Chicken egg drop soup
25 min · 44 g protein · 328 cals / serving
Silky ribbons of egg swirled into a hot, gingery chicken broth with tender shreds of chicken breast, mushrooms and wilted spinach. It is light and soothing, seasoned with a little soy, white pepper and a few drops of sesame oil, and ready in twenty minutes. Serves 2, or 3 smaller bowls.
Ingredients
- 4 cups chicken broth, low-sodium
- 3 thin slices ginger
- 1 clove garlic, smashed
- 9 oz chicken breast, 1 large breast
- 1 1/2 cups mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp soy sauce, or tamari
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup liquid egg white, or 2 egg whites
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
To serve
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
Steps
- Bring the broth, ginger and garlic to a simmer in a medium pot.
- Add the whole chicken breast, cover and keep at a bare simmer for 12–14 minutes, until it reads 165°F in the middle. Lift it out, shred it with two forks, and fish out the ginger and garlic.
- Add the mushrooms, soy sauce and white pepper to the broth and simmer 3 minutes.
- Stir the cornstarch into the water, then stir it into the soup and simmer 1 minute, until it turns very slightly silky.
- Beat the eggs and egg whites together in a jug. Stir the soup in one direction to set it swirling, then pour the egg in a thin stream while you keep stirring slowly. Let it stand 30 seconds: the egg sets into soft ribbons.
- Return the chicken, add the spinach and stir just until it wilts. Finish with the sesame oil and green onion and serve hot.
Good to know
How do I get thin, silky ribbons?
The broth must be simmering, not boiling hard, and the egg has to go in slowly from a height while the soup is moving. Pouring it through the tines of a fork makes the finest strands.
Short on time?
Use 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken or rotisserie breast meat and skip step 2; the soup takes ten minutes.
Make it milder or heartier?
For a very gentle bowl, leave out the garlic and use less white pepper; it's about the same score. For more to chew, add 1 cup of frozen peas and corn with the mushrooms.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 45
- Protein
- (55%)
- 6 g
- Fat
- (32%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (13%)
- 2 g
- of which sugar
- <1 g
- Fiber
- <1 g
- Sodium
- 343 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 657 kcal goes into the pot and 1616 g of ingredients comes out as about 1450 g of food: 45 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.