Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Egg Drop Soup (gluten- and grain-free)

Egg drop soup is a wonderful way to eat some nourishing eggs and broth.  This recipe is subtly spiced with sesame oil, soy sauce, and ginger.   It is so simple to make in just a few minutes, and makes a wonderful side dish or even main course.

Egg Drop Soup
Serves 2-3 as a main course
Serves 4-6 as a side dish
  • 2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
  • 2 cups filtered water (if using store-bought chicken broth/stock, don't add water; instead increase the amount of stock to 4 cups)
  • 1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1/2 tsp gluten-free tamari soy sauce*
  • 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled
  • 1.5-2 tsp celtic sea salt, plus more to taste (my chicken stock is unsalted; reduce the salt if yours is salted)
  • 3-5 eggs, preferably from pastured chickens (if you like your soup very brothy, use only 3 eggs; if you want to make it more hearty and filling, use 5 eggs)
  • 1 Tb finely chopped green onions, green-part only
  1. In a medium pot, bring the chicken stock and water to a simmer.
  2. Add the sesame oil, soy sauce, and salt.  Use a garlic press to squeeze the ginger into the pot (or chop it very finely with a knife and add it to the pot).
  3. Taste the broth and add more salt to taste.  It should be nicely salty.
  4. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them with a fork.
  5. Pour the eggs, a little at a time, into the simmering liquid.  Stir a little after each addition of eggs.
  6. Sprinkle the green onions into the pot, turn off heat, and cover with a lid.  Let sit for 5 minutes.
  7. Ladle into bowls and serve!
*Soy sauce is not GAPS-legal. However, my family has had no problems with using this very small amount in our GAPS diet.
    This post is part of Fat Tuesday, Monday Mania, Fight Back Friday, Pennywise Platter and Real Food Wednesday!

      14 comments:

      Megan said...

      If I don't have fresh ginger, do you think I could substitute ginger powder? If so, how much? Thanks, this look delish and I'm going to try it for lunch today! (Despite the fact I had eggs for breakfast!!)

      Sarah Smith said...

      Sure, you could substitute dried ginger. I think the general rule is to use 1/3 as much dried as fresh. So probably about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp dried should work well.

      Liberty said...

      yum!!
      have you ever tried the roman egg soup from nourishing tradtions. Not sure it's GAPS legal, but delish variation on this!
      BLessings
      http://bit.ly/qyod56

      Megan said...

      FWIW, I tried 1/4 tsp of the ginger and it was great! Had 2 bowls for lunch :)

      PattyLA said...

      Unfortunately tamari is made from soy and is not allowed on gaps. Coconut aminos however have a very similar flavor and might work in this recipe. It is gaps legal.

      Sarah Smith said...

      Thanks Megan. I'm glad it was good!
      Patty - good catch on the soy sauce! I apparently purged the information from my brain that soy sauce was not GAPS-legal. That being said, my family has had no problems whatsoever including such a small amount of fermented soy sauce in our diets while on GAPS.

      Sarah Smith said...

      Liberty, I've never tried the Roman soup. Sounds good!

      Ktietje85 said...

      I can't find an email address for you but I would love to talk to you about doing a review/giveaway of my ebooks (two are largely/entirely grain-free/GAPS). Please email me if you are interested, kate@modernalternativemama.com

      The Voogts said...

      I was going to make egg drop soup this week but went with sweet and sour instead. I love to add eggs to my broth!

      Mary @ Homemade Dutch Apple Pie

      Anonymous said...

      Hey Sarah, that's funny you added this soup recipe as I made egg drop soup the last week of September after cooking chicken soup all day. I looked at recipes online and just decided to make it really simple and didn't add any soy or oil to my soup but did add chives. Never did measure the ginger, just added to taste. Alivia was coming down with a cold and I had read ginger was good for colds. I did learn that when dropping the eggs, turn off the burner and have them fall through the tines of a fork. Course this means an extra hand, which Alina can become especially since you have turned the stove off. You then can pour and gently stir the eggs in one direction, slowly for 1 minute. This allows for the eggs to make fine strands and no clumps. Next few nights we then ate regular chicken soup.

      Sarah Smith said...

      Yeah, I've read the tip about the fork too. We actually like our a little bit clumpy, though. I hope Alivia is feeling better.

      Jill said...

      Thanks for linking your great post to FAT TUESDAY. Hope to see you next week! Be sure to visit RealFoodForager.com on Sunday for
      Sunday Snippets – your post from Fat Tuesday may be featured there!

      http://realfoodforager.com/2011/10/fat-tuesday-october-11-2011/

      If you have grain-free recipes please visit my Grain-Free Linky Carnival in support of my 28 day grain-free challenge! It will be open until November 2.

      http://realfoodforager.com/2011/10/grain-free-real-food-linky-carnival/

      Do you think the coconut aminos are GAPS legal? I just bought some and now here is a great place to try them...

      Sarah Smith said...

      I seem to recall reading somewhere that the Bragg liquid aminos should be avoided because the process to make them creates lots of MSG or some such. I'll have to try to remember where I read that.

      Debbie @ Easy Natural Food said...

      This sounds good, I love how simple it is. I'm going to be hosting a blog carnival specifically for soups, stocks and chowders, starting this Sunday. I would love it if you would come over and post this recipe. Here's a link with more info.

      http://easynaturalfood.com/2011/10/17/introducing-sunday-night-soup-night/

      I hope to see you there!
      Debbie