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Egg Drop Soup

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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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Add remaining ingredients. Stir in the sesame oil and green onions until combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
  5. 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:

More Favorite Soup Recipes:

If you love egg drop soup, feel free to check out these other faves:

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Egg Drop Soup

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.7 from 172 reviews
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 6 cups of soup 1x

Description

This classic Egg Drop Soup recipe is quick and easy to make in just 15 minutes and always tastes so cozy and comforting.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.)
  3. 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.
  4. 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.) 
  5. Serve. Serve immediately, garnished with lots of green onions and a twist of black pepper.

Notes

Recipe edit: This recipe was edited in 2022 to include slightly increased amounts of ground ginger, garlic powder and white pepper. I also used to include 1/2 cup of whole kernel corn in the recipe, which is now noted as an optional addition.

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599 comments on “Egg Drop Soup”

  1. I don’t think a simmer is hot enough to get the egg to cook cause we just wound up with a custard and it was terrible. Very disappointed.

  2. Love this recipe! Did exactly as it calls and paired with Tai Pei pork egg rolls. Thanks for a keeper recipe ;)






  3. Just like the ones I’ve ordered in restaurants ?






  4. Seriously better than any egg drop soup I’ve ever had!






  5. Had to make a second batch because my girlfriend loves it so much!






  6. Just follow the directions for greatness!

  7. This is an awesome recipe! I add 1/4-1/2 cup of mushrooms and pour soup over Asian noodles.

  8. I’m having this for lunch right now and it is delicious! Next up: your cabbage egg drop soup. Can’t wait to try it!






  9. This was delicious and soooo easy! I’ll be making this often. Thank you!






  10. I just made this recipe and it was not good at all. I reread all the instructions and cannot find where I went wrong. I blended the 2 Tablespoons corn starch with 4 cups of broth, ginger and garlic powered before putting on the heat. I stirred continuously until it came to a simmer. Then whisked in the previously beaten eggs. Removed from heat and whisked in toasted sesame oil. It was like a pan of grits. Very bland and not at all like the egg drop soup pictured.

    • Did you stir the cornstarch and broth good. The recipe says to stir occasionally but I stirred it often. Tasted great! I left out the ginger and the sesame oil however.






  11. I love egg drop and have tried to recreate it at home many times. This recipe is THE BEST! Thank u so much. I don’t do the corn, but I could see how it works.






  12. I nixed the ginger because I didn’t have any. Besides, I don’t really like ginger that much. I added a tsp of sambal oelek (ground chili paste) like they have in chinese restaurants and some ponzu sauce (from japanese restaurants) and peas in addition to the corn. It was so good, I ate all of it one sitting!






  13. Exquisite! Much better than any I have had at any Chine place. The recipe is simple but tastes like it spent hours preparing. Def. recommend!






  14. I rated it but havn`t made it yet. I`m eating won ton soup by Wong Wing as I type this……duhhhhh
    You are teasing me!!! ;)






  15. I tried this egg soup recipe for my breakfast. It was so good, it feels like eating in the restaurant. But, i don’ t use any additional. I should try some next time. I like the sesame oil make its better. Totally worth it!






  16. Super easy and tasty! I adding an Asparagus ( just in season and Just I have it), white pepper, and low sodium soy souce. A dash of coriander.
    Next time if I dont have Asparagus, will add Shiitake mushroom.

    Thank you for the recipe!






  17. This soup is so delicious. I left out the ginger and sesame oil, but so so good, I added a pinch of onion powder. I love egg drop soup and now I can make my own. It’s super easy. I just had a wisdom tooth pulled yesterday and this was perfect. Next time I’ll work on making my egg ribbons bigger, I was whisking to much I think but still yummy.

  18. tastes good, a little bland, but is good enough so that the entire family wants it every night now.






  19. Amazing!!






  20. Love this recipe…its quick, simple and perfect






  21. Made this soup yesterday ate it all made it again today and about to eat some more love it love it love it






  22. Excellent!
    I have made my own version for years but it was only chicken stock and an egg :-)
    THIS is waaaaay better and much like the restaurant versions, only better!

    Thank you!
    I’m saving this room recipe!






  23. So delicious and easy to make! I followed the directions exactly and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome. I made it as an appetizer to Beef w/Broccoli and my husband couldn’t believe it wasn’t authentic Chinese. Thanks for my new go-to recipe.






  24. I found it had a little too much ginger and did not get as thick as shown in the video.






  25. Followed the directions to a T as i’ve never made this before and it just came out bleh- as in bland. What did i do wrong? I even ended up adding more sesame, ginger, garlic and salt to help it out but still not much improvement. :(. Kids love it and id love to make it at home but this was not it.






  26. Recipe looks easy. I think I will attempt it.






  27. So easy to make and so delicious. To be honest I didn’t think such a simple and quick recipe would turnout so well.

    Thank you so much Ali.






  28. Perfect. I added red pepper flakes because I like a little bite but the recipe is perfect! Thank you






  29. I wouldn’t really this.
    It’s okay, I found it tastes better with salt and pepper added, bringing it to a boil before pouring the eggs, and there’s too much of the sesame oil taste. I also added chicken bouillon cubes to it which helped a lot.
    Will be trying it again, though going to be checking other websites first since this still doesn’t quite taste right, and I’ll be tweaking more of the ingredient amount.
    The measurements really should be up at the top of the post instead of the bottom, people need to know how much of what they need to get.






  30. I made this recipe and it is tasty, has anyone said it could use more eggs…

  31. Used 1/2 tsp of the sesame seed oil and that’s all I can even taste. Getting a section of soup where the oil hadn’t touched – it was delicious. Tasted nothing like either of the delicious egg drop soups I had had before though, not with that much sesame oil.






  32. Made this for the first time today. It was so easy and delicious. I will never buy this again. It will be done by the time delivery of of the rest of the meal is here. The green onions and corn gave it s sweetness. I initially thought 1 tsp of ginger in the broth was too much, but it was perfect after adding the rest of the ingredients.






  33. This recipe is my favorite egg drop soup recipe. Delicious. Thank you!






  34. This soup is delicious! So easy and better than take out!!!






  35. It tasted good, but the cornstarch turned it an unappetizing pale color. I actually dumped the first batch thinking I did something wrong. Usually when I make your recipes they look like your pictures. Any ideas?






  36. Excellent Egg drop soup … and so easy to make . I doubled up everything and made a big pot . I used a good chicken broth and used 1/2 chicken broth and 1/2 vegetable broth .. Delicious ?. Thank you … my egg ribbons turned out great , the soup was very hot when I added the eggs ..






  37. I’ve made this recipe several times. First time I followed the exact directions and as much as I love corn, didn’t care for it in the soup. I also love garlic so I tweaked the recipe and added a 1-2 tbsp. of minced garlic along with the powder, and also a 1-2 tsp of onion powder. I also add a little soy sauce and sriracha Hot sauce with additional green onion and crispy noodles (we call them “Chinese chips”) just before serving. We love it as much or maybe more then our favorite Chinese Restaurant our family has been going to for 5 generations now. Most places now add noodles, peas n carrots, and/or other veggies or tofu. Nope In this case, with Egg flower Soup is made best with less! OK maybe I go overboard on the garlic…lol

    Also,n Love your Fried Rice Recipe! Butter much better then Oil and I add a few sliced of chopped bacon before cooking eggs, then set bacon aside, drain grease and set it aside. cook scrambled eggs with pat of butter in same pan, do same and set aside. Then in that same pan I add the butter to saute the veggies, then before adding rice instead of butter I add a little bit of the bacon grease along with the cooked bacon and other ingredients. Sometimes, I cook my rice in a broth or add some spices to the water so it will has some flavor. Depending if I am serving meat with the fried rice. I have even used Lipton Onion Soup Mix to try something different. This is a great fried rice recipe! I just also do something different because of personal taste!






  38. Had some egg drop soup from our local restaurant this weekend. I was craving more, so I decided to try making my own. When I searched for recipes, this was the first one that came up. I really enjoy the no knead bread recipe from here, so I thought I’d give it a try. It was very easy to make. It doesn’t taste like the restaurant soup. It isn’t as slimy and has a Ricker Asian flavor. No doubt that is due to the ginger and sesame oil. I may try another recipe that doesn’t use those ingredients the next time just to get closer to the taste of the restaurant soup. But this was good in its own right, it just wasn’t exactly the taste I was expecting. I will make it again, especially if I can’t find one that mimics the restaurant.






  39. This recipe is amazing! A few adjustments I suggest are to add more of each seasoning that this recipe (especially garlic powder and salt – I just poured an additional heavy shake of each). Also, I recommend you pour your egg in when the soup is completely boiling, not just simmering. I made this recipe without corn because I didn’t have it on hand, and it was totally delicious and satisfying on its own. I will try with corn in the future.

    Thank you for sharing this recipe!






  40. I had to improvise. Since I didn’t have sesame oil, I took a tsp of sesame seeds and crushed them in a makeshift mortar and pistol (sp?). I then roasted them in grapeseed oil with the garlic powder and fresh grated ginger. Instead of green onions, I sub’d onion powder. The ginger and sesame make the difference! Wow! Thanks for this recipe. I’ll use it forever!






  41. Great! Can the extra be frozen? I have lots leftover in a two person household. :) Thank you!

  42. I used soy sauce instead of salt and this was fantastic. Absolutely food for the soul!!

    This recipe will go into my personal cookbook!






  43. This is a really good recipe. I made this after getting sick of eating turkey and dressing for three days straight. Enough with the Thanksgiving food! It was just the thing I needed. Not too salty and tastes better than a restaurant. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe with us.






  44. My wife decided to try this this evening and made the fried rice to go with it. Each one on their own they were good but put the rice into the soup and oh my God they were delicious together.

  45. I rated his 5stars, but it posted as 3 stars. Please Delete previous post due to error. It is delicious!






  46. I agree sesame oil is an absolute must. When I get egg drop soup at the Chinese restaurant I always add my own sesame oil. I use Kadoya, an excellent quality oil from Japan. Sometimes I use Kadoya sesame oil with chili for some heat.
    The addition of corn sounds great. I am also going to try some varieties of mushrooms. I suppose you could add just about anything that suits your fancy , kinda like with an omelette.






  47. Nice and easy to make. This recipe is a definite keeper. Just like everyone else you just have to master the pouring of the eggs to get those long ribbons. Came out fantastic.






  48. What chicken broth / stock do you use when you make this? I just made it and it came out gross… with Trader Joe’s organic chicken stock. Not good at all. Tasted like a foot lol.

    • Better Than Boullion is the only stuff I’ve used for years. Available at most markets, cheapest at Costco. Organic and lower sodium, it’s not a powder or stock but a base you add to water. It makes a huge difference.

  49. This is a good recipe. I added more sesame oil.






  50. Perfection! I went a little heavy on the seasoning. Left out the corn because we are on Keto and this really hit the spot. Delish.