Instant Pot Tonjiru (Pork and Vegetable Miso Soup) 豚汁(圧力鍋)

Tonjiru (or Butajiru) is a hearty pork and vegetable Japanese miso soup. Pressure cooked for just 1 minute in the Instant Pot, tonjiru will be your ultimate, comfy soup for the fall and winter months!

When I was in college, I used to make a big pot of this pork and vegetable miso soup and ate it throughout the week. Not only was it a hearty miso soup for the mind and soul, it also gave me good nutrients from the meat and vegetables. This all-mighty soup is called tonjiru (豚汁) or sometimes butajiru.

I’ve already shared a regular Tonjiru recipe that requires cooking on the stovetop, but today I’ll share the Instant Pot Tonjiru recipe. Although the actual cooking time is roughly the same as the stovetop method, the benefit of cooking tonjiru in the electric pressure cooker is you can walk out of the kitchen once you press the Start button and go back to study, work, or spend the time with your family.

What is Tonjiru?

Tonjiru (豚汁) literally means pork (ton) + soup (jiru). It’s basically miso soup featuring pork and root vegetables. Some people call it butajiru (豚汁) too, with buta as just another way to read the same kanji character. It’s a very popular comfort food in Japanese home cooking.

Tonjiru is easy to make, especially if you already know how to make miso soup. For tonjiru, you’ll prepare dashi—Japanese soup stock—ahead of time and then stir-fry the pork and vegetables first before adding dashi.

Ingredients You’ll Need for Tonjiru

1. Pork

This miso soup wouldn’t be called tonjiru or butajiru without pork (ton or buta) in it. The cut of pork is your choice, but in Japan, pork belly slices are the popular cut for this dish as it is more flavorful. The next choice is pork loin slices. If you cannot get ready-sliced pork belly or pork loin at local Japanese/Asian grocery stores, you can thinly slice meat yourself at home into thin slices or strips.

2. Vegetables

The flavor essence of the soup comes from pork, but it actually features more vegetables. Common vegetables used in tonjiru are root vegetables such as:

• carrots
• Yukon gold potatoes or satoimo (Japanese taro)
• daikon (Japanese radish)
• gobo (burdock root)

Besides the root vegetables, there are other ingredients you can add.

• konnyaku (kanjac)
• tofu or aburaage (deep-fried tofu pouch)
• shiitake mushrooms or shimeji mushrooms
• bean sprouts (my mom always includes them)
• green onions/spring onions

We usually do not add leafy vegetables like spinach. If you’d like to add them, I recommend blanching them separately and adding directly to the soup bowl. This way, you can retain the bright green color and won’t overcook the leafy veggies.

3. Dashi (Japanese soup stock)

Because tonjiru has a lot of ingredients that contribute to a tasty broth, you can get away with using water instead of dashi. However, my choice is always dashi because it gives more depth and umami that pork and vegetables don’t have. You can taste the difference right away.

I use the combination of kombu and katsuobushi for dashi (called Awase Dashi) in the majority of my cooking, and this recipe is no exception. I highly recommend making homemade dashi, but if you’re in hurry, a dashi packet from Kayanoya makes nice quick dashi in no time.

4. Miso (Japanese fermented soybean paste)

There is no specific type of miso that you must use for tonjiru. If you like a certain type of miso (such as white miso, awase miso, or red miso), you can use it. If you are new to miso, read my miso pantry post to get familiar with it.

For my tonjiru recipe, I used Enjuku Koji Miso from Hikari Miso®. I love the hint of sweetness that koji miso gives. The more koji in the miso, the sweeter it tastes.

How to Make Tonjiru

1. Prepare the ingredients. Cut the potatoes, onion, daikon radish, carrot, and burdock root into sticks or similar-size slices. Cut and blanch the konnyaku. Cut the pork belly slices into bite-sized pieces.
2. Sauté the ingredients in the Instant Pot.
3. Add the dashi to cover the ingredients. Stop the Sauté mode and close the lid.
4. Pressure cook for 1 minute on High pressure.
5. Let the pressure release naturally for 30 minutes.
6. Add and dissolve the miso. Taste the soup and adjust the flavor if needed.
7. Serve in a large bowl and sprinkle chopped green onions on top.

What Dishes to Serve with Tonjiru

My mom always served tonjiru in a donburi bowl as it was the main dish, and accompanied the soup with a grilled fish dish. Because tonjiru has meat in it, she usually avoids meat as a main dish. I do the same and usually serve a simple grilled fish such as Grilled Pacific Saury (Sanma), Grilled Mackerel (Saba Shioyaki), or Salted Salmon (Shiojake).

Tonjiru already has tons of root vegetables, so you can skip side dishes that contain similar ingredients. Instead, serve sides like:

• Tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelette)
• Simmered Koyadofu
• Instant Pot Kuromame
• Pickled Tomato
• Hijiki Seaweed Salad

Or if you’re really busy, just prepare a grilled fish and steamed rice, and that will still be an amazing nutritious meal!

Looking for Similar Comforting and Hearty Soups?

• Kenchinjiru (Vgetable Soup) {vegan}
• Sanpeijiru (Salmon Miso Soup)
• Miso Soup with Yuzu Kosho

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Instant Pot Tonjiru

4.64 from 49 votes

Tonjiru (or Butajiru) is a hearty pork and vegetable Japanese miso soup. Pressure cooked for just 1 minute in the Instant Pot, tonjiru will be your ultimate, comfy soup for the fall and winter months!

Print Pin

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 45 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr

Servings: 6

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 Yukon gold potatoes (10 oz, 280 g)
• ▢ 1 onion (8 oz, 227 g)
• ▢ 2 inches daikon radish (5 oz, 150 g)
• ▢ 1 carrot (5 oz, 150 g)
• ▢ 1 gobo (burdock root) (4.8 oz, 135 g)
• ▢ 4.5 oz konnyaku (konjac) (½ block)
• ▢ ½ lb pork belly slices (freeze ahead of time for ½ hour for easier slicing)
• ▢ 6 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock) (use standard Awase Dashi, dashi packet or powder, or Vegan Dashi)
• ▢ 1 Tbsp neutral oil
• ▢ 2 green onions/scallions
• ▢ 8 Tbsp miso (more or less depending on miso; I used Enjuku Koji Miso from Hikari Miso)

To Serve (optional)

• ▢ shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice)
• ▢ yuzu kosho (Japanese citrus chili paste)

Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

 

• Gather all the ingredients.
  

To Prepare the Ingredients

• Cut 2 Yukon gold potatoes into slabs ¼ inch (6 mm) thick and then cut into sticks. Soak the potatoes in water to remove the starch, for about 15 minutes.
  
• Cut 1 onion into thin slices.
  
• Peel and cut 2 inches daikon radish into slabs ¼ inch (6 mm) thick and then cut into sticks.
  
• Cut 1 carrot in half lengthwise, then cut into ¼-inch (6-mm) slices.
  
• Scrape the skin of 1 gobo (burdock root) with the back of the knife. Gobo has a delicious earthy taste right below the skin; therefore, you do not use a peeler to peel off the soft skin. Cut the gobo in half lengthwise.
  
• Thinly slice the gobo diagonally. Soak in water for 15 minutes to get rid of the bitter taste. Optional: Add a dollop of vinegar to the water to make the gobo white.
  
• Cut 4.5 oz konnyaku (konjac) into ¼-inch (6-mm) slabs, then cut into sticks.
  
• Blanch the konnyaku in boiling water for 3 minutes to remove the smell. Drain konnyaku with a sieve.
  
• Cut ½ lb pork belly slices into 1-inch (2.5-cm) pieces. Tip: If you freeze the meat for about ½ hour ahead of time, it is much easier to cut.
  

To Cook

• All the ingredients should be ready to go.
  
• Press the Sauté button on your Instant Pot and heat 1 Tbsp neutral oil.
  
• When the oil is hot, add the onion and coat with the oil. Then add the meat and stir to combine.
  
• Add all the vegetables and konnyaku.
  
• Stir to combine and then add in 6 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock) last.
  
• The dashi should cover the ingredients. If not, then add more dashi (or water). Tip: The vegetables will release moisture, so don’t worry if you feel there is not enough soup at this stage.
  
• Press Cancel to stop the Saute menu. Close the lid and press the Manual or Pressure Cook menu. Then set to High pressure for 1 minute. Make sure the steam release handle points at Sealing and not Venting. The float valve goes up when pressurized.
  
• While the ingredients in the soup are being cooked, you can cut the green onions and set aside.
  
• When it’s finished cooking, the Instant Pot will switch automatically to the Keep Warm mode. Let the pressure release naturally for 30 minutes. If the valve hasn’t dropped yet, then quick release the pressure (be careful and cover your fingers with a mitten or kitchen towel).
  
• Open the lid and check if the hard vegetables are tender.
  
• Add 8 Tbsp miso. I used Hikari Miso Enjuku Koji Miso.
  
• Dissolve the miso in a ladle before releasing it to the soup. Make sure to taste the miso soup. If you added too much miso, add dashi (or water) to dilute. If it’s not enough, add more miso ½ Tbsp at a time.
  

To Serve

• Pour the Tonjiru in a big bowl. Chop 2 green onions/scallions and sprinkle on top. Serve immediately. You can sprinkle shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) or add a dollop of yuzu kosho (Japanese citrus chili paste) for a spicy kick.
  

To Store

• Let cool completely and store in the refrigerator for up to 3–4 days. When you reheat, make sure not to over boil the miso soup. Tip: The best way to store miso soup is actually to store the soup BEFORE adding miso. You can take out the portion you will need into another pot and then add miso to taste. That way, you will always have the best tasting miso soup every time.

Equipment

• Instant Pot (a pressure cooker)

Nutrition

Calories: 340 kcal · Carbohydrates: 25 g · Protein: 8 g · Fat: 24 g · Saturated Fat: 9 g · Cholesterol: 27 mg · Sodium: 787 mg · Potassium: 584 mg · Fiber: 5 g · Sugar: 6 g · Vitamin A: 4009 IU · Vitamin C: 20 mg · Calcium: 55 mg · Iron: 2 mg

Author: Namiko Hirasawa Chen

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: miso, miso soup

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