Chicken and leek barley soup
A warm chicken soup with soft leeks, carrots and pearl barley.
About 55 min · 405 kcal · 36 g protein per serving
Miso soup with silken tofu, egg and spinach
A single bowl of miso soup made more substantial with silken tofu and soft ribbons of egg. It is light, mild and quick, and the tofu needs no chewing at all.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 16 October 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm the egg sets into ribbons within 1 minute at a gentle simmer
- Confirm 2 cm silken tofu cubes hold together through warming
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 15 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 1
- see below
- Energy
- 300 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 30 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 1 serving
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains eggs, soya. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- white miso. Some miso is made with barley or wheat; check the label if you avoid gluten.
Cooking steps
Put the water and the sliced ginger in a small pan, bring to a simmer and let it bubble gently for 5 minutes. Lift out the ginger.
Cut the silken tofu into 2 cm cubes and slide them into the pan with the spinach. Warm for 2 minutes over low heat without stirring, so the cubes hold together.
Beat the egg in a jug. With the soup at a gentle simmer, pour it in a thin stream while slowly stirring the surface in one direction with a fork, then leave it for 1 minute until the ribbons are set.
Cooked when: the eggs are firm throughout, with no visible liquid egg.
Take the pan off the heat. Put the miso in a ladle, dip the ladle into the soup and stir with the fork until the paste has dissolved, then stir it gently through the pan.
Pour into a bowl, scatter with the spring onion, and let it stand for 2 or 3 minutes before eating.
The useful detail
Add the miso last, off the heat. Boiled miso loses its aroma and turns grainy, so it is dissolved in a ladle of soup that has stopped bubbling, and the soup is not heated again.
Make it work for you
One serving is One large bowl, about 700 ml. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Firm tofu instead of silken
Holds its shape and has more than twice the protein, but it is chewier. Cut it into 1.5 cm cubes.
Per serving: about 210 kcal more, about 25 g more protein, about 13 g more fat.
Low-salt chicken stock instead of water
Rounder and more savoury. It stops the soup being vegetarian and adds salt to an already salty bowl.
Per serving: about 25 kcal more, about 3 g more protein, about 1 g more fat.
Leave out the egg
A thinner, clearer soup with about 7 g less protein.
Allergens: Removes egg.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
Silken tofu and one egg give a light bowl close to 30 g of protein for about 300 kcal, nearly all of it from food that needs no chewing.
| Energy | 300 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 30 g |
| Fat | 16 g |
| of which saturates | 3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 13 g |
| of which sugars | 4 g |
| Fibre | 3 g |
| Sodium | 1,080 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 1. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| water | 400 g | No energy | 0 kcal | 0.0 g |
| fresh ginger | 5 g | FDC 169231Ginger root, raw | 4 kcal | 0.1 g |
| silken tofu | 250 g | FDC 172449Tofu, soft, prepared with calcium sulfate and magnesium chloride (nigari)Calculated with FoodData Central's soft tofu record, the closest it holds to silken tofu. | 153 kcal | 17.9 g |
| spinach | 40 g | FDC 168462Spinach, raw | 9 kcal | 1.1 g |
| eggs | 56 g | FDC 171287Egg, whole, raw, fresh | 80 kcal | 7.0 g |
| white miso | 26 g | FDC 172442Miso | 50 kcal | 3.3 g |
| spring onions | 15 g | FDC 170005Onions, spring or scallions (includes tops and bulb), raw | 5 kcal | 0.3 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 1 | 301 kcal | 29.7 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Best eaten as soon as it is made. If you keep it, cool it, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours, and eat it within 3 to 4 days; the tofu softens further as it stands.
- Reheating
- Reheat gently, stirring, until 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout. The miso loses some of its aroma the second time.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
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