Egg drop soup is a popular Chinese take-out soup with wispy egg drops/ egg "flowers" in a lightly seasoned chicken stock. The soup is thickened to have a velvety consistency and is known for its iconic yellow color. Our easy egg drop soup recipe is gluten free and takes 10 minutes or less to make!
Egg drop soup is probably one of the most popular Chinese takeout soups, along with hot and sour soup and wonton soup. It's our absolute favorite and must haves when dining at Chinese restaurants, especially on a cloudy day.
The reason why this soup is called "egg drop soup" is because of their iconic egg drops, also known as "egg flowers", that floats in the soup. These egg drops are easy to make once you learn the technique, and we've provide a lot of tips and photos in our post for you to easily master it!
Also, if you'd like, you can also add extra ingredients into the soup, such as mushrooms, chicken, tofu. We love adding sliced mushrooms to our.
If you're looking for more popular Chinese takeout dishes, you may also like our beef and broccoli and shrimp lo mein.
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What to eat with egg drop some
- Fried wonton chips - A classic pairing! Fried wonton chips are usually complementary with Chinese takeout soups. If you want, you could try our baked crispy wontons we served with our crab rangoon dip.
- Any fried rice - Check out our egg fried rice or shrimp fried rice
- With rice and other sides to make a complete meal - Like our easy garlic green beans and Chinese smashed cucumbers.
Ingredients
Please scroll down to the recipe card for the ingredient quantities!
- Unsalted chicken stock - Any chicken stock will do, as long it is unsalted. This way you can control the amount of salt added. Also, this recipe's seasoning is based on unsalted chicken stock.
- Chicken bouillon powder - Chicken stock may add some base flavor to the soup, but chicken bouillon powder is the magical ingredient! It'll make your egg drop soup taste so much better.
- Salt - For additional seasoning.
- Sugar - Just a little bit will round out the flavor of the egg drop soup.
- Eggs - You have to have eggs to make egg drops/ egg flowers! You can use less or more eggs if you prefer.
- Cornstarch - Some cornstarch slurry is needed to thicken egg drop soup to get that velvety thickness. This will also help the "egg drops" float in the soup rather than sinking to the bottom.
- Toasted sesame oil (optional)- Although sesame oil is optional, egg drop soup just doesn't taste complete with out it. It adds that nice toasted, nuttiness to the soup.
- Yellow food coloring (optional) - If you like that beautiful yellow color of restaurant egg drop soup, you'll want to add a little food coloring. You can use either gel or liquid. We used this buttercup yellow gel food coloring.
- Green onions (optional) - Another optional ingredient, but we highly recommend it! Not only does it add color to the egg drop soup, it also adds flavor. You'll definitely taste the difference.
How to make restaurant-quality egg drop soup
Our gluten green egg drop soup is super easy to make (takes 10 minutes or less!) and tastes just as good, if not better than Chinese takeout!
1. In a medium saucepan, add the chicken stock, chicken bouillon powder, salt, sugar, and the yellow food coloring. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat.
2. While the chicken stock is heating up, make the cornstarch slurry. Mix the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold or room temperature water.
3. Once the chicken stock comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium. Give the cornstarch slurry a good mix, then while stirring the chicken stock, slowly drizzle in the slurry. Let the stock simmer for about 15 to 30 seconds, until thickened
🌟 Pro tip: If you feel more comfortable, turn off the heat or take the saucepan off of the heat for a moment when stirring in the slurry. Also don't pour the cornstarch slurry straight into the stock! Make sure to drizzle it in while stirring it constantly. Both will ensure that the slurry properly thickens the stock and not turn into chunks of slurry.
4. Once the stock has thickened, turn the heat to low and drizzle in the beaten eggs around the saucepan/ pot in a circular motion to create egg drops/egg flowers.
🌟 Pro tip: If you want thinner, wispy egg drops, stir the soup immediately after drizzling in the eggs or gently stir the soup while add the eggs. For thick, ribbons of egg drop, let the soup sit for a few seconds before stirring. This gives the eggs time to cook and form ribbons.
5. Stir the soup and turn the heat back to medium. Add the sesame oil and green onions. Let the soup simmer for a few seconds and serve!
6. If you wish, garnish the top of the soup with more green onion. Make sure to the let the soup cool for a few moments! It'll be super hot!
Recipe tips
- To properly incorporate cornstarch slurry, make sure to stir the slurry before use, reduce the heat to medium (or take it off the heat), stir the soup while adding the slurry, and slowly drizzle in the slurry. This will prevent the cornstarch for turning into clumps.
- Don't cook the soup for too long after adding cornstarch. High heat or prolong cooking can cause the soup to become thin and not retain its thick, velvety consistency.
- The size of the egg drop/egg flowers are determined by how soon and how much you stir the soup when the eggs are added. The more you stir and the sooner you stir the soup after adding the eggs, the thinner the egg drops will be.
- If you prefer your egg drop soup thinner or thicker, you can use more or less cornstarch to your preference.
Storage
Once the egg drop soup has completely cooled, transfer it to an airtight container. It can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days.
Reheating
The easiest way to reheat egg drop soup is in the microwave. Just heat it until completely hot to enjoy. You can also reheat the egg drop soup on the stovetop. Just add the soup to a saucepan/pot over medium heat. Once the soup is hot, it should become the same thickness as before.
FAQ
Yes and no. Not all egg drop soups are gluten free become sometimes they use soy sauce. Our gluten free egg drop soup does not call for soy sauce and all the other ingredients are gluten free as well.
Chinese restaurants add a small amount of yellow food color to their egg drop soup to achieve that beautiful, iconic yellow color. You can omit if you prefer. It will not change the taste. Some people also like to use turmeric for the color, but the flavor will be different.
Xanthan gum is a suitable substitute for thickening egg drop soup. After seasoning the chicken stock, add the xanthan gum to the soup while blending it with a hand blender. It will almost instantly thicken the stock. The amount of xanthan gum used depends on your desired thickness.
If you’ve made this recipe or any recipes from our blog, please tag us on Instagram using #twoplaidaprons! You can also tag us in your Instagram stories using @two_plaid_aprons. We would love to see your creations! It absolutely makes our day! 🥰
📖 Recipe
Egg Drop Soup (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
- 4 cups unsalted chicken stock or water
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 3-5 drops yellow food coloring optional for coloring (you can also use gel food coloring or ground turmeric)* see notes
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch mix every 3 TBSPs with 2 TBSPs water to make slurry
- 3 large egg beaten
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (optional)
- 1 stalk green onion sliced (plus more for garnish)
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, add chicken stock, chicken bouillon powder, salt, sugar, and food coloring. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium.
- Give the cornstarch slurry a mix. Then, while stirring the stock, slowly drizzle in the slurry. Let the stock simmer until thickened, about 15 to 30 seconds.
- Once the soup has thickened, slowly drizzle in the beaten eggs around the saucepan in a circular motion. Stir up the soup and add sesame oil and sliced green onions.For thin egg drops: Stir the soup while pouring in the eggs or wait for a second or two before stirring the soup. The sooner and more you stir the soup, the thinner and wispier the egg drops will be.For thick egg drops: After drizzling in the egg, let the soup sit for a few seconds before stirring. The longer you wait, the thicker the egg ribbons will be.
- Top the soup with more sliced green onions if you wish, and serve! The soup will be super hot, so be careful and wait a few moments before enjoying!
Notes
- Food coloring - The iconic yellow color can be achieved by either using food coloring or some turmeric powder. Both liquid or gel food color are great. If you're using turmeric powder, use about ¼ teaspoon per recipe.
chichichisto says
i really enjoyed this! quick question is the entire soup 167kcal? if not, how much is a single serving?
Mei says
Hi there!
167kcal the calorie per serving and each serving is roughly 1 cup. Hope this helps!
Mei❤️
Brendan says
Hi! I'm planning to make this soup for a party of 16. How can I figure out the appropriate amount of ingredients?
Mei says
Hi Brendan!
On the recipe card (at the bottom of the post), it shows the recipe yield for 1 recipe. If you click or hover on the number, a slider will pop up for you to change the serving size. You can also adjust the serving size to your preference via the 3 dots right above the ingredient list. Please note that only the quantity in front of the ingredients will change. All texts after each ingredients are notes that will not change. Hope this helps and happy cooking!
Mei❤️
Biancha says
Y’all I tried this and I love it. I added a lot more ingredients to mine, but everything came out ***chef’s kiss***. So, here’s a few tweaks I made:
• Doubled the recipe for 2 people
• Added bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, beans sprouts, baby corn, frozen shrimp, and swapped the green onion for finely chopped chives.
I had to double up the cornstarch slurry to equal parts; 6:6 tbsp ratio of water/cornstarch. I also garnished with the chives and then added individual soy sauce packets per taste. Simply amazing recipe! Now, I gotta try the Hot and Sour Soup next!!!!
Mei says
Hi Biancha!
Thanks for trying out our egg drop soup recipe! So glad you enjoyed it and love the extra ingredients you added. Sounds like a yummy full meal! Hope you enjoy our hot and sour soup as well =)
Mei ❤️
Jane says
Hands down THE BEST egg drop soup recipe I’ve tried. So delicious!
Mei says
Hi Jane!
We're so happy to hear that you enjoyed the egg drop soup!
Mei ❤️
Mel says
Feeling super sick this week, so when I stumbled on this recipe, I had to try it given the little effort and energy needed. Skipped the bouillon, but boiled the stock with a chicken bone/marrow and reduced the cornstarch amount (not sure it's actually necessary), and used a spring of tumeric instead of food coloring. Delish!
Mei says
Hi Mel!
Thanks for giving our egg drop soup a try! Hope you get well soon!
Mei ❤️
Brittany Starr says
This is so good, that my 5 year old was screaming "THIS IS DELICIOUSSSSS!!!" (And she hates all soups! 🤣)
Mei says
Aww your daughter is so cute! Thank you so much for trying our recipe, Brittany! We are so happy that you and your daughter enjoyed it 🥰
Mei ❤️