Tomato Egg Drop Soup (with Frozen Tomatoes)

Appetizing, comforting, and full of vitamins and proteins – Tomato Egg Drop Soup is such a budget-friendly and easy-to-prepare family meal.

This soup is a life saver when you are worn out, feeling too lazy to cook but wanting something warm and comforting, or having a tight budget at the end of the month.

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Mr He and I grew up drinking tomato egg drop soup

Our Chinese parents love to make this dish, especially during summertime when tomatoes are so affordable, juicy, meaty, and sweet!

What’s better, with this recipe, you will be able to make this soup within 15 minutes at any time of the day all year round.

The life-changing trick is freezing the tomatoes!

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Frozen tomatoes for making tomato egg drop soup

Have you ever tried to make soup with frozen tomatoes? They are one of the easiest, tastiest, and healthiest natural seasoning and food coloring to the soup!🤩

How to freeze tomatoes?

When the tomatoes are harvested during summertime, we can wash and pat dry the tomatoes, keep them in a food storage bag, seal it, then toss the bag in the freezer until you want to use tomatoes.

Are frozen tomatoes safe to eat?

Frozen tomatoes are perfectly safe and healthy to eat, since they retain the flavor and nutrition for “12 to 18 months”.

The frozen tomatoes are best for making soup, stew, and sauce, because they turn mushy and literarily “melt” in the pot into tomato juice after frozen and thawed.

How to peel a frozen tomato?

After you take out a tomato from the freezer, simply rinse it under running tap water, then you will be able to peel off the tomato skin like peeling a ripen peach.

When I made the video I soaked my frozen tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds. A few days later, I realized that I didn’t need to use boiling water at all. Warm tap water could just work perfectly on thawing the tomato skin a bit, which allows us to peel off the tomato skin easily.

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Tips for Making Tomato Egg Drop Soup

1. Don’t Forget the Cornstarch water

To accomplish a rich Tomato Egg Drop Soup, cornstarch is essential. Besides thickening up the soup just enough to give it body, it also helps keep the eggs silky and tender. 

Instead of dissolving the cornstarch with some cold water, I’ve seen some people adding cornstarch directly into the boiling broth.

This method might save you 30 seconds, but it’s going to cause some unpleasant cornstarch clumps in the soup. 🧐

How to use cornstarch water for soup?

• You can use ⅔ tbsps to 1 tbsp of cornstarch to thicken each cup of soup.
• Mix cornstarch and cold water at a ratio of 1:1. For example, we use 3 tbsps of cornstarch and 3 tbsps of cold water in this tomato egg drop soup recipe. If you’d like a thicker soup, you can use 4 tbsps of cornstarch with 4 tbsps of water.
• Bring the soup to a boil, then turn heat to medium low to keep the soup simmering.
• Pour the cornstarch water into the soup, gently stir the soup to mix well.
• Turn heat to medium high, bring the soup to a boil. Continuously stir the soup until it turns glossy and thicken.

2. Large vs Small Egg flowers

I personally prefer larger egg flowers, so I won’t stir the soup until I finish adding all the egg and seasonings.

If you prefer smaller “fur like” egg flowers, you can “use a ladle to stir the soup in a circular motion” before you drizzle the egg – the faster you stir the soup, the smaller the egg flowers will be.

3. Use frozen tomatoes

Although it’s perfectly tasty and healthy to use fresh tomatoes for making tomato egg drop soup, I’d still highly recommend you to give frozen tomatoes a try!

First of all, it’s much easier to peel frozen tomatoes than fresh ones.

For the fresh ones, you will need to cut a shallow “X” in the bottom of each tomato, boil them for 30 seconds, them chill them in iced water before peeling.

While for the frozen ones, you can simply rinse them under warm tap water, then the skin will come off easily, no cutting or boiling water is needed.

Secondly, the tomato egg drop soup made with frozen tomatoes are going to be much creamier, colorful, and flavorful.

The water in tomatoes expands during freezing and breaks the cell walls. Therefore thawed tomatoes have a soft, mushy texture, which is perfect for making soup.

The tomato juice will release from the cell walls as soon as it’s cooked. That’s why tomato egg drop soup made with frozen tomatoes looks redder and tastes richer than the fresh tomato soup.

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What other ingredients can be used to substitute tomatoes?

If you are allergic to tomatoes, you can simply skip it and make a classic egg drop soup by following my recipe here.

Pure egg drop soup sounds too boring? Here are some popular ingredients you can use to boost your egg drop soup:

1.   Ginger

When I am sick with a cold, I generally crave egg drop soup because of its clear broth and light flavors.

The soup gets just enough kick from a tablespoon of ground ginger or a 1″ length of grated or sliced ginger. Plus, ginger aids nutrient absorption, digestion, and nausea, helping your body function better.

2.   Purple Seaweed 紫菜

There are four main types of seaweed used in Chinese cooking. The Purple seaweed often used comes from Pyrphora which translates to “purple vegetable.”

In general, it appears black or dark green, with just a slight hint of purple. Purple seaweed contains carotenes and vitamins B12 and C, and it goes great with egg drop soup.

3.   White Pepper

White pepper comes from the same plant as black pepper, however, rather than picking the unripe fruit and drying it, white pepper is ground from the mature seeds within the fruit.

As a result, white pepper produces a distinct smell and taste that can be described as “harsh” and “burnt”. I love its acid-like smell and subtle flavor.

If you prefer adding extra amount of white pepper, shiitake mushrooms, and rice vinegar to your egg drop soup, you are actually making another similar and popular Chinese soup called “hot and sour soup 胡辣汤”.

4. Corn, Spinach, Peas, etc.

It’s never a bad thing to have extra vegetables. If you are adding all of these, add a cup to the broth first before adding the eggs.

Tofu cubes can also be prepared in the same way. Mushrooms, bamboo slices, and carrots can also be prepared in the same way.

You can even prepare crabmeat slices this way.

5.   Dried Shrimp

If you like bold flavors, then this is the one for you.

Some people cannot resist adding dried shrimp to soup despite their beady black eyes and strong fishy flavor.

It may be necessary to soak the shrimp beforehand. The shrimp will also taste best if you add them right at the beginning, while the broth is still warming up.

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Now that we know a bit more about Tomato Egg Drop Soup, let’s explore how you can easily whip up a delicious batch.😁

How to Make Tomato Egg Drop Soup

EQUIPMENT

1 soup pot

INGREDIENTS  

• 2 large tomatoes – about 300g (or 3 small tomatoes)
• 3 medium eggs (or 2 large eggs)
• 2 tbsp cooking oil (I used vegetable oil)
• 4 cups chicken/vegetable stock – 32oz (or water)
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 tbsp cold water
• 1 – 1½  tsp salt (gradually add to your taste)
• ½ tsp white pepper (or black pepper, gradually add to your taste)
• 1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
• 1 green onion (or cilantro)

INSTRUCTIONS 

1. Place 2 large frozen tomatoes in a heat resistant bowl, pour *boiling water over the tomatoes, let the tomatoes submerge in hot water for 30 seconds. (*Revised: you can simply rinse them under warm tap water, then the skin will come off easily. )

2. Transfer the tomatoes out with a ladle or a pair of tongs. Peel the skin easily.(Check this recipe for how to easily peel a fresh tomato.) Set aside on a plate, allow them to thaw a bit before cutting.

3. Wash and finely chop a green onion. Crack 3 medium eggs in a bowl, beat until smooth. Add 3 tbsps of cornstarch and 3 tbsps of cold water to a small bowl, stir until smooth. Set aside.

4. Cut the tomatoes into bite size chunks.

5. Heat up the soup pot over medium high heat for about 1 minute, add 2 tbsps of cooking oil to the pot, heat up the oil for 30 more seconds.

6. Carefully pour the tomato chunks to the pot, stir fry over medium high heat for about 1 minute until about 70% of the tomatoes have melted.

7. Add 4 cups of chicken/vegetable stock (or water) to the pot. Cover the pot with a lid, cook over high heat until boiling.

8. Open the lid, turn heat to medium low, gradually stir in the cornstarch water. Gently but continuously stir the soup until it turns glossy and thicken.

9. Add salt and white pepper (or black pepper) to your taste. Gently stir until dissolved.

10. Use a ladle to pour the eggs to the soup by drawing clockwise circles above the pot. Repeat until you use all the beaten eggs. Turn off the heat.

11. Add sesame oil, chopped green onions or cilantros to the soup.

12. Remember to protect your table with trivets if you are going to serve the soup in the pot. Or you can serve the soup in some small soup bowls.

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