Hot and Sour Soup

Name: Hot and Sour Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 19 min
Total time: 29 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1/3 cup Mushrooms; 1/3 cup Wood Ear Mushrooms; 2/3 Cup Tofu; 1/2 cup Pork; 2-1/2 cups Chicken Stock; 1/2 tsp Salt; 1/4 tsp Sugar; 1 tsp Sesame Seed Oil; 1/4 tsp Pepper; 1/2 tsp Hotsauce; 1-½ cups Vinegar; 1 tsp Soy Sauce; 1 tbs Cornstarch; 2 tbs Water; 1/4 cup Spring Onions

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Pork recipe with Chinese flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 53 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 29 min total

1/3 cup Mushrooms
1/3 cup Wood Ear Mushrooms
2/3 Cup Tofu
1/2 cup Pork
2-1/2 cups Chicken Stock
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Sesame Seed Oil
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Hotsauce
1-½ cups Vinegar
1 tsp Soy Sauce
1 tbs Cornstarch
2 tbs Water
1/4 cup Spring Onions

Step-by-step instructions

MAKING THE SOUP In a wok add chicken broth and wait for it to boil.
Next add salt, sugar, sesame seed oil, white pepper, hot pepper sauce, vinegar and soy sauce and stir for few seconds.
Add Tofu, mushrooms, black wood ear mushrooms to the wok.
To thicken the sauce, whisk together 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch and 2 Tablespoon of water in a bowl and slowly add to your soup until it's the right thickness.
Next add 1 egg slightly beaten with a knife or fork and add it to the soup and stir for 8 seconds Serve the soup in a bowl and add the bbq pork and sliced green onions on top.

Why this works on a weeknight

Hot and Sour Soup genuinely fits a 30-minute weeknight window, which is why it earned a spot in our Stir-Fry collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Hot and Sour Soup actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🥢 Stir-Fry Pork Chinese ⚡ 30-Min Dinner Soup