Chinese-style chicken and sweetcorn soup is easier to make than you might think.
Little chunks of chicken are cooked with sweetcorn and stock, plus couple of little flavour enhancers - like white pepper and sesame oil. It's all finished off with that classic fluffy egg, feathered into the broth. Utterly scrumptious and ready in 20 minutes!
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Have you ever made egg drop soup? It's also sometimes called egg flower soup - due to the way the egg feathers and 'flowers' out as it's stirred into the hot liquid.
This egg drop soup also contains little chunks to chicken - to turn it into that restaurant favourite - chicken & sweetcorn soup.
It's simple to make, tasty and pretty economical. You can serve it as a starter, or as part of a few Chinese-style dishes for a buffet.
If I'm serving it for dinner, I also like to serve alongside some fried rice or maybe some sesame prawn toast to make it filling enough for my always-hungry kids.
📋 What do we need?
- Chicken breast - we only need one small chicken breast for four servings of this soup - the chicken is chopped into small pieces. You can replace with 2-3 chicken thighs if you prefer.
- Chicken stock (chicken broth) you can use homemade chicken stock or stock made with stock cubes.
- Sesame oil - this adds a lovely very slightly nutty flavour and aroma to the soup.
- Sweetcorn - I use tinned corn kernels and I mush them up a little, so we get some creamy-corn-paste and some whole kernels, but you can replace with creamed corn if you prefer (creamed corn isn't readily available in the UK).
- Cornflour to make a cornflour slurry (corn starch slurry)- to thicken the soup.
- Eggs - these are whisked and added to the soup to make those lovely ribbons in the soup.
- Garlic, salt and white pepper for flavour - I use white pepper to give a tiny touch of warmth to the flavour.
📺 Watch how to make it
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
👩🍳PRO TIP Pour the egg mixture into the broth in a thin stream, whilst stirring the soup - this will ensure you get that lovely fluffy finish to the egg.
🍽️ What to serve it with
Why not serve as part of a Chinese banquet or buffet with some other Chinese-inspired dishes such as:
- Crispy Prawn Toast
- Salt and Pepper Chicken
- Coconut Shrimp
- Easy Crispy Duck
- Baked Asian-style Cauliflower 'Wings'
I love to top with lots of sliced spring onions before serving.
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Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic - peeled and minced
- 1 litre (4 cups + 3 tbsp) good quality chicken stock
- 1 small chicken breast - approx. 150g/5.3oz, chopped into small chunks (approx.1cm cubed)
- 198 g (7oz) tin sweetcorn, drained
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch in USA) - mixed with 6 tbsp water
- 2 medium eggs - whisked
- ¼ teaspoon salt
To Serve
- 2 spring onions - scallions chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a low-medium heat.1 tablespoon sesame oil
- Add the garlic and cook gently, whilst stirring, for 1 minute.2 cloves garlic
- Add the chicken stock and diced chicken, turn up the heat and bring to the boil.1 litre (4 cups + 3 tbsp) good quality chicken stock, 1 small chicken breast
- Simmer for 5 minutes
- Give the sweetcorn a bit of a mush with the end of a rolling pin, so that it’s a bit mushed up, but around half the sweetcorn kernels are still whole.198 g (7oz) tin sweetcorn, drained
- Add the sweetcorn to the pan along with the white pepper and mix together.⅛ teaspoon white pepper
- Bring back to the boil and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
- Slow stir in the cornflour slurry to thicken the soup slightly.2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch in USA)
- Whilst slowly stirring, add the whisked egg in a thin stream. It should feather out in the liquid as it cooks.2 medium eggs
- Have a taste of the soup and add in the salt if needed (it depends on the saltiness of your stock).¼ teaspoon salt
- Divide between bowls and garnish with chopped spring onions before serving.2 spring onions
Video
✎ Notes
Halving the recipe will still be the same cooking time. Can I use cooked chicken? Yes, you can use cooked, leftover shredded chicken. Simply add the chicken in with the sweetcorn (no need to simmer the stock for 5 minutes in the previous step). Ingredient additions:
- Add extra vegetables - peas, mushrooms, sliced mange tout and little pieces of broccoli all taste great - add them in with the sweetcorn.
- Small chunks of potato or carrots also work well. You can add them with the chicken pieces and stock, but cook for an additional 5 minutes before adding the sweetcorn.
- Add hot sauce, chilli flakes or minced ginger for a hint of heat.
- Soy sauce for a bit of extra umami flavour.
Nutrition
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jemma pinnington says
Absolutely delicious! I love this recipe. Can I freeze it?
Patrick Curry says
Awesome
Eleanor says
One of my husbands favourite soups, so I had to make it. It was delicious, I used leftover chicken for the roast we had the previous day...so quick and tasty. We will definitely be having this again, thank you.