Quick and Cozy Mug Miso Soup

Mug miso soup is the kind of gentle, soul-warming comfort that wraps around you like your favorite sweater on a chilly evening. This beautifully simple recipe takes just 3 minutes from start to sip, using pantry staples and a trusty microwave to create something truly magical.

Love More Soup Recipes? Try My Italian Penicillin Soup or this Broccoli Cheddar Soup next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Lightning fast – Ready in just 3 minutes when you need comfort NOW
• Incredibly forgiving – Hard to mess up, and easily customizable to your taste
• Pantry-friendly – Uses simple ingredients you can keep on hand
• Deeply satisfying – That umami-rich, warm-you-from-the-inside kind of comfort
• Perfect portion – Makes exactly one serving, no leftovers to worry about

Ingredients You’ll Need

Basic stuff:

• ¼ teaspoon dashi powder (Asian grocery store, little packets)
• 1 tablespoon miso paste (white kind is milder, red is stronger)
• 1 cup hot water (boiling from kettle or microwave)

Extra junk if you want:

• Soft tofu cut up in chunks
• Spinach leaves (baby spinach or whatever)
• Seaweed stuff (wakame, comes dried)
• Skinny white mushrooms (enoki)
• Green onions chopped (scallions, spring onions, same thing)

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Why These Ingredients Work

Dashi is like Japanese bouillon but actually good. Those little packets cost like 3 bucks and last months. Miso paste looks gross in the jar but it’s basically magic. White miso is sweet-ish, red miso will punch you in the face with salt. Start with white if you’re new.

The extras are totally up to you. Sometimes I throw in leftover chicken, sometimes just spinach, sometimes nothing because I’m lazy. That’s the beauty – it works with whatever or nothing at all. My kids won’t eat the seaweed but they’ll drink the plain version.

Essential Tools and Equipment

• Biggest microwave mug you own
• Spoon that won’t melt
• Something to measure with
• Working microwave
• Knife if you’re cutting stuff

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Build Your Base

Scoop the dashi and miso paste into your mug. Looks like baby food. That’s normal.

Step 2: Add the Magic Water

Pour in the boiling water and stir the hell out of it. The miso will blob around and look disgusting but keep going. It’ll dissolve eventually.

Pro Tip: Use your biggest mug or this stuff will bubble over and make a mess. I learned this at 6 AM when I was late for work and had to clean soup off the microwave before leaving.

Step 3: Customize Your Comfort

Dump in whatever add-ins you want. Tofu, spinach, mushrooms, whatever’s not moldy in your fridge. Or skip this step completely if you just want plain soup.

Step 4: Heat to Perfection

Microwave until it’s hot enough to drink without burning your tongue. Usually a minute or two. My microwave sucks so it takes longer.

Step 5: The Final Flourish

Sprinkle green onions on top if you have them. Makes it look like you tried.

You Must Know

Don’t boil this thing to death or it tastes like salt water. Just get it warm enough to drink. Also the first sip is always too hot so don’t burn yourself like an idiot.

Personal Secret: I keep miso paste packets in my work bag. When Janet from accounting is being extra annoying and I need a break, I make this in the office kitchen. People think I’m fancy but really I’m just cheap and don’t want to buy those overpriced soup cups from the cafeteria.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

Start with less miso than you think. Different brands are different strengths and some will knock you flat. Tom made his first batch with red miso and used the full amount. Poor guy couldn’t drink it, just sat there making weird faces.

Buy the ingredients once and you’re set for months. Dashi packets keep forever, miso paste lives in the fridge for like a year. Perfect for when everything else in your kitchen is expired but you still need food.

Every microwave is different. Mine barely heats anything, my mom’s could melt steel. Figure out your timing and stick with it.

Flavor Variations & Suggestions

Red miso hits different – use it when you’re sick and want something strong. Mixed miso is good if you can’t decide. Yellow miso exists too but honestly who cares.

Crack an egg into the hot soup and stir it around. Sounds nasty, tastes awesome. My mom did this with leftover rice when we were broke and called it dinner. Now I do it when I’m lazy and call it “protein.”

Those instant ramen noodles work too. Just break them up and dump them in. Not gourmet but it’ll fill you up.

Make-Ahead Options

You can’t make this ahead because it takes three freaking minutes. But you can prep stuff – I’ll cube tofu and wash spinach on Sunday so it’s ready during the week.

Sometimes I pre-mix the dashi and miso in little containers and keep them in the fridge. Then it’s just add water and microwave. Takes even less thinking.

What to Serve With Mug Miso Soup

Usually I just drink this by itself when I need something warm fast. But those rice cracker things are good for dunking. My kids eat it with grilled cheese which is weird but whatever makes them happy.

If people are coming over I’ll make cucumber salad with rice vinegar to go with it. Makes me look like I know what I’m doing with Asian food.

Allergy Information

Has soy from the miso paste. Probably has fish from the dashi unless you get the vegetarian kind. If you’re allergic to soy you’re out of luck with this recipe since miso is literally the whole point.

Vegetarian dashi exists – it’s made from seaweed instead of fish. Tastes pretty much the same to me.

Storage & Reheating

Don’t even try to save this. Tastes like crap reheated and separates into weird layers. Just make it fresh every time. It literally takes three minutes, you’re not saving yourself any time by making extra.

If you somehow make too much (how?) you can try reheating it but don’t expect miracles. The miso gets weird and clumpy.

FAQs

Can I make this without dashi powder?

I mean, yeah, but why would you? It’s like 3 dollars and makes everything taste better. You could try soy sauce but it’s not the same thing.

My miso paste won’t dissolve completely – what am I doing wrong?

Your water isn’t hot enough or you’re not stirring hard enough. I literally attack mine with a spoon until it gives up. Sometimes I’ll smoosh it against the mug first to break it up.

Can I use different types of miso paste?

Sure but red miso is way stronger. I made that mistake once and couldn’t finish the cup. Start with less if you’re using red.

Is it okay to boil miso soup?

Don’t boil it hard but I’m not precious about it. Just get it hot. If you boil the crap out of it, it tastes different but it won’t kill you.

💬 What did you put in yours? Tell me in the comments because I’m always looking for new ideas. Did it work? Did you screw it up spectacularly? I want to hear about it all!