Chinese Egg Drop Soup is one of those dishes that can be made incredibly well as a warming start to a meal…..or done terribly, horribly, no-no wrong. There’s an Asian restaurant near my house, not naming names but *cough* on 53rd Avenue *cough*, who serves Egg Drop Soup that has so much food coloring that it practically glows in the dark. In fact, when the server comes out with it, the lights flicker with a low *ddzzzzddzzz* sound due to the soup’s radioactive contents.
You know what I mean, right?
So let me show you how to make the soup right. Chinese Egg Drop Soup should be savory, soothing, a little warming heat from the white pepper. The eggs should be delicate, floating, whisper-thin silky strands. Do I have you craving for a bowl now?
This recipe is from Diana Kuan’s new book, The Chinese Takeout Cookbook. Diana and I have not only gotten to know each other through blogging about Asian food (go Chinese sistahs!) but we’ve also shared a meal together early on, when she came to visit in Tampa. We also share the same literary agent (hi Janis!) and I’m proud to share with you her recipe for Egg Drop Soup.
The Chinese Takeout Cookbook by Diana Kuan
A note about ground white pepper: Buy it! Ground while pepper is lovely. Ignore anyone who claims it tastes strange. white peppercorn is basically a regular peppercorn, with the black outer coating removed. It’s less pungent, and the effect is more of an all-over warming than hot. Plus, since it’s a powder, it dissolves well in soup (no harsh black flakes to bite on).
Chinese Egg Drop Soup Recipe Video
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Chinese Egg Drop Soup
Ingredients
- 6 shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper (or to taste)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in 3 tablespoons water
- 1 large egg
- handful thinly sliced green onion
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over high heat, add the mushrooms, chicken stock, rice wine and ginger and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir in the salt and pepper.
- Add the cornstarch mixture to the simmering soup and stir until the soup has slightly thickened (enough to coat the back of a spoon).
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg lightly with a fork. Slowly pour the egg into the soup in a steady stream while continuouslly stirring with a ladle. The egg should cook immediately Turn off the heat to prevent from overcooking the egg. Sprinkle the green onions on top and serve.
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Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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I love egg drop soup and you made that look so easy.
This was so good! I didn’t have the shitake mushrooms, but used chanterelle’s instead. This is what I like to see when I try out a new recipe. No left overs. My grandson did everything but lick the empty bowl. I did use just a little more pepper. Will be making this again. Thank you for putting it on the web site.
Thank you Vincent!!! Jaden
I make the chinese egg drop soup once a week . I prefer to drink the soup the next day the flavor is more enhanced the next day. Yummy and Healthy Thank U
Oh yummy I love egg drop soup and this looks so delicious . I cant wait to make it. Thanks so much for the recipe. Love them.
This is one I have to try out. There is a Chinese restaurant here that does egg drop soup. Not bad, but I have had better. I will let you know how this works out for us.
Congrats on your book. Can you please let me know where can I find chicken soup with no sodium? Is rice vinegar available as I want only non alcohol product?
Thanks
It’s simple to make your own chicken soup! I buy whatever chicken is on sale, throw it in a pressure cooker (with or without vegetables) and hit the soup button.
I made the egg drop soup and i must say it is delicious, aromatic, healthy, will definitely make again.
Thank you Susan! – Jaden
Tasty flavorsome healthy the egg drop soup easy to make.
Thanks so much for this! You made it easy to understand and I now have a new favorite quick, easy, healthy meal. And now I also have a new cooking trick with the dehydrated mushrooms. Thank you!!!!!!!! I love your site. It has opened my eyes on how to make some of my favorite asian meals at home. My husband was in the Navy and lived in Japan for over a year and traveled to some other asian areas during that time as well and he fell in love with the food. So, it makes me happy to be able to serve up his favorites.
Chinese Egg Drop Soup I make this receipe two to three times a week , Extremely pleasing to the sense of taste and so easy to prepare. thank you
Can you sub a little bit of rice vinegar for the rice wine? I don’t have any and I’m preggo so I don’t really want to add it. Having major cravings for Asian food!
I made it! With rice wine. It’s good but not as pretty as yours!
Oh but I hope it tasted wonderful!
I love egg drop soup. My experience is pretty much limited to restaurants, but a lot of the restaurants in our new town seem to use a ton of cornstarch and make the soup way too thick!
I have tried to make egg drop soup at home a couple of times. The taste is good, but my eggs generally turn out to be clumpy and think, sort of like smallish curds of scrambled egg, rather than the thin egg sheets. I have tried to continually stir while adding the egg, but clearly something is going wrong. Any tips?
I have been Craving for some Egg Drop Soup but, being Gluten Free for 2yrs has been a little challenge in eating certain foods. What could I change when eating certain Chinese Fav??
Congrats on your book and good luck with its future. I like your site
very much, what I like the best is when you tell how you came up with your delicious recipes.
Thanks for the shout out, Jaden. 🙂 I can’t believe it was over 4 years ago that we met and had dinner together for the first time. Thanks for the video about my recipe, and I’m eager to check out your new book as well!
I never would have guessed I had most of the ingredients on hand for this soup! Guess I’ll have to try it out 🙂
I love egg drop soup and made this as soon as I saw it. It is great, the small touch of cornstarch gives just the right mouth feel. For a simple recipe it is very satisfying and delicious.
I’ve never liked egg drop soup in restaurants but that looks wonderful.
Will try that. Thank you!
Quick question- I just started on the Paleo diet and love Asian soups. The only ingredient here that I can’t eat is corn starch. Do you know of a good substitute for the corn starch that doesn’t include any rice, grains, soy or sugar?
Thanks!
Just leave out the cornstarch – the soup will be just fine! You can also add one more egg to the recipe, which will help thicken it.
I know a nice trick… You can substitute cornstarch with cabbage. It sounds weird but it works. Boil a small amount of it pass though a blender and add it to the soup while it boils. Actually it works for all thick sauces. I use it all the time and trust me no smell of cabbage when it blends in with all the other ingredients.
Filé powder (ground sassafras – used in Cajun/Creole American cooking) or arrowroot can also function as thickeners.
Alexis CRAVES this when she is under the weather so I’ll keep this recipe tucked away. Great description of the restaurant’s soup, I could hear the lights flicker myself.
I love egg drop soups! They taste so good and they are so easy to make…which makes me wonder why so many restaurants can’t seem to do them right. Another version of the egg drop soup that I like to share with you includes shrimp and cilantro. Would love to have you try that version and hear what you think!
Egg drop soup is one of personal favorite soups to cook at home. I sometimes also like to add some seaweed to turn it into a seaweed egg drop. Great video demo and recipe! Thanks for sharing it!
We have only one Chinese restaurant in the whole metropolis that serves it like this! And it’s a little family run Cantonese restaurant that has been doing it right for 80 years
: ) Soooo I’ve homeschooled myself to make it this way. The Italians have a minestrone like soup that incorporates the egg this way & it translates to “Little Threads”. Thank 4 sharing the Real Deal & keep on inspiring!
Oh I would love a bowl of this right now…maybe two or three! Buying your 2nd cookbook soon! I have really enjoyed your first one.
This soup looks amazing, and it doesn’t look too complicated to make. Thank you for taking the mystery out of Chinese cooking! I am off to buy this cookbook! 🙂
Jaden this egg drop soup sounds amazing and looks so good. I definitely agree with you, it is either hit or miss at restaurants. But when you find the good places you stick with them. Definitely need to give this recipe a try!
I always wonder why restaurants make their egg drop soup neon yellow! Just made some egg drop soup for breakfast for my son this morning – he was under the weather and it’s so nourishing. Love white pepper – my dad used to use it all the time in soups.
This egg drop soup looks wonderful and after looking at the recipe i can see that it seems quite easy to make. So enticing.