What a wonderful time of the year it is! There are so many comings and goings—holiday parties, happy hours, family meals, Christmas shopping, and gift wrapping. I love this time of year. But how exactly does this Tomato Egg Drop Noodle Soup fit into a season of prime rib roasts and glasses of champagne? Hear me out.
A Go-to Emergency Meal
As we busy ourselves preparing for our holiday and New Year’s celebrations, our regular routines like food shopping and meal planning can fall by the wayside. So what do you do when your stomach is growling, and your mind is realizing that there’s nothing in the refrigerator but a few eggs and old tomatoes? What is there to eat?
This nagging question is on everyone’s mind at least once, twice or even three times a day, and us food bloggers don’t always dodge the same dilemma.
For years now, this 10-Minute Tomato Egg Drop Noodle Soup has been my go-to emergency meal. It’s quick, easy, nourishing, and it hits the spot like a good bowl of noodle soup always does.
A List of Our Easiest, Fastest Recipes
In addition to today’s recipe, I’ve also compiled a list of some of our easiest, fastest recipes. They’re perfect fits for those last minute, back-up plan meals to have in between all the parties and the errands.
These recipes require very few ingredients, and I’ve grouped them by the number of main ingredients they require. So cancel that pizza order and put away the cold cuts. This post is a testament to the fact that you can still have a tasty meal with the bare minimum in your refrigerator.
Note: For this tomato egg drop noodle soup recipe, it’s best to use vine ripened tomatoes, which will create a rich, red soup base.
Recipe Instructions
Boil a pot of water to cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Drain and transfer to a large soup bowl. Toss with a few drops of oil to keep the noodles from sticking to each other.
At the same time, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in wok or pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and the scallion whites, and cook for 30 seconds. Then add the tomatoes and stir-fry for a couple minutes, until the oil starts to turn red and the tomatoes soften.
Add the stock, soy sauce, white pepper, sesame oil, and salt to taste. Cover and simmer for 3 minutes, still using medium heat. Now is a good time to beat the egg in a small bowl and have it ready.
Uncover the wok/pot, turn up the heat slightly, and slowly stir in the beaten egg. Turn off the heat and pour the soup onto the cooked noodles. Top with the chopped scallion greens (you can also add chopped cilantro if you want). Serve your tomato egg drop noodle soup hot!
Easy, right?!
Now, here’s that compilation of quick-and-easy recipes, to have and to hold!
More Quick and Easy Emergency Meals:
Recipes with One main ingredient:
- Egg Drop Soup (Need I say more? It’s a no-brainer.)
- Steamed Egg (All you really need is a couple of eggs, and you have the comfort you crave in a bowl.)
- Egg Over Easy with Soy Sauce (One of my favorites.)
- Simple, Spicy Pan-Fried Noodles (Fun fact: this is the first recipe we ever posted on The Woks of Life. No Hong Kong-style egg noodles? Boil a pack of instant noodles until al-dente, drain, and pan-fry!)
- Supreme Soy Sauce Fried Rice (You won’t regret giving this one a go––and many additional go’s after that.)
- Campfire Curry Ramen (Curry + Ramen = a winning combo. A stove makes things easier.)
- “Spicy Numbing” Cacio E Pepe (A quick pasta with an Asian twist.)
- Soy Scallion Shanghai Noodles (An absolute Must-Try.)
- Egg Fried Rice (Another fried rice. Because everybody loves fried rice.)
- Smashed Cucumber Salad (Our chili oil is all you need to elevate this salad to the next level.)
- Garlicky Broccoli (Even your kids will thank you for it!)
Two main ingredients:
- Stir-fried Shrimp & Eggs (A must-order when The Woks of Life eats at any Cantonese restaurant.)
- Shrimp with Lobster Sauce (At a fraction of take-out’s cost.)
- Bacon & Egg Fried Rice (How can you not love that combo?)
- Chinese Spaghetti Bolognese (We make it all the time.)
- 15-Minute Lazy Noodles (Sarah’s creation––it’s been getting high praise from readers.)
- Pan-Fried Tofu with Dipping Sauce (A scrumptious meatless choice.)
- 15-Minute Chinese Hot Oil Noodles (One of my absolute favorites.)
- 10-Minute Broccoli Tofu Bowls (Who needs to take meat out of the freezer when you have this?)
Three main ingredients:
- 15-Minute Coconut Curry Noodle Soup (One of our all-time top 10 recipes––enough said.)
- 20-Minute Congee (Always keep washed rice in your freezer!)
- Everyday Vegetable Stir-Fry (A quick stir-fry to clean out the fridge.)
- Scallion Ginger Shrimp (Soak frozen shrimp in water for a few minutes to thaw, and a meal will appear in no time.)
- Vegetable Fried Rice (Keep cooked rice in the freezer to make fried rice any time.)
10-Minute Tomato Egg Drop Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 1 serving noodle of your choice
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 scallion (chopped, white and green portions separated)
- 2 small tomatoes (cut into bite-sized pieces)
- 2 ½ cups chicken stock (or vegetable or mushroom stock)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- Salt (to taste)
- 1 egg (beaten)
Instructions
- Boil a pot of water to cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Drain and transfer to a large soup bowl. Toss with a few drops of oil to keep the noodles from sticking to each other.
- At the same time, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in wok or pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and the scallion whites, and cook for 30 seconds. Then add the tomatoes and stir-fry for a couple minutes, until the oil starts to turn red and the tomatoes soften.
- Add the stock, soy sauce, white pepper, sesame oil, and salt to taste. Cover and simmer for 3 minutes, still using medium heat. Now is a good time to beat the egg in a small bowl and have it ready.
- Uncover the wok/pot, turn up the heat slightly, and slowly stir in the beaten egg. Turn off the heat and pour the soup onto the cooked noodles. Top with the chopped scallion greens (you can also add chopped cilantro if you want). Serve. Easy, right?!
nutrition facts
Made this for a quick supper & also added some shredded napa cabbage & julienned ginger. Getting some vegetables & extra flavor in the pot made for a great improvement on plain ramen noodles. Younger son is now pretty enamored of Lao Gan Ma chili crisp, & it’s a really good garnish with this too :-)
p.s. Have greatly enjoyed your continuing upbeat e-newsletters these days – they’re like a little ray of sunshine in my in-box :-) Stay well!
Yayyyy! Thank you, Trish! We are honored :-)
I love this soup so much! Filling, healthy, quick and easy to make, delicious… One of my favourite staples. I found some chiu chow chili oil at the back of my pantry, so I’m gonna get a little iconoclastic tonight and try a spicy version. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe!
Great! Rachel. Is that our Chiu Chow Chili Oil? ^_^
This recipe is so soul feeding… Fast, Easy, Healthy and smart ingredients…. Loved every thing about the soup and its ingredients…. 100% recommended if you are looking to shine on and rise on a gloomy COVID-19 lockdown evenings….. Thank you so much
Hi Dipankar, totally agree and we have made this noodle soup many times since the COVID-19 crisis started. Stay safe and healthy!
Made this last night with canned tomatoes (I had a random half can that I needed to use up) and had to add a little rock sugar to balance out the flavor. It was so, so good, and extremely simple. Thanks so much for this great idea!
Like I said in the post, it’s my favorite go to meal. I am glad you like it too.
Just made this and it was SO good! I’m a mom of twin infants, so a quick and yummy dinner is a huge win.
Glad we can provide some help to a busy mother of two :-)
I usually don’t leave reviews… but I loved this recipe so much I need to recommend it to other people! So easy and quick to make, and I’ve made it quite a few times since I discovered it a couple of months ago! I have altered it slightly for more servings, but found that adding more soy sauce gives it a really nice flavour :) Thank you so much for this ^_^
Thank you so much for leaving us a review and the 5-star rating, Amy.
It was so easy to make and turned out really delicious. I will probably make it many more times. Thanks!
Hehehe…another person agrees with me :-)
Really delicious and quick!
Love it, it’s my favorite.
For the Tomato egg drop soup, it calls for vine ripened tomatoes, are you talking about in the produce section at the store to buy the tomatoes that are sold still on the vine? Any suggestions would be nice
Hi LuAnn, the best tomatoes are the vine ripened ones. The red greenhouse tomatoes that are sold still on the vine are not the best.
Ok, not going to lie, I didn’t make this recipe, but I have eaten some variation of this for my entire life. My grandfather (from Abruzzo, Italy) used to make his version for us kids when we were sick. He called it pastina (which he pronounced as paz-teennn). Pastina, by the way just means little pasta, which he always used in the soup (like orzo, or little stars or ditalini) and if he only had bigger pasta, he’d break it up into little pieces. When he died, my mom carried on the tradition. It was the first thing (other than maybe a scrambled egg) I ever cooked (because this one time, Mom was sick and somebody had to make dinner). HA! I think I was six or seven, I definitely needed a step stool to reach the stove. It’s my go to comfort food/pantry meal. Next time I have the craving, I’m going to remember to make it the proper Chinese way! Mushroom broth sounds divine. Thanks for this.
Wow, I had no idea there was an Italian version of this soup. Thank you so much for your comment.