I’m a huge soup fan. Chunky, smooth, creamy, or noodle-y, come wintertime, I want all the soups, all the time. Thankfully, not all soups take hours to make. This corn soup, thickened with a bit of tofu and seasoned with sweet and mellow white miso, is a fast favorite once the temperature starts to dip.
my superpowerful, tiny vitamix s30. i love this guy!
I love this soup mostly because of the pairing between sweet corn and miso, but also because of the textural contrast added by the crunchy tofu, and, of course, the tofu itself! Oh, how I love tofu in soup.
It’s one of my favorite tricks, using tofu to thicken soup. Silken tofu adds body and creaminess without cream. It’s funny because I’m not remotely vegetarian or vegan, but after the fact, I figured out this soup was a bunch of those catchphrase foods trends that are so hot right now: vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free.
Mike: That was pretty tasty.
Me: Right!? And so easy! Only corn, onions, tofu and miso!
Mike: Wait – what? I ate vegan food and liked it?!
Me: Huh, it is vegan. Funny!
I may not be on the up and up with healthy food trends, but I do love something that seems to be quite popular in the kitchen: blenders. I use mine mainly for soups, dressings, and smoothies. My tiny (compared to the behemoths that are the regular Vitamixes) S30 personal-sized Vitamix is perfect for making soup for two. It’s super powerful and even heats soups up while you blend. It’s truly one of my favorite kitchen appliances and in the spirit of the holiday season I’m giving one away!
Miso Corn Soup Recipe
serves 2-3Soup
- oil
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 2 cups corn (I used frozen corn)
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 1/4 package silken tofu, about 1/4 – 1/3 cup
- 1 1/2 tablespoon white miso paste, or to taste
- freshly ground pepper, to taste
Crispy Tofu Croutons
- tofu, as needed
- oil, preferably safflower, sunflower, or grapeseed
- salt, if desired
Garnish
- sliced green onions
- crispy tofu croutons (recipe below)
- flaky sea salt
- red pepper flakes
In a skillet, heat up a small bit of oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté, stirring, until soft and translucent. Add the corn and warm through briefly. Remove the onion and corn from the heat and place in a blender with the chicken broth, tofu, and miso paste. Blend until smooth and hot if using a Vitamix. Taste and adjust the thickness of your soup based on preference. If you like a thicker soup, add more tofu, if you like a thin soup, use some broth to thin it out. If needed, return the soup from the blender to the skillet and heat up until steaming.
Make the tofu croutons: Cut the remaining tofu up into 2 cm cubes. Set on paper towels, flipping so all sides drain. In a skillet, heat up a generous amount of oil over medium high heat. Fry the tofu, flipping as needed, until golden brown and crisp, 5-7 minutes. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels and season with salt, if needed.
Taste and adjust seasoning with miso and freshly ground pepper. Serve hot with sliced green onions, crispy tofu, sea salt and red pepper flakes. Enjoy!
WIN ME!!!
Giveaway: I paired up with Vitamix to give away one Vitamix S30! I absolutely love mine and know you will love yours too!
Enter: To enter, leave a comment below with your favorite soup memory. I want to hear ALL the details! I’ll randomly choose a winner and contact them by email. Open to Canadian and US Residents only. (Sorry international friends!) Contest ends December 20th at 12AM PST. Good luck!
Update: Congrats Jenna @ Just J.Faye, you’ve won yourself a brand new Vitamix! Happy Christmas! Keep an eye out for an email from me!
holy crappp this giveaway!! my favorite soup memory is the huuuge pots of chili i would make during college and subsist on for days at a time! when i was too busy and poor for anything else :) haha
Ahhhh! I love soup!! Though I love all kinds, my fondest soup memory is visiting my mom’s office in downtown Denver on chilly winter days and eating lunch at a Chinese restaurant around the corner. From that, I’ll always love egg drop soup.
I studied abroad in Bangkok my senior year of college and it was by far the best semester of college. I fell in love with all Thai street food, naturally, along with the country and its people. One of my favorite dishes was tom kha gai, a coconut milk based soup with chicken (usually), along with galangal, kafir lime leaves, and chiles (of course!), and a million other delicious Thai spices. Sometimes I have dreams about eating tom kha gai at my favorite little stall, tiny plastic chairs and all.
my mom makes matzo ball soup for the Jewish holidays and it’s an all day affair that I wouldn’t give up for anything. such s tradition and so so delicious
yum I can’t wait to make the creamy corn soup! I love all kinds of soup! my favourite recent soup memory is that after three years of searching we finally found a delicious vietnamese restaurant in Montreal! they make an amazingly delicious, perfectly balanced broth that reminds us of our favourite pho joint in Vancouver.
My favourite soup memory was when I was younger – growing up in a chinese household, you had to have soup with dinner. and it was always this gross herbal soup that was slightly bitter. I didnt really love it at all but forced myself to drink it every night. It got to the point where I got used to the flavours (it really did take awhile). But now it’s something that I miss having moved to the states. I love ordering soups in chinese restaurants – and not the hot and sour, egg drop type soup, but the ones with a deep fish broth flavour to it. Mmm. I miss home made soups.
my favorite soup memory is coming home after my first semester of college.
that night, my mom made a traditional noodle soup where the broth is made of anchovies, kelp, chunks of radish, and shitake mushrooms.
all you need is a side of kimchi and it’s heaven in a bowl!
i remember taking the first gulp of the soup and tears almost started to come out!
(it was a long semester of crummy dining hall food :) )
It’s actually not a single memory, but one I have pretty much every year. After Thanksgiving, my mom uses the carcass, leftover meat, and leftover rice to make the most amazing turkey soup. I think my family looks forward to the soup more than the bird on Turkey Day.
I love making vegetable chili wit my mother. I remember going to he market to get the veggies and washing and cutting them all up together. So good!
I had never cared for soup because I always thought it pretended to be a meal, but was really just a beverage. But then I had (coincidentally) a cold, creamy corn soup with a drizzle of cayenne pepper oil at a local restaurant. The contrast of that hot oil with the cold, smooth corny soup was dreamy. Every sip seemed better than the last and seemed to encompass all taste sensations, sweet, salt, hot, cold. I can’t wait to try this corn miso soup recipe now!