Hot and Sour Udon Noodle Soup

This quick and easy Hot and Sour Udon Noodle Soup is a delicious alternative to takeout. Made with a handful of simple vegetarian ingredients, each bowl of soup is so warm and comforting. 

Homemade hot and sour soup

My homemade Hot and Sour Udon Noodle Soup is fast and easy to put together. In just 15 minutes, you’ll have a comforting, silky Chinese soup filled to the brim with bok choy, baby corn, snow peas, and green onion. It’ll be ready before the takeout even arrives at your door!

Just like Wonton Soup and Beef Dumpling Soup, hot and sour soup is a traditional Chinese soup that tastes a little savory, sour, and spicy. I made this vegetarian version without much spice but the recipe is so easy to play with so you can easily get creative. Keep things simple with more vegetables, add meat for extra protein, or head to your local Asian market for more authentic add-ins to make this soup exactly how you like.

Make this easy vegetarian hot and sour soup a part of the spread the next time you’re craving Chinese takeout (without opening your wallet)! Serve it next to my Bok Choy Stir Fry and General Tso’s Cauliflower for an authentic and delicious copycat takeout dinner.

What is hot and sour soup?

You can almost always find hot and sour soup on the menu at your favorite Chinese-American restaurant. While no two soups are the same, the traditional hot and sour soup recipe is usually made with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, noodles, and tofu. The sour flavor comes from vinegar and spice from chili paste or peppers.

It’s an easy soup to make at home and plays well with a variety of flavors. Control the spice and sourness or add more to make the soup heartier. I like it with tofu, broccoli florets, and water chestnuts!

How to make homemade hot and sour soup

Just throw soft doughy udon noodles, vegetables, broth, and some seasoning in a pot and your soup is done! It doesn’t get much easier than this:

Add all of the ingredients (except the noodles) to a large soup pot. Bring it up to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it’s boiling, lower the temperature and cook, uncovered, until the veggies are fork tender.

Place the noodles in the soup and bring the temperature up to medium. Let the soup simmer until the noodles are tender, then serve and enjoy!

Tips and substitutions

• Is it too thin? Thicken the soup using a cornstarch slurry. Simply stir ¼ cup of cornstarch with ¼ of broth in a small bowl. Stir it into the finished soup to thicken it up.
• Instead of udon noodles, use egg noodles, rice noodles, or any long pasta noodle you have at home.

• If you don’t have rice wine vinegar, you can use champagne vinegar, white wine vinegar, or lemon or lime juice instead.
• Looking for gluten free hot and sour soup? Simply replace the soy sauce with tamari and use rice noodles instead of udon.

Hot and sour soup add-ins

• Spice – Add a few tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce, chili paste, dried chili peppers, or chopped red chili peppers until the soup is at your desired spice level.
• Meat – Substitute the vegetable broth for beef or chicken broth. You can also sauté some pork shoulder, shredded chicken, shrimp, or ground pork before adding them to the soup in the last 5 minutes of cooking.
• Vegetables – Like shitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, leafy greens, broccoli, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and ginger. Don’t have snow peas? You can use frozen peas too.
• Eggs – Crack 1 or 2 eggs into the soup for added protein and authentic egg ribbons.
• Tofu – Traditional hot and sour soup is made with cubed extra firm tofu.

What to serve with hot and sour soup

• Chop Suey
• Chicken Chow Mein
• Fried Rice
• Asian Cucumbers

More soup recipes to try

• Homemade Wonton Soup
• Vegetable Noodle Soup
• Egg Drop Soup
• Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup

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