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Make restaurant-style Egg Drop Soup at home in just minutes! Flavorful broth with perfect egg ribbons. I include lots of tips and tricks to have perfect results every time.
Egg Drop Soup is a light meal or a beautiful starter for your favorite Asian inspired dinner, like Beef and Broccoli, Chicken Fried Rice, and Crockpot Orange Chicken. It’s asian inspired comfort food that tastes amazing.
You can store leftovers for later if you like, but this Egg Drop Soup recipe is best served immediately. Top with some green onions or chives, or wonton strips for some added crunch.
It’s also known as Egg Flower Soup, because of the way the egg ribbons look a little like blossoms in the soup.
Table of Contents
Why We Love It
- Easy to find ingredients – The soup is made from simple ingredients that you can find at any grocery store.
- Quick to make – You can make an entire pot of soup in less than 30 minutes!
- Restaurant quality – It’s easy to make this Chinese restaurant favorite right at home.
- Budget friendly – It’s made with minimal, affordable ingredients.
- High in protein – Eggs are an excellent source of protein, and you’ll get about 8 grams of protein per bowl.
Ingredients for Egg Drop Soup
The ingredients are simple and easy to find at any regular grocery store.
- Olive oil
- Minced fresh garlic and fresh ginger – Fresh is always best for optimal flavor, but you can use ground garlic and ground ginger if you’re in a pinch.
- Shredded carrots
- Frozen yellow corn kernels
- Green onions – Also called spring onions or scallions
- Chicken broth – or chicken stock
- Brown sugar –
- Soy sauce – You could also use tamari or coconut aminos.
- Cornstarch – this helps thicken the soup
- Eggs – You can easily adjust the number of eggs based on your preference
- Turmeric – this is optional for color. You don’t need to use much and you can omit entirely.
How To Make Egg Drop Soup
You won’t believe how easy soup is to make! The entire pot is ready to go in well under 30 minutes.
- Saute veggies. Start by heating the oil over medium-high heat in a large stock pot. Add the garlic, ginger, and black pepper and cook for about a minute until fragrant. Then add the carrots, corn, and whites of the green onions and saute until tender.
- Add broth and cornstarch. Add the chicken stock to the pot and simmer for about 10 minutes. To thicken the soup, whisk together cornstarch and water in a small bowl, also called a cornstarch slurry, then slowly add to the soup. Stir the soup constantly and allow to thicken. Remove from heat.
- Add eggs. With the soup off of the heat, create a ‘whirlpool’ by gently stirring in a clockwise motion. Slowly pour in the beaten eggs into the whirlpool – you can use chopsticks to help separate the egg stream. See the tips below in the post on how to get perfect egg ribbons!
- Cook and serve. Allow the eggs to set in the hot soup for a few minutes before topping serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s a soup that’s commonly found at Chinese restaurants in the US and is usually served as an appetizer or meal starter. The base of the soup is a super flavorful chicken broth. Raw eggs are whisked into the hot broth to create egg ‘ribbons’. The name comes from ‘dropping’ eggs into the soup!
There are two main tips to prevent your soup from being cloudy:
Don’t Overheat – Make sure your soup base isn’t too hot. When you add the cornstarch mixture and the egg, I recommend removing the pot from the heat.
Don’t Over Stir – If you stir the soup too much it will break up the egg more and cause the broth to be cloudy.
Serving Suggestions
I like to set out toppings that everyone might like for their soup. Things like sesame seeds, sliced green onions or chives, and wonton strips or fried chow mein noodles.
Pair with other Chinese takeout favorites. Homemade Crab Rangoon is a fun appetizer or side. Make a batch of Chinese Lemon Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, or Sweet and Sour Pork as a filling main dish.
How to Get Perfect Egg Ribbons
- Thicken the soup first – Thicken the soup base with the cornstarch and water mixture before slowly pouring the eggs in. This is vital. It really helps create strands versus chunks. If you add the eggs before thickening the soup it can cause the eggs to break down too much (Picture tiny egg flakes instead of thin ribbons).
- Turn off the heat – Make sure the heat is off. The egg will cook in the hot broth. Bring to a boil, start the whirlpool and then remove.
- Pour Egg Slowly – Pour the egg super slowly into the soup and use chopsticks to break it up as it enters the whirlpool.
- Maintain Whirpool – You can use the chopsticks to keep the whirlpool going continuously. Avoid starting and stopping the whirlpool repeatedly as that can cause the soup to be cloudy.
Storage and Reheating
Storage – The soup is best served immediately, but you can store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator to enjoy within a couple of days.
Reheating – When reheating, you want to be careful not to overheat as that will overcook the eggs. I recommend reheating in a pot on the stove on medium-low heat, stirring until warmed. You can also reheat it in the microwave, but I would do so in 15-30 second intervals so you don’t overheat it.
Expert Tips
- Adjust the number of eggs – The quantity of egg can be adjusted. Some restaurant egg soups can be very egg heavy using 1 egg per cup of soup, while I prefer to use less eggs. You can adjust to your preference.
- Add turmeric after the eggs – I like to wait to add the turmeric until after the eggs are added. The eggs do give the soup a creamy yellow color, so it’s best to wait on adding more color.
- Add more vegetables – Sometimes I’ve added more veggies, like frozen peas, lightly sauteed mushrooms or bok choy.
- Add additional protein – Some even like to add cooked baby shrimp or tofu to their soup, which is also delicious.
More Tasty Soup Recipes You’ll Love
Egg Drop Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ cup shredded carrots
- ½ cup frozen yellow corn
- 3 green onions sliced (white bottoms and green tops divided)
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons water
- 4 lightly beaten eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric optional, for color
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat.
- Flavor the oil with the garlic, ginger and ground black pepper. (About 1 minute)
- Add the carrots, corn and white part of the green onions and cook for about 3 minutes or until fully cooked and tender.
- Add the chicken broth and simmer for about ten minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water and slowly pour into soup. Allow to thicken, stirring constantly. Remove from heat once desired consistency is reached.
- Create a “whirlpool” in the stock pot by gently stirring the soup in a clockwise motion.
- Slowly pour the beaten eggs into the whirlpool and use chopsticks to help separate the egg stream.
- Allow the eggs to cook and set in the hot broth for a few minutes.
- Top with green onion tops and serve.
Notes
- If using turmeric to enhance coloring, you can add at Step 5 and adjust as needed.
- Storage – The soup is best served immediately, but you can store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator to enjoy within a couple of days.
- Reheating – When reheating, you want to be careful not to overheat as that will overcook the eggs. I recommend reheating in a pot on the stove on medium-low heat, stirring until warmed. You can also reheat it in the microwave, but I would do so in 15-30 second intervals so you don’t overheat it.
- There are lots of tips in the accompanying post, so be sure to read all of them for the best results.
Great recipes. Thank you. I do love veggie egg drop soup. 😉
You are so welcome Donita! Thanks for stopping by.
This was a really great recipe. I love egg drop soup when it has veggies in it but had never tried to make it at home. My egg ribbons weren’t as pretty as yours but the taste of the soup was absolutely fantastic.
Awesome feedback Nancy! Thanks for stopping by.
I have never had Egg Drop Soup with:
½ cup shredded carrots
½ cup frozen yellow corn
3 green onions sliced (white bottoms and green tops divided)
All of the Egg Drop Soup I have ever had does look exactly like the picture shown. I don’t see any of the vegetables listed in the recipe in the picture shown either. What will it do to the dish if I omit the vegetables?
Thank You!
Kim Pratt
I’m not sure what you mean by you don’t see them in the picture, because you can see pieces of orange (carrots) in every photo. If you want to leave our the vegetables you can do that.