With just 216 calories, Hot and Sour Soup just happens to be one of the healthiest mushroom soup recipes in the world! A Chinese restaurant favourite, it’s hearty, savoury, sour – and as spicy as you want it to be.
Filled with mushrooms, tofu and silky egg ribbons, Hot and Sour soup is thickened with cornflour/cornstarch so the broth is beautifully glossy. Serve as a starter with Fried Rice and Kung Pao Chicken, or have it as a meal!
Hot and Sour Soup
Can you handle the heat??
Hot and Sour Soup is what I order when I go out for Chinese and am pretending/trying to be healthy.
Hot and Sour Soup is also what I order just because I love it.
OK, well along with Spring Rolls, Chinese Corn Soup, San Choy Bow (Lettuce Wraps), Egg Foo Young (Chinese Omelettes) and Sesame Toast. It’s an all-out war of indecision, trying to decide what starter to have! #FirstWorldProblems
I never thought to make it at home until I happened across this recipe from Woks of Life. It’s my go-to website for Chinese recipes, run by a Chinese American family who used to run a Chinese restaurant!
What is hot and sour soup??
Hot and Sour soup is a Chinese soup that’s savoury, spicy and tangy. The broth is thickened and it’s filled with mushrooms, tofu, bamboo shoots and silky egg ribbons. The flavour and textures in this soup are an addictive combination, making it a firm Chinese restaurant favourite!
What goes in Hot and Sour Soup
The soup broth
Chinese Hot and Sour soup broth is made with chicken stock which is flavoured with typical Asian ingredients such as soy sauce, sugar, pepper and ginger. The soup is thickened slightly using cornstarch/cornflour – I love how the glossy broth coats the ingredients when you scoop it up!
The spiciness comes from finely chopped dried chillies. Red pepper / chilli flakes are a perfect substitute. Feel free to adjust spiciness to your taste!
The sourness comes from plain white vinegar. Some recipes use Chinese black vinegar or rice vinegar, but I honestly think white vinegar gives the cleanest flavour.
And the stuff that goes IN Hot and Sour Soup
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Dried shiitake mushrooms
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wood ear mushrooms
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bamboo shoots
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firm tofu
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egg
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shredded chicken (or drop in slices of tenderised Velveted Chicken)
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shallots/scallions
Because there’s a few ingredients that aren’t mainstream here, I’m going to do a quick rundown on each of them. If you’re bored, skip to the recipe!
The Mushrooms
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Dried shiitake mushrooms – dried is best because it has the best flavour, so if you really want one as good as how your favourite Chinese restaurant makes it, you’ll need to source some. Sold at major supermarkets nowadays, and also Asian stores. Subs: Fresh shiitake is good, followed by any other Asian mushrooms, Swiss Brown/Cremini mushrooms and bringing up the rear is good ole’ white mushrooms
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Wood ear mushrooms – named as such because they are shaped like ears (does that freak you out? 🙀), they have a soft crunchy texture. Wood ear mushrooms don’t have much taste when raw, but they are a great flavour sponge as well as adding great texture to the soup. Use fresh or dried – I use fresh because it’s sold at a local grocery store (eg Harris Farms). All Asian stores should carry dried, and some will have fresh. Subs: More shiitake mushrooms.
And the other stuff in Hot and Sour Soup
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Bamboo shoots – sold in cans at large grocery stores (Woolies, Coles, Harris), they have a crisp juicy texture and have a subtle taste. Mainly for texture in this soup. Subs: Any vegetable with a similar texture that can be cut into strips, like carrot, green beans, stalk of broccoli or cauliflower, or Asian greens. Use leftovers for stir fries, it’s ideal!
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FIRM Tofu – Make sure it’s a firm tofu otherwise it will disintegrate when stirred. Squeeze the packet to be sure! If you can only get soft tofu, handle delicately and stir it in right at the end.
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Chicken – I like to have a bit of protein in my Hot and Sour Soup, plus it’s poached in the broth so it adds flavour. But this is optional – there’s plenty of stuff in this soup even without! Alternatives: Shrimp/prawns, pieces of fish.
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Eggs – to make the signature silky egg ribbons!
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Shallots – aka scallions, green onions
How to make it
While the list of ingredients seems lengthy, the making part is very straight forward. Also, this recipe has a nice flow to it so it should be done from start to finish, including prep time, in about 40 minutes:
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Start by soaking the shiitake mushrooms to rehydrate them
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Pour the chicken stock into the pot and as it’s coming to the simmer, measure out and add all the flavourings
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While the chicken is poaching, get all the other “stuff” for the soup prepared (chop mushrooms, bamboo shoots etc etc)
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Tip it all in the pot and finish by thickening the Hot and Sour Soup with cornstarch / cornflour and adding egg to make the egg ribbons
Calories in Hot and Sour Soup – just 216 calories!!!
A big bowl of spicy-tangy-savoury-hearty deliciousness, and it’s just 216 calories. There are very few Chinese takeout favourites that are this healthy!
The only other ones I can think of is Chinese Lettuce Wraps (San Choy Bow) and Egg Foo Young, but they aren’t as filling in their own right so when you add a good pile of Fried Rice, it isn’t quite as low cal. 😂
Add ins: I’ve been known to add leafy Asian greens and even baby spinach to up the veg quota. I’ve also been known to add rice, to fill it out. It’s really, really good! – Nagi x
PS Giving myself a big pat on the back for (finally) adding another recipe into my Low-Cal recipe collection!
Best of Chinese Takeout recipes
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Spring Rolls – better than egg rolls!
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The BEST Chinese Soup for a cold!
Hot and Sour Soup is the BEST Chinese Soup for a cold! The clear broth, vinegar and spiciness are ideal for clearing chest and nasal congestion, and it’s a relatively light soup (though full of flavour!) so it’s easy to digest.
So when you want something different to Chicken Noodle Soup or Chicken Rice Soup when you’re feeling under the weather, try Hot and Sour Soup!
Watch how to make it
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Hot and Sour Soup
Ingredients
- 220 g / 7oz chicken breast
- 12 dried shiitake mushrooms (or 150g/5oz fresh) (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup wood ear mushrooms , chopped 1.5cm/ 3/5" pieces (Note 1)
Hot and sour soup broth:
- 1 tsp dried chilli / red pepper flakes , adjust spice to taste (Note 2)
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce (Note 3)
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce (Note 3)
- 1 tsp ginger , finely grated
- 1/2 tsp white pepper (sub black)
- 6 cups (1.5L/1.5qt) chicken or veg stock/broth , low sodium
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 cup (65 ml) white vinegar (adjust to taste)
Soup:
- 125 g / 4oz firm tofu (~ 1 cup) , cut into 1.2cm / 0.5" cubes (Note 4)
- 1/4 cup bamboo shoots , thinly sliced (Note 5)
- 2 eggs , whisked
- 1/4 cup (40g) cornstarch/cornflour
- 1/4 cup (125 ml) water
- Salt to taste
- 1 shallot/scallion , finely sliced
Instructions
- Cover shiitake mushrooms with plenty of boiling water. Stand 20 - 30 minutes until soft, drain, then slice thinly. (Discard or reserve liquid for other use)
Poached chicken:
- Place chicken broth, ginger, soy sauces, chilli, sugar, pepper and sesame oil in a large pot over medium high heat.
- Once simmering, add chicken, cover and reduce heat so it's simmering.
- Cook 10 minutes, remove chicken and shred.
Finish Soup:
- Add vinegar, shiitake, wood ear mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tofu and shredded chicken into the soup.
- Stir, simmer for 10 minutes.
- Mix cornflour with water. While stirring soup at a medium pace, slowly pour the cornflour mixture in (ensures no lumps).
- When it starts simmering again, stir constantly and slowly pour egg in a thin stream - this will create the signature "egg ribbons".
- Taste - add salt if desired, more chilli if you want.
- Add shallots and serve!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Still pursuing a no dried-dog-food diet for Dozer, incorporating fresh meat and even vegetables (with advice from a professional!).
But if a single bit of kale doesn’t get blitzed up completely, he picks his way around it… #brat
This recipe is 100% delicious. Very flavorful. I used half of the shitake water for the soup base. 1 egg and 2 egg whites. I didn’t add chicken because this is my meatless meals week. Def will make it again.
If you were using a vinegar with a ” mother” that would be the case. But with white vinegar cooking it will make no difference, as its not “raw”. You could add a splash of raw vinegar to your soup bowl for the added benefit if you want.
This soup hits every single spot! I made it last night, to a family sick with different ailments and everybody felt so much better! This was a great soup for post stomach flu & also just general flu & fatigue. Comfort in a bowl without being ring and heavy. I made it without the tofu and chicken as I felt it would be to heavy with protein while my daughter is recovering from stomach flu. But add in carrots and rice for a BRAT diet. Worked wonders! Will continue making this and looking forward to trying it with more protein! Thank you so much for the great recipe!
Hello, thank you for the recipe. I make this once a week and my family loves it.
Deliciously warm, sour and spicy on a cold winters night. I’m not always a tofu fan, but found the balance of tofu just right in this recipe. I couldn’t find wood ear mushrooms so used dried black fungus mushroom instead and it worked perfectly. Highly recommend as I’ll definitely be making it again.
I,ve looked at a lot of Hot & Sour Soup recipes and only found one that calls for Szechuan peppercorns. It seems that authentic H & S soup does not use Szechuan. True?
I,ve read that vinegar in a soup recipe should be added at the end or it will be changed by cooking it. Is that true?
If you were using a vinegar with a ” mother” that would be the case. But with white vinegar cooking it will make no difference, as its not “raw”. You could add a splash of raw vinegar to your soup bowl for the added benefit if you want.
I’ve been making your recipe for about a year now perfect every time. But one question?
Your saying Corn Flour. Possibly you mean Corn Starch? Then again I live in the states so might just be different use of words for same thing.
Hi Daniel. Yes, in Australia we call it cornflour but it is the thickening agent called cornstarch in the US.
Excellent! We felt it needed a bit more tang so we added more vinegar. I had a gourmet mix of dried mushrooms and used that – random ones in the mix and it worked well! We couldn’t stop talking about how good it was throughout dinner 🙂
I have tried a number of hot and sour soup recipes over the years and this one is by far the best!
The soup is easy to make and comes out delicious.
This was SO GOOD. I made these with fresh shiitake mushrooms as I didn’t have dried, plus added more per Nagi’s wood ear mushrooms. I added a tsp of chiu chow chilli oil instead of chopped chilli which gave it a nice heat. Stock was basic Knorr chicken stock cubes. Also added the whole tin of bamboo shoots as they’re only small, plus these would have probably gone to waste otherwise. As others have said, this dish tasted restaurant quality. Cooking time was about right. I cooked for slightly longer as I had added velvetised chicken pieces (AND shredded chicken to be extra!). Super delicious and healthy too. Will definitely be making this again.
I made this recipe and we loved it! So delicious it exceeded expectations and it really captures that chinese restaurant flavour. All the mushroom packaging was in chinese so I was fortunate to find someone to help me identify the wood ear mushrooms – I’m so glad I did!
Has anyone else noticed a discrepancy with the prep/cook time? My husband and I worked on this together and it still took us 1.5 hours!
Oh so good! Thanks for sharing this one, Nagi.
I am definitely going to try your recipe — I love Hot and Sour Soup. Actually I make it a lot myself, but I add water chestnuts and carrots. I also use button/white mushrooms. I even add corn kernels sometimes. Oh, and garlic. I ***always*** use garlic. 🙂
Do Chinese restaurants.make their own stock or use ready made?
Homemade stock is so variable and I am yet to crack a consistent flavour for the Chinese restaurant style dishes.
Best brand of chicken stock to use?
Delicious. Far superior to a lot of take aways. I added some Char sui and shrimps, plus some Tomato ketchup for a touch of colour and added sweetness.
All of your recipes are amazing. Felt like some old school hot&sour soup and this hit the mark! So tasty!
This was really really good and easy to make. Definitely will be making it again. I’m literally addicted to your recipes, spending hours browsing what else to try. Thank you, Nagi!
Hi Nagi,
I noticed the recipe says 1/4 cup of water but 125ml in brackets. Should it be 1/2 cup instead?