Easy Eggplant Miso Soup with Mushrooms

This delicious eggplant miso soup is quick, easy and loaded with flavor. Made with roasted eggplant, chewy mushrooms and a savory ginger and garlic miso broth. Perfect as a healthy lunch or dinner that's super simple yet very satisfying!

With the last weeks's cold weather, all I crave are soups or cozy stews. Especially Asian-style soups with a noodley broth, such as cabbage miso soup or a kimchi ramen soup, I just cannot get enough of them.

And since I have been recently in love with eggplant, I decided to make a miso ramen noodle soup with eggplant to change things up a bit. As seen in my baked miso eggplant recipe, miso + eggplant pair SO well together, I knew this soup would be a hit!

I also love how simple and quick this vegan soup is to make, fast enough for a speedy lunch or a weeknight dinner. Can also be used as a basic everyday miso soup recipe to personalize as you wish, swapping the vegetables with what you have and adjusting flavoring ingredients to your taste.

The easy Asian savory broth is loaded with amazing flavors, thanks to the miso paste, mushrooms and ginger/garlic combo, but what is even more fun are the large soft chunks of eggplant that melt in your mouth. Eggplant really works well here and what a fun way to serve this vegetable!

As a side note, eggplant can be a little tricky to work with, especially when you need to first salt and tenderize it. But here, we skip that step all together! The eggplant will soften in the broth anyway and the mild bitterness from the veggie is easily overtaken by the flavorful broth. Very straight forward with an amazing result.

I hope you give it a try! 🧡

What's to love about this recipe

• Easy and quick with simple straight forward cooking steps
• Healthy and soup recipe that will make you feel good
• Naturally vegan, vegetarian and dairy-free
• Rich in probiotics (aka gut-friendly bacteria)
• Highly customizable

Ingredient list

• Sesame oil: optional, but I like to use a little bit when roasting the eggplant in the pot to add more nutty flavor.
• Eggplant: any kind of eggplant will work to make this soup. I used the most commonly found American eggplant because that's what was available. Feel-free to use Chinese eggplant or Japanese eggplant if you can find them, they would be amazing in this Asian soup!
• Mushrooms: I love adding mushrooms to miso soups to boost the umami flavor, but it also adds a nice chewy texture. I used shiitake mushrooms to make it, but white button or cremini mushrooms would also work well.
• Garlic and ginger: these aromatic ingredients will boost the flavor of the broth so much. Use fresh and not powdered!
• Miso paste: there are many different kinds of miso paste on the market and they will all work well to make this miso soup. I used a mellow white miso paste (shiromiso, shorter fermentation) as I love its milder and sweeter flavor. If you are a fan of miso and use it regularly, then you can also use a red miso paste (akamiso, ferments longer) for a broth that's even stronger in flavor.
• Soy sauce: I didn't use much for this recipe, just a little touch to add some saltiness and an umami boost. Feel-free to add more as you wish.
• Green onions: I love green onions for their mild onion-y taste, I think it works great with the miso and garlic in this soup.
• Vegetable broth: use your favorite brand or make your own vegetable broth from scratch. I love using concentrated vegetable broth from the brand Better than Bouillon as it is convenient and a little less expensive too.
• Ramen noodles: although optional (not shown in the picture below), I find miso soup amazing with ramen noodles. I used the vegan ramen noodles from the brand Ocean's Halo.

How to make eggplant miso soup

This soup recipe can easily be done under 30 minutes! Here is how I make it:

Roast the vegetables

Start by prepping all your veggies: clean and cube the eggplants and also slice the mushrooms and green onions. I also recommend to chop the garlic and ginger before getting started so it is ready to go. This soup goes fast, so try to have most of your ingredients all prepped before starting.

Then, warm up a small amount of sesame oil into a medium pot and add the eggplant. Stir often and roast the vegetable on medium-high heat with a little salt until slightly browned and softer (5-7 minutes).

Then, add the mushrooms, garlic, ginger and green onions, stir well and keep cooking for 3-5 more minutes.

Make the miso broth

Pour the broth and the soy sauce into the pot, stir well, cover and bring to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes until the eggplant is soft to your liking.

Add the miso paste to a small bowl or a mug and then, use a ladle to transfer a small amount of the warm both over the miso paste. Use a fork or a small whisk to dissolve the miso paste to a smooth texture.

Once the veggies look done, then pour the miso mixture in the soup and stir. You can keep cooking for a short time just to warm up everything nicely, but then remove from the heat (do not simmer the miso paste).

Serve and garnish

There are 2 ways to serve this soup with ramen:

• Boil/soften ramen noodles apart in boiling water while making the eggplant miso soup and drain, then combine broth + cooked noodles in your bowl.
• Cook/soften the ramen noodles into the miso soup. In this case, I recommend to add the miso slurry AFTER the noodles are done so you don't end up over cooking the miso paste.

I usually cook the ramen noodles apart as I like to keep the leftover broth for the next day (stores better without noodles).

To serve, transfer the soup with the noodles in a serving bowl and top with more green onions, black sesame seeds and sriracha sauce for a spicy kick.

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Watch how to make it

Helpful tips

• Aim to dice the eggplant in large bite size for best texture. The eggplant becomes softer and reduces in size after simmering in the broth, so you want to start bigger to have a satisfying texture.
• Also, do not overcook the eggplant! Once soft, then it is ready. If you simmer it for too long, the vegetable might become too mushy.
• Don't skip on dissolving the miso paste into warm broth first before adding it to the soup. This really helps break all the clumps and makes the soup smooth.
• I didn't use any seaweed to flavor this soup as I wanted it to be quick. But, if you want to make a more traditional miso soup, then feel free to first simmer some wakame dried seaweeds into the vegetable broth before adding to the pot. See my basic miso soup for more information.

Storage tips

This soup stores better without noodles, so if you expect to have leftovers, then I highly recommend to cook the ramen noodles apart and simply combine noodles + broth in bowls when serving.

Keep the leftover soup in an air-tight container for up to 3 days. The vegetables will soften even more as it rests into the broth, but will still be delicious. I do not recommend to freeze this soup.

To reheat, use the microwave or warm up the broth on the stove until warm enough.

Serving suggestion and customization ideas

I love serving this soup as a full meal, especially when combining it with ramen noodles. But, it would also make for an amazing appetizer or side dish for many Asian-style recipes such as vegan egg rolls, shiitake mushroom sushi rolls or turmeric fried rice.

I like to top my soup with more fresh green onions, sesame seeds (black ones add a nice contrast!) and also a generous drizzle of sriracha spicy sauce. If you love cilantro, then definitely garnish your bowl with some for a fresh finish.

This soup would also be great served with thin vermicelli noodles or larger udon noodles. I also love serving it with forbidden rice noodles from the brand Lotus, the dark noodles give such a nice contrast with the brothy soup.

There are also so many other ways to personalize this recipe. Here are a few ideas:

• If you don't like eggplants, then you could swap for zucchini.
• For more plant-based protein, then top your soup with some roasted tofu, edamame, peanuts or even chickpeas. Using whole wheat noodles would also help make this soup more filling.
• More vegetables to consider are broccoli, bok choy, leafy greens (spinach or kale) and carrots.

More vegan soup recipes you might like

• Vegan gnocchi creamy soup
• Simple carrot celery soup
• Zucchini potato soup
• Creamy broccoli almond soup
• Curried carrot and red lentil soup
• Gochujang vegetable soup
• Cauliflower and leek soup
• Wild rice and mushroom soup
• Squash and red pepper soup

More eggplant recipes to try

• Vegan eggplant rollatini
• Eggplant cauliflower curry
• Miso glazed eggplant

I hope you like this eggplant miso soup recipe as much as we do! If you try it, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe to let me know how it was. Your feedback is so helpful!

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