Egg Drop Soup

My grandmother was famous for her big pots of slow-cooked Chinese soups (like this oxtail soup) that were served at every dinner. I adored these broths that were full of meat and vegetables that had been simmering for hours, but sometimes she wanted to just make a few servings of soup quickly. On those nights, I would get extra excited. She was making egg drop soup, something we never ordered at restaurants since it was so easy to make at home.

With tender swirls of silky egg suspended in a simple broth, this became a staple in my college cooking repertoire when I needed comfort food on a budget. Sometimes egg drop soup would be my entire meal, but other times I would pair it with a side of stir-fried greens or frozen or homemade pot stickers. A hot, satisfying bowl of Chinese egg drop soup was something I could throw together in just 10 minutes, and here’s how you can do it, too. 

• It’s comforting and quick to make. Made from almost all pantry ingredients and a few eggs, it cooks in just 10 minutes.
• It’s easy to customize. Feel free to add a handful of corn kernels or tomato, or even some diced tofu or cooked ground pork for an extra boost of protein.

• Broth: Reach for low-sodium chicken broth here.
• Eggs: Beaten eggs get swirled into the soup, giving it a silky texture.
• Cornstarch: Thickens the soup slightly. You only need 3 tablespoons, since you don’t want to end up with overly thickened, gloppy soup.
• Toasted sesame oil: Just a tiny pour adds some depth to the broth.

1. Make the slurry. Stir a little bit of broth with the cornstarch to make a slurry.
2. Heat and season the broth. Bring the rest of the broth to a boil, then season with toasted sesame oil, kosher salt, and white pepper.
3. Thicken the broth. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and simmer until the broth is slightly thickened.
4. Swirl in the eggs. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting. While stirring constantly, pour in the beaten eggs. Let sit for 1 minute off the heat for the eggs to finish setting. Cooking the eggs on very low heat means that they won’t overcook and turn rubbery.

• Although chicken broth is traditionally used in egg drop soup, you can use a low-sodium vegetable broth instead.
• If you’d like to flavor the soup with aromatics like garlic or ginger, simmer it in the broth, covered, for 5 minutes before moving on to Step 2.
• This is the simplest version of egg drop soup, but you add chopped tomato, diced tofu, corn kernels, or even crab meat if you want. You can also garnish the soup with fried wonton strips for crunch.

Leftover soup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Reheat on the stovetop over low heat so that the eggs don’t overcook.

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