tofu
• Chives or Scallion
• Miso paste
• Dashi powder

See more details on each ingredient below.

Wakame Seaweed

Wakame is a type of edible seaweed and a popular ingredient for miso soup. It's common to use dried seaweed that is available all year round.

The left is dried seaweed before soaking it in water. When rehydrated, it will increase in size by ten times like the right.

It has a firm yet elastic texture with a subtle smell of the sea.

Other seaweed for miso soup

There is more seaweed you can add to your miso soup.

• Tororo kombu is shredded kombu (kelp) after pickling in vinegar and used as a garnish in various Japanese dishes.
• Aosa is flaky seaweed often used as a topping for yakisoba and takoyaki.
• Nori is crispy and often used for onigiri rice balls and sushi.
• Seaweed mix is a mixture of dried seaweed and is often used for seaweed salad.

You can add Tororo kombu, Aosa, and Nori as a topping for miso soup (no need to cook).

Tofu

Tofu is a classic miso soup ingredient, which gives a soft texture to the soup. Tofu comes in 2 different types - Momen (firm) and Kinu(silken). You can use both of them for miso soup. I use Momen in this recipe.

Miso Paste

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

Miso paste is traditionally made from 3 ingredients, soybeans, koji rice, and salt.

The fermentation process will take six months to 2 years to make delicious miso with umami and sweetness, but some of the products are out in a much shorter time.

That miso contains additives to fake the deep flavor and control the quality, which doesn't have an authentic taste. Miso paste is the key ingredient in miso soup, so I recommend picking genuine products like this miso paste.

Homemade miso paste

In the old days, each household makes its miso paste at home. Nowadays, buying it at a store is more common, but I prefer homemade miso!

The right (fermented 8 months) is my mother's miso (I use it in this recipe), and the left (18 months) is mine.

As you can see, the color changes as fermentation go by. It gets much darker. It also changes the taste to be less sweet.

The good thing about homemade miso is that you can tweak the taste to your liking, and it's fun! If you are curious about homemade miso, please let me know in the comment below!

Dashi powder (Soup stock)

Dashi (soup stock) is essential in giving miso soup its unique flavor and aroma.

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

• Katsuobushi (Bonito flakes)
• Kombu seaweed (Kelp)
• 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 unsure, pick katsuobushi dashi, which is standard for miso soup. I use 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!

🔪Instructions

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

1. Chop chives.
2. Cut tofu into cubes. Put dried wakame seaweed and tofu in a saucepan.
3. Add dashi powder.
4. Add water.
5. Bring to a boil on medium heat.
6. Lower the heat and simmer for one minute.
7. Turn off the heat and add miso using a miso measuring whisk (if you have it).
8. Stir gently until it dissolves.
9. Add chopped chives.

That's it! Miso soup is best enjoyed when it's hot, so serve it immediately!

By the way, we use these types of Miso soup bowls (Owan in Japanese) for serving miso soup. Maybe it's just me, but the miso soup tastes better when eaten in this bowl!

Helpful Tips

• Always add miso paste after turning off the heat. If you boil the miso, you will lose the excellent flavor.
• When adding the miso to your soup, stir gently (try not to break the tofu).
• 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 to 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 leftovers, 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 to 3 days.

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

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 wakame seaweed miso soup:

• Bean sprout
• Mushrooms
• Napa cabbage
• Aburaage (fried tofu)
• Egg
• 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:

• Wakame seaweed miso soup
• Umeboshi onigiri (rice balls)
• Fried daikon
• Vegan vegetable gyoza (dumplings)
• Okara salad

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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FAQ

📖 Recipe