Here’s a soup for those times when you want something light in calories but filling and nutritious and quick. You wouldn’t think that such a simple soup could taste so delicious, but superfoods are “super” in more ways than one!
I’ve called this “Superfoods Soup” because it contains 4 of the 6 foods that Dr. Joel Fuhrman calls “the most nutrient-dense, health-promoting foods on the planet”: Greens, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, Beans, and Seeds–GBOMBS for short. I managed to pack in bok choy, mushrooms, tofu, onions, and garlic–all for under 100 calories. (If I could have figured out a tasty way to add berries I would have. You’ll just have to eat it with a dessert of berries topped with flax seeds!)
Check out Dr. Fuhrman’s article for all the reasons why you should be eating your GOMBBS and why women, especially, should eat at least one mushroom a day.
If you’re in the mood for more super-light dishes, check out my new list called Under 200–main dishes that are under 200 calories per serving. I’m slowly going back through all my recipes and adding the ones that fit to this list, but if you spot a super-light recipe that’s not on it, drop me a comment and I’ll add it.
Superfoods Soup
Ingredients
- 4-5 cups water
- 3 baby bok choy -about 9 ounces or 250g-trimmed and sliced
- 3 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 3-6 ounces organic silken tofu cubed (see substitutes below)
- 1 small onion halved and sliced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon Korean powdered pepper or red pepper flakes to taste
- freshly-ground black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon mellow white miso add more to taste
Instructions
- Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add all ingredients except miso, reduce heat, and cover. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Remove a few tablespoons of the broth and place it in a small bowl; add the miso and stir until well combined. Remove the soup from the heat and stir in the miso. Serve.
Recipe Notes
Instead of tofu, try using 1/2 cup of shelled edamame, frozen green peas, or any cooked beans.
Korean hot pepper flakes are a little milder than regular red pepper flakes, so if you use the regular kind, add them carefully to taste.
If using 6 oz. tofu, add 23 calories and .8 gram of fat.
P.S.
Those of you who use My Fitness Pal to keep track of your daily nutrition may be happy to hear that many recipes from Fatfree Vegan are already in the database. Just do a search for “Fatfree Vegan” and you’ll see a list of every recipe that’s been indexed. If the one you want isn’t there, it’s very easy to add it–go to “My Foods” and click “Create Food” and follow the prompts. To make it easy to find FFV recipes, please enter “Fatfree Vegan Kitchen” as the brand and the title of the recipe in the food description.
Enjoy!
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janet @ the taste space
Nice! I like it when whole foods are highlighted as superfoods – not just the Amazonian berries. I have seen some soup recipes with goji berries which has me very curious, though. 🙂
jojo
I’m just starting to venture out and trying tofu. I’ve been a little hesitant to pick some up because there are so many different varieties; however, I don’t recall seeing one called silken tofu. Could it be shown differently on the packaging?
Cheryl
@Jojo I had that same problem when I first went vegan. Silken tofu isn’t in the refrigerated case with other tofu, it is in one of those shelf stable boxes on an aisle. Hope this helps!
Diane
Actually, sometimes it IS in the refrigerated case. I didn’t realize Mori-Nu silken tofu was shelf stable for months after I went vegan because my grocery store keeps it in the refrigerator case with the rest of the tofu. They keep the shelf-stable plant milks in the refrigerator case with the Silk milks and the dairy milk, too.
Katie
Sometimes the shelf-stable tofu is in the Asian section of the grocery store.
orthohawk
The best way to start out with tofu (IMNSHO) is with firm or extra firm and then freeze it. When you thaw it out and press all the water out, it’s got a texture that isn’t as “gooshy” as non-frozen tofu tends to have. I use it in stir fries.
Laura @ Gluten Free Pantry
This soup looks so nourishing. I need to try that Korean powdered pepper-never even heard of it!
Helyn @ Helyn's Healthy Kitchen
Great looking recipe, Susan! Hey, I’ve been to your site a few times but didn’t know you were a nutritarian! Cool! Dr. Fuhrman is my health hero. 🙂
patti
FYI- checked out your recipe for superfoods soup, then saw you had non-soy options, but your first option for substitution was edemame- I hope that you are aware that edemame is soy!
Susan Voisin
Yes, of course I am aware. The non-soy options are the peas and other beans.
moonwatcher
Hi Susan,
What a beautiful, simple, healthy soup! I will definitely make a version of this. I have long been singing the amazing benefits of mushrooms in my diet, so I was glad to see you give them a shout out. I look forward to checking out that link. And also to mushroom season, which is coming soon!
xo
moonwatcher
Susan Voisin
Thanks, Moonwatcher! Wow, I never stopped to think that there must be a mushroom season! Mine seem to pop up at random, when they come at all. I’ve had the hardest time lately getting my mushroom logs to do anything at all. Do you just find them wild or do you cultivate them, too?
moonwatcher
Hi Susan,
I’d like to learn to cultivate. That is on my list of “to do.” I find them “wild” all around the neighborhood, in particular walking along the creek trail. Most are versions of agaricus campestris, which is a meadow mushroom, and a few are under the pines and are “meadow’s edge.” A couple of times I’ve found shaggy manes and lepiodas. I have a neighbor who taught me the basics (you do have to know what you’re doing), and then I poured over guides. Once you get the hang of it it’s like going on an Easter egg hunt after every rain! I never know what I’m going to find, but all through late Spring and parts of Summer and even into Fall sometimes I am lucky. Last year I dried four gallon jars full. And they all gone but a handful! Pretty soon I hope to be taking my mushroom basket with me when Romeo and I go on our walk “just in case.”
xo
moonwatcher
stephanie
Susan, you may need to buy more spores. Or, if you have the self control (I never do…) leave a few ‘shrooms on there til they get kinda slimy under the cap and drop their spores onto the log (you can also smear it on yourself) to make babies. : ) We only get mushrooms in the spring and fall in my climate and I usually have to buy spores in the fall because the summer heat often kills the dormant spores on the log. It’s so humid in Louisiana you wouldn’t have to buy them often.
Ikigaigirl
This is almost the same as the soup I ‘invented’ in a rush to work one day. I grabbed a container and threw in some bok choy, a carrot, spring onion, slice of tofu and some dried shiitake, and put a teaspoon of barley miso in a tiny container. Then come lunch time first I soaked the mushrooms, thinly sliced everything and poured boiled water over all. Quick, crunchy soup! The envy of the lunchroom 🙂
Kathy
I want to thank you for all the lovely recipes and information you share on your Blog, I just found you very recently and I am so glad I did! Your site is fabulous, thank you for your generousity and wisdom that you so freely share. You are such a blessing. Thank you.
J T Rose
Do you have a cookbook?
Susan Voisin
No, this blog is my only cookbook. 🙂
laloofah
I love a soup like this, so into the recipe stash it goes.
Dr. Greger has some more detailed info about mushrooms vs. breast cancer, starting here. I love mushrooms, and any vegan recipe containing them gets my immediate attention! 🙂
I don’t suppose adding wheat berries would count as a berry addition? 😉
Susan Voisin
Probably not, but it would be berry tasty! 😉
Tara
So you learn something new every day: I never knew that onions would be considered a “super food”. I love the clear onion broth they serve at my fave Japanese restaurant. This soup looks much heartier!
Nicole
This looks awesome, except I do not like miso. What would you recommend as a substitute?
Susan Voisin
How about soy sauce?
Nicole
That could work. Or perhaps some Braggs? Thanks Susan!
Susan Voisin
If you like Bragg’s, go for it. I never use it because its higher in sodium than my soy sauce and I dislike the flavor.
Michelle R
Susan, I just found your site, the soup recipe looks excellent, I am a big fan of bok choy and mushrooms. I am getting ready to check out more of your recipe’s, but first, I am curious, which brand of soy sauce you use?
Susan Voisin
Michelle, sometime I buy gluten-free soy sauce, but generally I use regular old Kikkoman and just try not to use too much of it.
Rachel Cotterill
This looks perfect, I love light asian-style soups 🙂
Louise
I have been preparing and eating a soup lately very similar to this and I love it! Very satisfying. I alternate the light miso with the dark when I make it to vary it a bit. I also periodically throw in a bit of cooked millet, rice, quinoa, or even cubed pre-cooked potatoes to make it a bit heartier.
Cadry
Ooh, this sounds so light, delicious, and healthy! Nice!
Shani_Boc
This was sooooooooo good! Eating it again for lunch today. I added more miso, some salt, and edamame (along with the bok choy and tofu). Perfect!
Lissa
You can never go wrong with a miso-kissed soup. This sounds like a great one for winter – apt timing, it is starting to get colder in my neck of the woods!
Christine @ Gotta Eat Green
Yumm! I have been looking for a good recipe to use bok choy.. I’ll have to try this!
Teresa
Why do you wait to add the miso? I ordered some for this recipe but have never cooked with it before.
Susan Voisin
Boiling kills the enzymes in miso and some people think it kills the taste, too.
Teresa
I made the recipe with the white miso as directed and it was great!
allie
Why do you use silken tofu instead of firm?
I’m really not a fan of silken, so I’m probably going to try this one with firm instead. 🙂
Susan Voisin
I’m just accustomed to this type of miso soup using silken tofu, so that’s what I use. It’s also lower in calories, and that’s an issue for me. But of course, anyone who doesn’t like silken tofu should use regular instead. I hope you enjoy it!
Olivia
Yum! A few days ago (or maybe it was last week…) I made your one pot miso soup. I enjoyed it but I found I didn’t like the silken tofu and there was a bit too much miso in it for me (I know, I should have taste tested first), But I just made the soup for lunch and wow ! I left out the Tofu and tweaked it a little, adding spring onions and bean sprouts, juice of half a lemon (that really set the dish), with 1 Tbsp of Miso and 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, then I served myself a bowl and dived in, I can’t even describe how much I needed it!
GOMBBS are basically my whole diet, but recently I’ve been indulging in sugar and grains and alcohol too much and this soup is just the healing I needed. I think I might incorporate this dish everyday with a few tweaks for a week or two to cleanse and heal for a while. THANKYOU for this recipe.
Krista
I loved this soup! I added a few sheets of seaweed/ sushi rolls instead of the miso because I didn’t have any but it was delicious!
Claire O Meara
Hi Susan, love your blog – just discovered it, and I will be sharing it with my friends. Super recipe I can’t wait to try it. More and more I am reading about the benefits of mushrooms, for years I was under the impression that they contained little or no nutritional value.
julibesser
Do you have any advice for families who eat vegan and need to feed 11 people breakfast, lunch and dinner and I always make enough for leftovers so that is I need to cook for 22 people for lunch and dinner. Any simple ideas? We always have a smoothie for breakfast. Thank you Susan….we love your recipes. Juli
Em
We like this for breakfast and then have a muffin with some berries in it and it is a great start to the day
Susan
I am a new comer to this site. I am looking into a plant base diet. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. And I believe that if I change my diet to vegan diet I will have less pain.
Kristin
Yet another hit! I love your site and this soup delicious!!
Priscilla
Hi Susan,
This is like sort of Korean traditional soup, we have- Bean paste soup (doenjang soup).
It IS superfood, it is!
Use with Korean bean paste next time. It will taste more Korean way of cook.
Sarah Greene
Susan, this soup sounds like a great addition to my kind of boring diet, will try to follow your recipe this weekend. I just hope I can find all the ingredients you mentioned here. Thanks a lot for sharing this.
Jill
I love the GBOMBS! 🙂 I think this could be flavorful with the addition of white pepper and a touch of vinegar to make it a kind of hot and sour soup. Definitely making this soon!
Almiel
Here’s an updated link for the GBOMBS article.
Looks like he’s dropped the other domain name.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/gbombs.
Almiel
Correction, it’s http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/gbombs.aspx
Frank Siloye
Hmmm..This looks so yummy! I wish i could try it out. I have to convince Mrs Siloye to help me. I hope i can!
shan
Like Janet said, Goji berries fit the bill. They are often used in Asian tonic soups.
Janelle
I made this, but cut the cooking time by 2/3rds and added brocolette. I used regular tofu because I like it., the soup was great, I will make it again!