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!
Thanks for this awesome recipe! My husband loves egg drop soup. I can’t wait to make it for him instead of ordering it from a restaurant.
So excited to try this! Can I ask what kind of chicken broth you use or recommend? I’d really like to get it perfectly right! :) thank you.
Sure thing! I love Trader Joe’s or Kitchen Basics chicken stock.
I just want to tell you something about this soup i got sick 20 years ago with lupus already had diabetes, and in so much pain, one day son and his finace went to get lunch she ask if i had eaten egg drop soup i said now didnt think soup good but she brought back chinese dinner and two egg drop soup I was sick that day and didnt eat all my dinner but i eat both soups, i took my time but found out it was lucious and smooth to my tummy, but hours later i really felt better and some how the soup and helped alot well now when my bad bad flare-ups come round i have order of my egg drop soup for the day and it still works i feel so much better not sure what does it but not giving up on it, my favorite soup is vegetable soup but its lost out. thank you for you recipe for egg drop soup but mine might not taste like the chinese place but its a good fixer upper for my illness, thank you for the recipe, and keep up the wonderful food you make so great . thank you, mamamojoe
While Hot and Sour will always be my favorite, I do love Egg Drop as well. It’s my boyfriend’s favorite soup (and probably one of the few he’ll eat). I’ll definitely have to give this a try as the addition of the corn and green onions sounds amazing!! It’s the perfect time for soup now that the nights are getting cold…brrrr!
Cornstarch in Spanish is maizena
Mahalo plenty!!! Luv this soup & now I can make my own….I’m soooo happy
Thanks so much for pinning this! Eggdrop Soup is my family’s go-to whenever anyone is sick! We do natural whole foods, so I am delighted to be able to do this at home with ingredients that I always have on hand.
I just made this tonight! Very yummy & filling. Will make this again, thanks for the recipe.
Hi good folks i make this soup quite frequently and a few hours before i do,i fry some one quarter inch strips of egg roll raps til light golden color drain on paper towel.then when my soup is made i will have crispy noodles to put in my soup and indulge.I hope everyone will try this it’s as easy to make as the soup.everyone have a blessed day!
I made this last night for my husband and I to go along with our Asian-inspired dinner.
Unfortunately, we didn’t really like this at all. I followed the recipe to the T, leaving out the corn (we don’t like it in our soup) and the green onions (because I didn’t have any). I don’t know if it was because of using ground ginger and ground garlic but I definitely think using fresh would make the soup taste better. Perhaps not to n starch either because the soup gets thick with the eggs anyways.
Regardless, your pics look beautiful but sadly this was a miss for my husband and me.