Is Miso Soup Keto Friendly? 3 Popular Mixes vs From Scratch

Miso soup is warm, nourishing and remarkably flavorful for how simple it is. But is miso soup keto friendly?

The answer is a bit complicated!

There are tons of brands of miso soup mix and what’s in them can vary wildly. And, if you make miso soup from scratch, the nutrition of the ingredients varies by brand as well.

Read on to find out if miso soup is a good keto soup option.

Miso Soup Packets

If you order miso soup at any (respectable) Japanese restaurant, you know that scratch-made miso soup has a very nuanced flavor due to the complex dashi broth.

However, if you’re having miso soup at home, chances are you’ll reach for miso soup mix packets. So, let’s start by going over miso soup ingredients from some popular mix packets.

Kikkoman (4g net carbs)

• Ingredients: Powdered White Miso (Soybean, Rice, Salt), Dehydrated Seaweed, Wheat Gluten, Modified Food Starch, Powdered Bonito, Monosodium Glutamate, Dehydrated Green Onions, Powdered Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Succinic Acid.

Marukome (2g net carbs)

• Ingredients: Powdered miso (soybeans [non-genetically modified], rice, salt), dextrin, dried tofu (soybeans [non-genetically modified]), dried wakame seaweed, dried green onion, powdered yeast extract, bonito powder.

Miyasaka (2g net carbs)

• Ingredients: Dried Fermented Soybean Paste (soybeans, rice, salt) Dried Green Onion, Dried Tofu (soybeans, calcium sulfate, corn starch, trehalose) Fried Bean Curd (Soybeans, Vegetable Oil, Magnesium Chloride, Vitamin E), Bonito Extract, Dried Seaweed, Monosodium Glutamate, Salt, Corn Starch, Bonito Powder, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Vitamin E.

Analysis

Miso soup is a very salt-forward soup, so you generally don’t run into issues with excessive sugar with any brand. It’s not surprising that all of the above packets don’t contain any added sugar.

So, where do the carbs in miso soup mix come from then? The starches and fillers that give the miso soup it’s grainier consistency. The main contributor to the carbs is generally modified food starch. 

What exactly is modified food starch? It’s starch, usually from corn or wheat that has been modified to make the starch more resistant to digestion, thus lowering its glycemic index. However, it’s such a generic term that you can’t guarantee how resistant a certain manufacturer’s food starch will be. As such, we treat modified food starch as a fully-digestible carb (i.e., counted toward net carbs) to be safe.

And note, these packets generally have a lot of additives like MSG. The cleanest one out of the bunch is the Marukome at 2g net carbs, with real food ingredients plus dextrin (fiber, usually from corn).

Tip: For an organic miso soup packet option, try Edward & Son’s Miso Soup packets, which do not contain MSG. Plus, the ingredients are organic/non-GMO and don’t have a bunch of additives.

Is miso soup keto friendly if you make your own?

We use Rasa Malaysia’s miso soup recipe, which is similar to pretty much every recipe out there, so it is a good reflection of what you’d find at a restaurant. Let’s break down the ingredients of this simple, authentic recipe to see if it is keto friendly.

• Kombu (dried kelp) and bonito flakes
  • These ingredients are steeped in hot water to extract the flavor, so they don’t contribute much caloric value.
• Scallions (negligible).
• Dried Seaweed (Wakame)
  • This brand is about 0.75g net carb per sheet. Just add a sheet cut/shredded into your soup. You can add more if desired.
• Soft Silken Tofu
  • We use Mori-Nu Soft Silken Tofu and it is 0g net carbs. Soy is naturally very low carb, but there are some tofu carbs to account for.
• White Miso Paste
  • The white miso paste we use is Hikari Organic White Miso Paste. This is where the majority of the carbs come from because miso pastes generally contain soybeans and some sort of grain, such as wheat or rice. In this case, it’s 3g net carbs per serving (2g of which is sugar from the soybeans). The recipe calls for 4 servings, which means there’s a total of 12g net carbs.
  • Another option is Roland White Miso Paste, which comes out to 8g net carbs total in the recipe, or 1.5g net carbs per serving in the finished product.

As you can see, miso soup carbs basically all come from the miso paste in both the packets and scratch-made versions of miso soup. However, most of the flavor also comes from the miso paste, so we don’t recommend skimping on the amount of miso paste that you use (otherwise, what’s the point?).

Note, though, that the above recipe makes 6 servings, which comes out to only 2-3g net carbs or less per serving, which is in a very keto friendly range.

So, what’s the verdict? Is miso soup keto friendly?

Yes.

The per-serving net carbs of miso soup are generally between about 1g-4g net carbs depending on the kind you have. Packets are much more convenient, but may have “dirtier” ingredients and a couple more carbs. On the other hand, you can control the quality and freshness of the ingredients if you make miso soup yourself.

And, lastly, if you’re at a restaurant, you will be pretty safe ordering miso soup on keto. It’s yet another great keto option to order when eating out!

PS– if you’re looking for a warm Japanese-inspired beverage, check out our Keto Matcha Green Tea Latte recipe!