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 used a chicken soup I had frozen and it was delicious! I didn’t have some of the ingredients but was great anyway!
I love this recipe. I like to add white rice to mine, just like I do at the restaurant
So yummy! Perfect for a friend with a cold! Will be my go-to when I’m sick, too! I added a little more salt, ginger and sesame oil (because I used Xanthan gum instead of cornstarch since I’m doing keto and it made it too thick, so I needed a little extra chicken broth). I’m terrible with the eggs, though. I can never get them restaurant style. But it turned out great anyway!
I used chicken broth because that’s what I had and wanted to try this. Looked cloudy.. I boiled instead of simmered, I’m sure that’s what the issue was. Still tasted good..left out the sesame oil and corn..
I added the eggs when the broth was simmering and it still turned out cloudy??
GREAT
Made this for dinner tonight and found it pretty much tasteless. Went back over recipe a couple times thinking I missed something. But no.
Hmmm, maybe it needed to be seasoned with more salt and pepper? I’ve made this recipe countless times, and it’s usually full of flavor.
Excellent taste, but wasn’t thick like in a restaurant. You wouldn’t happen to have any ideas as to what the problem may be?
I used 2.5 tbsp cornstarch…
But, still very good!
I would also like to know the trick to making it thicker without adding too much corn starch and ruining the flavor!
I didn’t have ginger, so I looked up substitutes and nutmeg was an option that I had in the pantry. I just had oral surgery and was craving egg drop soup, googled egg drop soup and it brought me to gimmesomeoven.com.
My photo doesn’t look as yellow as the authors, not sure what I did differently? I don’t care for the nutmeg flavor so I wouldn’t use it again. Four stars are based on my flavors.
Very quick and easy to make! Will keep!
Followers the recipe with a couple of changes. I grow my own corn and freeze it. So I added the frozen corn after whisking in the corn starch and spices but before the egg so that the corn would thaw and heat through. I also added some shiitake mushrooms at the end. Love it! And was simple. Might try fresh ginger next time.
Great base recipe. Added a teaspoon of Turmeric; 1/4 teaspoon white pepper; parsley; 1/2 teaspoon of soy. Wonderful!