This vegetable noodle miso soup will brighten up a winter's day! Healthy & healing, it's made with lemon, ginger, and turmeric.
The thing that no one talks about in food blogging is that you develop some really weird eating patterns. The question of the day isn’t “what am I having for breakfast or lunch,” it’s “what are we working on and can it be considered a meal?”
In December, testing cookie recipes every day was a bit of a sugar rush. After that, balance was restored while testing/creating this healthy nourishing veggie noodle miso soup recipe. I think I ate this soup four times in a row last week – so what you’re looking at is my unintentional soup cleanse. Now, I don’t “cleanse” for health purposes, but I did really enjoy eating this soup over and over again :).
This soup is bright in color and in flavor. If you’re trying to eat lighter in the new year – but still want to eat something delicious – give this soup a try! Its brothy base is a simple dashi stock, the nourishing base of many soups in Japanese cooking. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you may recognize it from this gingery soup.
Make the dashi by gentling simmering kombu in water. Then, whisk in the miso paste to thicken the broth and give it much of its flavor (don’t skip it here!). Be careful to keep your soup at a low simmer after the miso is added, as high heat can destroy the healthy enzymes in miso.
I round this soup out with scallions, ginger, turmeric, carrots, and bok choy, and I add tofu for extra protein. Instead of filling the soup with lots and lots of noodles, I used half rice noodles and half zucchini noodles. This way, you still get that satisfying feeling that comes with eating a bowl of noodles. The soup is finished with a pop of lemon & lime and a bit of sriracha. It’s like a healthy veggie hot and sour soup. It’s a little punchy, a little earthy, and a little spicy. I hope you enjoy!
Golden Turmeric Noodle Miso Soup
Ingredients
- 6 cups water
- 1 strip of kombu, rinsed
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 1 large carrot, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons grated ginger
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup white miso paste
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- ½ tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- 2 teaspoons sriracha
- 7 ounces tofu, cubed
- 2 1/2 ounces cooked rice noodles, and/or zucchini noodles (1 small zucchini)
- 2 baby bok choy, stalks thinly sliced, leaves torn
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt, optional
- Fresh mint or cilantro, optional for serving
- Pinch of red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- In a medium pot, combine the water and the kombu. Simmer gently, without boiling, for 10 minutes. Remove the kombu. Add the scallions, carrots, ginger, and garlic and simmer until the carrots are soft, about 20 minutes.
- Scoop ½ cup of the hot broth into a small bowl with the miso paste. Stir until combined and return it to the soup pot. Add the turmeric, black pepper, lemon and lime juice, coconut oil, tamari, sriracha, tofu, noodles, and bok choy. Simmer for 10 minutes. Season to taste with ¼ teaspoon sea salt, if desired, and serve with fresh herbs, if desired.
Is there a good substitute for khombu? Can I use nori?
I notice most of your soups contain soy products but I am allergic to soy products what would be good substitutes?
Hi Amy, coconut aminos is a great sub for soy sauce or tamari.
Made this last night and it was sooo good! The broth is so unique. Sadly, I couldn’t find kombu, but I used regular broth and added all the other ingredients as suggested. Loved using bok choy too!
I’m so glad you loved it!
I’m so excited to try this recipe today. I am literally addicted to your blog. I have made so many recipes
I’m so glad you’re loving the recipes!
Hello! What kind of tofu did you use here?
Hi Jamie, firm, extra firm, or extra-firm silken tofu will work.
What would you substitute for coconut oil?
Looking forward to making this. It is a
gray, rainy day…perfect for such soup.
Thanks….
Hi Barbara, a neutral oil like avocado oil could work or you could skip it, in this case. I hope you enjoy!
I was so excited about this soup.. sadly the soup wasn’t edible. The lime/lemon juice overpowered the whole pot and I even used less than what the recipe called for. I was so excited about this soup as it seemed like a fun twist from the regular miso sup I make… so it was quite unfortunate that we had to throw the whole pot away.
Really lovely soup, tasted like sunshine which was perfect on a wintry spring day in the UK!
I made several substitutions according to what I had available: red instead of white miso, organic mushroom stock for Kombu, powdered ginger, fish sauce instead of tamari, + extra veg. Loved it and will definitely make again!
Thanks
Also I do not have a spiraliser so simply cut the zucchini into thin sticks which worked really well.
Hi! Looks good! I actually have a ton of dashi powder on hand, could I use that instead of making my own with kombu?
This soup is winter therapy in a bowl… So healthy and delicious with the added benefit of good for you ingredients. I wouldn’t change a thing
This soup looks good for the beginning of 2021. What spiralizer do you recommend for the noodle zucchini?
This was delicious! Perfect veg heavy meal after too much Halloween candy. Thank you!
Hi Kelli, I’m so glad you loved it!
I normally don’t take the time to leave a review, but this was SO SO DELICIOUS I had to come back and let you know how grateful I was for this recipe. You’re right, it’s like a veggie heavy hot and sour soup. It definitely hit the spot! The leftovers even held up well the next day. Thank you so much for sharing this creation- I am adding it to my rotation of recipes and will continue making it over and over again.
Hi Heidi, I’m so glad you loved it!
Hi there,
Can I use red miso for this?
You can – I’d maybe use a touch less since it’s a stronger flavor.
This was so good!!!
I’m so glad you loved it!
HI Jeanine,
Thanks for all of you work on this blog- have been really enjoying your photos as well as the great recipes!
I am eating this right now and loving it! So nourishing 🙂 . Thanks again. I put kelp noodles as well as zucchini noodles and I really like it.
Quick question- can you freeze this soup? I doubled the recipe as I knew I would love it.
I also am not eating tofu these days but put some cubed avocado when I served it and was really satisfying. Hearty enough for dinner.
Hi Christine, I’m glad you’re enjoying the soup! The original recipe freezes well, but I’m unsure how kelp noodles freeze and the avocado will get brown while reheating if you mixed it in already. If you kept it on the side as an add-in than you should be good!
Ok just researched kelp noodles and yes- no freezing 🙁 . Thanks and will be eating this a lot in the next few days 🙂
Nice combination of vegetables and interesting seasoning. I followed the recipe to the letter, with the exception of doubling the noodles- just so it was bit more substantial. It was a bit salty for my taste, but I think the miso I purchased was really salty. Beyond that, it was really delicious and pretty quick and easy mix that I will try again.
Hi Carol, I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe. You could add the tamari to taste next time if you wanted.
I found this recipe last week and made it for the second time today…it’s excellent! The first time that I made it I used soy sauce instead of tamari and squeeze ginger instead of real ginger bc I had those in the house. The soup was great but this time I made a point to use tamari and real ginger…wow I got upgraded to first class! Thank you for this recipe! The early cold snap outside makes great soup like this a must for us hearty Midwesterners!
Plan on trying this soon–is it 2.5 oz of rice AND zucchini noodles, or 2.5 oz of each? Thank you!!! I’ll post a review once I make this! 🙂 Can’t wait!
Hi Alex, you could do 2.5 ounce rice noodles plus one small zucchini. I hope you enjoy!
I made this and it is VERY good. I wasn’t sure if it would have that same miso soup flavor with the additions but it definitely does. I was missing a lime but I love the flavor and that it is such a versatile recipe. I put mine over rice instead of noodles. Reheated well at work. Has same cloudy mystical look as regular miso soup! Would recommend
Hi Kaye, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!