How many calories are in a bowl of miso soup?
A 1-cup serving of miso soup weighs 245 g and carries 59 calories. Per 100 g the broth runs 24 calories, which makes it one of the lightest hot dishes on any menu. The calorie line is the easy part. The sodium line, at 1,144 mg a cup, is where this bowl actually costs you.
You'd need to walk about 12 minutes to burn the 59 calories in a 1-cup (245 g) serving.
How long does it take to burn off miso soup?
A 1-cup (245 g) serving is 59 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 59 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 12 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 7 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 8 min |
| Jogging | 7 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 13 min |
Times are for a 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (245 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Miso soup quick facts
- US servings, from one ounce to a restaurant bowl
- Instant packets versus the bowl in front of you
- Sodium is the row to watch
- How does miso soup compare?
- Most popular miso soup brands
- Miso soup FAQs
Miso soup quick facts
The record behind every number on this page is FNDDS 2707455, "Soup, miso or tofu". It describes the soup as it reaches the table: dashi or broth, dissolved miso paste, tofu cubes, a little seaweed and scallion. That is what a person searching for this actually has in front of them, and it is the only prepared-soup record in the database for it. Miso paste in a tub and dry soup mix in a foil packet are different foods with different numbers, and they get their own section further down.
Convenient detail: the record carries its own household measure of 1 cup, 245 g, so the main serving below is USDA's, not a guess.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cup (245 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 24 | 59 | — |
| Total fat | 0.85 g | 2.1 g | 3% |
| Saturated fat | 0.15 g | 0.4 g | 2% |
| Carbohydrate | 2.3 g | 5.6 g | 2% |
| Dietary fiber | 0.6 g | 1.5 g | 5% |
| Total sugars | 0.77 g | 1.9 g | — |
| Protein | 2.21 g | 5.4 g | 11% |
| Sodium | 467 mg | 1144 mg | 50% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Two rows are missing on purpose. Added sugars and trans fat are not published for this record in this edition of FNDDS, so listing them would mean inventing them. Cholesterol is negligible at 2 mg a cup, 1% of the Daily Value, and potassium comes in at 189 mg, 4%. Every %DV here uses the FDA reference values for a 2,000-calorie day.
US servings, from one ounce to a restaurant bowl
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28 g | 7 kcal |
| Half a cup | 123 g | 29 kcal |
| Three-quarters of a cup | 184 g | 44 kcal |
| One cup | 245 g | 59 kcal |
| Restaurant bowl, about two cups | 490 g | 118 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 24 kcal |
Only the 1-cup line is a USDA household measure. The half cup, the three-quarter cup, the ounce and the two-cup restaurant bowl are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings.
The two-cup line is worth staring at. A lacquer bowl at a sushi counter or a ramen shop is rarely a neat measuring cup, and doubling the serving still leaves you at 118 calories. Doubling it does something far less harmless to the sodium, which is the next section.
Instant packets versus the bowl in front of you
Dry mix is where people get the math wrong, because a packet's label reads per 100 g of powder while the soup you drink is almost entirely water.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prepared miso soup with tofu (USDA record) | 24 kcal | 1 cup, 245 g | 59 kcal |
| Kikkoman Instant Tofu Miso Soup, dry packet | 350 kcal | 1 packet, 10 g | 35 kcal |
| Hikari Miso Enjuku Koji, dry packet | 179 kcal | 1 packet, 19.5 g | 35 kcal |
| Hikari Fried Tofu Enjuku Koji, dry packet | 206 kcal | 1 packet, 19.4 g | 40 kcal |
| Miso To Go! Classic White Organic, dry packet | 357 kcal | 1 packet, 7 g | 25 kcal |
Read the packet column, not the 100 g column. A Kikkoman packet at 350 calories per 100 g sounds like a candy bar, but the packet weighs 10 g, so it is 35 calories. Hikari's Enjuku Koji packet is nearly twice as heavy at 19.5 g and lands on exactly the same 35, because it reads 179 calories per 100 g against the Kikkoman powder's 350. The fried-tofu version adds 5 calories for the fried tofu.
Compare a packet's 35 calories with a made-from-broth cup's 59 and the instant version looks lighter. It usually is, slightly, and mostly because a packet makes a smaller cup than a restaurant ladles. Neither difference is big enough to plan a day around.
Tofu deserves one clarification. USDA files miso soup and plain tofu soup under a single record, "Soup, miso or tofu," so the tofu cubes are already priced into the 24 calories per 100 g. Asking for extra tofu nudges the bowl up a few calories and a gram or two of protein; it does not change the category of the food.
Sodium is the row to watch
One cup delivers 1,144 mg of sodium, 50% of the FDA Daily Value of 2,300 mg. That is roughly half a teaspoon of table salt dissolved into something that costs you 59 calories. Order the two-cup bowl and you are at 2,288 mg, 99% of the day's value, for 118 calories.
Nothing else on the label comes close to that. Fat is 3% of a day, carbohydrate 2%, saturated fat 2%. Miso is fermented in salt, and salt is most of why the broth tastes like anything at all, so this is a feature of the food rather than a defect of one brand. The CDC's sodium pages lay out why most Americans track this number, and the Dietary Guidelines treat sodium as a nutrient to limit.
The practical read: if you are counting calories, miso soup is close to free and a genuinely useful appetite blunter before a meal. If you are watching sodium, one cup is your allowance for the course, and the soup competes with the soy sauce, the pickles and the ramen broth on the same table.
The protein line is the quiet win. 5.4 g per cup, 11% of the Daily Value, at 59 calories, is a better protein-per-calorie ratio than most clear soups manage.
How does miso soup compare?
| Soup | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miso soup | 24 kcal | 1 cup, 245 g | 59 kcal |
| Egg drop soup | 27 kcal | 1 cup, 245 g | 66 kcal |
| Wonton soup | 33 kcal | 1 cup, 245 g | 81 kcal |
| Seaweed soup | 37 kcal | 1 cup, 245 g | 91 kcal |
The three comparison soups have no published cup weight of their own, so we scaled each to the same 245 g cup used by the miso record. That is our arithmetic, not a USDA serving.
Our take: miso soup is the lightest of the four per 100 g and per cup, and the gap is bigger than it looks once you account for protein. It carries 5.4 g a cup against 2.8 g for egg drop, nearly double, at 7 fewer calories. Seaweed soup beats it on protein at 9.1 g a cup, but costs 91 calories to get there. If the soup is a starter and the meal is the point, miso is the pick; if the soup is dinner, wonton or seaweed at least brings something to chew.
Most popular miso soup brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Hikari Miso Enjuku Koji Miso Soup | 179 cal |
| Miso To Go! Classic White Organic Instant Miso Soup | 357 cal |
| Hikari Miso Fried Tofu Enjuku Koji Miso Soup | 206 cal |
| Kikkoman Shiro Miso Soup | 350 cal |
| Kikkoman Instant Tofu Miso Soup | 350 cal |
| Kikkoman Instant Tofu-Spinach Miso Soup | 350 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Miso soup FAQs
How many calories are in a bowl of miso soup?
A 1-cup bowl (245 g) is 59 calories. The larger restaurant-style bowl, closer to two cups, works out to 118 calories by our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure. Either way the soup is a rounding error next to the entree it arrives with.
How much sodium is in miso soup?
One cup carries 1,144 mg of sodium, 50% of the FDA Daily Value of 2,300 mg, or about half a teaspoon of table salt. Per 100 g the figure is 467 mg. Two cups takes you to 99% of the day's value while adding only 118 calories.
Is miso soup good for weight loss?
At 59 calories a cup it is one of the lightest things you can put in a bowl, and the 5.4 g of protein and 1.5 g of fiber help it register as food rather than water. If you are watching sodium instead of calories, the 1,144 mg is the number that matters.
How many calories in instant miso soup?
A dry Kikkoman packet is 35 calories for 10 g, and a Hikari Enjuku Koji packet is also 35 calories at 19.5 g. The per-100-g numbers look alarming, 350 and 179, because you are reading dry powder rather than the 24 calories per 100 g of made-up soup.
How much protein is in miso soup?
5.4 g per 1-cup serving, which is 11% of the Daily Value, from 2.21 g per 100 g. That is nearly double the 2.8 g in a cup of egg drop soup, and it comes with 7 fewer calories. The tofu cubes and the miso paste itself do the work.
Does miso soup have carbs?
5.6 g of carbohydrate per cup, 2% of the Daily Value, with 1.5 g of that fiber and 1.9 g total sugars. Per 100 g it is 2.3 g. Most of it comes from the fermented soybean paste and the tofu rather than from anything starchy.
Is miso soup keto friendly?
With 5.6 g of carbohydrate a cup, or 4.1 g once you subtract the 1.5 g of fiber, a bowl fits most low-carb plans easily. Half a cup halves it to 2.8 g. The tighter constraint is the 1,144 mg of sodium per cup, not the carbohydrate.
How many calories in miso soup with tofu?
59 calories a cup. USDA files miso soup and tofu soup under a single record, "Soup, miso or tofu," so the tofu cubes are already inside the 24 calories per 100 g. A bowl loaded with an extra scoop of tofu will read a little higher.
Similar foods
- Tom yum soup — 191 cal per bowl
- Clementine — 35 cal per clementine
- Ceviche — 158 cal per cup
- Pomegranate — 72 cal for 1/2 cup arils
- Clam Chowder — 237 cal per cup
- Chinese Chicken and Broccoli — 206 cal per cup
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the bowl and BodyPal counts the soup for you, tofu and all.
