Shiitake Miso Soup

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 4

Miso Soup is a healthy and versatile soup that can be served any time of the day. The delicious soup can be easily adapted to any meal by changing up the garnishes make it more complex. A simple yet flavorful dashi is the basic stock, made with dried katsuobushi (bonito fish flakes), that is used extensively in Japanese cuisine. When you’re craving this warm and comforting soup, you’ll be able to make it anytime without having to order Japanese take out.


  • 1/2 cup dried wakame seaweed

  • 4 cups Dashi stock (directions below)

  • 1” piece of daikon radish cut into 1/8-inch half moons

  • 1/2 lb of fresh shiitake mushrooms, stem removed and cut into strips

  • 1/4 cup white miso

  • 1/2 pound soft silken tofu, drained and cut into 1/4-inch cubes

For Dashi stock (makes scant 4 cups):

  • 4 cups water

  • 1/4 cup of sake

  • 1 tablespoon of mirin (sweet rice wine)

  • 2 large pieces of kobu, about 20 g (dried kelp)

  • 2 cups of katsuobushi (dried bonito fish flakes)

For the garnish:

  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallion greens


Prepare wakame:

  1. Combine wakame and 1 cup of warm water in a small bowl. Let sit, stirring occasionally, until softened, 10 minutes. Strain in a colander and set aside.

Prepare dashi stock

  1. In a pot, bring water, sake, and mirin to a bowl.

  2. Turn heat down to a low simmer and break the kombu half and add add it to the liquid (do not wash the kombu, the white residue is the umami flavor you’re adding to the stock) for about 10-15 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat and fish out the kombu seaweed. Discard.

  4. Add the bonito fakes. Let steep for 5 minutes and sieve the liquid through a mesh strainer. Discard the bonito flakes.

Make soup:

  1. Bring dash stock back upi to a simmer in a saucepan.

  2. Add hydrated wakame, daikon radish, and shiitake. Allow the ingredients to gently simmer for about 5 minutes.

  3. Add tofu.

  4. Remove from the soup from the heat (this helps preserves the macrobiotics in the miso).

  5. Submerge a fine-mesh sieve into the suop, add miso to sieve. Stir until miso dissolves to ensure there are no lumps (discard any chunks of soy beans that doesn’t dissolve).

  6. Divide among four bowls and serve topped with scallion.