I find a bowl of egg drop soup to be one of the most soothing and comforting dishes ever invented. You really only need three base ingredients to make it, two in a pinch. And yet breathing in that steamy broth and savoring the first spoonful of silky egg curd, all my troubles immediately fade away.
If you hadn't already guessed, those key ingredients for egg drop soup are stock, eggs, and a bit of cornstarch to thicken things up. You can nix the cornstarch if that's not your style.
But you can also add in other ingredients of your choosing. I love some fresh ginger, star anise, and a cinnamon stick infused in the broth. If I'm eating this soup for dinner, I'll also add some tofu, mushrooms if I have them, and a handful of greens.
This recipe calls for using a bit of cornstarch in both the broth and in the eggs themselves. This is a trick I picked up from Kenji López-Alt in his recipe for egg drop soup on Serious Eats. He says that the bit of cornstarch in the eggs will inhibit protein bonds and keep the eggs from going rubbery. Since starting to follow this advice, all my egg drop soups have been silky smooth and never over-cooked.
This soup is properly an appetizer. Despite its simplicity, I guarantee that your guests will be overjoyed to see this coming when you walk out of the kitchen. This recipe will make four small cups of soup, but can be easily scaled up if you have more guests at your table. I generally use 1 to 2 cups of broth and one egg per person.
One last parting note: this is not a soup that keeps well. It's best poured straight from the saucepan into the serving bowls and then eaten as soon as it's cool enough to swallow.
Serves 4 as an appetizer or 2 for a light dinner
Base Ingredients
4 cups (32 oz) chicken or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 to 4 large eggs
Salt or soy sauce
Flavoring Extras - Use one or all
1/2" fresh ginger, peeled and cut into rounds
1 stem lemongrass, bruised
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
2 star anise
6-8 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons miso
Soup Extras - Use one or all
1/2 block (7-8 oz) extra-firm tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces
8 oz mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 bunch baby bok choy, thinly sliced
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
Pour the stock into a saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Put the smaller flavoring extras you're using into a tea ball or spice bag. Add all your flavoring extras to the saucepan with the stock. Turn down the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Scoop out all the flavoring extras with a slotted spoon. Taste and add salt or soy sauce as needed.
Add any soup extras to the stock and simmer for five minutes. Save some scallions for sprinkling on top of the soup at the end.
Scoop out 1/4 cup or so of the stock and whisk it with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a small bowl. Whisk this back into the stock and let it simmer for a minute or two until the broth no longer tastes starchy.
Whisk together the eggs in a small bowl with the remaining teaspoon of cornstarch. Make sure your soup is at a bare simmer. Holding a fork over the bowl (see photo), pour the eggs slowly through the tines. Whisk the broth gently with your other hand as you pour. Let the soup stand for a few seconds to finish cooking the eggs.
Serve immediately, topped with thinly sliced scallions.
Related: Bao and Beyond: 8 Chinese Favorites
(Images: Emma Christensen)
What Drink Do You Order at a Bad Bar? 25 Food Writers Share Their Safety Drinks
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Red-and-Pink-Stripe...
Must-See Small Cool Homes: Week Two
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
I love mine with spinach, a dash of soy sauce and a good dose of white pepper (no cornstarch).
I love making egg drop soup! And I appreciate your endorsement of adding vegetables - I always add mushrooms and spinach to mine (and cubed tofu if I have it around).
A splash of cooking sherry and a few drops of sesame oil can also give it some pizzazz.
I make it with fish broth and it is sooooo good!!
My aunt is a bit picky with her egg drop soup. Doesn't like it 'cloudy' and to avoid that, she never adds the yolk, just the whites
I second the addition of sesame oil. It gives it a little kick and mega flavor without overpowering the egg.
My mom would add frozen carrots and peas into the egg drop soup for some color (and veg). I can't imagine it now without it!
Miso-broth egg drop soup, with a little sesame oil, and sliced green onions. When I feel naughty, I add an extra poached egg in each bowl.
I like to add egg into most of my impromptu noodle soups.
I like to put a raw egg in a plastic sandwich bag, seal it, squish it with my hand to mix (fun part), cut the bottom tip, and let it slowly stream out into my simmering soup while I stir.
Christine M. adding a poached egg sounds wonderful.
Ohhh, heading to the kitchen to make this right now...
Made some tonight - thanks so much for the inspiration! We loved it. :)
VickieFan - your 'plastic bag' funnel tip worked great! :)
Perfect timing! We just had take-out egg drop soup this week, and I was wondering if it would easy to make at home. I'll have to try this.
"Holding a fork over the bowl (see photo), pour the eggs slowly through the tines. Whisk the broth gently with your other hand as you pour."
Sounds like I need 3 hands? One to hold bowl of eggs and pour, one to hold fork (in missing photo) and one to whisk?
Either way, sounds DELICIOUS as I was oddly just thinking about making this.
It sounded weird to me too Kindlekat but the pic shows a hand holding the bowl while the thumb presses the fork across it. I think that's still awkward though, why not just drizzle the egg in slowly, sans fork, while whisking?
Looks yum though, and got me thinking about making it.
I tried this the other night and ended up with an ugly yellow soup of "bleh" with a lot of semi-cooked egg on the bottom of the pot. (I let it stand almost 30 seconds.)
I'll just have to try it again.