Easy Egg Drop Soup
Dec 24, 2015, Updated Sep 12, 2016
This easy Egg Drop Soup has becomeย one of my favorite weeknight dinners… and what better time of year to share this recipe? Not only is it in keeping with the time-honored Jewish tradition of Chinese Food On Christmas, but it’s also a wonderful, warming comfort food on any chilly winter night.
It’s fast, easy, and very flexible, so you can add extra ingredients based on what you have on hand. All you really need to make this soupย is chicken or vegetable broth, eggs, and a splashย of soy sauce, but I prefer to throw in a lot of veggies — plus tofu or shrimp — turning aย standardย appetizer into a very satisfying one-pot meal.
Most egg drop soup recipes call for cornstarch, but since that doesn’t pass the Kitchen Testย — and it makes the soup a little too “slimy” for my preference — I simply skipย it. I’m also happy to save a step, speeding this quick recipe up even more.
Soy sauce (or tamari, forย gluten-free) varies considerably in saltiness, so when in doubt, use a bit less at first than you think you might need. It’s very easy to add more, but not the other way around! In fact, pretty much the only way you can screw this soup up is by making it too salty. I also includeย a littleย sesame oil, adding another layer of richness without needing as much salt.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Easy Egg Drop Soup
Ingredients
- 4 cups unsalted chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 1/2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 green onions
- 3 organic, pastured eggs, scrambled
- 1-2 tablespoons water, optional
Optional Goodies:
- 1/2 pound extra-firm tofu, diced in half-inch cubes
- 1/4 to 1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled
- 4 to 6 ounces mushrooms, quartered or sliced (any type you like)
- 1 handful of baby spinach
Instructions
- In a medium-sized pot, heat the broth until simmering. If you're including mushrooms or raw shrimp (or any other meat or veggies that need extra time to cook), add them now. Simmer for about 3 or 4 minutes, until the mushrooms soften a bit.
- While that's going on, slice the green onions into 1/8" slivers. Set aside some of the green tips for garnish, and then add the rest into the pot.
- Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, and any tofu or spinach, and let simmer for another minute or so.
- In a bowl, scramble the eggs, and mix in the water if you want the eggs to be a little lighter in the finished soup.
- Turn off the heat, and then while slowly stirring in one direction (I prefer clockwise, but really, it's your call), drizzle the scrambled eggs into the soup. It helps to hold a fork or chopstick across the top of the bowl, with pointy end hanging over the edge, so you can control the speed as the eggs slide past the tines of the fork (or tip of the chopstick). The eggs will cook immediately, forming lovely strands in the pot.
- Serve immediately, garnished with bits of green onion.
Nutrition
Photos by Kelly Jaggers for Eating Rules.
This recipe is fantastic! I LOVE it and have made it several times now only adding more veggie goodies with each trial! Thank you for sharing!
Yay! So glad you like it. ๐
I always love getting eggdrop soup at a restaurant, but I’ve never made it at home. I’m not sure why, though, especially after reading your recipe. It’s so quick, and so light.
You’re quite good at the “strings”. That’s been my downfall before. GREG
You could use the method which is employed by the French, Italians, Greeks, Germans, Chinese and probably other cultures which have an egg drop soup. After you scramble your eggs in a bowl, you slowly add some of the hot broth to the eggs stirring. This is called a “liaison” in French cooking which I studied in my 2 years at the Culinary Institute of America over 42 years ago. Others call this “tempering”. Yes, one can add these eggs directly to the hot liquid or one can “temper” them by adding some broth to the eggs and raising the temperature of them. Otherwise you have two extremes in temperatures.
Thank you so much for this present of a recipe!
I was so sick with some 24 hour flu, and needed something appealing and light today. So, when I saw your post, I thought, “this sounds good.”
It is great! I normally don’t care for egg drop in restaurants for the very reasons you mentioned, but your recipe bypasses all what is wrong with those and let’s the vegetables shine.
Thanks again!
Sorry you’re not feeling well — but I hope the soup helps you get better soon! ๐