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Daikon soup is a light and aromatic soup that feels like a balm for the soul! Subtly sweet and super warming, this dish always takes me back to the comfort of mom’s home cooking. The ingredients are simple, nourishing, and easy to work with, making this recipe perfect for weeknights.
Sweet yet peppery daikon radish, a staple in Asian cooking, shines in soups. It’s cleansing to the body, low in carbs, and so satiating. This recipe is super adaptable and can easily be made vegetarian.
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What does daikon soup taste like?
Daikon is a white radish that turns mildly sweet and tender when simmered in soup, but when eaten raw, it’s crisp, crunchy, and has a bit of a peppery bite. It’s a versatile ingredient in East Asian cooking—you’ll see it pickled, grated, shredded, mashed, or fried.
In East Asian cuisine, it’s commonly used in soups and stews with pork, beef stew, chicken, or in vegetarian dishes with shiitake mushrooms. It’s also grated as a condiment with fried foods to keep meals light and refreshing.
When simmered in soup, daikon turns from pale to slightly translucent, and the flavor changes from peppery to subtly sweet.
Ingredients
This daikon radish soup is made with simple, nourishing ingredients. We build the flavor base with fragrant aromatics and season the broth with Asian pantry staples. Here’s what you’ll need:
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- Daikon: Select firm, smooth daikon for the best texture and taste.
- Substitution: If you can’t find daikon, you can make this soup with white turnips. See the FAQ section for tips.
- Carrots
- Fresh ginger and scallions: Aromatics to flavor the soup base.
- Neutral flavored oil: Avocado oil or peanut oil works great.
- Chicken stock
- Substitution: For a vegetarian, you can use vegetable stock with shiitake mushroom bouillon powder or vegetarian dashi powder added for depth of flavor.
- Coarse sea salt
- Toasted sesame oil
- Oyster sauce: Use a vegetarian oyster sauce as needed.
- Ground white pepper: A small dash before serving for authentic Asian flavor.
Tip
Selecting daikon radish
When picking daikon, look for ones that are firm and smooth. Avoid any with wrinkly skin or a limp texture—they’ll be fibrous and less fresh.
At Asian grocery stores, daikons often still have their leafy green tops and thin roots. The shiny, smooth skin shows they’re fresh, juicy, and plump.
In Western stores, daikons are usually rinsed, which makes them limp faster. If you buy pre-washed daikon, use it within 2-3 days to keep it crisp and flavorful.
How to cook daikon in soup
Cooking radishes in soup is popular in Asian cooking for good reason! It’s tasty, nourishing, and cleansing to the body. Sliced into half-inch rounds, the daikon takes about 15-20 minutes to cook. Here are some tips and easy steps for making soup with daikon radish.
- How to cut daikon for soup: After washing the daikon, trim the ends and peel it as you would a carrot. Dice it into rounds, about 0.5-inch (1.27 cm) thick. Stack a few rounds and slice them into half-moon shape.
- Prep the carrot and aromatics: Rinse the carrots, peel away the outer layer, and slice into 0.5-inch thick rounds. Dice the scallions and slice the ginger.
- Saute aromatics: In a large pot, saute the ginger and white scallion parts with oil over medium heat until fragrant, about 1.5 minutes.
- Add the daikon, carrots, and stock. Cover with a lid. If the lid doesn’t have an air venting hole, leave the cover slightly ajar to prevent the soup from spilling over.
- Simmer the soup over medium heat until you can easily poke through the radish with a chopstick, about 15-20 minutes. The daikon will be pale white to a more translucent color yet the texture is still firm and not mushy.
- Taste, season, and serve: Season the broth with salt, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and white pepper to taste. Garnish with green scallion parts. Serve hot in a soup bowl.
Tip
How to tell when daikon is cooked through?
- The easiest way is to use a chopstick. If it slides through the daikon with little resistance, it’s cooked through.
- You can also check the color. Raw daikon is pale white, but when it’s cooked, it turns slightly translucent.
- The cooking time depends on the dish (soup, stew, braise, etc.) and how thick you cut the daikon. For half-inch (1.27 cm) thick slices in a soup broth, it takes about 20 minutes to cook through.
What to serve with radish soup
This Chinese daikon soup is a wonderful addition to any meal. It can also be bulked up with veggies and tofu for a more substantial dish. I like to serve it with a protein dish and rice for a balanced meal.
- Bulk up the soup: Bok choy, Chinese broccoli, and yu choy are great additions to this soup. You can also top with crunchy tofu puffs to turn this veggie soup into a one-pot meal.
- Protein dishes: For a family-style meal, serve alongside your favorite protein. I love it with air fryer orange chicken, Chinese black pepper chicken, or Mongolian ground beef noodles.
- Rice dishes: My one pot salmon and rice is a perfect combo of textures and umami flavor. Din tai fung fried rice with shrimp is light, flavorful, and so aromatic.
ChihYu’s helpful notes
- Selecting your daikon: Look for firm, smooth daikon with bright white skin. Avoid soft, wrinkled ones as they may lack flavor and texture.
- Cutting daikon for soup: Treat it like a carrot—wash, peel, and trim the ends. Slice into even rounds (about half an inch thick), then cut each round into half-moons for uniform cooking.
- How long to cook daikon in soup: Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the daikon turns slightly translucent and tender enough to poke through easily with a chopstick.
- Reheating and storage: Store the soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. Reheat on the stovetop over medium heat or in a microwave until it’s warmed through.
FAQs
Absolutely! It is often served grated, sliced, or julienned in salads, sashimi, or as a condiment. When eaten raw, daikon has a slightly peppery flavor. It’s refreshing!
Yes! Radishes add a nice peppery flavor, brightness, and a crisp texture to soups. Once cooked, they mellow into a sweet, tender texture that enhances the broth.
White turnips are a good substitute for daikon. They have a slightly spicier, earthier taste. Soak the slices in a big bowl of room temperature water for a few hours to mellow their flavor before adding them to the soup.
More daikon recipes
Daikon radish is a staple in Asian cooking—it’s delicious, healthy, and so versatile! If you love daikon and enjoyed this simple soup, be sure to check out these healthy Asian recipes featuring daikon.
- Pork rib soup with daikon is a traditional Chinese soup made with pork spare ribs. Perfect for the winter months.
- Simmered daikon with chicken is another winter comfort food popular in Taiwan and Japan. It’s sweet, savory, aromatic.
- Pickled daikon is crunchy, slightly sweet, and tangy. It’s a refreshing condiment to add to so many dishes! (Coming soon).
- Jiaozi Chinese pan fried potstickers are pan-fried dumplings that use daikon slices as a low-carb wrapper.
Daikon soup recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 16 oz. Daikon 1 large
- 3.5 oz. carrots 1 medium
- 0.3 oz ginger sliced, half of one small thumb size
- 3 bulb scallions sliced, separate white and green parts
- 1 tbsp neutral flavored oil
- 3 cup chicken stock
- 0.5 tsp coarse sea salt or to taste
- 0.5 tbsp Toasted sesame oil or to taste
- 1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce or more to taste
- Small dash ground white pepper
Instructions
- Prepare the daikon: Rinse and scrub the daikon. Use a vegetable peeler to peel away the outer layer skin. Make a small slice to trim away the tip ends. Dice it into rounds, about 0.5-inch (1.27 cm) thickness then stack a few rounds and slice them into half moon shape.
- Prepare carrot: Do the same with the carrot: rinse, peel away the outer layer, slice into 0.5-inch thickness rounds.
- Saute aromatics: In a large 4-quart size soup pot, saute the ginger and white scallion parts with 1 tbsp oil over medium heat until fragrant, about 1.5 minutes.
- Add the daikon, carrots, and stock. Cover with a lid. If the lid doesn’t have an air venting hole, leave the cover slightly ajar to prevent the soup from spilling over.
- Simmer daikon: Simmer the soup over medium heat until you can easily poke through the radish with a chopstick without much resistance, about 15-20 minutes. To tell when the daikon is cooked through, besides inserting a chopstick, the daikon color also turns from pale white to a more translucent color yet the texture is still firm and not mushy.
- Taste & Season: Taste the broth and season with salt, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and white pepper. Taste and adjust.
- Garnish & Serve: Garnish with green scallion parts. Ladle the soup to individual serving bowls. Serve hot.
Notes
- Vegetarian-Friendly Flavor Boost: If you’re using vegetable stock, add a few teaspoons of shiitake mushroom bouillon powder or Vegetarian dashi powder to enhance the broth’s depth and umami flavor.
- Storage & Reheating: Store the soup in a sealed container in the fridge for 4-5 days. When reheating, use the stovetop over medium heat or a microwave until it’s warmed through. You’ll notice the daikon turns more translucent with each reheating, and the flavors become even milder and naturally sweet.
- Daikon Soup Flavor Profile: This soup is light, aromatic, and subtly sweet—like a comforting home-cooked meal straight from your mother’s kitchen.
- Daikon substitute for soup: White turnips can replace daikon in soups, especially in hearty broths. They have a slightly spicier, earthier taste compared to daikon’s mild sweetness. For a milder flavor, soak the slices in room temperature water for a few hours before adding them to your soup to reduce their spiciness.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My first time eating Daikon, and this was a delicious easy soup to make. Great for digestion also. Give it a try it was great!
I’m so happy to hear that!
Loved the sweetness of the daikon. Thank you for this recipe, I rarely use a full daikon, wasting half when I make pickles. Finally I have something beautiful and healthy to make.
I’m so happy to hear! It’s one of my favorite soups!