Chinese restaurant-style hot and sour soup made easy! The hearty, spicy, sour broth is loaded with mushrooms, silky eggs, and tofu. I’ve included lots of notes so you can tweak the recipe with the ingredients you have on hand, plus how to make this dish vegetarian. {Vegetarian adaptable}
Hot and sour soup is such a popular dish takeout dish, along with egg drop soup and wonton soup. It’s one of those things that we almost always order when eating in a restaurant. The soup is loaded with so many goodies that I totally wouldn’t mind serving it as a main dish for a light dinner.
The soup base
Did you know that hot and sour soup is actually super easy to make?
Yes, the recipe below might look a bit long, because I wanted to create a proper restaurant-style hot and sour soup for you. But in fact, the soup base requires only a few ingredients:
- Chinkiang vinegar
- White pepper powder
- Water mixed with cornstarch (to thicken the soup)
That’s it!
The sourness of the soup comes from the Chinkiang vinegar. And the spiciness comes from the white pepper powder. No peppers or chili oil required!
A word about the dried ingredients
My recipe uses some dried ingredients that might require a trip to an Asian market or a purchase on Amazon. But if you don’t want to make the extra effort, you can totally skip these ingredients. I will explain why.
I previously discussed how to use Chinese dried veggies to create a superior flavor in another recipe – Buddha’s Delight, a Jai (Buddhist vegetarian) dish. The logic is the same here. The foundation of the broth consists of dried lily flowers and dried shiitake mushrooms. They both have a very concentrated smoky, earthy, and woody aroma. Once you rehydrate them, the rehydrating water will turn a dark brown color as it becomes infused with the great flavor. Do not throw this water away. It is the best vegan broth and you should use it to make the soup base.
The other dry ingredient is wood ear mushrooms. It is a mildly flavored fungus that adds a crunchy texture to the dish.
Chinese families always have these ingredients on hand because they allow a cheaper and healthier way to create a flavorful broth. If you use these ingredients, your soup will turn out more like the Chinese restaurant version.
However, if you do not have these ingredients, simply skip them and use chicken stock or vegetable stock instead of water to make your soup.
Cooking notes
1. How to convert this recipe to vegetarian
Simply skip the “marinate” part of the recipe, including the pork and the few ingredients for the marinade. Many Chinese recipes use a small amount of meat to add volume and texture to the dish. Skipping the meat won’t affect the flavor of the soup.
2. Other vegetables and proteins to use in this recipe
There are so many more ingredients that work well in this dish.
For example, some of my favorite vegetables include – tomatoes, napa cabbage, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and bok choy.
You can also use a different type of protein to replace the pork. For example, chicken or shrimp would work great. You can even throw in a few slices of cooked sausage or ham to make the cooking faster.
3. Workflow
Add vinegar and white pepper at the end of cooking – this is very important. Otherwise the pureness of the vinegar will disappear as the vinegar evaporates and the white pepper will release a bitter taste if heated for too long.
More Chinese takeout recipes
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
Hot and Sour Soup (酸辣汤)
Ingredients
(Optional) Rehydrate (*Footnote 1)
- 1/3 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1/4 cup dried woodear mushrooms
- 1/4 cup dried lily flowers
Optional Marinate (*Footnote 2)
- 1/2 lbs (230 g) pork loin (or chicken breast) cut into thin strips
- 1/2 tablespoon Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
Soup
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 2 green onions chopped
- 2 tablespoons Chinkiang vinegar
- 1 teaspoon white pepper powder (or 1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder for a less spicy dish)
- 6 cups water or chicken stock (*Footnote 3)
- 1/2 block (8 oz / 227 g) firm tofu, cubed
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce or soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- Gently rinse dried shiitake mushrooms, dried wood ear mushrooms, and lily flowers with tap water. Soak each of them with 1.5 to 2 cups warm water in three big bowls. Rehydrate for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until tender. Slice mushrooms into strips. Snip off the tough ends of lily flowers and discard. Remove tough ends of wood ear mushrooms, then chop into bite-sized pieces. Reserve the marinating water from lily flower and shiitake mushrooms, 2 cups in total
- Combine pork, Shaoxing wine, salt and cornstarch in a bowl. Mix well by hand. Marinate for 10 - 15 minutes.
- Add Chinkiang vinegar and white pepper into a small bowl. Mix well until the white pepper is completely dissolved.
- Add water or chicken stock, ginger, and green onion into a pot and heat over medium-high heat. If you reserved the marinating liquid from step one, you can add it plus 4 cups water or chicken stock.
- Add rehydrated wood ear mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, lily flowers, and tofu to the pot. Cook until bringing to a simmer. Add soy sauce and turn to medium-low heat.
- Mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water in a bowl until cornstarch is fully dissolved. Slowly swirl the cornstarch slurry into the soup. Stir to thicken the soup.
- Add the pork from step one into the soup, stirring several times to prevent the pork strips from sticking together. Add the salt. Slowly swirl in the beaten egg and stir well. The egg should be scattered and not clotted.
- Remove the pot from stove. Add the vinegar and pepper mixture and stir to mix well.
- Garnish with cilantro and drizzle with sesame oil. Give it a final stir. Taste the soup and add more salt if needed.
- Serve hot.
Notes
- If you do not have these dry ingredients, you can use half a pound of fresh mushrooms instead. Then use chicken stock instead of water to make the soup.
- Skip the meat if you want to create a vegetarian dish.
- Use chicken stock or vegetable stock instead of water if you are not using the dry ingredients (shiitake mushrooms, lily flowers, and wood ear mushrooms) in this recipe.
Video
Nutrition
The recipe was originally published on April 9, 2014 and updated on June 5, 2018.
My husband cannot eat tofu for medical reasons. What can I use as a substitute in hot and sour soup. Thanks
Hi Sandra, you could simply skip the tofu and the soup will be just as tasty!
If you wanted something that looked like tofu, you could use hard-boiled egg whites
Always wonder how to cook this soup. All westerners love it but being Chinese I prefer something lighter. Anyway I cook for dinner parties with resounding success. Thanks Maggie very much.
Made a vegetarian version. I had no lilies but I used turkey tail broth, shiitake powder, fresh wood ear., and subbed wild garlic scape for the green onions. Delicious, complex, and satisfying thanks for a better-but-easy recipe.
Delicious and easy to prepare.
Could you help me understand footnote 1? If you use dry mushrooms, do you use the rehydrating water as the base of the soup? If not and you use regular water for the soup, do they add more flavor than fresh mushrooms? Thanks!
Personally I would use the rehydrating water (only the lily flowers and shiitake water. Woodear rehydrating water tastes like nothing) as the base of the soup, but it’s not a must because the rehydrated dried ingredients will keep releasing a lot of flavor into the soup when you cook them. And yes, they do add more flavor than fresh mushrooms (dried shiitake mushrooms are smoked and dried, so they have a pretty intense taste). I would use chicken broth instead of water if I use fresh mushrooms in this recipe.
This recipe rocks!
Do use the dried ingredients. I bought them online. Tried it with fresh mushrooms and fresh wood ear and it didn’t work. Also get the Chinese vinegar.
This is so delicious! Thank you for the easy step by step instructions. The flavors are fabulous!
I’ll have to try this as my fav spice paste mix is nowhere to be found in our grocery stores anymore! Also: I’ve used smoked tofu in this soup as a great way to add some more protein and flavor
This is great- I never knew it would be so easy to make. The white pepper and the vinegar are 100% necessary, found the vinegar at my local Asian market. I didn’t have dried mushrooms so used store bought mushroom broth in combo with chicken broth. I used a lot more vinegar and white pepper than called for cause I like the flavor to be really intense. Thank you!
Made this precisely by your recipe, also adding the bamboo & dried red peppers — it was excellent! This is far beyond anything we’ve eaten at any restaurant.
All the hard work you put into sharing these recipes is greatly appreciated, thank you!
This is a great recipe! I ended up almost tripling the vinegar and white pepper although that may be just a personal taste for me. (I am also sick at the moment so my trusty nose isn’t at its best) My soup ended up with a starchy, milky color– did I stir in the cornstarch too slowly/quickly or perhaps when cooking the marinated chicken the starch from there added in..? not sure but overall loved this soup and I will definitely be making again!
I found a wonderful Chinese grocery market near my home and now I am able to easily procur dried Wood Ear Mushrooms, dried Lily Flowers and Dried Black Fungus, as well as Chinkiang Vinegar for your wonderful recipe. Now I have authentic Hot and Sour Soup at home – wonderful. All of the local Chinese restaurants leave out the Wood Ear Mushrooms and Lily Flowers which leaves their soups a poor substitute for authentic Hot and Sour Soup. I have one question: No matter how carefully I pour the beaten egg into the soup it doesn’t form “egg flowers” or “ribbons”; instead, it just disintegrates into the soup leaving it slightly opaque – a most frustrating end to the recipe. Still wonderfully delicious, though. What am I doing wrong? Suggestion: I put the tofu in a glass casserole and place a flat pan weighted down with two large cans of tomato puree on top of the tofu for 15-20 minutes to squeeze out most of the moisture in the firm tofu. Then I slice the tofu into cubes and when I add the tofu to the soup it swells slightly and absorbs the wonderful flavor of the rich broth!
Hi Jeff, thanks for all the kind words and I’m so happy to hear you like the recipe!
To answer your question about the eggs, I think there are two things you can try:
1. Use a fork (or a pair of chopsticks) again the bowl when you pour the egg, so the beaten eggs will drop into the soup from several thin streams. It helps to form the “flower” in the soup.
2. Add more egg whites into the egg mixture instead of using whole eggs. It will create better egg flowers without making the soup opaque. I rarely do this unless I have leftover egg white from other recipes, but you can try it out if you want a perfect result.
And thanks for the tip on tofu! Sounds wonderful and I’ll definitely try it out the next time 🙂
I find that if you allow the eggs to cook in the soup for about 10-15 seconds before stirring, the eggs don’t dissolve in the broth and stay more solid
In the nutrition it states, “Serving: 4g.” Please correct, thank you in advance.
Hi Joseph, sorry about this! It should be one of the servings. I’ve corrected the nutrition info.
So very good! My husband kept saying ‘ this tastes like restaurant soup!
Howdy. I’m new to cooking but I love Hot and Sour Soup! Just the pictures alone are driving me mad. Could you please tell me how much Napa Cabbage and Bamboo Shoots to add to this recipe? Thank you.
Hi Suan, I would use 2 cups chopped napa cabbage and 1/2 can bamboo shoot (1 can if you don’t plan to use the dry ingredients). Happy cooking and let me know how the dish turns out!
where/what is * footnote 3 that you mention?
“Use chicken stock or vegetable stock instead of water if you are not using the dry ingredients (shiitake mushrooms, lily flowers, and wood ear mushrooms) in this recipe.”
I refer to this recipe constantly. Delicious. Easy. Thanks for unlocking the secrets of chinkiang vinegar. Game changer.
I made this tonight and tagged you on Instagram. I strayed from tradition and soaked my mushrooms and flowers in chili water… it was 4 out of 5 alarm (fire) but DELICIOUS. Following you on Instagram.
Do you cook the pork or chicken before adding to soup ?
Hi Jay, I don’t cook the pork (or chicken) before adding them to the soup. When you slice then very thin, they cook through in the hot soup very quickly. You want to keep them just cooked through, so the texture will be tender.
Maggi I had been taught hot and sour soup by the chef who introduced the soup to the US in the late 50’s. I at the time was working a Chef Chus restaurant in Los Altos CA.in 1994.The 85 year old chef spent his days a Chu’s just hanging around .Your recipe is spot on except he insisted on putting red and black vinagar and white pepper in the soup urn and pouring the hot soup over it.
thank you for a great blog Steve Bogart retiered chef 40 years of cooking Classical Chinese dishes
Larry Chu – one of the best; I remember when his restaurant was just a hole in the wall, bu it (and his reputation) grew greatly.