Egg drop soup is such a mainstay of eating at Chinese food buffets. We don’t go out to eat too often now days with COVID-19 lurking around and also trying to watch our weight (go down, not up). So, when I came across a pork belly calling my name at Costco, I knew one of the menu items for our family gathering was to be Egg Drop Soup with Pork Belly. This post shows you the recipe for how to make great soup.
Chinese Cuisine Theme Menu
I used pork belly in various ways to showcase pork belly for my family. The menu included:
- Chinese Smoked Pork Belly and Cabbage Dumplings
- Egg Drop Soup with Pork Belly
- Chinese Barbeque Pork (Char Sui)
- Cubed Pork Belly with Honey, Sesame, and Garlic Sauce with noodles
This post provides details on how to cook Egg Drop Soup with pork belly. It really an easy process and is so delicious. The browned crispy pork belly provided a real depth to the soup’s flavor.
Preparation
The soup really doesn’t take much time to make so I went ahead and got everything ready. I ended up using Swanson Chicken Broth which turned out to be a good choice as it by itself is pretty tasty. To prep, I went ahead and chopped up a good bit of green onion, as the bottom ends go into the soup while cooking, and the tops go in at the end for flavor and for garnish.
Putting the Soup Together
Cut up about 1/2 lb. of pork belly into small bite size pieces. Add the pork belly into a pot on high and cook the pork belly until they are browned and a little crisp. You do not need to add any oil as pork belly has adequate fat. I cooked the pork belly in a cast iron pot. Once cooked, put them in a colander and let the grease drain.
Meanwhile, bring your broth up to a boil and add in the chopped bottoms from the green onions, garlic, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, turmeric powder, black pepper and tamari sauce. Add the pork belly pieces as well. Let it cook on medium high for 10 minutes. Mix up the corn starch and water and begin to add a little at a time until you reach the consistency that you desire.
Finishing the Soup
The final step in finishing the soup is to “drop the eggs” into it. I prefer a lot of eggs to be dropped in my soup. Take 6 or however many eggs you want and scramble them with a fork. Ensure the soup is at medium-high temperature. Using a spoon, stir the soup, and drizzle the egg mixture into the soup.
Serve the soup in a small bowl, making sure there is plenty of egg and pork belly in each bowl. Add some chopped green onion tops and you will have a soup to remember!
Egg Drop Soup with Pork Belly
Traditional egg drop soup is kicked up a notch by using browned pork belly. The pork belly adds a real depth to the flavor.
- 1/2 lb. Pork belly, cut into small bite-size pieces
- 6 Cups Chicken broth
- 3 stalks Green Onion (chopped)
- 3 Cloves Garlic, minced
- 2/3 tsp Sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp Rice wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric (Mostly for color)
- 6 Eggs (I like lots of eggs)
- 3 tbsp Corn starch
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 tbsp Tamari Sauce (Soy sauce can be substituted)
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
Add pork belly pieces in pre-heated pot on high and cook until browned. Keep stirring the pork belly so it doesn't stick to the bottom. You may need to throttle the temperate back down a bit if it gets too hot. Note: Oil is not needed as the pork belly has plenty of fat already.
Add chicken broth to pot and bring to a simmer. Stir in about 1/2 of the green onions, minced garlic, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, tamari, turmeric, and black pepper.
Mix together the corn starch and water. Stir the soup continuously as you drizzle in the cornstarch/water mixture or you may get lumps of cornstarch in your soup. I typically add about half of this amount and check consistency after a couple of minutes then add more as needed.
Get your eggs and mix them up in a bowl. Some like to lightly beat the eggs so you still somewhat have a separation of egg whites and yokes. I just mix them up like scrambled eggs.
Drizzle the eggs in as you are stirring the egg drop soup so it creates more swirls and doesn't settle up on the bottom of the pot. Do this step right before you are ready to serve.
Ladle the egg drop soup into bowls, top with chopped green onion, and serve!
Now, enjoy the simple life by sitting with your family or friends, and eating some good egg drop soup with pork belly and fresh green onions. Please let us know how you like this post or have suggestions on future posts.
If you like this content, check out my Cajun Spaghetti video on my Louisiana Simple Living YouTube channel!
Enjoy! Remember, if you can dream it, you can do it!
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I have have never been a huge fan of egg drop soup. With the addition of the pork belly it gave it substance. I really enjoyed it!