Spring Chicken Miso Soup

Spring Chicken Miso Soup
Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui.
Total Time
1 hour
Rating
5(1,288)
Notes
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Soup is welcome all year round, but it goes without saying a springtime soup veers lighter, even if the weather is still cool. Fresh green vegetables, like young leeks, peas and spinach, should play a major role. This delicate yet flavorful soup re-works the comforting chicken-noodle concept with a Japanese-inspired ingredient list.

Featured in: A Spring Chicken Soup With Miso

Learn: How to Make Soup

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Ingredients

Yield:6 servings
  • pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2garlic cloves, minced
  • 2teaspoons grated ginger
  • 1tablespoon mirin or sherry
  • 1tablespoon sugar
  • 1tablespoon tamari or light soy sauce
  • 8ounces soba (buckwheat noodles)
  • 8ounces sugar snap peas or snow peas, trimmed
  • 8cups water
  • 2medium leeks, white and tender green part, diced, about 2 cups
  • ¼cup white miso, or more to taste
  • 5ounces baby spinach, about 4 cups
  • A few basil or shiso leaves, julienned
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

387 calories; 11 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 43 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 32 grams protein; 1358 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Season chicken thighs on all sides with salt and pepper. Put oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium high heat. Add thighs and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, reducing heat to keep meat from browning. Turn and cook other side for about 2 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Add garlic and ginger and let sizzle without browning. Add mirin, sugar, tamari and 8 cups water, then bring mixture to boil. Lower heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Turn off heat. Remove thighs and chop into ½-inch chunks, then return meat to pot. Taste broth and adjust salt if necessary.

  3. Step 3

    In a separate pot, cook buckwheat noodles according to package directions, being careful not to overcook. Drain noodles and refresh with cool water, then leave at room temperature.

  4. Step 4

    Bring a small pot of salted water to boil. Add snap peas and leeks and simmer 1 minute, then drain and refresh with cool water. Leave at room temperature.

  5. Step 5

    To serve, reheat broth to just under a boil. Dilute miso with a little hot broth and whisk into soup. Add spinach and let wilt slightly, then add leeks and snap peas and let them warm for 1 minute. Divide the noodles among 6 warmed bowls and ladle soup over. Top each bowl with a little basil.

Ratings

5 out of 5
1,288 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Pork is good too either ground or for stew. Also, if you want to have leftovers don't add the vegetables to the soup but pour the soup over the noodles and vegetables; otherwise they'll get soggy.

A delicious, light soup. Shiitake mushrooms would make a nice addition.

This is incredible! I've made it several times and it's best when I increase the veggies. It's by far better with soba noodles than with rice noodles.

This was lovely and a keeper. Used two packages of thighs, so probably closer to two pounds and was not too much. Otherwise followed recipe exactly although maybe more like a tablespoon of ginger and for our tastes would use more next time, but that is just how we like it. Storing peas and leeks, broth and noodles separate for two more meals. There are only two of us.

After reading the other reviews, I decided to make the soup with chicken stock instead of water and bone in chicken instead of boneless. It came out delicious!! Added some mushrooms too as suggested by others.

I used this as a starting point for a delicious soup on Friday night. I made changes so this came together faster and only used 1 pot and it worked out very well! I used chicken breasts, which I saute'd with the leeks, garlic and ginger before adding chicken broth thinned out with some water (1 box of chicken broth plus around 4 cups of water). I simply cooked the noodles in the soup and they turned out just fine. I added some tofu to make it go further, as well as some mushrooms. Great!

Great recipe! Largely because you can take it down so many different routes. I quite enjoyed adding finely sliced scallions, udon noodles instead of buckwheat, sesame seeds, hot sauce of your choice and some lime drizzled over the top as well as some cilantro. You'll enjoy this one!

Really excellent, easy, quick, and very adaptable to whatever ingredients you have on hand. I used yellow miso instead of white, and Vidalia onions instead of leeks. I left out the basil or shiso (I hate shiso!), and used only about 2 cups of baby spinach. I used about 2 tablespoons of grated ginger, because I can't have too much ginger.

Good and mild in flavor. Can always add more ginger and garlic to taste.
Was really good with a splash of lime juice before serving.

I have to say that this is one of the most delicious soups ever. Clean tasting, yet satisfying and nourishing. I used half water and half chicken stock because I needed to use up some leftover stick. I think it would have been a little bland with just water (as others have noted). Also, Used bone-in skin off thighs. Doubled the miso paste. Left out the soba. Next time might add some shrooms too. But it’s really Fabulous as is. Will make again and again.

I liked this a lot. In fact, I was tempted to have another bowl just before bed. I cheated a bit and saved time by using leftover rotisserie chicken, blanching the snap peas in the same water as the noodles and adding two cups of chicken stock. That made it a quick weeknight dinner. If you have leftovers, it's a good idea to keep the noodles separate from the soup until serving time.

Made this without the chicken, but using chicken stock. Added extra veggies: green beans, carrot, potato slices, peas, birdseye chilli and kale. Used 3 big garlic cloves and about a tbsp of ginger, rice wine vinegar and a little sugar instead of mirin/sherry as I didn't have any, and about 1tbsp of miso.

Grate both the garlic and ginger. Cook the noodles while the broth simmers. Cook the leeks and snap peas directly in the broth, right before you add the spinach (and though the soup is wonderful with the leeks, you could skip them and add sliced scallions to the final bowls.

It was a nice chicken soup, but surprisingly bland. I made it exactly as directed. After I tasted it, I added another 1/4 cup of miso and it still was really just like a mild chicken stock with nice veggies and chicken. If I made it again I would double the ginger/garlic/mirin and miso. Even then I think it will still be a fairly "gentle" soup. Good for soothing the throat when getting over a cold.

I was eager to try this hearty but fresh spring soup for days and it did not disappoint! The only change I made, was that I used chicken thighs with the bones and skin to ensure maximum flavor and produce a silkier texture in the broth. When it was time to remove the thigh meat and chop it up, I simply removed the skin and the meat shredded easily off the bone. This is definitely making it into my rotation!

This soup is very light and nice for spring, but I prefer a more flavorful broth.

excellent as written. used wild ramps instead of leeks and nettles instead of spinach. Thank you David Tanis

Made with 3 chicken breasts and doubled recipe. Would do 4x next time (5 chicken breasts). Extra garlic and ginger. Used chicken broth instead of water. Added shiitake mushrooms (would maybe use 3 packages for the 4x recipe). Used ramen noodles. Would maybe do half the sugar.

Really really delicious!!! Careful with the sugar/mirin though. I added about 3/4 of recipe and that was a bit too sweet actually.

This was excellent, my new go-to chicken soup recipe.

Lovely!

Add sambal oelek and fish sauce

Made it as is and it was delicious!!

Loved this. Doubled (or maybe tripled?) the ginger and garlic, added onion and carrot, used dashi instead of water or broth, and added a little fish sauce. Used whatever veg was around to top it off; the recipe is so great because it can flex so many ways depending what’s on hand. Perfect on a cold day or when you’re feeling off. It’s currently curing my hangover.

Just made this and it’s delicious! I used 4 cups of chicken broth instead of water. Added shiitake mushrooms at the suggestion of another and blanched the mushrooms and leeks in the soup vs separately. Just before we were ready to eat, I separated enough of the soup for me and my husband, then cooked udon noodles directly in the soup, then added some peas and spinach.

Used chicken stock instead of water. Added finely chopped carrot for color.

Great recipe. I made this on a day my husband and I both had dental procedures and I anticipated needed a "soft" dinner. For the 2 of us I made the entire recipe except I cooked only 3 oz of soba noodles. I was generous with the miso and decided to add a little more mirin at the end (oh, I hadn't used any sugar). Leftover soup was even better the next day. Next time I'll add some frozen peas too. Loved it!

I don't think it needs the sugar.

Rice vinegar plus pinch of sugar worked in place of mirin

Followed recipe exactly. Perfect. Haven’t had soup like this since moving to the suburbs. So happy to have this recipe

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