Miso Ginger Winter Soup (Printable)

Warming Japanese-style soup with ginger, vegetables, and probiotic miso for cold weather comfort.

# What You'll Need:

→ Broth

01 - 6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
02 - 2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
03 - 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
04 - 2 tablespoons white or yellow miso paste

→ Vegetables

05 - 1 cup shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
06 - 1 cup baby spinach or bok choy, roughly chopped
07 - 1 medium carrot, julienned or thinly sliced
08 - 2 green onions, sliced

→ Garnish

09 - 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
10 - 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro, optional
11 - 1 teaspoon chili oil or pinch of red pepper flakes, optional

# How To Make It:

01 - In a large saucepan, bring vegetable broth to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Add sliced ginger and garlic, then simmer for 10 minutes to infuse flavors into the broth.
02 - Add mushrooms and carrot slices to the simmering broth. Cook for 5 minutes until vegetables are just tender.
03 - Remove one ladleful of hot broth into a small bowl. Whisk the miso paste into the hot broth until completely smooth.
04 - Reduce soup heat to low. Stir the miso mixture back into the pot, avoiding boiling to preserve probiotic properties.
05 - Add spinach or bok choy and green onions to the soup. Stir gently until greens are wilted, approximately 1 minute.
06 - Taste the soup and adjust seasoning with additional miso paste or soy sauce as desired.
07 - Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with toasted sesame seeds, cilantro, and chili oil or red pepper flakes if using.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • Ready in thirty minutes flat, which means you can have a restaurant-quality soup before most people finish chopping vegetables.
  • The miso brings a savory depth that makes you feel nourished without any heaviness lingering afterward.
  • It's the kind of soup that tastes even better the next day, making it perfect for batch cooking on a lazy Sunday.
02 -
  • Never let miso boil—it's not just old wives' tale wisdom, it's real biochemistry; the heat kills the probiotic cultures that make miso worth adding in the first place.
  • The best miso moment is when you taste the broth before adding the miso and realize how much better it becomes; this is when you understand why Japanese cooks reverence this ingredient.
03 -
  • If your miso paste has been sitting in the back of the fridge and you're wondering if it's still good, it almost certainly is—miso is virtually immortal and actually improves with age as it ferments.
  • The moment when the green onions hit the hot broth and release their onion perfume is worth pausing to notice; it happens in seconds and it's beautiful.
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