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 had to improvise. Since I didn’t have sesame oil, I took a tsp of sesame seeds and crushed them in a makeshift mortar and pistol (sp?). I then roasted them in grapeseed oil with the garlic powder and fresh grated ginger. Instead of green onions, I sub’d onion powder. The ginger and sesame make the difference! Wow! Thanks for this recipe. I’ll use it forever!
This recipe is amazing! A few adjustments I suggest are to add more of each seasoning that this recipe (especially garlic powder and salt – I just poured an additional heavy shake of each). Also, I recommend you pour your egg in when the soup is completely boiling, not just simmering. I made this recipe without corn because I didn’t have it on hand, and it was totally delicious and satisfying on its own. I will try with corn in the future.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Had some egg drop soup from our local restaurant this weekend. I was craving more, so I decided to try making my own. When I searched for recipes, this was the first one that came up. I really enjoy the no knead bread recipe from here, so I thought I’d give it a try. It was very easy to make. It doesn’t taste like the restaurant soup. It isn’t as slimy and has a Ricker Asian flavor. No doubt that is due to the ginger and sesame oil. I may try another recipe that doesn’t use those ingredients the next time just to get closer to the taste of the restaurant soup. But this was good in its own right, it just wasn’t exactly the taste I was expecting. I will make it again, especially if I can’t find one that mimics the restaurant.
I’ve made this recipe several times. First time I followed the exact directions and as much as I love corn, didn’t care for it in the soup. I also love garlic so I tweaked the recipe and added a 1-2 tbsp. of minced garlic along with the powder, and also a 1-2 tsp of onion powder. I also add a little soy sauce and sriracha Hot sauce with additional green onion and crispy noodles (we call them “Chinese chips”) just before serving. We love it as much or maybe more then our favorite Chinese Restaurant our family has been going to for 5 generations now. Most places now add noodles, peas n carrots, and/or other veggies or tofu. Nope In this case, with Egg flower Soup is made best with less! OK maybe I go overboard on the garlic…lol
Also,n Love your Fried Rice Recipe! Butter much better then Oil and I add a few sliced of chopped bacon before cooking eggs, then set bacon aside, drain grease and set it aside. cook scrambled eggs with pat of butter in same pan, do same and set aside. Then in that same pan I add the butter to saute the veggies, then before adding rice instead of butter I add a little bit of the bacon grease along with the cooked bacon and other ingredients. Sometimes, I cook my rice in a broth or add some spices to the water so it will has some flavor. Depending if I am serving meat with the fried rice. I have even used Lipton Onion Soup Mix to try something different. This is a great fried rice recipe! I just also do something different because of personal taste!
Excellent Egg drop soup … and so easy to make . I doubled up everything and made a big pot . I used a good chicken broth and used 1/2 chicken broth and 1/2 vegetable broth .. Delicious ?. Thank you … my egg ribbons turned out great , the soup was very hot when I added the eggs ..
It tasted good, but the cornstarch turned it an unappetizing pale color. I actually dumped the first batch thinking I did something wrong. Usually when I make your recipes they look like your pictures. Any ideas?
This soup is delicious! So easy and better than take out!!!
This recipe is my favorite egg drop soup recipe. Delicious. Thank you!
Made this for the first time today. It was so easy and delicious. I will never buy this again. It will be done by the time delivery of of the rest of the meal is here. The green onions and corn gave it s sweetness. I initially thought 1 tsp of ginger in the broth was too much, but it was perfect after adding the rest of the ingredients.
Used 1/2 tsp of the sesame seed oil and that’s all I can even taste. Getting a section of soup where the oil hadn’t touched – it was delicious. Tasted nothing like either of the delicious egg drop soups I had had before though, not with that much sesame oil.