Quick soba soup is a weeknight meal packed with umami
Light and brothy soups offer a cozy reprieve from holiday feasting. This Japanese-inspired soba and mushroom soup is an easy option. You’ll need to head to a Japanese or Korean grocery store for a few of the ingredients, but they’re all shelf-stable, so you can stock up for more pantry-ready meals. .
Traditionally, soba are made entirely from tender buckwheat flour. They have a clean, nutty flavor but can be tricky to cook properly. Instead, use easier-to-find soba made with both buckwheat and wheat flour, which can be cooked to al dente before adding to your soup. These typically come in single-serving 100-gram bundles; use four bundles for four servings.
Japanese dashi is one of the simplest, quickest homemade broths to make, but it does require a few additional steps and ingredients — kombu seaweed and katsuobushi (shaved aged tuna) — than we’d want to use for a 5:30 Challenge recipe. Instead, instant dashi granules work fine. Think of instant dashi as a brinier bouillon paste, packed with umami and ready to deliver deep flavor with zero effort.
Shelf-stable silken tofu is an excellent versatile protein to keep on hand. Just like refrigerated tofu, it comes in textures ranging from soft to extra firm, but instead of being stored in water, it is sealed in an airtight box. Firm silken tofu works best for a soup like this because you can cut it into bite-sized pieces without it falling apart.
Use whatever mushrooms you’d like. Oyster mushrooms are particularly good here, but thinly sliced cremini or button mushrooms also taste great.
Mushroom Soba Soup
- 4 (100-gram) bundles soba
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil, divided, plus more for serving
- 1 pound mushrooms (any type), cleaned, stemmed and thinly sliced
- 8 cups water, plus more for cooking soba
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons instant dashi (about 3 6-gram packets)
- Salt
- 1 (10- to 12-ounce) box shelf-stable silken firm tofu, diced
- ¼ cup thinly sliced scallions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the soba and cook until mostly tender, with a little bite, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. While still in the strainer, toss with 1 tablespoon oil.
- Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven or other large pot over medium-high heat, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Add 8 cups water and instant dashi. Stir, bring to a simmer, decrease the heat to low, and season to taste with salt. Add the diced tofu and gently simmer for 5 minutes.
- Divide the noodles between 4 serving bowls. Top with the soup and scallions. Drizzle with additional sesame oil to taste. Serve immediately.
Serves 4.
Per serving: 566 calories (percent of calories from fat, 28), 24 grams protein, 83 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams total sugars, 1 gram fiber, 18 grams total fat (3 grams saturated), no cholesterol, 2,607 milligrams sodium.
