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.
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!
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!
My favorite soup is 16 bean soup. It’s definitely not the prettiest soup but it reminds me of home. My mom always made it after the Christmas holidays with the leftover ham bone and it was THE most comforting soup in the cold dreary January month.
Homemade tomato soup – i’ll make a huge batch and freeze it – i hate leaving work during the winter and it being dark out – so it’s so nice to come home and pull out tomato soup to quickly heat for dinner…. bonus, if i have a grilled cheese. It’s a nice way to combat dark and dreary winter nights.
Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches! Thanks for the giveaway.
My new favorite soup memory:
My boyfriend, who is not nearly as soup-crazy as I am, recently said, “I really, really, want some soup. All I can think about is eating soup! What is wrong with me? Am I turning into you?!”
I just laughed at him. And then I made him soup.
The only soup I would eat as a kid was canned chicken noodle soup, but only the one with the star noodles!
My favorite soup memory is definitely my dad making Udon. Having lived in Japan for two years, him and my mom get nostalgic and make the food they ate in Kyoto. It’s the perfect food for making a cold feel somewhat better, distracting from a bad day at school, or just making dinner more cozy in the cold weather.
My favorite soup is Thanksgiving turkey leftovers with veggies and the fresh turkey broth. I can get chickens all year and their soup is also good, but my area farms only raise turkeys for Thanksgiving so I wait all year for it.
The fondest memory of soup for me was when I got really sick right smack in the middle of winter in 2003 in London. I had been in bed all day hoping to ‘sweat out’ the fever and only managed to wake up at 2am looking for food. My bf at the time isn’t really kitchen- savvy, so when I cried out for my mum and soup, he quickly scoured the pantry to look for alternatives. He offered to cook me instant noodles, but I was being a baby and demanded soup. He ended up creating one of the most comforting soups I can remember. It was a mix of V8 tomato juice, canned baked beans, chopped celery and snacking carrots, some dried Italian mix herbs thrown in together. He called it his very own minestrone!
I fondly remember a winter night when I invited 10 friends over for peanut soup” It sure warmed us up! Yum
I’ve been reading your blog for months and only now getting up courage to leave a comment. Anyways, I love your blog! One of my favorites is your pulled pork- so simple and yet the best pulled pork ever! Ah, but you asked about soup. Used to love anything Campbells and out of a can. (Ugh, gross!) I have happy memories of opening up those cans though!