Hot and Sour Soup

This easy, tasty, and, healthy Hot and Sour Soup Recipe is the best Chinese soup, ever! It is rich in delicious and savory flavors that everybody loves. It is perfect for a nice warm soup on cold and rainy days.

Hot and Sour Soup can be found in Chinese and some Asian Restaurant and Buffet in the United States. Our homemade hot and soup recipe is better than your take-out from your favorite Restaurants. You can control and pick your ingredients for your recipe. With the combinations of hot, sour and slightly sweet flavors, this soup yeilds the most delicious soup.

It is warming, comforting and delicious. We can’t stop eating just one bowl. It is good as it is or with rice on the side.

Hot and Sour ingredients

Combining these ingredients makes the best and most perfect Chinese sweet and sour soup recipe that you will enjoy. With different textures from crunchy carrots, silky and glossy from Tufo, and chewy mushrooms.

• Mushrooms – It gives earthy and aroma flavors to the soup. I use baby bella and dried mushrooms. You can use any type of your favorite mushrooms.
• Vegetable Broth – You can use chicken or beef broth if you have them as well. Or try my homemade beef broth recipe.
• Rice Vinegar – It gives sour flavor.
• Carrots – Adds crunch and vibrant color. Authentic hot and sour soup use bamboo shoots. Use what you have.
• Ginger – Adds spicy flavor. Use ground ginger as it is accessible and it will last a long time when stored in the pantry as a substitute.
• Sciracha – It gives hot and spicy flavor. You can use chili oil or red pepper flakes as well.
• Sugar – To give slightly sweet flavor. Skip this if you don’t want to use sugar. Add Honey for healthy alternative.
• Tofu – Rich in protein. Use firm, soft, or silky tofu and gently slice into julienned or cube. Silky tofu can easily break apart when slicing, that is why I prefer to use extra-firm tofu.
• Soy Sauce – For seasoning and color. You can skip it and just use additional 1/4 teaspoon of salt if you don’t have it on hand. If you are looking for gluten-free soy sauce, try this tamari soy sauce healthy substitute.
• White pepper – For flavor. Authentic Hot and Sour Soup calls for white pepper but you can also use black pepper.
• Tapioca powder – To thicken the sauce. It is healtheir and cheaper. Cornstarch is a popular and more accesible. Use whatever you have. We will make a slurry using tapioca powder and dissolve with 1/4 cup of water.
• Eggs – It gives silky ribbon thread and extra thickness.
• Toasted Sesame oil – It gives nutty flavor. It is optional, but highly recommended.
• Green onion – For garnish and extra flavor and color.

This recipe is meatless but you can add pork, chicken, or beef to your recipe. If you are vegan, skip the eggs!

How to make Hot and sour soup

This is a super easy, simple, and flavorful hot and sour soup recipe that anyone can make at home. It takes 15-20 minutes of cooking and 5 minutes to prepare.

1. Prepare all the ingredients. Soak dried fungus or mushrooms in water for 1-2 hours or pour a warm water to cut down on time. Slice your mushrooms, ginger and carrots in a matchstick and chop green onions.
2. Sauce – Combine tapioca or cornstarch with water, stir to dissolve. Add in sugar, salt, soy sauce, white pepper, and sciracha chili sauce. Mix well and set it aside. Beat the eggs and set it aside.
3. In a large pot, toss carrots, ginger and mushrooms together. Pour vegetable broth and bring it to a boil on medium to high heat. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes. I use 4 cups of broth but you can add more if you want extra liquid in your soup. Just add 1 teaspoon of your thickiner as well.
4. Add in your tofu and let it boil and you need to turn your heat to high. Carefully sliding the tofu to retain shape specially if you are using silky tofu.
5. Pour the sauce into the pot and stir gently and consistently until it thickens the soup. Beat the eggs and pour it gently to the soup. Turn off the heat and add the rice vinegar, stir.
6. Serve your hot and sour soup with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil and green onions on top.

Frequently asked questions

Storage Tips

Refrigerator – You can make large batches. If your have leftovers, let it cool down completely. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigirator for up to 5 days.

Freezer – If you plan to freeze your hot and sour soup, don’t cook the tofu yet. The tufo texture have a mushy texture when frozen. Let it cool down completely and transfer in an air-tight container or mason jar.

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