As a middle-aged Chinese woman, I’ve picked up some useful do’s and don’ts throughout the years. One major DO I’ve learned is to have more nourishing soups in one’s diet this time of year. We all love autumn for its beautiful foliage and comfortable weather, but as temperatures drop, the chill in the air is palpable. These Chinese soup recipes quickly warm and nourish the body when it’s under duress in the cold.
Perhaps it’s the mom in me. Bill and I were watching TV after dinner this week, and I startled him by abruptly leaping off the couch with an urgent need to tell The Woks of Life community (and my own daughters) to cook more soup!
Below, you’ll find 15 satisfying Chinese soup recipes, along with the average cooking time for each, allowing you to choose a recipe according to the time you have to spend in the kitchen.
A handful of these recipes harken back to grandma’s kitchen––long simmering traditional soups full of nourishment. Others call for just a handful of ingredients and give you all the benefits without hours of cooking. I’ve put them in order by cooking time, from shortest to longest!
15 Nourishing Chinese Soup Recipes
1. Tomato Egg Drop Soup
Total time: 15 minutes
This has been a staple of weeknight family dinners for years. It’s a spin on everyone’s home-cooked favorite: Tomato and Egg Stir-fry, but in a feather-light soup. When you learn how to properly do an “egg drop,” the result is gossamer-like egg strands that go perfectly with tangy tomatoes and a simple chicken broth.
2. Chicken Corn Egg Drop Soup
Total time: 25 minutes
This is another easy and nutritious soup for fall. It’s a bit heartier than Tomato Egg Drop Soup, as Bill made this one with more of a Chinese takeout consistency. Use frozen corn for ease and chicken breast for extra protein.
3. Shepherd’s Purse Tofu Soup
Total time: 25 minutes
This is one of my favorites for when the weather turns cold, because it’s a great light soup to round out a full dinner table of other Chinese dishes. Made with flavorful Shepherd’s purse (a wild Chinese leafy green vegetable), it also has silky tofu and egg white to add body and texture. You can find Shepherd’s purse in the frozen section of your local Asian grocery store.
4. Easy Fish Tofu Soup
Total time: 35 minutes
This Chinese Fish Tofu Soup is something we often eat out at restaurants, but it’s easier than you think to get a rich-tasting fish broth at home—and with fillets, not a whole fish! It doesn’t get much better than that. You’ll be shocked at the rich flavor you can accomplish with this soup in just 35 minutes.
5. Chinese Rice Cake Soup
Total time: 45 minutes
Chinese Rice Cake Soup is one of our new favorites. Despite the shorter cooking time, and the simple add-ins of napa cabbage, carrots, scallions, and shredded pork, the result is a full-bodied soup that tastes like you simmered the stock all day. With vegetables, protein, and starch all in one, this soup is a full meal that warms the belly!
6. Chinese Winter Melon Soup with Meatballs
Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes
This hearty and warming soup is a little bit like an Italian Wedding Soup, with tender pork meatballs and nutritious winter melon—a healthy late summer and fall staple. With the addition of glass noodles, it makes for a light meal, but one that still manages to be hearty and satisfying.
7. Hot and Sour Soup
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
You may be surprised to know that it’s actually pretty easy to make this Chinese takeout classic at home! Our version is (and I say this as humbly as possible) one of the best we’ve tasted. It’s no wonder, since Bill’s family used to own a Chinese takeout restaurant! Full of spicy, warming white pepper, this soup is perfect for a cold weather dinner.
8. Chinese Chicken and Mushroom Soup
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
You do need to do some pre-work to prepare this recipe (soaking dried shiitake mushrooms for 6 hours or overnight), but once you’ve done that, this richly flavored soup comes together in just 90 minutes. With just 10 ingredients, you’ll have a delicious soup and juicy chicken that you can serve as a complete meal.
9. Simple Wonton Soup
Total time: 2 hours
There are few things more comforting than a hot bowl of wonton soup. You may be surprised to know that you only need 10 ingredients to cook up this tasty classic. It takes a couple hours from start to finish, but the best part is, you can freeze the wontons and have soup ready in minutes any time the mood strikes!
10. Shanghai Style Red Vegetable Soup (罗宋汤 – Luo Song Tang)
Total time: 2 hours 10 minutes
This classic recipe is a Chinese adaptation of a European beef and vegetable soup. Though it takes just over 2 hours to make, simmered oxtails create an incredibly flavorful broth. It is the ultimate comforting soup for chilly nights and another complete meal in one bowl.
11. Chinese Watercress Soup with Pork Ribs (Sai Yeung Choy Tong)
Total time: 3 hours 40 minutes
If you grew up in a Cantonese family, chances are you’ve had this soup at the dinner table before. This Hakka recipe only requires 6 ingredients. It’s beauty in simplicity at it’s finest.
12. Ching Po Leung Cantonese Herb Pork Bone Soup
Total time: 5 hours
Another Cantonese recipe, this is Bill’s favorite soup to have when it’s cold out. Rehydrated dried ingredients embody the essence of this soup, and many of those ingredients will require some searching at your local Chinese market. But the result is worth it!
13. Asian Vegetable Stock
Total time: 5 hours 15 minutes
Sometimes, a simple broth sipped from a mug can be just as warming and satisfying as soups that can be served as a full meal. And we know that our vegan and vegetarian readers will appreciate how simple it is to achieve the full-bodied flavors in this vegetable stock.
14. Lotus Root & Pork Soup
Total time: 7 hours
This lotus root and pork soup with give your Qi (energy) a boost! Healthy lotus root and goji berries come in a rich broth flavored with pork ribs or neck bones. While this recipe takes some time, it only requires 8 ingredients to make!
15. Simple Chinese Oxtail Soup
Total time: 7 hours 5 minutes
This Chinese oxtail soup is another long simmering recipe with few ingredients––6 ingredients, to be exact. It’s incredible what a pot of water can turn into by adding some oxtails, onions, and daikon radish! Our family makes this soup throughout the fall and winter!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this list of our favorite Chinese soup recipes, and they help nourish you and your family/friends through the fall season!
Liz says
Thank you for sharing these wonderful recipes. I stumbled on your website looking for a vegetable tofu soup recipe. I always order it when I eat at Chinese restaurants. I would like to try to make it at home. Do you have a recipe or suggestion? Thanks!
Judy says
Hi Liz, you can make our vegetable broth and then add tofu to it after the broth is made.
Nancy Y says
Any chance that we get to see WOL version of “Foo Jook” soup? It’s one of my favorites!
Judy says
Hi Nancy, we don’t have a foo jook soup, but we do have a Cantonese pork rib and foo jook stew.
Lyn says
Omg I have been looking for something like this for years! Thank you!
Judy says
You are very welcome, Lyn.
LOUISE says
OH BOY, DO WE LOVE THE SOUPS.
ME LOOKING TP PRINT ALL 15 RECIPES, BUT NOT THERE.
I PRINT OUR ANY RECIPE AND IN FRONT OF MY NOSE IN THE KITCHEN.
I MAKE, MOST OF THE TIME, MORE THAN ONE RECIPE, SO MUCH MORE EASY TO HAVE THE PRINT IN FRONT OF MY NOSE.
DO YOU HAVE A LIFE-SAVING SOLUTION FOR MKE PLEASE????
THANKS A MILLION.
LOUISE
Sarah says
Hi Louise, click the photos of each recipe in this post or the “read more” buttons to go to the recipe page itself. At the bottom of each recipe you’ll find a recipe card with a “Print” button!
LOUISE says
Hi Sarah,
First of all, sorry for that many typos.
When i read it, yuck.
And then, a zillion thanks for your answer about printing 14 soups. (i left out nr. 14)
Normally i do not get an answer if i aks about printing, you’re the first. chapeau.
Also, the set up of the Woks of Live is great, so far the best regarding to cooking.
I hope i find many more recipes which cost not so much time.
For the last.
I wish Bill a lot of courage and strenght and a thick skull.
Working in a kitchen as a minority, boy oh boy.
Louise
Judy says
Hi Louise, thank you so much for your lovely comment.
Peter Melvoin says
What?
No congee?
Hard to believe.
-p-
Sarah says
Hey Peter, we didn’t include congee in this list, because we’d consider that more of a porridge than a soup. But here are a bunch of our favorite congee recipes for you to enjoy:
– 20 Minute Congee: https://thewoksoflife.com/20-minute-congee-recipe/
– Seafood Congee: https://thewoksoflife.com/seafood-congee/
– Pork Bone Congee: https://thewoksoflife.com/moms-pork-bone-congee/
– Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Congee: https://thewoksoflife.com/leftover-thanksgiving-turkey-congee/
PJ says
Since porridge is define as type of thick soup or stew, I like Peter expected to see congee on the list especially since we in US call it rice soup and don’t cook it to a mushy soft stage as done with congee.
It’s wonderful how different cultures cooking many of the same foods (oxtail, pork, chicken, veggie, soup) call it different names and use ingredients both similar to other cultures and those ingredients native only to the region.
I love soup thick or loose and so glad you provided a list. I can create a class lesson for my 3rd graders teaching culture diversity skills to see how we are alike using food to foster positive relationships. Happy Holidays!
Judy says
How fun is that, PJ––kids can see the world through food!
Patricia Lum says
Love your list of soups. Most of them are our family favourites too. I always enjoy reading the little narrations that accompany your recipes. Keep them coming. 😍
Judy says
Two more soup recipes are coming to you shortly ;-) Don’t forget to sign up for email notifications for when we publish our new posts. Just subscribe using the form in the sidebar of the website!
B Z says
Thank you for this compilation!! I have already bookmarked this page so I can come back to make all these for my family this winter.
Judy says
Excellent! Your family will love them :-)
Lilly says
yes, yes, yes! so many childhood memories with these soups! and so delicious too!
Judy says
You are very welcome, Lilly, hope you will give them a try.