This rainy day has me thinking about soup! Last week I made soup twice – Gazpacho for Taco Tuesday – and decided on Miso Soup as a starter for Thursday night’s stir fry. Miso soup is crazy easy to make and you probably have most of the ingredients on hand:

Garlic: this recipe uses a whole head of roasted garlic. You can roast it in your oven — or you can get the same result even faster in your air fryer! I’ve included directions for both.

Vegetable stock: You probably have some hanging out in your pantry or fridge. I enjoy the earthy and slightly sweet quality that a good home-made vegetable stock yields here. I feel like it offers more flavor and a better counterpoint to the salty, umami profile of miso. If you aren’t in the habit of collecting your veggie scraps and simmering them into stock once a week – it’s an easy and inexpensive way to add to the flavor of your dishes.

Mushrooms: This is not always a staple in miso soup, but I want this to be a little hearty. Plus, mushrooms tend to take on the flavor of what they are cooked in, so they become little flavor bombs.

Green onions: You can add these as a garnish or stir them in at the end of cooking. They give a nice fresh note to the soup.

Now for what you might not have in your kitchen–

Miso: This one might NOT be next to the soy sauce in your refrigerator, but is an easy ingredient to come by at an Asian market or at Whole Foods. I use white miso in this dish. If you have one of the darker varieties, you will want to start with less than what is called for in the recipe.

Kale: again an easy item to pick up. Do you have other greens in your crisper? Those will work as well. Keep an eye on when they are wilted to your desired degree of tenderness. Spinach will wilt almost instantly, while Swiss chard might take a little longer than the kale.

I hope you enjoy my version of miso soup! Let me know how this recipe works for you in the comments.