This classic Egg Drop Soup recipe is quick and easy to make in just 15 minutes and always tastes so cozy and comforting.
Growing up, my family had a tradition of eating lunch at our local little Chinese restaurant every single Saturday. And every single Saturday — like, we’re talking nearly two decades of Saturdays here — I would order “the usual.”
Egg drop soup. ♡
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I absolutely adore a good bowl of egg drop soup. It was my favorite food in the whole entire world as a kid. And today, it’s still one of the most comforting, nostalgic, delicious soups I know.
It’s also one of the easiest soups I know. All you need to make this egg drop soup recipe is about 15 minutes (tops) in the kitchen, a handful of easy ingredients, and a quick tip for how to drizzle those beautiful egg ribbons. Then a delicious batch of egg drop soup can simmering on the stove and ready to be served in no time.
Let’s make some soup!
Egg Drop Soup Recipe | 1-Minute Video
So What Is Egg Drop Soup?
In case this recipe is new to you, egg drop soup is a staple at Chinese restaurants across the United States. It’s typically made with lightly-seasoned chicken or veggie broth, and filled with delicious egg “ribbons”, which are created by whisking raw eggs into the simmering broth.
Egg Drop Soup Ingredients:
To make this homemade egg drop soup recipe, you will need:
- Good-quality chicken or vegetable stock: Either will do.
- Cornstarch: To thicken the broth a bit.
- Seasonings: Just a pinch of ground ginger, garlic powder, salt and black pepper.
- Eggs: Which we will whisk and then drizzle into the soup.
- Sesame oil: Absolutely essential in this recipe, and also one of my favorite ingredients!
- Green onions: Thinly sliced, to mix into the soup and also use as a garnish.
How To Make Egg Drop Soup:
To make egg drop soup, simply:
- Prepare your stock: Whisk the stock, cornstarch, ginger and garlic powder together until combined before turning on the heat. It’s essential that the broth is room temperature or cooler, otherwise the cornstarch will clump up and not dissolve.
- Bring the stock to a simmer: Stirring occasionally. While this is heating, go ahead and whisk together your eggs in a separate measuring cup or bowl.
- Slowly stir in the eggs: Once your stock has come to a simmer, use a whisk or a fork to begin stirring the stock round and round to create a slow “whirlpool”. Then gradually drizzle in the eggs as you continue to stir the stock, and they will turn into those magical little ribbons. Remove pan from heat.
- Add remaining ingredients. Stir in the sesame oil and green onions until combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Serve warm. Garnished with extra green onions, if you’d like.
What To Serve With Egg Drop Soup:
This soup would be delicious when served with:
- My favorite Fried Rice (or Quinoa Fried Rice)
- 12-Minute Chicken & Broccoli
- 20-Minute Moo Shu Pork (or Chicken)
- Beef & Broccoli
- Thai Basil Chicken
- Sesame Noodles with Broccoli and Almonds
- Black Pepper Chicken
More Favorite Soup Recipes:
If you love egg drop soup, feel free to check out these other faves:
- Cabbage Egg Drop Soup (my other favorite version of this soup!)
- Hot and Sour Soup
- Miso Soup
- Tom Kha Gai
- Egg Roll Soup
- Everyday Green Curry
- Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup
Egg Drop Soup
Ingredients
- 4 cups good-quality chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- fine sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper, to taste
- thinly-sliced green onions, for garnish
Instructions
- Make the broth. Whisk together stock (chilled or room-temperature), cornstarch, ginger, garlic powder and white pepper in a medium sauce pan until smooth. Heat over high heat until the stock comes to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
- Whisk the eggs. Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs and egg whites in a small measuring cup or bowl. (I find the measuring cup easier for pouring.)
- Stir in the egg ribbons. Once the broth reaches a simmer, use a whisk or two chopsticks to stir the broth in a circular motion, creating a whirlpool. Then slowly pour the whisked eggs in a very thin stream into the soup as you continue stirring, in order to create egg ribbons.
- Season. Remove pan from heat. Stir in the sesame oil until combined. Season with salt and additional white pepper to taste, also adding a dash or two of extra sesame oil if needed. (Saltiness will depend on your brand of chicken stock, but I generally find this soup needs an extra ½ to 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt.)
- Serve. Serve immediately, garnished with lots of green onions and a twist of black pepper.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
What are the red specks floating atop the soup in your photos?
Oh, that’s just ground pepper. We hope you enjoy the soup!
Haley, it’s snowing here in Sheridan WY (yes I know it is mid-May) so I was looking for an easy soup to warm me up. My husband and I just tried your egg drop soup and it was the best! I followed your suggestion regarding vinegar to keep the eggs from lumping and it worked. I used rice vinegar and it added a nice oriental flavor to boot! Please don’t laugh, but I didn’t have any corn on hand and I wanted a hearty soup, so I used chick peas (garbanzo beans) and it was very yummy. In addition to being filling it added a nice serving of fiber; win win.
Hi Karen! Oh my goodness, that’s crazy! We are glad to know this soup helped warm you guys up though, and that you enjoyed it, and that the vinegar trick worked!! Also, the chickpeas isn’t weird at all, that’s a great idea! :) I have to note that this is Ali’s blog and recipe though (can’t take credit for either of those!) I just help with the comments! :)
I really love the recipe! I made it for my extremely picky daughter, and she loved it! I just had to exclude some ingredients that she didn’t like. Thanks for the recipe!
We’re happy to hear that Vivienne — thanks for giving the recipe a try! :)
Sounds delish! Anxious to try your recipe!!! Thank-you!
Thanks Karen — we hope you enjoy!
This looks so great I really want to try it.
Thanks, we hope you enjoy!
I grew up eating Chinese food every week too and LOVE egg drop soup. I have watched so many dang videos and I still don’t have success making it myself. My eggs are never ribbons. They are either curdles or clotted muck. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong!
I’ve tried drizzling the mixed egg directly in the pan when stirring, over a fork, chopsticks, etc. I’ve tried multiple different broth temperatures from simmering to hard boiling (yes I turn off the heat before adding the egg).
I would really love to figure out what my egg drop soup just not work.
I’m actually a very good cook so it irks me that something everyone says is so easy evades me.
Hi Melissa! We’ve read that adding a bit of vinegar to your broth is supposed to help the egg retain its shape, so you could try that! We hope this helps and that you enjoy the recipe!
This looks delicious! My daughter is allergic to sesame… is there something we can use in place of the sesame oil?
Thanks Kristina, we hope you and your daughter enjoy this! Hmmm, can she have peanut oil? If so, we’d suggest that (otherwise you’ll be fine to just leave it out and not worry about a substitute, since it’s not a huge amount). We hope this helps! :)
Hi, would vegetable stock work?
Thks Jo
Yes, you can use vegetable stock! We hope you enjoy! :)
Do you know the calories per serving?
Hi Lauren! Unfortunately we don’t, but some people like consulting the MyFitnessPal app, so feel free to give that a try! :)
I made this recipe. Only things I did different was I made my own broth, used onion powder instead of the ginger powder and I used olive oil in stead of the sesame seed oil
Awesome Davina — we hope you enjoyed it! :)