Hot and Sour Soup
Instant Pot Hot and Sour Soup is so easy to make at home and better than takeout! This classic Chinese soup is spicy, tangy, and packed with nutritious vegetables. This simple recipe is low calorie, low carb, gluten free, and most importantly incredibly delicious.
PREP TIME 5minutes mins
COOK TIME 10minutes mins
PRESSURIZING TIME 10minutes mins
TOTAL TIME 25minutes mins
COURSE Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish
CUISINE Asian
SERVINGS 8
CALORIES 175 kcal
INGREDIENTS
Soup Broth
▢8 cups chicken broth, or vegetable broth
▢3 tsp ginger, fresh grated or 1 1/2 tsp dried ginger powder
▢8 oz mushrooms, sliced, cremini, white, baby bella or shiitake
▢5 dried wood ear mushrooms, soaked and sliced, optional, see notes below
▢4 tbsp rice vinegar, or white vinegar
▢1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar, or rice vinegar, or white vinegar
▢1/4 cup soy sauce
▢2 tbsp chili garlic sauce, or sriracha or hot sauce of choice
▢1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
▢1 tsp white pepper, or black pepper
Soup Add Ins
▢8 oz bamboo shoots, canned, drained, optional
▢8 oz tofu, firm, cut into small cubes or strips
▢4 tbsp cornstarch
▢4 tbsp water
▢2 eggs, whisked
▢3 green onions, thinly sliced
Garnish (Optional)
▢Green onions, thinly sliced
▢Crispy Chow Mein Noodles
INSTRUCTIONS
Place the dried wood ear mushrooms in a large bowl or measuring cup and cover with warm water. Leave the mushrooms to soak for 5 – 10 minutes, or until softened. Drain and rinse the mushrooms. Cut off the hard center piece of the mushroom and discard. Slice the mushrooms into thin strips.
Add all of the soup broth ingredients to the Instant Pot (or Electric Pressure Cooker). Stir until evenly combined. Put the lid on the pot, lock in place and turn the pressure valve to SEALING.
Use the Manual Pressure cook button, or Soup button on the pressure cooker and set the time for 5 minutes. The pot will take about 5 – 10 minutes to come to pressure.
When the cooking time is done allow the pot to Natural Release for 10 minutes (i.e. do not change any settings on the pot, release any pressure or try to remove the lid). When the pot reads L00:10, indicating it has been naturally releasing for 10 minutes, carefully turn the pressure valve to VENTING to release any remaining pressure. Once the pin on the lid has dropped carefully remove the lid from the pot.
Turn the pot on sauté mode. Add in the sliced tofu and bamboo shoots. Stir to combine.
In a small bowl mix together the cornstarch and water until smooth. When the soup is simmering pour in the cornstarch mixture and stir continuously. Allow to simmer for 1-2 minutes or until the soup is thickened.
While the soup is still simmering, stir the soup slowly in a circular motion and slowly pour the whisked eggs into the soup to create the egg ‘ribbons’. Once all the egg mixture has been poured in, stop stirring the soup and allow the eggs to set for 1 minute.
Adjust the soup to taste to your desired spice level. Add additional chili garlic sauce or sriracha hot sauce in 1 tsp increments to increase the spice level.
Garnish the soup with green onions and crispy chow mein noodles and enjoy!
NOTES
*Nutrition Information does not include optional crispy chow mein noodle garnish.*
Dried wood ear mushrooms can be found at your local Asian grocer. The mushrooms come dried and therefore need to be soaked in water before cooking with them. Once soaked the mushrooms double or triple in size. The mushrooms can be omitted from the soup and you can use cremini, baby bella, white, button or shiitake mushrooms instead.