Food & Cooking Recipes Soups, Stews & Stocks Soup Recipes Squash and Mushroom Miso Soup 5.0 (1) 1 Review This deeply savory soup is just right for any meal of the week. By Greg Lofts Greg Lofts Greg Lofts is a New York City-based food stylist and recipe developer with 20+ years of professional experience. He was the former deputy food editor at Martha Stewart Living for six plus years, and his work can be found in editorial and television outlets such as Bon Appétit, Epicurious.com, Condé Nast Traveler, Martha Bakes, Next Food Network Star Season 8, Kitchen Boss with Buddy Valastr, and many more. Editorial Guidelines Published on December 9, 2024 Rate PRINT Share Close Photo: Murray Hall Prep Time: 15 mins Total Time: 1 hr Servings: 4 Yield: 8 cups Jump to recipe Richly savory and light yet satisfying, this mushroom miso soup is packed with chunks of sweet, robust kabocha squash, enoki mushrooms, and wakame seaweed. The recipe starts with making the Japanese stock known as dashi, which is quick and easy with just a few specialty ingredients. Serve it in smaller bowls as a first course or ladle it up for a vegetarian main. 26 Quick Soup Recipes That Are Ready in 45 Minutes or Less What Is Miso? Miso is a fermented soybean paste that is a culinary staple in Japanese cuisine. It is made using cooked soybeans, grains (typically rice), salt, and koji mold, a type of fungus scientifically known as Aspergillus oryzae. The mold produces enzymes (substances that trigger chemical reactions) that break down proteins and starches. This results in fermentation, which produces the rich flavor of miso. Uses of Miso Miso is used almost like salt and can season all kinds of dishes, from vegetables and meat to stews. It also adds an extra layer of umami and flavor. Miso soup is one of the most widely known ways to use miso. There are many types of miso soup, but the simplest is simply mixing miso in hot water for instant miso soup. Seaweed Savvy This recipe uses two types of seaweed: Kombu is used to make the stock for this miso soup. Do not remove the dusty white film on the kombu when wiping it clean. The film, called mannitol, gives dashi broth it’s distinct flavor. The kombu is strained out of the stock and not eaten.Wakame is a seaweed, usually sold dried and labeled as kelp or sea vegetable. It is cooked briefly in the soup and served. What is Dashi? This miso soup recipe includes making a simple dashi, which is used as the broth for the soup. Dashi is a fundamental Japanese soup stock made with kombu, an edible seaweed, and bonito flakes, another popular Japanese ingredient composed of very small, thin pieces of steamed, dried aged skipjack tuna. The other ingredient is water. Dashi is quick to prepare, especially compared to slow-simmered meat or chicken stocks. Kabocha Squash Also known as Japanese pumpkin, kabocha squash has a dark green, knobby skin that gives way to bright, sunny-hued flesh. With its rich, nutty-sweet taste and almost fluffy texture—somewhere between a chestnut and a sweet potato—kabocha stands up well to intense flavors like curries and the miso paste used in this soup. Substitutes Kabocha squash fits this soup well and is widely available but if you can't find it or don't want to use it, substitute butternut squash or calabaza. Cook Mode (Keep screen awake) Ingredients 1 1/2 ounces kombu, gently wiped clean and cut into six pieces 1 1/4 cups bonito flakes (.25 ounces) 1/4 cup white miso paste 1 pound kabocha squash, peeled and cut into bite-size (about 1 inch) pieces (2 1/2 cups) 5 ounces enoki or beech mushrooms, removed from foot and separated into bite-size pieces 3 tablespoons shredded dried wakame (0.1 ounces) Directions Simmer water and kombu: Combine two quarts water and kombu in a large saucepan; let stand 10 minutes. Bring to a bare simmer (small bubbles slowly emerging at edges of pan) over medium heat, about 15 minutes (do not let boil). Remove kombu and discard. Add bonito, let stand, then strain: Add bonito to pan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand until bonito sinks to bottom of pan, about 10 minutes. Strain, discarding solids (yields 6 cups dashi broth). Mix miso with some dashi broth; soak wakame: In a small bowl, whisk miso with 1/4 cup dashi broth to make a slurry. Meanwhile, cover wakame by at least 1 inch cool water, let soak for 10 minutes, and drain. Simmer remaining dashi with squash and mushrooms: Return remaining broth to saucepan with squash and mushrooms. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer until squash is tender but holding its shape, 10 to 13 minutes. Stir wakame and miso slurry into soup and serve: Stir rehydrated wakame and miso slurry into pan and simmer until wakame is tender, about 2 minutes. Serve. Other Recipes That Use Miso (And Aren't Soup) Nobu's Eggplant With Miso Miso Aioli Grilled Zucchini With Miso Miso-Glazed Cod Miso-Honey Wings Rate It PRINT