Microwave hot and sour soup in a mug! Make a single serving of this flavorful spicy savory Chinese soup without a stove. This soup cooks in about 4 minutes.
With the weather cooling down, I’m constantly craving a hot bowl of soup. Hot and sour soup is one of my favorite soups, but sometimes I don’t feel like making a huge pot. I just want one single serving for a quick lunch. Which brings me to this recipe.
Hot and Sour Soup
Hot & sour soup is a popular Chinese soup. The soup base is spicy, savory and sour all at once, making it very flavorful. Ingredients inside the soup can vary but usually include tofu, mushrooms and egg. Other ingredients that are often added include bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms and pork.
Tools for Making Microwave Soup
In addition to a microwave, you will need a very large mug that can hold at least 20 oz of liquid. If you do not have a mug that size, you can use a bowl instead. It needs to be able to hold at least 20 oz of liquid so that your soup has room to cook without spilling over.
How to Make Microwave Hot & Sour Soup
- Start by making the broth. Flavor the broth with soy sauce, rice vinegar and chili oil. Mix and taste and adjust as needed.
- Then add in the tofu and mushrooms.
- Cook the soup for about 3 minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked.
- While stirring the soup add in the cornstarch slurry. Then drizzle in the egg. Stir the broth a few times with a fork until you see egg ribbons.
- Cook the soup for an additional minute until the soup thickens and egg is fully cooked.
Looking for more microwave meals to try? I’ve also shared recipes for:
Microwave Cauliflower Fried Rice
Microwave Hot and Sour Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/4 tsp chili oil
- 1/4 cup firm tofu cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 2 crimini mushrooms thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 ½ tbsp water
- 1 ½ tbsp whisked egg (about 1/2 an egg)
- 1/8 tsp ground white pepper
- 1 scallion thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a small bowl add water and cornstarch and stir until cornstarch is fully dissolved into the water. Set aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl or mug that can hold at least 20 oz of liquid, add broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and chili oil. Stir to mix. Taste and adjust as needed.
- Add in tofu and mushrooms. Stir them into the broth.
- Place a paper towel over mug and put mug into microwave. Cook at full power for 2 minutes. Remove briefly and stir. Place back into microwave and cook for an additional 1 minute or until mushrooms are cooked.
- While stirring the hot soup, add in the cornstarch slurry (if the cornstarch has separated from the water, give it a quick stir before adding it in) Make sure to do this while stirring the soup, otherwise the cornstarch will clump up. Stir until the cornstarch is fully mixed in.
- Drizzle in the egg over the top and sprinkle ground pepper (you do not need to be stirring the soup as you do this). Use a fork to stir a few times, just until you see the egg start to ribbon. The soup should be hot enough to partially cook the egg so you will see the ribboning.
- Cook the soup an additional 1 minute or until thickened and egg is fully cooked. Garnish with scallions.
Notes
- I poured the soup into a smaller mug after it finished cooking, for photo purposes. But make sure you use a mug or bowl that can hold at least 20 oz of liquid to prevent the liquid from overflowing while it cooks.
- I use an 1100 watt microwave. Cooking time may need to be adjusted if your microwave wattage is different.
- There is a range of sodium levels in low sodium soup so be sure to adjust sauces as needed.
- Hot & sour soup is traditionally made with shitake mushrooms, but some people find the flavor too strong so I used crimini mushrooms for this version. If you like shitake mushrooms, you can use that instead.
- Rice vinegar is not the same as distilled white vinegar.
- You can add more chili oil if you enjoy a spicier soup. You can also use srircha sauce if you don't have chili oil.
- Make sure to fully whisk an egg in a bowl before measuring out 1 1/2 tbsp of the whisked egg for the soup.
- To learn more about rice vinegar, soy sauce or chili oil, check out my Basic Chinese Cooking Ingredients Guide.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Hi Jennifer and team!! Embarrassed to admit, but I’ve never used tofu before, so have no idea what type to look for when I’m shopping. Can you help, please?
Thanks, from Alberta, Canada!
You should use firm tofu for this recipe. Just check the label – it should say firm (there are other kinds that won’t work as well in this recipe). Hope that helps!
How can one cup have so much carbs? I would like to make but cut some more carbs
Several of the ingredients including the tofu, soy sauce, and cornstarch have carbs.
KIRBIE, you are so wonderful ! I love your creative recipes and your website and the great photos of food is so cool, user friendly, and a pleasure to peruse.
Yous da best !
Aw, thanks so much! We appreciate your nice comment!
Oh My Yummy!! This was so simple and delicious. Thank you
So glad you loved it!
I love it! this works great for a meal for me as with all the mushrooms, a little extra tofu and the whole egg and I have a hearty lunch or dinner soup! So much better than most of the Restraunts I have been to!
So glad I found your site! Adding some of your “Pantry recomendation” and lookinig forwad to making some of the other asian recipies.
We’re so happy you like the recipe!
This is amazing! Hot and sour soup is my favourite, why did it never occur to me to try to make it myself! This is so simple and so tasty. I had to sub dried chilli for chilli oil and I had no tofu today but did have some lovely king oyster mushrooms so I added those. Worked well, I pretty much inhaled this! Thanks so much.
I’m so glad you liked it!
This recipe is so simple! Wish I had the ingredients cuz I’d make it right now. Thanks for the Chinese food staples to keep in hand, now I’ll be ready for your next recipe. ?
hope you can try it soon!
Thanks for posting the recipe! I will make it on the stovetop instead of the microwave oven, but I like the smaller proportions.
Stove top should definitely work well too! I like the smaller portions because when I make full batch, we have a hard time finishing so much.
Stove top should definitely work well too! I like the smaller portions because when I make full batch, we have a hard time finishing so much.
Wow! Never thought making hot and sour soup can be so easy. Always took me a long time to prepare it.
it’s good when you want just a small serving!