Sweetcorn egg drop soup

I first discovered egg drop soup a few years back – in fact, it was one of the very first recipes I ever posted on this blog way back in 2011. You can find it if you use my search bar… but I wouldn’t recommend it. The recipe itself is a little questionable, and the photo (singular) is enough to put you off for life. I thought it deserved a bit of a revamp (read: it deserved to be changed in just about every single way), so here’s its current form: sweetcorn egg drop soup.

To be fair, it’s pretty hard to make egg drop soup beautiful – it does look a little odd. If you’ve never had it before, it’s a kind of ‘does what it says on the tin’ kind of recipe – it’s a Chinese soup that’s had beaten eggs dropped into it, so they cook right into the soup and give an unusual (but not at all unpleasant!) texture. It’s a great way to make a simple, brothy soup feel much more hearty and filling. Some red chilli and green spring onions go a long way to making it more attractive, with their flecks of vibrant colour, but it’s still not exactly a stunner.

Luckily, the flavour of this sweetcorn egg drop soup is lovely. The base of the soup is a paste made from red chillies, garlic and sweetcorn kernels – then you just add some veggie stock (we’ve not got a huge number of ingredients here, so make sure you use the good stuff!), spring onions and those all-important beaten eggs, and you’re pretty much there. I also scattered a few sesame seeds on top of my soup, purely to make it marginally more attractive. It needs all the help it can get.

Overall, this sweetcorn egg drop soup is light, but still fills you up – often a tricky balance to find. It’s really low calorie, so I served mine with some veggie spring rolls for dipping. They’re not essential, but definitely recommended (when are extra spring rolls ever not recommended?).

Print Recipe

5 from 7 votes

Sweetcorn egg drop soup

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time10 mins

Total Time20 mins

Servings: 3 people

Calories:

Author: Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 1 mild red chilli, seeds removed
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 260 g sweetcorn kernels (~ 1 1/2 cups) - I used tinned
• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 1 litre good quality vegetable stock (~ 4 cups)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• Black pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

Instructions

• Add the red chilli and clove of garlic to a food processor, along with about 2/3 of the sweetcorn. Blitz to form a coarse paste.
• Heat the sesame oil in a saucepan, and add the sweetcorn paste. Cook over a medium-low heat for a couple of minutes, until fragrant. Add the cornflour, and mix well.
• Add the vegetable stock and soy sauce, along with a generous amount of black pepper and the remaining 1/3 of the sweetcorn. Stir gently to incorporate the sweetcorn paste, using the back of the spoon to break up any lumps. Bring to a simmer, and cook for 5 more minutes.
• Lightly beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Over a medium heat, slowly pour the eggs into the soup, and stir gently as they cook (more vigorous stirring will lead to smaller strands of egg). Add the chopped spring onions, cook for 1 more minute or until the egg is completely cooked, then serve topped with sesame seeds if desired.

Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/3 of the recipe.

If you want something a bit more hearty, my 15 minute black bean soup is really quick and easy, and full of flavour!