This restaurant-style Hot and Sour Soup recipe is the best!! It’s quick and simple to make, easy to adapt to your personal taste preferences, and so delicious.
Can’t stop, won’t stop with the soup recipes this winter. ♡
And today’s recipe is one that I’ve been meaning to share with you on the blog for years, after literally dozens and dozens of you have requested it. (This usually comes up when I’m chatting about my favorite egg drop soup recipe — apparently many of you usually opt for the hot and sour soup at your favorite Chinese restaurants and have wanted to learn how to make it!)
Well, good news, friends! Traditional hot and sour soup is actually incredibly easy to make as well. And the bonus of making it at home is that it’s also incredibly easy to customize to your taste. Like it extra hot? Add in more chili garlic sauce. Like it extra sour? Add in more rice wine vinegar. Like it vegetarian? Make it with tofu. Like the meat version? Just add in some pork.
Trust me, this is one of those restaurant recipes that will taste just as good at home. And on chilly winter weeks like this one that we’re having here in Kansas City, it’s guaranteed to warm you up in the most delicious of ways.
Hot And Sour Soup Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Hot and Sour Soup Ingredients:
To make this hot and sour soup recipe, you will need:
- Broth: Either chicken or veggie stock (or broth) will do.
- Mushrooms: I highly recommend using shiitake mushrooms, but baby bella or even button mushrooms would also do.
- Rice vinegar, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, ground ginger: To flavor the broth.
- Cornstarch: To thicken the broth.
- Eggs: Which we will whisk, and the drizzle into the soup to make those lovely egg ribbons.
- Firm tofu: Which we will cube and add to the soup.
- Green onions: To stir into the soup and also sprinkle on top as a garnish.
- Toasted sesame oil: An essential flavor in the soup, which we will drizzle at the very end.
- Salt and pepper: Hot and sour soup is traditionally made with white pepper, which (heads up) has a different and much stronger flavor than black pepper. I recommend adding in a pinch, and then you can always add in more later. Or if you don’t have white pepper, black pepper will also do.
- Optional: Many restaurant versions of hot and sour soup are also made with bamboo shoots. I’m personally not a fan of them, but you are welcome to add some in if you would like.
How To Make Hot and Sour Soup:
To make this hot and sour soup recipe, simply…
- Make your cornstarch slurry. Whisk together 1/4 cup of the stock and cornstarch until combined. Set aside.
- Bring the soup to a simmer. Add the remaining stock, mushrooms, bamboo shoots (if using), rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, ginger and chili garlic sauce to a large stock pot, and cook until the soup reaches a simmer. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and continue cooking for a minute or so, until the soup has thickened.
- Drizzle in those beautiful egg ribbons! While stirring the soup in a circular motion with one hand, use your other hand to slowly drizzle the whisked eggs into the soup.
- Season the soup. Stir in the tofu, half of the green onions, and sesame oil. Then season the soup with salt and black pepper (or white pepper) to taste.
- Serve. Ladle up your servings while the soup is nice and hot, garnished with extra green onions.
What To Serve With Hot & Sour Soup:
Here are a few of my favorite dishes that pair well with hot and sour soup:
- The BEST Fried Rice
- 12-Minute Chicken & Broccoli
- 20-Minute Moo Shu Pork (or Chicken)
- Beef & Broccoli
- Thai Basil Chicken
- Sesame Noodles with Broccoli and Almonds
- Black Pepper Chicken
More Favorite Soup Recipes:
If you love egg drop soup, feel free to check out these other favorite soup recipes:
Hot and Sour Soup
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 -8 servings 1x
Description
This classic Chinese hot and sour soup recipe is quick and easy to make, full of delicious flavor, easy to make vegetarian (with tofu!) or with pork, and it totally rivals any soup I’ve tried at a Chinese restaurant!
Ingredients
- 8 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
- 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms (or baby bella mushrooms), thinly-sliced with stems discarded
- 1 (8-ounce) can bamboo shoots, drained (optional)
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar, or more to taste
- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 large eggs, whisked
- 8 ounces firm tofu*, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 4 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- Kosher salt and white pepper (or black pepper)
Instructions
- Set aside ¼ cup of the chicken or vegetable broth for later use.
- Add the remaining 7 ¾ cups chicken or vegetable broth, mushrooms, bamboo shoots (if using), rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, ginger and chili garlic sauce to a large stock pot, and stir to combine. Heat over medium-high heat until the soup reaches a simmer.
- While the soup is heating, whisk together the ¼ cup of broth (that you had set aside) and cornstarch in a small bowl until completely smooth. Once the soup has reached a simmer, stir in the cornstarch mixture and stir for 1 minute or so until the soup has thickened.
- Continue stirring the soup in a circular motion, then drizzle in the eggs in a thin stream (while still stirring the soup) to create egg ribbons. Stir in the tofu, half of the green onions, and sesame oil. Then season the soup with salt and a pinch* of white pepper (or black pepper) to taste. If you’d like a more “sour” soup, feel free to add in another tablespoon or two of rice wine vinegar as well. Or if you’d like a spicier soup, add in more chili garlic sauce.
- Serve immediately, garnished with the extra green onions.
Notes
Pork option: Or, you’re welcome to make this with pork instead of tofu. Just add in a half pound of cooked pork — ground pork, or you can thinly-slice pork chops or pork loin — in place of the tofu.
White pepper: I prefer using a pinch of white pepper in this soup instead of black pepper. But if you are new to cooking with white pepper, heads up that it has a much stronger (and slightly) different flavor than black pepper! I recommend starting with a small pinch, then you can always add more to taste.
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I made this and it was really good, thanks for sharing! One question is why is the hot and sour soup in the restaurant a bit darker in color? It still tasted just as good but I’m just curios. Thanks!
We’re glad you enjoyed it, Dee! As for the darker color though, we’re really not sure!
Made this tonight and loved it! Your soups always hit the spot!!
We’re so happy you liked it, Ali! :)
I’ve made this a couple of times and it’s terrific and fairly easy to throw together. We made the following modifications: doubled the chili-garlic sauce and only used 1/4 tsp. of sesame oil (we found a full tsp to be overpowering). I think we the eggs in too vigorously the first time, so the soup just got cloudy, but the second batch we stirred very slowly to get nice egg ribbons. I would also caution others to taste before adding final salt; between the chicken stock and the soy sauce, it was salty enough for us. Thanks so much for posting this recipe – I have other ones for hot and sour soup that are far more complicated and you’ve shown me that it needn’t be so.
Thank you for sharing with us, Kate — we appreciate your feedback, and we’re glad you enjoy the recipe!
Can you freeze this soup? This is a lot of soup for me, myself and I.
It’s not terribly ideal to freeze this, but we think it should probably be fine, though the tofu may have a different texture after freezing it. We hope this helps!
This is currently simmering on the stove, and it smells SO good. Thanks for another great recipe!
Hi- love your bog and recipes!! Was wondering if you could tell me what kind of chili garlic sauce you use.
Thank you!
Sure thing, I love this one — https://amzn.to/2lcgqsH (it’s an affiliate Amazon link).
Just made this, really good! I had some North Carolina pulled pork in the fridge and cut it into slivers and used it for the soup. I’m quite proud of myself. After all the pork is marinated in vinegar and hot peppers! Perfect! ?
Hi! You mentioned it should be served immediately – will it keep good in the fridge? (Whenever I make soups, I make a big batch for at least a couple of days…)
Hi Zee — this should be fine in the fridge for a couple of days — we’d just recommend re-heating it gradually on the stove. We hope you enjoy!
I’m new to this blog, but I’ve made a couple of your recipes and they’ve been really tasty. This? THIS WAS AWESOME. I love hot and sour soup and I had no idea I could ever make it at home, at least not easily. The store was out of shiitakes so I used creminis and I doubled the amount of sambal olek. It was soooo good. I blogged about it (not much of a food photographer so it doesn’t look as good as yours). Going to add this into the rotation.
Thank you so much for sharing with us, Michelle — we’re thrilled that you loved this! :)
thank you! looks exactly like the many restaurant versions I’ve had, right down to the egg ribbon that you’ve noted (technique noted!) and can’t wait to make this!