Hot and Sour Soup | Two Plaid Aprons (2024)

Hot and sour soup (酸辣汤) is one of the most popular soups from Chinese restaurants, along with egg drop soup and wonton soup. It tastes savory, tangy, a little spice and is loaded with tofu, bamboo shoots, mushrooms like white button and wood ear mushrooms, and completed with swirls of egg drop flowers. It's the perfect soup for cold weathers or as an everyday light meal that can be made in 15 minutes!

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What to eat with hot and sour soup

Hot and sour soup is perfect for a quick, light meal or the soup to start your homemade Chinese takeout feast! Here are some of our favorite Chinese takeout recipes:

• House special fried rice
• Chicken and broccoli
• Orange chicken
• Black pepper chicken
• Salt and pepper tofu

Ingredients

Please scroll down to the recipe card for the ingredient quantities!

For the soup base:

• 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 onunsalted chicken stock.
• White vinegar - This provides hot and sour soup with the iconic tang.
• Light and dark soy sauce - Light soy sauce, also known as your everyday, regular soy sauce. We recommend low sodium soy sauce. Dark soy sauce adds a depth of flavor to the soup, a subtle sweetness, and most importantly color, like in our Chinese red braised pork.
• Sugar - To help round out the flavor and mellow out the harshness of the vinegar.
• Chicken bouillon powder - We highly recommend adding some chicken bouillon powder to the soup. It really enhances the flavor the of soup and makes the soup taste well rounded.
• Salt - We used coarse Kosher salt, but you can use fine salt as well. Just use a little less if you are using fine salt.
• White pepper and red pepper flakes - Both peppers adds spiciness to the soup. Feel free to use more or less of each to your preference.
• Cornstarch - For thickening the soup. Make a cornstarch slurry by mixing the cornstarch with room temperature or cool water.
• Toasted sesame oil - Only a small amount of sesame oil is needed to add a subtle toasted flavor.

For the add-on ingredients:

• Tofu - This is a popular add-on ingredient in classic hot and sour soup. We prefer using firm tofu, but feel free to use any type you prefer.
• Bamboo shoot - We recommend getting canned bamboo shoots that are already cut into strips or you can cut it by hand. Make sure to drain and rinse if necessary.
• Mushrooms - Feel free to use any mushrooms of your choice. We usually use white button, baby portobello, or shiitake mushrooms.
• Wood ear mushrooms - A classic in hot and sour soup! It's got a crunchy texture and sometimes known as black fungus and cloud ear mushroom. Wood ear mushroom is normally sold dry and require rehydrating with hot water before use.
• Eggs - For the iconic egg drop "flower" in the soup.
• Green onion - It adds flavor and color to the soup. You can also use some for garnish.

How to make restaurant-style hot and sour soup

1. Saute pepper flakes. In a medium pot over medium heat, add 1 teaspoon of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the crushed pepper flakes and stir fry for about 10 to 15 seconds.

2. Make soup base. Immediately add the chicken stock, followed by the vinegar, both soy sauces, sugar, chicken bouillon powder, salt, and white pepper. Bring the soup to a boil.

3. Add vegetables and add-on ingredients. Once the soup is boiling, add the tofu, bamboo shoot, and both mushrooms. Bring the soup back to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium.

4. Thicken soup. While stirring the soup, slowly stir in the cornstarch slurry until all has been added. Let the soup simmer until thickened, about 30 seconds.

5. Add eggs. When the soup has thickened, slowly drizzle in the beaten eggs around the pot in a circular motion. Stir up the soup and add the sesame oil and sliced green onions.

🌟 Pro tip: How you add the egg and when you stir the egg will determine how your egg drops will look.
▶︎ For thin egg drops: Stir the soup while pouring in the eggs or wait for a second or two between stirring the soup. The sooner and more you stir the soup, the thinner and wispier the egg drops will be. This may give your soup a cloudier appearance.
▶︎ For thick egg drops: Let the soup sit for a few seconds before stirring. The longer you wait, the thicker ribbon the egg drops will be.

6. Garnish. Top the soup with more green onions if you'd like and enjoy! The soup will be super hot, so you may want to wait a moment before serving.

Recipe tips

• Use your preferred add-on ingredients. The add-on ingredients we listed are the most commonly and most popularly used. However, you don't have to use all of them if you wish not to. We do recommend at least some tofu, mushrooms, and egg though.
• Adjust how tangy and spicy you want the soup. Feel free to use more or less of the vinegar, white pepper, and pepper flakes.
• The best time to taste the soup is after adding all of the add-on ingredients. The soup will taste more mellowed out once the soup comes to a boil after adding the add-on ingredients. Taste it then and adjust the seasoning if desired. Do keep in mind that the egg will mellow out the soup a little more.
• Dry wood ear mushrooms require rehydrating before use. Simply pour boiling water over the mushrooms and let it sit until rehydrated, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Storage

Any leftover hot and sour soup can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. Make sure to let the soup cool completely before refrigerating.

Reheating

You can reheat the soup either in the microwave or on the stovetop until hot. If your hot and sour soup looks thin, you can stir in some more cornstarch slurry to re-thicken if you want.

FAQ

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