Two spoon miso noodle soup with tofu or chicken

Brothy, salty and warming, this is what I want on a bad POTS day when I need fluid and salt as much as I need food. It’s one small pan and about 10 minutes, most of which is waiting for the noodles. Tofu or cooked chicken both work, so use whichever you have in the fridge.

At a glance

Spoons	2 out of 5
Standing time	about 10 minutes, though you can sit while the noodles cook
Hands-off time	about 5 minutes
Washing up	one small pan, one bowl, a spoon and a fork
Makes	1 portion
Cost per portion	roughly £1.25 (tofu) or £1.20 to £1.65 (chicken)
Protein per portion	roughly 25 to 30g (tofu) or 25 to 35g (chicken)
Freezes	no, make it fresh
Vegan	yes, with tofu and egg-free noodles

The cupboard and freezer ingredients last for ages, so once you’ve bought them, each bowl only needs the tofu or chicken.

Why it’s low spoon

• The kettle does most of the heating.
• No knife needed. The spinach goes in as frozen blocks, the tofu can be torn into chunks with your fingers and cooked chicken slices tear easily too.
• One small pan, and most of the time is spent waiting.
• Miso keeps for months in the fridge, so it’s a handy thing to have in.

Ingredients

Prices are Sainsbury’s online prices at the time of posting.

The soup

• 1 nest of medium egg noodles (Sainsbury’s medium noodles, 95p for 4 nests, so about 24p)
• 2 or 3 blocks of frozen chopped spinach (Sainsbury’s chopped spinach, £1.60 for 900g, so about 15p)
• 1 tbsp miso paste (Sainsbury’s miso paste, £1.90 for 100g, so about 35p)
• about 400ml boiling water from the kettle

The protein

Either:

• about 100g firm tofu, a third of a block (Sainsbury’s SO Organic super firm tofu, £1.43 for 300g, so about 48p)

Or:

• 60 to 115g ready-cooked chicken, which is half or all of a small pack (Sainsbury’s 10 cooked chicken slices, 89p for 115g), or leftover roast chicken

Optional extras

• a splash of soy sauce
• chilli flakes or chilli oil
• a few drops of sesame oil
• a squeeze of ginger purée from a tube

Method

1. Boil the kettle. Pour about 400ml into a small pan and bring it back to the boil on the hob.
2. Add the noodle nest and the spinach blocks. Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, poking the noodles apart with a fork once or twice.
3. While it simmers, put the miso in your serving bowl and tear the tofu or chicken into bite-sized pieces.
4. Add the tofu or chicken to the pan for the last 1 to 2 minutes so it’s hot all the way through.
5. Turn off the heat. Spoon a little of the hot broth into your bowl and stir it into the miso until smooth, then tip in the rest of the pan. Adding the miso off the heat keeps its flavour.
6. Taste and add soy sauce, chilli or sesame oil if you like.

Microwave version (saves the pan): put the noodles and spinach in a large microwaveable bowl, cover with boiling water and microwave for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the tofu or chicken and give it another minute, then stir in the miso. Use a big bowl, as it can bubble up.

Storing leftovers

The soup itself is best eaten straight away, as the noodles go soft sitting in the broth. Leftover tofu keeps in a tub covered with water in the fridge; change the water daily and use it within the time on the packet. Opened cooked chicken should be used within the time the pack says, usually a couple of days.

A note on salt

Miso is very salty: a tablespoon is roughly 2g of salt, before any soy sauce. If you’ve been advised to increase your salt intake for POTS, that’s arguably the point of this recipe. If you need to limit salt, use a reduced-salt miso, use a little less of it and skip the soy sauce.

Things to know

• Allergens: contains soy (miso, tofu and soy sauce), and the egg noodles contain wheat and egg. Rice noodles make it egg and wheat free, but some miso contains barley, so check the label if gluten matters for you.
• Tofu: silken tofu is softer and more traditional in miso soup, but it falls apart easily. Firm tofu is easier to handle and tears neatly.
• Chicken: use ready-cooked chicken only. Raw chicken won’t cook safely in this time.