These Stuffed Onion Bombs are simple, juicy and PACKED with flavour thanks to the Niku Miso. Quick, easy and a perfect side to your grain of choice!
Say hello to this juicy n’ delicious onion ‘bomb’—stuffed with vegan miso meat sauce! This quick and easy side dish has become a regular side dish for us because of how quick and easy it is to make– plus if you make the meat miso ahead of time all you need is a microwave! Perfect for days when you don’t want to turn on the stove and meat up the kitchen.
What is niku miso?
Miku miso literally translates to ‘meat miso’. Every household makes it slightly different but my mom always made it a little more sauce-y like a meat sauce! It’s one of those side dishes/condiments that really goes well with anything and everything that needs a little boost of flavour. My mom would prep a large batch of this at the beginning of the week and we’d always have some on the dinner table along with pickled vegetables to pair with our rice.
I’ve been keen on making a vegan version of this delicious side dish and was easily able to do so just by swapping it for vegan grounds. If you don’t have access to vegan ground meat, I’ve tried making this with crumbled tofu as well and works really well!
How to Make Onion Bombs
The Ingredients
To make the base of the onion bomb, you only need an onion. I recommend New Onions, Vidalia or Walla Walla.
For the niku miso, choose your choice of vegan grounds. To season, you’ll need miso paste, sake (can be omitted), sugar, soy sauce, corn starch, garlic, ginger and sesame oil. If you like things spicy, add a touch of doubanjiang!
The Directions
- Prepare the onion: Cut the top of the onion and remove the outer layer. Cut the onion like an X to make four segments.
- Cook the onion: Place in a microwave safe bowl, cover and microwave on high for 4-6 minutes (depending on the size of your onion). My onions on average are about 380g total and takes about 5 minutes on high.
- Make the miso meat sauce: dissolve the miso paste with 2 1/2 tbsp of water. Then whisk in the sake, soy sauce, sake, sugar and potato starch.
- Cook the meat miso: Cook the vegan mince with garlic over medium heat. Add the ginger and sesame oil to the mince and fry for another minute. Give the miso sauce a quick mix and then pour it over the mince. Cook for about another minute until thickened to desired consistency.
- Stuff the onion: Stuff the meat miso between the onion segments, top with scallions and sesame seeds.
Tips & How to Store
- Meat miso texture: Adjust the thickness of the miso meat sauce to your liking by how long you cook it. The longer on the heat, the more dry it will become making it more like crumbles.
- Make extra: Make extra miso meat sauce to make this recipe ahead of time and even quicker. Plus, you can use it in other dishes as well like Niku Miso rice bowls or noodles.
- Storing: Allow it to cool completely and then place in a air tight container. Keep refrigerated for up to 3-4 days.
Variations
There are so many other things you can stuff these onions with too! Experiment with some of your other favourite stuffing and ingredients 🙂 Here are some more suggestions:
- vegan canned ‘tuna’ and mayo
- taco mince
- pulled bbq jackfruit
- vegan mapo tofu
- tofu mince
- bbq tempeh mince
More Delicious Vegetable Recipes to Try
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Niku Miso Onion Bombs
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 serving 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
These Stuffed Onion Bombs are simple, juicy and PACKED with flavour thanks to the Niku Miso. Quick, easy and a perfect side to your grain of choice!
Ingredients
Onion ‘Bomb’
- 1 large Vidalia or New onion (350g)
Niku Miso
- 2 tsp miso paste (10g)
- 2 1/2 tbsp water (38g)
- 2 tsp sake (10ml)
- 1 tsp sugar (4g)
- 1/2 tsp soy sauce (2.5g)
- 1/2 tsp corn starch (1g)
- 1/2 tsp doubanjiang, optional
- 2.8 oz of vegan grounds of choice (75g)
- 1/2 tsp garlic, minced (2g)
- 1 tsp sesame oil (5g)
- 1/2 tsp ginger, minced (2g)
- pinch of pepper
Topping/garnish
- scallions, for topping
- sesame seeds, for topping
Instructions
- Cut the top of the onion and remove the outer skin. Cut the onion to make four segments. Place in a microwave safe bowl, cover and microwave on high for 4-6 minutes (depending on the size of your onion). My onions on average are about 380g total and takes about 5 minutes on high.
- In the meantime, make the ‘meat’ miso. Over medium heat, add the vegan mince and garlic and fry for 2 minutes.
- In the meantime, dissolve the miso paste with 2 1/2 tbsp of water. Then whisk in the sake, soy sauce, sake, sugar and potato starch.
- Add the ginger and sesame oil to the mince and fry for another minute.
- Give the miso sauce a quick mix and then pour it over the mince. Cook for about another minute until thickened to desired consistency.
- Stuff the meat miso between the onion segments. Garnish with scallions and sesame seeds, and enjoy!
Notes
- Helpful Equipment: microwave safe bowls with lid, non-stick fry pan, miso muddler
- Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated on an online tool (Cronometer).
- Category: side dish
- Method: microwave
- Cuisine: vegan, japanese
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 428
- Sugar: 21.6g
- Sodium: 743mg
- Fat: 16.9g
- Saturated Fat: 2.6g
- Unsaturated Fat: 13g
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 50g
- Fiber: 7.1g
- Protein: 18.6g
- Cholesterol: 0
Keywords: stuffed onions, meat miso, niku miso, miso meat sauce
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Looks amazing! How would you suggest to cook the onion without a microwave? Thank you!
Hi Mia! You can try steaming it until soft 🙂
The Niku Miso Stuffed Onion is so nice as a summer dish as it’s pretty easy to make and easily adaptable. I don’t have a microwave so I just pan-fried the onions for a bit and used larger soy chunks which I cut into smaller pieces. I think the Niku Miso would also be great with some steamed bok choy. Gonna try a mix of chopped up mushrooms, carrots and napa cabbage next time (which I usually use as a substitute).
★★★★★
Wow Lisa! You are super talented 👌🏼 The onion bombs turned out amazing, and I can’t wait to try out more of your amazing recipes.
For so long I felt like I couldn’t eat Japanese food because there would always be some animal product in there, or I didn’t know how to substitute them. This blog is such a gold mine!
Thank you 🤗
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So good!! And love how it’s so easy with a microwave! My bf was really impressed and didn’t even guess that it wasn’t meat (I used TVP and beef broth)
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Was even better than expected 😇
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I love this recipe!
I made it last weekend because my partner and I love onions, so I had to try this. It was the best thing I’ve eaten in a while and will for sure make it more often!!
Thank you for sharing it 🙂
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Absolutely loved this! I’m not usually a big onion fan but something about this just called out to me and I’m so glad I made it! A literal flavour BOMB!
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The Niku Miso Stuffed Onion is so nice, it’s a pretty side to add to the table and an easy way to accommodate onion (other then onion soup). Easily to cook and so adaptable. I cooked twice that recipe already, once with a big red onion and tofu, it was sweet and tasty. Second time a white onion and a mix of red lentils and TVP as vegan meat. Turned out amazing both time! I will definitely cook it again 🙂
★★★★★
I am so inspired by Lisa’s recipes. I found this one on instagram and had to try it.
I steamed the onions, and used Sweet Earth “amazing grounds” plantbased ground meat – the Niku Miso is the tastiest ground beef dish I have had since going vegan. It came out great!
I loved it very much but my husband did not like the onion and hound my Niku Miso too salty – but that was okay because that means I didn’t share the leftovers 😀
Loved this and looking forward to try more recipes soon.
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So so delicious! I have used this mix to stuff other vegetables, like a marrow. The microwave tip for the onion is such a good idea. Quick, easy, and super delicious
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I really love this recipe! The microwave hack for cooking the onion is inspired. It is so easy to make the mince. I have actually made it a fee times to stuff in a marrow, to have with rice, and on tantanmen. It is so delicious! The seasonings are perfect. I haven’t got any cooking sake at home, so just add a splash more water and it works with no issues. Yummy!
★★★★★
It was delicious, I omitted the ginger, I used stevia as sweetener and I used ground chicken, it turn out amazing, so good
I love onions, and this is a dish that celebrates them. So delicious, my mouth is watering thinking about making this again.
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