While miso soup is a staple in Japanese cuisine, it’s slowly gaining popularity all across the globe. It has energizing flavors. It’s tasty and fairly easy to make. The soup is taking over the dining tables of Western families.
However, is miso soup vegan? Let’s find out!
What is Miso Soup?
A traditional Japanese miso soup is a combination of dashi and miso. Dashi is a Japanese soup with these key ingredients: dried bonito flakes or dried fish, kelp, and anchovy.
It is used extensively in making Japanese cuisines. Meanwhile, miso is a fermented paste made from a blend of soybeans, sea salt, and rice koji.
It is the preferred Japanese ingredient that you can find in soups, marinades, glazes, and condiments. It’s also a source of antioxidants, which reduces the risk of breast cancer, among others.
To add more flavor to the traditional miso, you may use other ingredients, including tofu, vegetables, and seaweed.
Adding these blends of ingredients makes the soup a comforting, savory flavor that gives you various textures.
How It's Made
To answer the question: is miso soup vegan? We have to take a look at how it’s made.
- Prep your vegetable stock - Slice the mushrooms, onion, garlic, and ginger root. After you’re done prepping your veggies, mix the vegetables and oil, and then saute until it is tender.
- Make the broth - When the vegetables are tender, put water and the yellow miso paste. Put the mixture to a boil. Use medium heat and simmer the soup for fifteen minutes.
- Add tofu - Slice the fresh tofu into 3-4-inch tofu cubes and place it in the soup.
- Garnish and Serve - Pour the soup into the bowls, and then dress it with green onions.
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Typical Miso Soup Ingredients
| Ingredient | Vegan | Non-Vegan |
| Miso | ✓ | |
| Tofu | ✓ | |
| Dashi Stock | ✓ | |
| Dried Wakame Seaweed | ✓ | |
| Green Onion /Thinly Sliced Scallions | ✓ | |
| Bonito Flakes/ Dried Tuna | ✓ | |
| Sesame seeds | ✓ | |
| Chicken stock | ✓ | |
| Dried Baby Sardines | ✓ |
Some Vegan Alternatives to Miso Soup
- Kombu stock
- Kenchinjiru
- Vegan ramen
- Firm tofu or abura-age
- Soba noodles
- Tamari or shoyu sauce
- Gomashio
- Wasabi
- Pickled ginger
- Umeboshi
- Avocado, veggie, or nori sushi rolls
- Veggie tempura
- Japanese eggplant curry
- Salted edamame with soy dipping sauce
Miso Soup Recipes for Vegans
Shiitake Dashi
The Shiitake Dashi is a classic macrobiotic broth used in soups, sauces, noodles, veggies, and many more.
It is an excellent soup stock, which can be utilized for noodle dishes or steaming and poaching fish.
Dashi is a healing food that contains medicinal dried mushrooms, anti-inflammatory ginger, and mineral-rich kombu dried seaweed.
You can also add soy sauce to your Japanese cooking to add umami flavor.
- Two quarts of cold water
- One strip of kombu seaweed (kelp)
- One and one-half cups mushrooms
- One-half cup mirin
- One-fourth cup shoyu, or tamari
- One-fourth cup ginger, finely grated
Kombu Shiitake Dashi
Kombu dashi is quick cold-steep vegan dashi, Japanese stock. You need to mix the kombu or dry kelp and the dried shiitake mushrooms in a bowl. After that, you pour water.
- One-piece kombu (dry kelp)
- Two medium-dry shiitake mushrooms
- Two and a half (600 ml) water
Miso Noodle Soup
It’s a restorative soba noodle soup with veggies, like a vegetarian chicken noodle soup with a twist of Asian.
- Four cups vegetable broth
- One half cup water
- Three ounces soba noodles
- One (14-ounce) silken tofu
- One medium red bell pepper (bite-size strips)
- One-third cup sliced onions
- One tablespoon white miso
- One tablespoon fresh ginger (grated)
- One-eighth teaspoon red pepper (crushed)
- A cup snow peas (fresh, halved crosswise)
- One carrot (completely peeled and ribboned)
Niboshi dashi has a non-vegan ingredient, so it isn’t suitable for people on a plant-based diet.
FAQs
Yes, there is a variation of the miso soup recipe that includes egg, fish, and nattō.
The base of miso soup is a mix of dashi and miso.
Miso paste is a blend of soybeans, sea salt, and rice koji. Red miso paste is the healthiest ingredient in a vegan miso soup. (1)
In Conclusion
So, is miso soup vegan?
Depending on how it is prepared, miso soup can be vegan.
The traditional miso soup contains dashi stock, which is non-vegan. However, there are always alternatives to the recipe to make a vegan miso soup.
For example, you can replace dashi with vegetable stock, so it fits in your vegan diet. You may try one of the vegan-friendly miso recipes listed above so that you can enjoy your soup on a cold, rainy day.
You can also try udon noodles as an alternative or a vegan version of katsuobushi dashi. If you’re going to order in your favorite sushi restaurant, make sure to ask the chef to prepare a vegan-friendly variation of the soup.
References:
- https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/health-benefits
About Author
Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
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