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Basic Japanese Dashi Recipe

J. Kenji López-Alt

How to make dashi, a fundamental Japanese soup stock.

Published: Last Updated:
Basic Japanese Dashi Recipe

[Photograph: Shutterstock.com]

This fundamental Japanese soup stock only calls for two ingredients, plus water, and is the flavor-packed base for all our favorite miso soup recipes. Both bonito flakes and dried kombu are umami-filled, deeply flavorful ingredients, and the final soup stock will amp up any sauce you add it to.

  • Yield:Makes about 2 quarts
  • Active time: 3 minutes
  • Total time:15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 quarts (2L) water
  • 1 ounce (30g) dried kombu (see note)
  • 1 ounce (30g) packed dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi, see note)

Directions

  1. 1.

    Combine water and kombu in a medium saucepan. Bring to a bare simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and add bonito flakes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and discard kombu and bonito, or reserve to make a second, weaker batch of dashi. Dashi can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

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J. Kenji López-Alt Chief Culinary Advisor

J. Kenji López-Alt is a stay-at-home dad who moonlights as the Chief Culinary Consultant of Serious Eats and the Chef/Partner of Wursthall, a German-inspired California beer hall near his home in San Mateo. His first book, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science (based on his Serious Eats column of the same name) is a New York Times best-seller, recipient of a James Beard Award, and was named Cookbook of the Year in 2015 by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Kenji's next project is a children’s book called Every Night is Pizza Night, to be released in 2020, followed by another big cookbook in 2021.

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