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!
Ooh, I’d love a Vitamix! I hear such great things.
My favorite soup memory is my mom’s jook (Chinese rice porridge). It’s our traditional day-after-Thanksgiving meal, using the leftover turkey carcass. My parents don’t live near us anymore, so my husband and I hosted our own tiny Thanksgiving, and I made the jook. I did it more because it’s tradition than anything else, but the very first bite tasted like home.
My fav soup memories are learning how to make chicken noodle from scratch with my Nana..she is a doll, and must have taught me the same recipe 50+ times. I’d pretend to forget just to hear her talk.
Oh man, I remember the first time I had regular miso soup. I had spent the morning and better part of the afternoon freezing my butt off snowboarding in less than ideal conditions. I was cold to the core. On the way home we stopped to get food at this hole in the wall place and I ordered miso soup which I had never had before (after confirming with the server that it was, indeed, served piping hot). I could feel the first sip go all the way down and start to warm me up from the inside. I was sold on it immediately and it’s now my go to soup in the winter (or when I’m feeling sick).
It isn’t my favorite soup, but it is my favorite soup memory: My grandfather routinely makes oyster stew for Christmas Eve and I always enjoyed it but my favorite part was the grossed out look on my little siblings face. They were terrified of the idea of oysters.
Sometimes I accidentally cook vegan, too, and then chuckle a little :) Vegan or not, this soup sounds wonderful! Corn and miso, yum yum. One of my favorite soup experiences of the recent past was making my own egg drop soup. It’s silly that I never realized how simple it is to make, and it’s one of my favorite things to eat! For me, it’s easily made vegetarian, and I love garnishes…. corn, water chestnuts, hot sauce. A tasty, healthy bowl for sure!
my mom makes an amazing corn chowder with admittedly some campbell’s thrown in… now every time i have corn chowder it tastes like home!
Nothing will ever beat my mom’s Thai chicken soup with macaroni. I get waves of nostalgia every time with the first spoonful I taste! It is so simple with carrots, shredded chicken, corn, celery and celery tops in a mildly spiced lemongrass chicken broth. MMMmmm YUMMY! How soup just warms the soul is like nothing else really!
My favorite memory is making Broccoli Cheese Soup with my parents growing up. I was in charge of grating the cheese! The best is in a bread bowl too!
My mom would make us the most unusual Chinese soup – pork meatballs and cucumber in a clear broth. The pale meatballs were made in a slight Vienna sausage/football shape and the cucumber chopped in long chunks. She has a way with cooking everything just right – the meatballs were tender and savory while the cucumber was past crunchy but not yet to soft. She added a few tendrils of egg flower, just enough to get a few bits. It was the most amazing soup and to date, I don’t know of anyone else who makes this soup. When she made it, I couldn’t control myself and would finish an entire bowl, fill the bowl with rice and then have a second bowl of rice in soup. So delicious!
Tomato soup and grilled cheese as a kid, with a big dollop of sour cream. Nothin beats the classic.