People just GO CRAZY over them when I make them! with sour cream topping, little cheesecakes.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- ¾ ounce dried shiitake mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, or more to taste
- ¼ cup seasoned rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch, or as needed
- 3 tablespoons water, or as needed
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
- ¼ cup sliced green onions
- 4 cups chicken broth
- ¼ cup grated carrot
- 2 tablespoons thinly sliced red bell pepper
- ½ cup bamboo shoots
- 1 cup cubed tofu
- 2 large eggs, beaten
Instructions
- Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water, stirring occasionally, until soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well and slice into thin strips.
- Whisk soy sauce, vinegar, ground white pepper, and sesame oil together in a small bowl for hot and sour mixture; set aside until needed.
- Whisk cornstarch and water together in another small bowl for slurry; set aside until needed.
- Heat vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ginger, sliced green onions, and shiitake mushrooms. Cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Pour in chicken broth and bring up to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Stir in carrot, red pepper, bamboo shoots, tofu, and the hot and sour mixture. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
- Raise heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Stir the soup slowly with a spoon while transferring in the beaten eggs in a steady stream to create thin ribbons. Keep stirring until the soup comes back to a boil. Reduce heat to medium.
- Stir the cornstarch slurry to make sure it’s well blended, then slowly drizzle it into the soup while stirring constantly. Soup should thicken up within 1 to 2 minutes. Turn off heat, taste for seasoning, and serve.
- You can definitely use fresh shiitake mushrooms instead of dried, but dried will give the soup a better flavor. Cold water also works to soften the dried mushrooms, it just takes longer. The amount listed for mushrooms (3/4 ounce) should be about 6 mushrooms.
- Use soft tofu for this. Use Chinese black vinegar instead of seasoned rice vinegar if you can find it. You can use a hot red pepper instead of a sweet one.
- This will work with a black pepper or cayenne instead of white pepper, but it’s just not going to have the same flavor.
- Feel free to customize this–add any other thinly sliced vegetables you like when you add the tofu and other veggies.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 193 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 19 g |
| Cholesterol | 99 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 11 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 1979 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is a great soup. I substituted button mushrooms and black pepper since I had these on hand.
Another Chef John winner. I used Fresh mushrooms. Added a few drops of sriracha sauce to individual bowls for added heat.
I thought the soup was excellent. I wouldn’t change a thing. Better than most restaurants.
Best Hot and Sour soup I have ever had, much less made.
This recipe is da BOMB! I made this tonight, following the recipe exactly using Chinese black vinegar. As Chef John suggested, I broiled a boneless pork chop, and sliced it into very thin strips and added it at the very end. OMG, this is the best hot sour soup we have had in years! Our favorite Chinese restaurant had closed awhile back, and we haven’t found anywhere that was as good until now. My husband is out of his mind with glee. Thank you, Chef John, for another amazing recipe!
We added some cooked chicken. A little sirracha sauce to add more heat. It is a keeper!
Great recipe, but it was too chunky for my taste. So, I used 6 cups of broth. Also I used wood ear mushrooms instead of shiitake. Fantastic.
I have made this a few times now and it is fantastic! I too use extra ginger because….yummy! So simple to make and the video really helps break it down.
Followed recipe to the letter with exception of bamboo shoots (I didn’t have any), and it was tastey but seemed to be lacking something. I did add a tad more soy sauce & another splash of rice wine vinegar at the end, but it just didn’t have that *punch* that we are used to with the soup from our favorite restaurants. Might try finding some black vinegar at an Asian food store and see if that makes the difference. It was good, but not outstanding.
This was sooo yummy. I added a little extra soy sauce & white pepper. I also added a pound of small shrimp. I left out the tofu and bamboo shoots. This was very easy to make and was loved by all the heat eaters.
I just made this and it was fantastic! This was my first time making something with tofu, had no idea it would be this delicious. Thank you.
Simpler recipe than my previous. Video was helpful. Made it without changes and it was great. My new favorite!
I’ve made this a few times now. So good.
Amazing. We live in a really rural area now, and the one Chinese restaurant’s hot and sour is basically black pepper. This was incredible and a treat! We like it a little thinner, so we added more broth and only one egg, I’d probably do the second egg next time. We like a little heat and added a little thai chili pepper, but otherwise the seasoning was on point, I wouldn’t have added the heat except my boyfriend loves it. Will 100% make again.
It is most likely authentic, however, I don’t like the whole eggs. If I make it again, I’ll use the whites only. I love restaurant style hot and sour soup and the restaurants whose soup I’ve had used just the whites.
Added Gochugaru and cayenne pepper it’s now my favorite hot and sour soup.
Phenomenal. Just phenomenal. Reminded me of the hot & sour soup of the great Chinese restaurants of my youth. I had to modify slightly. ON the one hand, I did not have dried shiitake, so I had to use fresh. BUT, on the other hand, I did have some Zhenjianh, and I also got to add a bit of dark soy sauce to replace a teaspoon of the light soy sauce. The results were sublime. And the heat… my nose was running the whole time, and I loved every bit of it.
What really made this recipe taste like the hot and soup soup of my younger non-Paleo days was the addition of white pepper! Who knew? I changed what I needed to to make this a Paleo compliant dish and it was delicious!
It was delicious prepared as written!
Oh my goodness, is this delicious or what? The only thing I didn’t add was tofu, but I followed the recipe as described and it turned out amazing! I substituted the shitake by regular brown mushrooms and it turned out great as well. It has a little kick due to the white pepper and it just tastes delicious! I’ll be making it more often, that’s for sure. En-joooy!
This recipe was way simpler than I thought possible! Dried shitakes, as suggested, would have given it a more authentic flavor (as far as take-out-hot-and-sour-soup-vibes go), but I used the dried mixed mushrooms I had on hand. The ingredient list included pantry and weekly grocery staples, so it made for an excellent mid-week meal. The soup definitely gets ugly before it turns presentable, but the flavors were harmonious and the texture was smooth without being gloopy. Another win from the tutelage of Chef John!