Hot and Sour Soup
Serves 4 persons Time 15–20 minutes Difficulty 2/5 Ingredients 13 Steps 9
Hot and sour soup is a popular soup served at Chinese restaurants in the United States. This version tastes exactly like that served at various Chinese restaurants in California.
Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken stock or broth (or 4 cups water and 4 chicken bouillon cubes)
- 4 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
- ⅓ cup cooked shredded chicken or pork
- ¾ cup mushrooms, diced
- ¾ tablespoon garlic chili sauce
- ⅓ teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
- ⅓ cup white vinegar
- ½ cup canned bamboo shoots, julienned
- 4 ½ oz block of tofu, cut into ¼-inch dice
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 green onion stalks, diced (including tops)
- ¾ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Steps
- Bring chicken broth to a simmer in a 2-quart saucepan.
- Add soy sauce, shredded meat, mushrooms and garlic chili sauce. Simmer 5 minutes.
- Add black pepper, white vinegar, bamboo shoots, tofu. Simmer 5 minutes.
- Stir 3 tablespoons cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water in a cup until smooth. Add to soup. Stir well.
- Simmer 5 minutes until soup is thickened.
- Beat egg in a cup until yolk and white are combined. Pour into soup slowly in a fine stream.
- Stir soup several times. Wait 30 seconds.
- Add green onions and sesame oil. Stir well. Remove from heat.
- Serve hot.
Notes from the original
- Adjust vinegar, ground black pepper, garlic chili sauce and soy sauce to taste. American vinegar is much more acidic than its Chinese counterpart, so start with very little and add slowly.
- Add or remove mushrooms, bamboo shoots, or tofu as needed. These three ingredients don't add much to the taste, mostly they add to the texture of the soup.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Hot and Sour Soup” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-21, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.