Mushroom Ginger Miso Soup

Using Trader Joe’s popular Miso Ginger Broth, this savory vegan soup is warm, comforting and ready in less than 15 minutes!

This quick and easy soup is barely a recipe at all. For it, I used a carton of miso ginger broth as the base for a simple soup. It’s a great way to eat lots of fresh vegetables when you want to clean out the fridge!

Here’s what you’ll need

Gather these ingredients

Fresh mushrooms
Miso ginger broth
Fresh carrots
Fresh ginger
Chives

Don’t have the broth? You can make it from scratch!

Making miso broth

You’ll need white or brown miso paste to create the savory broth on your own. Combine 1 tablespoon of miso per 1 cup of water and warm over medium heat.

And adjust to your own preference. Each miso paste will have a unique flavor. Some are saltier than others. Be mindful of this as you make your broth.

Simmer the miso broth with at least 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger. These two ingredients are all you need to make a flavorful base.

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Substitutions

You can use any vegetable you like in this soup recipe.

I chose mushrooms because they go well with the miso, ginger flavor profile and have a meaty texture.

You can add cubes of tofu for some protein and to make this an even heartier bowl of soup. Add in spinach or chard for some greens or top with scallions instead of chives.

Use up leftover miso

If you opt to make the miso broth yourself, you either had a tub of miso to use up or you now have more miso paste than you know what to do with.

Luckily, it’s one of my favorite things to keep on hand to make my Miso-Maple Glazed Black Cod for a luxurious meal. Or for a quick dish made with a more everyday fish, I’ll do this Sheet Pan Miso Salmon & Broccoli.

These seafood recipes are easy but not as easy as the soup. For more recipes like that, check out my post all about using healthy convenience foods for quick and easy meals.

Favorite cookbooks

This recipe was part of a 2014 post where I went on and on about my favorite cookbooks. I’m leaving some parts of that in case it’s helpful. Might delete later.

I grew up reading cookbooks cover to cover. IF that makes me weird, I’m OK with that.

Growing up in the south, there was no shortage of the little softbound cookbooks from the church and women’s groups lying around the house. However, there are three cookbooks that shaped the way I look at food and cooking.

1. Low-fat Soul by Jonell Nash – I always looked up to Essence and Ebony magazine. The author’s affiliation with the magazine sold me. I bought it. I (obviously) don’t use a low-fat style of cooking today but I loved the way she took traditional soul food recipes to make them a bit healthier.
2. Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home– I never really liked meat. I was the last one at the table on spaghetti night because I’d sit there and attempt to pick the meat from the meat sauce. When we’d have fried chicken, I’d give my cousin the meat and I’d eat the skin. I say all of that to say… I didn’t really like meat. Somewhere along the way I discovered the Moosewood Family Cookbooks and began to experiment with vegetarian fare.
3. The classic Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook, a kitchen bible of sorts. Though I can quickly Google any fathomable question now, I still pull out the red and white book every now and then for reference. I also use it today for inspiration from classic American cuisine.

I was fortunate to attend Healthy Kitchens Healthy Lives in beautiful Napa Valley in 2014. While there, I had the opportunity to sample a plethora of plant-based recipes. Molly Katzen, one of the authors of the cookbooks above was there. Her presentation and recipes inspired me to get her latest cookbook: Heart of the Plate.

The title speaks to my own food philosophy. Vegetables are always at the heart of my plate. Back then and today.

This Mushroom Ginger Miso Soup was inspired by her Hot and Sour Tofu Soup.

Here’s the thing. I don’t love tofu. Yes. I’m a nutritionist. Yes. It’s a great source of protein. But no, I don’t love it. Judge if you must.

However, thinking of tofu leads me to the only time I’ll really eat it… in a warm bowl of miso soup. So that’s where I’m taking this.