The Egg Drop Soup My Dad's Made 100,000 Times
Why this recipe
Most egg drop soup recipes online are tested only a handful of times. My dad used to make this dish multiple times a day, every day, for 50 years and can make this in his sleep.
I know you'll love it as much as our community does! This recipe has over 778.2K views, 15.2K likes on YouTube.
Egg drop soup was one of the most popular dishes at my parents' old restaurant. Not only did our customers love it, but my sister and I did, too — in fact, we used to sneak bowls of it when our parents weren't looking!
This classic Chinese dish is quite easy to make at home and once you get a hang of the technique, you can use it in some of our other comforting soups, such as seaweed soup and chicken corn soup.
What is egg drop soup?
Egg drop soup gets its English name from the way its made. Beaten eggs are literally dropped into a pot of boiling soup. In Chinese, however, egg drop soup is actually called 蛋花湯, which translates to "egg flower soup," a reference to the way the eggs form beautiful flower-like swirls as they're incorporated.
An expert Chinese chef's tips for making restaurant-quality egg drop soup
Slow and steady is the key to a restaurant-quality egg drop soup that's both delicious and visually appealing! To form a clear, smooth soup, my dad likes to use potato starch as the thickener (more on that below) instead of cornstarch. He adds the potato starch slurry slowly with the heat turned off so it can incorporate thoroughly without getting thick and gloppy.
The same goes for the eggs. He adds a bit of water to the eggs to help make them smoother, then gradually pours the mixture into the soup while stirring all the way down to the bottom of the pot. That's how restaurants get pretty, flower-like swirls in their egg drop soup.
Ingredients
Instructions
Prepare shrimp
Peel the shrimp (5 oz). To easily remove the shell off, first twist off the tail. Then, hook a finger under the remaining shell and pull it straight off. Make sure to remove the legs as well if they don’t come off when you pull the shell off.
Place a shrimp on the cutting board and, holding a sharp knife so the blade is parallel to the board, slice through it sideways. Put the cut shrimp in a bowl of clean, cold water and move them around by hand to wash out the veins.
Once they're clean, drain the shrimp and dry to remove any excess water. Chop into 1/2-inch pieces.
Next, marinate the shrimp. Combine the chopped pieces with white pepper (0.25 tsp) and cornstarch and mix thoroughly, then set aside.
Prepare carrot
Peel the carrot (3 oz) and cut off a 3-inch section. Cut it into thin slices, then rotate the pieces 90 degrees so the shorter end is facing your knife and chop into small pieces.
Prepare tofu & eggs
Remove the tofu (8 oz) from its packaging and drain. Cut the block of tofu in half, setting aside the other piece to use in another dish (like our West Lake Beef Soup!). Flip the tofu to its side and cut the block into quarters. Place the quarters on top of one another, then cut into thin strips. Finally, turn your knife to chop the strips into small cubes.
Crack the eggs (4 large) into a medium bowl and set aside.
Start soup & create slurry
Add the chicken broth (1 can) to a large pot and place over high heat. Pour in the hot water (6 cup).
In a small bowl, combine the potato starch (5 tbsp) and water (7 tbsp). Mix thoroughly to combine and set aside.
Add tofu & beat eggs
As the water starts to boil, add the tofu and give the soup a stir.
For a smoother egg mixture, add water (1 tbsp) to the bowl before beating. Using a fork in an upward motion, beat the eggs to combine the yolks and whites until well combined.
Add slurry
When the soup reached boiling, turn off the heat. Give the slurry a quick mix and slowly pour it into the pot as you continuously stir the soup with a ladle. Add a bit at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Turn the heat back to high and bring back to a boil.
Chef's Tip: Don't pour the slurry in all at once or else it'll start to clump up.
Add egg & shrimp
It's time for the eggs! Turn the heat to low and, while stirring the soup continuously with a ladle, start to slowly "drop" in the eggs.
Chef's Tip: Make sure to stir all the way to the bottom so the eggs don't sink.
Decrease the heat even more and add the shrimp to the pot.
Add the seasonings, garnish, and plate
Add the salt (0.75 tsp) and white pepper (0.25 tsp). Taste the soup and see if it has enough flavor.
Next, add the oil (0.50 tsp) and sugar (1 tsp). Mix in a bit of the chopped carrots and pour into your large serving bowl. Sprinkle on the rest of the carrots for more color.