This vegetarian hot and sour soup is a meat-free version of a Chinese takeout favorite that also happens to be one of our most popular recipes on the blog!
You won’t miss the meat, as hot and sour soup already traditionally gets umami from vegetarian ingredients like dried shiitake mushrooms.
How to Make Hot & Sour Soup Vegetarian
This is a very easy soup recipe to adapt for a vegetarian diet. Even our original hot and sour soup recipe is already chock full of dried lily flower, wood ears, shiitake mushrooms, spiced tofu, firm tofu, and bamboo shoots.
In fact, in your average bowl of hot and sour, you’ll usually find very little meat! Besides leaving out the pork, the only other adjustment you need to make is using vegetable or mushroom stock instead of chicken stock.
You can also make this soup completely vegan by omitting the egg.
My grandparents owned a Chinese takeout restaurant, so we know our hot and sour. Hope you give this recipe a try!
Vegetarian Hot & Sour Soup: Recipe Instructions
In separate bowls, soak the dried lily flowers, wood ears, and dried shiitake mushrooms in 1 cup of hot water each for 1 hour, until hydrated. Reserve the shiitake mushroom soaking water.
Trim the tough ends off the lily flowers and cut them in half. Roughly chop the wood ears, and thinly slice the shiitake mushrooms.
Cut the spiced tofu into thin 2 inch-long slices. Cut the tofu into ¼ inch thick pieces, also about 2 inches long.
Add the stock and strained mushroom soaking water to a large soup pot, and bring to a boil. Add the salt, sugar, dried chili pepper (if using), white pepper, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, and sesame oil.
Next, add the lily flowers, wood ears, shiitake mushrooms, and bamboo shoots.
Bring the soup to a simmer, and stir in the spiced tofu, firm tofu, and vinegar.
Combine the cornstarch with ¼ cup water to make a slurry. Ensure it’s well-combined, as the cornstarch tends to settle to the bottom of the bowl.
Bring the mixture to a simmer and use your soup ladle to stir the soup in a steady circular motion to make a whirlpool while slowly drizzling in the cornstarch slurry. This prevents the cornstarch from clumping. Simmer for another 30 seconds to thicken. (You can make/add more cornstarch slurry if you like your soup thicker, but don’t go overboard!)
Taste the soup and adjust seasonings to your preference. Add more white pepper if you like it spicier. You can also add more vinegar, soy sauce, or salt.
With the soup simmering/bubbling lightly, stir the soup in a circular motion once again. Slowly pour the beaten egg into the soup in a thin stream.
When the egg is cooked, add the scallions.
Ladle into bowls and serve!
Vegetarian Hot & Sour Soup
Ingredients
- 0.35 oz. dried lily flowers (rehydrated, ½ cup after rehydrating)
- 0.35 oz. dried wood ear mushrooms (½ cup after rehydrating & slicing)
- 0.7 oz. dried shiitake mushrooms (⅔ cup after rehydrating & slicing)
- 3 oz. spiced dry tofu
- 4 oz. fresh firm tofu
- 7 cups vegetable or mushroom stock
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1-2 dried red chili peppers (deseeded and chopped, optional)
- 1-2 teaspoons ground white pepper (or to taste)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons mushroom flavored dark soy sauce (or regular dark soy sauce)
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce (or seasoned soy sauce)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 5 oz. bamboo shoots (1 small can)
- 1/4-1/3 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch (mixed with 1/4 cup/60 ml water)
- 1 large egg (beaten)
- 1 scallion (chopped)
Instructions
- In separate bowls, soak the dried lily flowers, wood ears, and shiitake mushrooms in 1 cup of hot water each for 1 hour, until hydrated. Reserve the shiitake mushroom soaking water.
- Trim the tough ends off the lily flowers and cut them in half. Roughly chop the wood ears, and thinly slice the shiitake mushrooms. Cut the spiced tofu into thin 2 inch-long slices. Cut the tofu into ¼ inch thick pieces, also about 2 inches long.
- Add the stock and strained mushroom soaking water to a large soup pot, and bring to a boil. Add the salt, sugar, dried chili pepper (if using), white pepper, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, and sesame oil.
- Next, add the lily flowers, wood ears, shiitake mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. Bring the soup to a simmer, and stir in the spiced tofu, firm tofu, and vinegar.
- Combine the cornstarch with ¼ cup water to make a slurry. Ensure it’s well-combined, as the cornstarch tends to settle to the bottom of the bowl.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer and use your soup ladle to stir the soup in a steady circular motion to make a whirlpool while slowly drizzling in the cornstarch slurry. This prevents the cornstarch from clumping. Simmer for another 30 seconds to thicken. (You can make/add more cornstarch slurry if you like your soup thicker, but don’t go overboard!)
- Taste the soup and adjust seasonings to your preference. Add more white pepper if you like it spicier. You can also add more vinegar, soy sauce, or salt.
- With the soup simmering/bubbling lightly, stir the soup in a circular motion once again. Slowly pour the beaten egg into the soup in a thin stream. When the egg is cooked, add the scallions, and serve!
I also lacked the wood ears, lily, & shitake, so I thickly sliced box if creminis. I used bone broth, beef broth plus shrimp (shell) I had in freezer. I sautéed the creminis 3 min w white of scallions & garlic. Then carmelized the mushrooms with sesame oil, oyster & fish sauces plus dark soy. Added this to the hot broth and followed the remainder of recipe. Outstanding!!!
So glad you enjoyed this with what you had on hand Karen!
Loved this! Made a very pared down version because I didn’t have tofu or dried lily flowers or the dried mushrooms, so I used portobello mushrooms. Left out the egg and red chili peppers and it was still spicy. It was easy and delicious and something I’ve always wanted to make. Wow! Thank you!
You’re very welcome, Connie!
Made this today and it was so delicious! I love Hot and Sour Soup and I’m so excited to be able to make it at home now!
So happy you liked it, Shawn, and that you’re now empowered to make it at home!
Good job
Thanks Wendy :)
Receipe easy to follow and taste delicious
Thanks so much Michael!
Made this last night and it was perfect for a drizzly fall evening. My family of five all loved it. I couldn’t find wood ear mushrooms so used black fungus (I think they are different?) and also threw in a left over chopped pork chop and some white cloud fungus (because it was in front of me in the grocery isle and I hadn’t ever tried it). The lilies were a new thing for me, too. We loved the authentic restaurant quality taste and had fun trying a few ingredients new to us. So glad there was left overs. Love the recipe can scale up or down – I raised it to 15 persons so we had enough for a few days. Not sure it will last more than 2 , though!
Hi Jody, I think wood ear and black fungus are the same! So glad you and the whole family enjoyed this soup!
Look delicious 😋 I am going try to make this soup for my veterinary day
Thank you x
You’re welcome and hope you like it, Lena!
Looks great going to try !!!!
Thanks Dawn, hope you like it!
Haven’t tried this recipe but, love your meat tenderizer , egg roll recipe, wontons to name a few. Enjoy your instructions, learning a lot from your site. Loving Chinese food for years and can make dishes anytime. My friends enjoy when I cook for them . Thank you so much!
You’re welcome!!