Hot and Sour Soup Recipe - Full Calorie & Nutrition Breakdown

Hot and Sour Soup Recipe - Full Calorie & Nutrition Breakdown

Original recipe: Hot and Sour Soup - The Woks of Life by Sarah

The Recipe

Hot and Sour Soup

Prep: 60 min | Cook: 20 min | Serves: 6

Ingredients

Directions

1. Combine the julienned pork shoulder with 1 tablespoon water until absorbed. Add a pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, and 1 teaspoon cornstarch. Mix until combined and set aside.
2. Cut the dried chilies in half, discard the seeds, mince finely, and set aside.
3. In separate bowls, soak the dried lily flowers, wood ears, and shiitake mushrooms in 1 cup of hot water each for 1-2 hours until hydrated. Thinly slice the mushrooms, roughly chop the wood ears, and trim then halve the lily flowers.
4. Cut both tofus into 2-inch long and 1/4-inch thick pieces. Julienne the bamboo shoots. Beat the egg in a small bowl and chop the scallion.
5. Bring the chicken stock to a boil in a wok or pot. Add the marinated pork, breaking up any clumps. Once simmering, skim off any foam.
6. Add the salt, sugar, dried chili pepper, white pepper, both soy sauces, and sesame oil.
7. Add the lily flowers, wood ears, shiitake mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. Bring to a simmer again.
8. Add both tofus and the vinegar and stir.
9. Combine 1/3 cup cornstarch with 1/4 cup water to make a slurry. While stirring the soup in a circular motion to create a whirlpool, slowly drizzle in the slurry. Stop at about 3/4 of the way through and keep stirring until the soup returns to a simmer. Add the rest if you prefer a thicker consistency.
10. Taste and adjust the seasoning - more white pepper for heat, more vinegar for sourness.
11. Keep the soup at a simmer and stir in a circular motion. Slowly drizzle the beaten egg into the moving soup to create silky egg ribbons.
12. Serve garnished with chopped scallion.

Key tip: Add the egg only when the soup is actively bubbling - this creates delicate egg ribbons instead of a cloudy, scrambled broth.

Nutrient Card

Hot and Sour Soup (per serving, serves 6)
Calories: 189
Protein: 15g
Fat: 7g
  Saturated: 3g
Carbs: 17g
  Fiber: 1g
  Sugar: 2g
Sodium: ~606mg
Cholesterol: ~40mg

Full Nutrition Breakdown

Here is every major ingredient in this Hot and Sour Soup broken down by its calorie and macro contribution per serving (1/6 of the full batch).

Note: The recipe's published nutrition data clocks in at 189 calories, 15g protein, 7g fat, and 17g carbs per serving. Small differences in ingredient brands, soaking methods, exact vinegar quantities, and portion sizes account for the slight variance. When in doubt, weigh your dry ingredients before cooking.

Where Your Calories Actually Come From

The single biggest calorie source in this soup is the spiced dry tofu - not the pork. The two tofu types together account for a combined 24% of the bowl's calories, which surprises most people who see tofu as a "free" food. The cornstarch slurry adds 13% of the calories purely from refined starch with no protein, fiber, or micronutrient payoff, which also makes it the most obvious place to cut if you want to trim the numbers.

Macro Split

Hot and Sour Soup is remarkably balanced across all three macros - nearly a perfect three-way split at 32/33/36 for protein, fat, and carbs respectively. That's unusual for a Chinese takeout dish, which typically tips heavily carb-dominant. At 189 calories with 15g of protein, this soup delivers more protein per calorie than most restaurant soups you'll find anywhere.

Health Benefits at a Glance

This soup is a strong pick for anyone managing their weight without wanting to sacrifice satiety. At 189 calories and 15g of protein, it fills you up without weighing you down. The triple-mushroom combination also makes it one of the more gut-health-forward dishes in the Chinese takeout lineup, and the vinegar base brings a functional blood-sugar benefit that most people never think about when they order it.

Smarter Swaps (With Real Numbers)

Swap 1: Pork Shoulder - Skinless Chicken Breast

Chicken breast cuts the fat while adding a gram of protein per serving. The texture difference is minimal once julienned and marinated - both cook quickly in the hot broth.

Swap 2: Whole Egg - 2 Egg Whites

Two egg whites give you more protein and create the same silky egg ribbon effect in the soup. The visual result is nearly identical, and you save the yolk's saturated fat entirely.

Swap 3: Full Cornstarch Slurry - Half the Amount

The soup will be slightly thinner but still full-flavored. This is the single most effective carb-cutting move in the whole recipe with zero trade-off in taste or protein.

Swap 4: Spiced Dry Tofu - Plain Extra-Firm Tofu

Spiced dry tofu (wu xiang dou gan) is pressed and seasoned to a much denser texture than regular tofu, making it significantly higher in calories per ounce. Swapping to plain extra-firm is the biggest single calorie reduction in the recipe.

The Ultra-Lean Stack: All Swaps Combined

Apply all four swaps and you save 36 calories per bowl while keeping your protein count identical. That is a meaningful drop if you are eating this soup multiple times a week as part of a fat-loss plan.

Fit It Into Your Day

Common Pairings and What They Add

Pair this soup with steamed bok choy and you have a complete meal under 235 calories - one of the lightest restaurant-style Chinese dinners you can build at home. Add a small portion of steamed rice and you are still under 400 calories with a genuinely satisfying meal. The fried rice pairing brings you close to 480 calories, which still fits comfortably inside most daily budgets.

How It Compares

The restaurant version typically uses more oil in the broth base, a heavier cornstarch pour, and significantly more sodium - often exceeding 1,200mg per bowl. This homemade recipe delivers 50% more protein than most takeout versions (15g vs. 10g) while keeping fat 36% lower. The canned version looks appealing on calories, but at 4g of protein and 80 calories, it barely registers as a meal and relies heavily on preservatives and salt for flavor.

Recipe from The Woks of Life by Sarah. Nutrition data sourced from USDA FoodData Central. Individual results vary by brand, cooking method, and portion accuracy. When in doubt, weigh your ingredients.