This ginger miso soup–filled with tofu, turnip greens, vegetable broth infused with white miso–is a snap to make, wicked healthy, and vegan. (Of course, if you’re David, you’ll consider adding cubed cooked chicken breast. But that’s just like him to turn a perfectly lovely vegan recipe into something else.)
This light and simple soup is going to be your new best friend. Straight-shooting and soothing, it’s also willing and able to go along with your many moods. Feeling edgy? Punch it up with some poached shrimp or keep it vegetarian with maybe some baby bok choy and hard-cooked eggs. Need some extra sustenance? Toss in a tangle of udon noodles. Then slurp away, whatever your mood.–Jenny Howard
☞ Contents
Ginger Miso Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons untoasted sesame oil (or a different neutral-flavored oil)
- 2 tablespoons minced or grated fresh ginger
- 1 or 2 garlic cloves minced or grated
- 5 or 6 scallions white and green parts separated, each finely chopped
- 1 small bunch turnip greens stems and central ribs removed and finely chopped, leaves shredded or left whole if small
- 5 cups canned mild-flavored, low-sodium vegetable broth or homemade vegetable broth
- 1/4 cup white miso paste (for gluten-free, check the label, but most white miso is free of gluten)
- 4 to 8 ounces firm tofu cubed
Directions
- In a medium pot over medium heat, warm the sesame oil. Add the ginger, garlic, white parts of the green onions, and the chopped turnip stems and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the white parts of the green onions are nearly translucent and the turnip stems are tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Place the miso in a small bowl. Add the vegetable broth to the pot and raise the heat to medium-high. Once the broth is very hot, but not boiling, ladle about 1 cup of the hot broth into the miso and whisk to make a slurry. Return the mixture to the pot along with the green parts of the green onions, the turnip greens, and the tofu and stir gently to incorporate.
- Turn off the heat and let the soup stand for a few minutes to wilt the greens and heat everything through. Serve immediately.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This ginger miso soup is a nice, light, simple soup. Easily adaptable to add cooked chicken or, in our case, fried dumplings for a heartier soup. I especially appreciated that the ingredients were easy to find. The timing was accurate and the directions straightforward. Really tasted good on the first cool day of fall.
“Delicious and soothing” is how this ginger miso soup was described by all my tasters. The most time-consuming part of this recipe is the mincing and chopping. Truly a heat-and-eat dinner.
The only complaint I received was the soup was a little salty. Miso is salty by nature and can vary in saltiness from brand to brand. So when making this soup again, and I will be making this soup again, I will likely start with 1/8 cup miso, taste, and add more as needed to get the right balance for our taste.
I used an extra-firm tofu and it held its shape beautifully. The stem bits still had a little bite and the leaves were lovely and green even though wilted. The ginger was a warm note in the background and the garlic was a little more pronounced than the ginger but it wasn’t overpowering. All in all, a very nice restorative soup.
This is a simple, delicious, and quick miso soup recipe. My husband and I both thought that the miso flavor was spot on. We also enjoyed the turnip greens and tofu. An all-around lovely light meal.
If your greens are a bit sturdy, as mine were, you may need to give the soup a little bit more heat at the end to get the intended wilt.
Originally published November 07, 2018
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
L. Mitchell
What can I say beyond “try this”? Make this ginger miso soup for yourself, for your friends, for your family, for someone who is feeling under the weather, for a light meal—it’s a “one-size-fits-all” bowl of deliciousness. Bonus points for being both quick and healthy!
I used vegetable stock that I had on hand but I’m sure you could sub light chicken stock if you aren’t aiming for a vegetarian dish. I couldn’t find any turnip greens and I ended up using kohlrabi—both the root and the greens—instead. It’s very similar to turnip in texture and taste, in fact, kohlrabi is alternatively called “German turnip”!
The soup is great as is, but I added some poached shrimp at the last minute for color and to make it a little more substantial. I served it as part of a light summer supper. It made 4 generous servings and even though it’s basically a pantry staple recipe, it tasted quite authentically Japanese.