Short answer
Plain miso is usually halal: it is soybeans fermented with koji (a mould) and salt, sometimes with rice or barley. Some miso has a little ethanol added as a preservative, which many Hanafi scholars allow in small amounts. Miso soup and dressings can also contain sake or mirin, which are rice wines and not halal, so check the label.
Fermented soybean paste is halal. Added non-grape ethanol used only as a preservative falls under the Hanafi allowance for small amounts that cannot intoxicate; sake or mirin added as an ingredient is an alcoholic drink and is avoided.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Miso with added alcohol is avoided, since all intoxicating alcohol is treated as khamr.
- Maliki
- Miso with added alcohol is avoided, since all intoxicating alcohol is treated as khamr.
- Hanbali
- Miso with added alcohol is avoided, since all intoxicating alcohol is treated as khamr.
Explanation
Miso is a Japanese paste made by fermenting soybeans with salt and koji, a mould grown on rice or barley. Fermentation produces a natural trace of alcohol, as in bread or soy sauce, which cannot intoxicate and does not affect the ruling.
Label points:
- Alcohol or ethanol listed: added to stop fermentation in the packet. On the Hanafi view taught by Mufti Taqi Usmani, this small amount of non-grape alcohol is allowed (see ethanol in food). Many other scholars avoid it, and alcohol-free miso is easy to find.
- Sake or mirin listed: these are rice wines, poured in as a drink would be. Avoid.
- Dashi in instant miso soup: usually bonito fish and kelp, both halal. Some add clams, which Hanafis do not eat.
In Japanese restaurants, miso soup is usually made with bonito dashi, but some kitchens add sake. Ask if you can. The same questions arise with soy sauce and gochujang, and dishes cooked with mirin are covered in food cooked with wine.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Maaida 5:90
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَا ٱلْخَمْرُ وَٱلْمَيْسِرُ وَٱلْأَنصَابُ وَٱلْأَزْلَٰمُ رِجْسٌۭ مِّنْ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنِ فَٱجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ﴿٩٠﴾
O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.
Intoxicating drinks are to be avoided.
Sunan Abi Dawud 3681
Graded hasan sahih... ما أسكر كثيره فقليله حرام ...
"Whatever intoxicates in a large amount, a small amount of it is haram."
Why sake or mirin added to food is avoided.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Takmilat Fath al-Mulhim (Mufti Taqi Usmani), Kitab al-Ashriba. Small amounts of non-grape alcohol in foods and medicines, under conditions, on the view of Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.