Egg Flower Soup
Ready in 10-15 minutes, this soup is the fastest bowl of comfort you'll ever make.
Cooking Summary
Ingredients: (detailed list)
- Soup Base: egg, water, cornstarch
- Additional Ingredients: pea, corn, carrot, green onion
- Flavor: salt, chicken bouillon, white pepper, sesame oil
Jump To Section
Top 3 Mistakes
- Using flour for the slurry:
Use the starch thickener described in the recipe rather than ordinary flour. Flour makes the broth more opaque, changing the clear appearance that the egg flower soup is meant to have.
- Using too much heat on eggs:
Follow the recipe’s heat changes instead of leaving the burner high throughout. Eggs cook quickly, and controlling the heat helps preserve the soft texture rather than drying them out.
- Adding thickener too fast:
Add the starch mixture gradually while stirring, checking the texture as it thickens. Pouring it all in at once gives you less control over the final consistency of the sauce.
Overview
Egg Drop Soup (also known as "Egg Flower Soup") was a crowd favorite at my parents' old restaurant.
As kids, my sister and I used to eat this 3 to 4 times a week. It's incredibly easy to make, and healthy too!
Read on to learn how to make this for you and your loved ones.
Ingredients
Why this recipe
Most egg flower soup recipes online are tested only a handful of times. My dad used to make this dish multiple times a day, every day, for 60+ years and can make this in his sleep.
I know you'll love it as much as our community does! This recipe has over 940.9K views, 26.5K likes on YouTube.
Make it your own
For this recipe, my dad chose to use carrots, corn, and peas, but you can really use anything you'd like for the additional ingredients.
My dad's philosophy on cooking is to get creative and try different things.
Feel free to try this with minced meats, shrimp, other vegetables - I've even seen other chefs use tomato in their soup base.
On Special Flavors
My dad usually has chicken powder on hand in his kitchen. Since some grocery stores don't carry this, I've included a link to purchase the one my dad uses on Amazon.
Sesame oil is another ingredient that's sometimes hard to find in Western grocery stores. Here's our favorite on Amazon!
These links are affiliate links, which means that if you use our links to purchase these ingredients, Amazon pays my family a small amount for the sale - at no extra cost to you. If you use these links, we really appreciate the support!
How to make Egg Flower Soup
First, chop up some green onion (2 stalk) and carrots (2 oz). For the carrots, my dad prefers to chop them into little cubes.
Add water (6 cup) to your pot, and set the stove to high heat to bring the pot to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid.
Now we build the foundation of our Egg Flower Soup.
Crack eggs into a bowl, and add a small amount of water (1 tbsp). Then, mix with a fork or chopsticks for about 20 seconds.
Pro-tip:
The water helps the eggs "flower" more easily and beautifully.
Once our pot is boiling, add carrots (2 oz), corn (2 oz), and peas (2 oz). Cover the pot again.
Cornstarch is a common ingredient in Chinese cuisine, used to thicken sauces and soups among many other purposes.
Add cornstarch (3 tbsp) and water (5 tbsp) to a bowl, and mix until there are no clumps left.
Over the course of about 30 seconds, gradually pour the cornstarch slurry into the soup, stirring the soup constantly as we pour.
Similar to the previous step, gradually pour in the eggs into the pot, constantly stirring as you go. Do this for about 20 seconds.
The slower you pour, the more wispy "flowers" you'll get. DO NOT pour the eggs all at once.
(For each recipe and YouTube episode, I film my dad cooking each recipe twice. For the first take, he spent about 20 seconds on this step. For the second take - 18 seconds.)
Almost done! Turn the heat off to preserve the softness of the eggs and avoid overcooking the soup.
Next, add salt (1 tsp) and chicken bouillon (1 tsp), as well as white pepper and sesame oil to your liking. Stir the flavors around for a few seconds.
Call your loved ones over - dinner is ready!
Pour the soup into a bowl(s) of your choosing, and garnish with the green onion (2 stalk) we chopped earlier.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the different between Egg Drop Soup and Egg Flower Soup?
They're exactly the same soup! They are two different names for the same dish.
The Chinese name is 蛋花湯, which translates to egg flower soup. It refers to the flowery wisps of egg when it's stirred into the broth.
The other name, Egg Drop Soup, refers to the technique of slowly pouring, or "dropping", beaten egg into the soup.
What's the best way to thicken soup?
We use a cornstarch slurry to thicken the soup. If you want it even thicker, you can up the amount of slurry. Make sure that you're stirring constantly as you add the cornstarch slurry, because if you just dump it all into the hot soup, you may end up with one big cornstarchy lump!
You can also use other starches like tapioca starch, arrowroot starch, or potato starch. We don't typically use flour as a thickener in Chinese soups, sauces, or other dishes, because flour is rather opaque, significantly changing the color of the dishes.
If you'd prefer a thinner soup that's more liquidy, feel free to skip the slurry, or use less.
Be aware that you'll add the cornstarch slurry to rather hot soup, and when it cools down, it'll thicken up a touch more.
Is egg drop soup healthy?
Yes, it is! You can make sure that you make the healthiest version possible by choosing good quality chicken broth and good quality produce. Our recipe already has very little salt and chicken bouillon, and you can always reduce them further or omit them if necessary, though the soup may come out slightly less flavorful.
Restaurant or instant versions may not be as healthy when they include additives and preservatives, but because you're making this soup from scratch, you have full control over the ingredients.
Pairs well with
View all →
Made with love ❤️
We started Made With Lau to celebrate Cantonese culture and honor the legacy of our wonderful parents, Jenny and Chung Sun Lau.
Our hope is that these recipes and stories help you spread the joy, love, and nostalgia that I felt growing up.