How To Make Egg Drop Soup

Around the World in 30 Soups: We collaborated with chefs, cookbook authors, and our own Kitchn crew to share a globetrotting adventure in soups from countries and cuisines around the world. This stop: China.

China is an enormous nation full of wildly varied soups and stews. Together with Christine Gallary, one of our editors, we chose the one that might be most familiar to many Americans — and yet it is one that also has rich meaning for Christine herself in her Chinese family heritage.

You might recognize egg drop soup from the bowl you get with the lunch plates at Chinese-American restaurants, with swirling strands of eggs floating in a light, savory broth. I know it from my Chinese grandmother, who made this quick and easy soup even though she was also known for her other long-simmered broths and soups. Egg drop soup makes me think of her every time I see it, and it’s a soup I turn to when I need something light, comforting, and warm. Here’s how you can make it at home.

Even though egg drop soup is served at many Chinese restaurants, it wasn’t something my family ordered when we went out to eat. Instead, this soup, also known as egg “flower” soup for how the strands of eggs look like flower petals, was one we made and ate exclusively at home. Because it only needed three main ingredients and was quick to cook, it was the soup my grandmother and mother turned to when we needed soup in a pinch.

Our version usually contained corn kernels and sometimes ground pork, but I’ve also had it with pieces of soft tofu and have seen recipes that add winter melon or even tomato.

The beauty of egg drop soup lies in the fact that it contains only three core ingredients, and they’re all kitchen staples:

• First up is the broth, chicken being the most common. I fondly remember the sound of the can opener working on cans of Swanson’s chicken broth as the signal that egg drop soup was forthcoming.
• Next up are the eggs, which are beaten thoroughly so that the whites and yolks are well blended.
• Last is the thickener, a small amount of cornstarch that’s simmered in the broth right before the eggs go in.

This recipe uses a trick picked up from the egg drop soup recipe on Serious Eats, where some of the cornstarch is also whisked into the eggs to inhibit protein bonds that make eggs rubbery, leaving them silky and tender when they cook up in the broth.

One of my favorite kitchen moments is when I swirl in the beaten eggs and they magically set in the simmering broth right before my eyes.

There’s a lot of leeway in the soup if you want to add vegetables, proteins, or other flavors. Experiment with flavorings like ginger or star anise, which just need to simmer in the broth for about five minutes for the flavor to infuse.

To make it a meal, add cooked proteins or seafood, or even some greens or veggies. It’s the perfect light meal that comes together in a flash, which is great because this isn’t a soup that keeps well, as the eggs don’t maintain the same texture when reheated.

This soup is properly an appetizer. Despite its simplicity, I guarantee 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 one to two cups of broth and one egg per person.

I also eat it for dinner all the time. Like I mentioned above, adding some tofu or cooked vegetables helps turn it into a quick, satisfying meal; comfort food at its best.

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.