🔑 Quick Answer: Miso chicken noodle soup is a Japanese-inspired spin on the classic: chicken simmered in a ginger-garlic broth, shredded, and finished with yellow miso, baby bok choy, and soba noodles. The miso goes in off the boil at the very end, which keeps it silky and gives the broth savory depth that plain chicken soup never reaches.
Trust us: you need some of this Miso Chicken Noodle Soup. Why? Every year it seems to happen overnight: everyone is fine, and then the group chat is nothing but soup requests and cold medicine recommendations.
I first worked out this recipe during my recipe-development years, when I wanted a chicken noodle soup that did not taste like a consolation prize. The fix turned out to be simple. Simmer the broth with ginger and garlic, then whisk in yellow miso at the end so it stays silky and packs that savory depth. It has been my winter staple ever since.
Why Trust Us
I am a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef, recipe developer, cookbook author, and Food Network personality, and I have developed and tested recipes professionally for nearly two decades. This soup came out of that work: I have made it every winter since I first developed it, tweaking the miso-to-broth ratio until it landed here. At Salt & Wind Travel we plan food-focused trips for a living, so a recipe only makes this site when it is one we cook on repeat at home.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
You probably already know that chicken noodle soup is seriously healthy for you (especially when you make it with a homemade broth), but let’s be real: it can be so blah and boring. Enter this miso chicken noodle soup that is super simple to make but provides a welcome change of pace.
Miso Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe Ingredients
Here is what each ingredient brings to the pot, because a couple of these do more work than you would guess:
- Yellow miso is the whole point of this soup: it brings salty, savory depth at the end, so hold back on salt while you cook. White miso works if you want it milder.
- Bone-in chicken breast or thighs simmer in the broth and enrich it as they cook. Thighs stay juicier if you tend to wander off from the stove.
- Dried soba noodles bring a nutty chew that suits the miso. Rice noodles make the whole thing gluten-free.
- Shiitake mushrooms add an earthy, umami layer that canned-soup versions can only dream about. Cremini work in a pinch.
- Leeks and scallions build the sweet allium base; save the dark scallion greens for serving.
- Fresh ginger and garlic perfume the broth while the chicken simmers.
- Low-sodium broth and low-sodium soy sauce matter because the miso brings plenty of salt on its own.
- Baby bok choy wilts in the last few minutes; broccoli, collard greens, or kale all swap in.
How To Make This
Here’s how to make this miso chicken noodle soup:
- Make The Soup Base: Cook the leeks, mushrooms, and scallions in oil until soft, then add the broth.
- Simmer The Chicken: Add the chicken, ginger, and garlic and simmer.
- Cook The Noodles: Meanwhile, cook the noodles as needed.
- Shred The Chicken: Shred the cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces, then add to the soup.
- Serve The Soup: whisk in miso paste, soy sauce, and bok choy and cook briefly, then serve topped with the remaining scallions and the cooked soba noodles.
Tips To Make This Recipe
One of the reasons we adore this soup is that it checks the boxes on all things soup because it’s salty, hearty, filling, and nutritious.
After you add the chicken, it may create a foam on top of the soup. To avoid this, you could cook the chicken in a separate pot (we’d suggest you add onions, garlic, ginger, and peppercorns to the water or broth if you go that route). Otherwise, you can simply skim the surface of the soup once the chicken is cooked.
Of course, it is a perfect way to use excess ingredients, so you could make this anytime you have a lot of shredded chicken (or turkey from Thanksgiving!) lying around.
FYI, you don’t want to add too much salt while cooking because the miso will add a blast of salt at the end. Speaking of miso, make sure you don’t let it boil, or it will separate. Instead, whisk in the miso and only simmer the soup from that point forward.
Variations On This Recipe
Here are a few variations we make to this soup on the regular:
- Use rice or rice noodles instead of soba to make it 100% gluten-free
- Add in tofu instead or in addition to the chicken
- Add carrots for more veggies
- Swap broccoli, collard greens, or kale for the bok choy
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, with one caveat. Store the soup and the cooked soba separately, then combine in the bowl when you reheat. The soup keeps for three days in the fridge. Reheat gently and do not let it boil, or the miso will separate.
The soup boiled after you added the miso. Miso is a live, fermented paste, and hard boiling breaks it. Whisk it in off the heat or at a bare simmer and keep it there.
Rice noodles, ramen, or udon all work. Whatever you choose, cook the noodles in a separate pot and add them to each bowl, not the soup pot, so leftovers do not turn to mush.
Other Soup Recipes To Try
Here are a few of our other favorite soups to try:
Miso Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons canola, grapeseed, or peanut oil
- 4 medium leeks light green parts halved and thinly sliced
- 8 ounces shitake mushrooms stemmed and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
- 1 bunch scallions white and light green parts thinly sliced, divided
- 12 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 1/2 pounds bone-in chicken breast or thigh pieces
- 2 inches peeled ginger sliced into coins
- 8 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 8 ounces dried soba noodles
- 1/2 cup light yellow miso
- 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 pound baby bok choy (about 3) sliced into 1-inch thick pieces, ends discarded
Instructions
- Make The Chicken Miso Soup Base: Heat oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the leeks, season with salt, and cook until translucent. Add the mushrooms and the white pieces of green onions and cook until begins to soften about 5 minutes. Add chicken broth or vegetable broth and water and bring to a boil.
- Simmer The Chicken: Add the chicken, the ginger, and the garlic then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the chicken is cooked for about 30 minutes. Remove to a plate until cool enough to handle. If the foam has formed on the soup, continue to let it boil and skim it off. This isn't essential but helps make the soup cleaner in flavor.
- Cook The Soba Noodles: Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add the soba noodles and cook until just tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Shred The Chicken: Remove the skin from the chicken, shred the chicken meat into bite-sized pieces, and discard the bones. Meanwhile, whisk in the miso paste, soy sauce, and bok choy into the broth and keep at a low simmer.
- Serve The Soup: Add the shredded chicken to the soup. Taste, adjust seasoning as desired, and stir in the dark green parts of the green onions.Using tongs, divide the soba noodles evenly among warmed bowls and then ladle in the soup. Serve immediately.
