Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup is a Chinese egg drop soup with shredded chicken, sweetcorn, and spinach. Ginger, garlic, and dried shiitake mushrooms give the broth a rich flavor.
What is Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup?
Until recently, I was unfamiliar with Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup. Around Christmastime, my family came to visit us, and my in-laws took us out to eat at a newly opened Chinese restaurant near their house. We started our meal with a soup. It seemed like a regular egg drop soup to me, but then I noticed it had a few corn kernels and some very small pieces of diced chicken in the soup.
I had never had a soup like that before, and I started thinking about making it at home right away. I knew I wanted to make the soup into a main course rather than just an appetizer. And I had already decided I would bump up the chicken to make enough protein for a meal and add some type of greens for a veggie.
So I started looking up recipes for egg drop soup with chicken and corn, and then I learned this soup is actually called Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup. I found out it’s a favorite of Indo-Chinese cuisine.
Some recipes for this soup call for canned creamed corn, to give the soup a thicker cloudier texture. In addition, Chinese egg drop soup is usually thickened with corn starch to an almost gravy-like consistency. Personally, I prefer a more clear soup. That’s why I used frozen corn and didn’t use that much cornstarch.
How to Add Flavor to Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup
I love the flavor of this soup. There’s two important things I did in this recipe to add flavor.
First, I browned the chicken. While you could use leftover rotisserie chicken or just boil the chicken, browning the chicken and cooking it in the soup gives the soup flavor from those browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Second, I boiled the broth with traditional Chinese aromatics including garlic, ginger, green onion bulbs, and dried shiitake mushrooms. I wrote about using dried shiitake mushrooms in Chinese cooking in this post. So many 15-minute egg drop soup recipes I saw online call for boiling canned chicken broth and pouring in egg. I knew I wanted to give the soup a more complex flavor than that. Cooking the broth for 20 minutes with the chicken and these aromatics make the broth so good. It is worth the time!
Ingredients for Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup
Here are the main ingredients. There are two small boneless skinless chicken breasts, some rehydrated dried shiitake mushrooms, fresh baby spinach leaves, frozen corn kernels, green onions, and eggs.
How to Make Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup
To start, brown the chicken.
Then remove the chicken to a plate and brown the aromatics. (The green parts of the scallions get used later for garnish.)
Next add the mushrooms, broth, and browned chicken to the soup. You’ll simmer until the chicken is cooked through, shred the chicken, and thicken the soup. The last few steps are to add the egg, spinach, and sesame oil.
This soup is so tasty, healthy, and comforting. Is it wrong to say I like mine better than the soup we had at the restaurant? I know I’ll be making it again this winter!
If you make this recipe, please give the recipe a rating and/or leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!
Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup
Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup is a Chinese egg drop soup with shredded chicken, sweetcorn, and spinach. Ginger, garlic, and dried shiitake mushrooms give the broth a rich flavor.
Ingredients
- 2 small boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 14 ounces total)
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 3 slices ginger
- 1 bunch scallions, sliced, white and green parts separated
- 4 rehydrated dried shiitake mushrooms sliced
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 2 teaspoons corn starch (use 4 teaspoons for thicker soup)
- 3 eggs, beaten (easiest to put in a liquid measuring cup)
- 3 ounces baby spinach
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chicken and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, until browned. Remove chicken to a plate.
Add garlic, ginger, and white part of scallions to the remaining oil in the pot. Cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, chicken broth, and 1 cup water. Add chicken breasts back to pot. Bring to a boil. Then turn down to simmer for 20-25 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.
Remove chicken from soup. Shred with two forks and set aside.
Taste soup and add salt and pepper as needed. Add corn to the soup. Remove 2 tablespoons broth from the soup to a small bowl. Add cornstarch to the bowl and stir until completely combined. (If you prefer a thicker soup, use 4 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons broth.) Pour the cornstarch slurry into the soup and stir to mix.
Turn heat higher to bring soup to a boil. Once soup is boiling, stir the soup in one direction to create a whirlpool. Gradually pour the eggs into the spinning soup. The eggs will cook right away.
Remove from heat. Add spinach, shredded chicken, and sesame oil to soup. Stir to combine and wait for spinach to wilt. When serving, remove the slices of ginger if you find them. Serve topped with green parts of scallions.
Bon Appétit!
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