These seven simple soups, sauces and sides are a great way to start integrating miso and all its health benefits into your daily meals. These recipes use miso to create tangy salad dressings, warming soups, delectable vegan gravies and more!
How to Use Miso
Miso Soups
Miso Dressings
Miso Mushroom Gravy
Sweet Potato Spread
If you’re just learning about the magic of miso, here are some good rules of thumb for adding it to dishes you already know and love, or creating your own new and innovative recipes.
Create a yummy broth or add flavor to soups
1. To make a delicious broth, mix ½ – 1 tsp. of miso per cup of water used. Wait to add the miso to your pot until all your ingredients are fully cooked and you are ready to turn the heat off. If you boil miso it will still retain its flavor, but many of the health benefits will be lost. To make the miso easy to add, dissolve it in a small amount of hot water before adding it to the pot.
Make a delicious miso salad dressing
2. Mix 1 tsp. – 1 Tbsp. miso per cup of liquid (liquid = water plus your desired oil or other healthy thickener*, seasonings, acidic flavor: vinegar, lemon juice, etc.) blend well and enjoy. We usually throw all of these ingredients in a blender and give it a good whirl before enjoying it with our salads or throwing it in the fridge for later.
* Other healthy thickeners include tahini, avocado, tofu, sunflower seeds (well-puréed with a little water), or even cooked beans, carrots or squash.
Add to sauces, gravies, spreads and more!
2. Mix ½ – 1 tsp. per cup of your main ingredient (squash, tofu, potato, tahini etc.) into your favorite sauce, gravy or spreads to add its tangy savory flavor to the mix. If you decide to add miso to a dish, try cutting back on the amount of salt you would normally use, by at least half, to start with.
This simple soup is a light and satisfying meal for any cool night.
Sea Vegetable Miso Soup
serves 4–6
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 onions, diced
3 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 tsp. each: onion & garlic powder
1/4 cup tamari or substitute
1 tsp. parsley flakes
6 cups water or stock
stick of kombu (or sea vegetable of choice)
6 Tbsp. miso paste
1 cup noodles (cooked)
1. In a soup pot, sauté the garlic and onions in a small amount of water or oil. When onions are soft, add the remaining vegetables and seasonings (except miso).
2. Add the water or vegetable stock along with the sea vegetable of choice and simmer until all vegetables are soft.
3. Remove one cup of hot broth from the pot and mix with the miso until blended. Pour this back into the soup pot. Stir. Add noodles. Serve.
We included the following soup, even though it doesn’t actually call for miso, because it’s a great way to show how easy it is to integrate miso into a preexisting recipe.
When the recipe calls for “stock or water” simply make a broth out of miso by dissolving ½ to 1 tsp. of miso per cup of water. Just make sure to add the miso at the end of the cooking process so it doesn’t boil. Simply grab a half-cup of the soup and mix the miso in it before adding the liquid back to the pot. For this dish you would dissolve 3-6 tsp. of miso because the dish calls for 6-7 cups of water or stock. Also wait to add the tsp. of salt that the recipes calls for until after you’ve added the miso. If you still need it, it’s easy enough to add in, but the miso may provide all the flavor you need.
Autumn Harvest Soup
serves 5–6
1 Tbsp. oil (optional)
1 large onion
1–2 cloves garlic
3 carrots, 2 sliced, 1 grated
1 large sweet potato, cubed
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 butternut (or sweet squash), cubed
1 tsp. sea salt
6–7 cups stock or water
2–3 Tbsp. tamari or substitute
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1 tsp. salt-free herb seasoning (such as Herbamare)
1/4 tsp. lemon pepper
1. Dice onion and garlic and sauté in oil or water. Add sliced carrots, potatoes, squash and sea salt to pot with enough stock to cover vegetables by an inch. Let simmer on low heat until vegetables are soft.
2. Remove 1/3 of the cooked vegetables with a strainer and blend with remaining stock until creamy. (Use less stock for a thicker soup). Add the remaining seasonings and blend again. Return mixture to soup pot and simmer for 10 more minutes.
3. Season to taste. Delicious served immediately and even better the next day.
*Remember not to add the miso until you are ready to turn the heat off, as it should not be allowed to boil.
These three miso salad dressings demonstrate how versatile miso is from soup to sauce.
Sesame Miso Dressing
yields 3 cups
1/2 cup miso
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
3 cloves garlic, diced
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. unrefined liquid or dry sweetener (such as Rice Syrup or Rapadura)*
1–2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. onion powder
In a blender, blend all ingredients together. Keeps well in the refrigerator.
- We don’t usually add sweetener to our dressings, but most store bought dressings include some sort of sweetener. Try the dressing with and without sweetener and see which you prefer.
Sweet and Sour Miso Dressing
yields 3–4 cups
4 Tbsp. miso (preferably blonde)
1 1/4 cups oil
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
3–4 Tbsp. rice syrup (or other unrefined sweetener)*
5 tsp. nutritional yeast
1 cup water
In a blender, blend all ingredients together. Keeps well in the refrigerator.
Miso Lemon Mustard Dressing
yields 2 cups
1 cup water
2/3 cup oil
5 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp. blonde miso
2 Tbsp. mustard (stoneground)
3 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp. liquid sweetener (such as Rice Syrup)**
In a blender, blend all ingredients together. Keeps well in the refrigerator.
- We don’t usually add sweetener to our dressings, but most store bought dressings include some sort of sweetener. Try the dressing with and without sweetener and see which you prefer.
This gravy is the perfect accompaniment to your favorite potato or other root vegetable bake or mash.
No–Oil Miso Mushroom Gravy
yields 2 1/2 cups
2/3 cup onion, diced
2 1/4 cups mushrooms, sliced
2 cups water
3 Tbsp. red miso
1 1/2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1/2 Tbsp. tamari or substitute
1 1/2 Tbsp. arrowroot powder*
1/2 Tbsp. vegan worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1. In a small pot, sauté the onion with a little water. Add the mushrooms and simmer with the lid on, until mushrooms are soft.
2. In a blender, blend the remaining ingredients. Pour into the pot with the mushrooms and simmer on a low flame until gravy thickens, stirring often.
*Arrowroot powder can be tricky to work with, so make sure the sauce does not boil after it is added. If you boil the sauce after the arrowroot is added, you may end up thinning the sauce instead of thickening it. We often leave the arrowroot out, or if we use it we turn off the heat, pour a small amount of the sauce into a bowl and whisk the arrowroot in, then we add the sauce back into the pan and whisk until it is well incorporated (leaving the heat off.)
This savory creamy spread can be enjoyed on crackers, toast or used to create a sensational sandwich.
Sweet Potato Spread
yields 4–5 cups
1 tsp. oil
4 medium sweet potatoes
seasonings, to taste
2 medium onions
2 Tbsp. blonde miso
garlic powder, to taste
1. Pre-heat oven to 400°. Lightly oil a baking tray or use baking paper. Place sweet potatoes and onions on sheet. Bake until vegetables are soft, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.*
2. When cool enough, peel the vegetables. Transfer vegetables to food processor. Add miso and purée, using the “S” shaped blade, until smooth. Season with garlic powder and favorite seasonings.
•Variation ~ Try using butternut squash and/or carrots instead of sweet potatoes.
*You can also cut your squash or potatoes into chunks and steam them instead of baking.
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