This Feel-Better Miso Soup with Garlic and Greens is a warm, comforting bowl of healthy, wholesome ingredients with an immune-boosting punch.
Soup has a lot of things your body needs when you are sick. Soup is mostly liquid, and consuming plenty of fluids is a important when you’re sick – or any time. Use a chicken stock – preferably homemade, but any low-sodium type will do – for healthy vitamins and minerals.
Add in some immune-boosting garlic and vitamin-packed kale, and finish it with and a bit of miso to supply both healthy probiotics and electrolytes.
Last, but not least, there’s just something comforting about curling up with a hot, steaming bowl of aromatic soup.
Make it your own
Feel free to experiment with the greens, and use whatever you have on hand. I like kale, but chopped chard or spinach would also taste great and offer a lot of nutrition. Sometimes I add firm tofu cubes for a protein boost and a more traditional miso soup feel. Sautéed, thinly-sliced shiitake mushrooms are also a great addition, and add complex umani flavor. If you’re not in the mood for spice, leave out the red pepper flakes.
Don’t boil the miso
After you add the miso, do not allow the soup to boil. Boiling will kill the valuable probiotics in the miso, and you’ll lose their positive effects on digestive health. Turn off the heat, then stir in the miso a bit at a time. If you want to add some to an individual bowl to taste, that’s ok too. If I make a large batch of this soup and reheat it later, I put the miso in individual bowls after reheating.
Finally, this soup is based on a delicious recipe from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, a vegan author, speaker, and writer. I first encountered this soup when I was vegan, and have loved it through my return to omnivorousness.
I hope you enjoy it in good health… or on your way back to it. 🙂
Feel-Better Miso Soup with Garlic and Greens
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 10 cloves garlic (about 1 head) peeled, then minced or pressed
- 2 cups chopped kale
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes optional
- 3 cups chicken stock or broth
- 1 tbsp mellow white miso
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 green onion, thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a saucepan over low heat, add olive oil and garlic, and a pinch of salt. Add pepper flakes, if using. Stir and cook about 2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Add kale and chicken stock or broth. Stir to combine.
- Bring to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes or until kale is tender.
- Turn off heat. Remove about 1/2 cup of hot broth from the soup, and stir in miso. When miso is dissolved, return mixture to soup, and stir to combine.
- Add green onion, and serve.
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Amy
April 6, 2018 at 4:27 pmRachel,
Where do you get your miso? Do you like the paste type? I’m such a fan of miso soup and would love to have it more often then just when I get to an Asian restaurant.
Thanks!
Rachel
April 6, 2018 at 6:29 pmHi Amy,
Thanks for visiting the website!
I’ve used miso paste, and miso from a squeeze bottle (usually what you can find in the supermarket), and I prefer the paste. The brand I’m using right now is Miso Master Mellow White Miso. It’s in a white tub with black and purple print. I think I picked it up at County Market.
The key to using paste is to pull a small amount of hot liquid out of your soup – I usually dip into the pot with a measuring cup – and use it to dissolve your dollop of miso. If you put the whole dollop right in the pot of soup, you’ll have a difficult time telling when the whole chunk has dissolved. And it can take a while.
Let me know how it turns out!