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!
I made this, and it was good, but it was very cloudy (it looked like a cream soup). Part of this was due to not mixing the eggs correctly, but before I added the eggs, the corn starch had made the soup very cloudy. I’d like it to look more like the soup in the video. Any tips?
The broth definitely goes through a cloudy stage while it’s warming up, but it should be nice and clear by the time it comes to a boil, so I’m not sure what happened there… :( Maybe be sure to keep whisking it so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan?
Mine came out kind of thin and looking more like watered down oatmeal than egg drop soup. Tasted good but apparently I missed something in presentation
Oh no! Not sure what went wrong there… :(
I am pregnant and was dying for some oriental food and this hit the spot!! I’ve never made this before and actually not that big of a fan of it in the placed that I’ve tried it but this recipe hit the spot. I messed up on the adding the eggs but it didn’t effect the flavor at all. Definitely going into my must keep files. I also did grated fresh ginger and only 3 eggs and had chicken egg rolls on the side. So much YUM! Thank you.
Awesome, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
This looks amazing question can I use flour instead of cornstarch if I don’t have any?
Thanks, Tasia — we hope you enjoy it! And yes, you can use flour instead of cornstarch.
I would like to be able to make egg drop soup as bright yellow as in restaurants (and your photos) but it eludes me. I have tried several types of chicken broth, stock, and bullion combination, to no avail. How do you get your soup to an almost neon yellow? (Mine always turns out more like your previous photos)
Feel free to use egg yolks (or just whole eggs) if you’d like a more yellow soup! :)
i add a few drops of yellow food coloring!
:)
How many calories are in one cup? We are counting calories!
Hi Lisa! We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!
I didn’t have much luck with this recipe. The ginger flavor is stronger than I expected, but not strong enough to be a nice full flavor. I followed all of the suggestions from other commenter to make this soup everything I had hoped for, but nothing seemed to work. It’s not bad, just kind of bland and not a satisfying, rich egg drop flavor.
Hi Amanda! We’re sorry to hear you didn’t care for this. We appreciate you giving it a try and sharing your feedback with us!
Just made this tonight and it is awesome! my very first time making egg drop soup. I like the texture of the corn in it too. Who knew something so simple could taste so good!
Thanks Lori — we’re happy you enjoyed it — thanks for giving the recipe a try! :)
This is a great recipe! I just had the gastric sleeve surgery and I would highly recommend this recipe after week 1!
Thank you Tracee — we’re so glad you enjoyed it, and we hope you’re recovering well from your surgery!
I would love to make this, but wondering if it can be reheated if kept in the fridge? Thank you! ?
Hi Hannah! Yes, you can re-heat this, you just need to do it gradually and gently (we suggest on low, on the stovetop). We hope you enjoy!