Yes to Yolks

a food journal

  • Home
  • Recipes
  • About
  • Work with Me
  • Privacy Policies

Pho-Spiced Egg Drop Udon Soup

October 31, 2019 by Molly 3 Comments

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

Pho-Spiced Egg Drop Udon Soup

Happy Halloween, friends!

If you are heading out with the kids tonight, I have the perfect post-trick-or-treating, warm-you-up meal to tell you about.

This soup is a mash-up of three of my favorite Asian dishes: Vietnamese pho, Chinese egg drop soup, and Japanese udon noodles. Yessss. So much going on but in the best way!

Pho is something I’ve shared with you before, and it might be one of my favorite things to make in the fall and winter because it is so dang COZY. It’s super rich, loaded with umami, and spiced with a slight sweetness. OMG. It is so, so good. It also happens to be my favorite thing to make when I’m getting sick. It beats chicken noodle by a mile!

Pho-Spiced Egg Drop Udon Soup

Pho is all about the broth, and so I took that idea and based the broth for this soup off of my other pho recipes. It is loaded with the flavors of onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, a ton of cozy spices, brown sugar, fish sauce, and soy sauce. I wanted to keep this version vegetarian, so I used vegetable broth, but it would taste just as good with chicken or beef broth. I like to simmer the broth for a good chunk of time to really let those flavors meld together. Then, I strain out all of the aromatics and all that remains is the most unctuous, rich, flavor-packed broth.

Swoon!

Pho-Spiced Egg Drop Udon Soup

I actually like to make the broth the day before I’m going to serve this soup. Now, life does now always allow for this, of course, but when I do have the extra time, I make the broth at least one day ahead and allow all the aromatics to steep in the broth for that time. I strain them out and reheat the broth just before serving. If you have the time, I highly suggest you do this! The flavors will be off the charts.

To up the comfort factor here, I wanted to incorporate the idea of egg drop soup – another favorite comfort food of mine! So, when the broth is super hot, I whisk in a little beaten egg and allow the hot broth to cook the egg into silky little ribbons. It adds some protein and another level of silkiness to the soup. If this weirds you out (meaning, you’re worried about the egg not cooking thoroughly), you could certainly sub out the egg in the broth for poached or soft-boiled eggs instead. That would be just as delicious!

Pho-Spiced Egg Drop Udon Soup

Last and certainly not least are the udon noodles. Udon are one of my guiltiest pleasures. There is a noodle house in the Chinatown section of Philly that makes THE BEST udon I’ve ever had, and we’ve made the trek into the city on a few frigid days just to get our hands on those noods.

So, so much slurpy goodness! They warm you up from the inside out.

And that’s exactly what the noodles do here. They add some heft to the soup, especially considering that this is a vegetarian meal. They make for the best spoon-chopstick-combo eating technique!

Because the ingredients are all so rich, I like to serve this very simply with tonnnnsss of fresh ingredients. Fresh cilantro, scallions, jalapeños, and an obscene amount of fresh lime juice. These ingredients not only brighten things up, but they balance out the rich spiciness a bit.

Pho-Spiced Egg Drop Udon Soup

I am so looking forward to taking Spider-Man (Kieran) and the radioactive spider that bit him (Finn) out trick or treating tonight, but I think I might be looking forward to a bowl of this afterwards even more. Pure comfort food!

 

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon
Pho-Spiced Egg Drop Udon Soup

Pho-Spiced Egg Drop Udon Soup


5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 1 review

  • Author: Molly
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Description

This Pho-Spiced Egg Drop Udon Soup is a mash up of several Asian dishes: egg drop soup, pho, and udon noodles. It is a cold-busting bowl of vegetarian comfort! Spiced, rich broth, silky eggs, and hearty rice noodles make this bowl of soup irresistible!


Ingredients

Scale

For the Broth:

  • 1 tablespoon coconut or canola oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 (2-inch) piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
  • 2 tablespoons lemongrass paste (I find mine in the produce section. You can also use fresh!)
  • 3 star anise
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 6 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce

 For Serving:

  • Whole eggs, one per bowl of soup
  • Udon noodles, cooked, drained, and rinsed (see Notes)
  • Fresh cilantro, chopped
  • Fresh scallions, chopped
  • Fresh jalapeños, sliced
  • Lime wedges
  • Hot sauce

Instructions

For the Broth:

  1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium.
  2. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and all the spices. Add a pinch of salt and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, or until everything is fragrant and the onion/ginger are mostly tender.
  3. Add in the broth, fish sauce, brown sugar, and soy sauce and stir to combine.
  4. Bring the broth to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes so all the flavors can meld. Season the broth, to taste, with additional salt and black pepper.
  5. Carefully pour the broth through a fine-mesh strainer set over a large bowl or another pot. Discard the strained aromatics and spices.
  6. Return the broth to the stovetop and bring to a simmer.

For the Soup:

  1. For each serving, place cooked udon noodles (see Notes below) into serving bowls.
  2. Top with the hot broth (it MUST be hot for this part to work). For each serving, crack an egg into a measuring cup and beat it with a fork. Slowly pour the egg into each bowl of hot broth, stirring as you add it. This will cook and scramble the egg.
  3. Garnish each bowl of soup with fresh cilantro, scallions, sliced jalapeños, lime juice, and a dash of hot sauce (or however you prefer your soup!). Serve immediately.

Notes

  • I buy frozen udon noodles and keep them on hand for dishes like this. I cook them separately from the broth, according to the package directions. I then drain them well and rinse under cold water. I keep them in an airtight container in the fridge and use them as needed. They’ll last in the fridge for a few days.
  • I like to add the noodles to the bowls of broth as I’m going to serve, so they don’t get too gummy or dilute the broth with extra starch.
  • This makes four servings of broth. I recommend using one egg per bowl of soup.
  • I like to keep this dish vegetarian, so I usually use vegetable broth and skip adding any meat. I just don’t think you need it! You could certainly use chicken or beef broth here (which is more traditional with pho) and add meat as you like. Because of the noodles and eggs, though, this is very satisfying sans meat!
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Category: soup

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @yestoyolks on Instagram and hashtag it #yestoyolks

 

Pho-Spiced Egg Drop Udon Soup

Related

Filed Under: Entrée, Healthy, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Vegetarian Tagged With: asian, comfort food, cozy food, easily made vegan, egg drop soup, eggs, pho, soup, udon noodles, vegetarian

« White Chocolate Raspberry Mochas
Spiced Dark Chocolate Tart with Cookie Butter Swirl »

Comments

  1. Isabella says

    October 16, 2020 at 11:57 am

    I really liked this recipe i wouldn’t have thought to put these spices in Pho! I had to omit the fish sauce because i didn’t have any and instead of cilantro I used thai basil. So good! Will be making this again.

    Reply
  2. Molly says

    April 8, 2022 at 1:52 pm

    Yum, I cannot wait to try this! Thank you so much for sharing!

    Reply
  3. surender says

    October 10, 2024 at 1:45 am

    This cozy dish of Pho-Spiced Egg Drop Udon Soup is the ideal way to stay warm during the holiday season!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hi there. I’m Molly. Welcome to my little space devoted to all things FOOD! More about me...

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Recent Posts

  • Sesame Ginger Pork with Wasabi Soba Noodles
  • Crispy Halloumi Grain Bowls with Creamy Dill Dressing
  • Guinness Brookies
  • Pepperoni Pizza Lasagna Rolls
  • Our Favorite Turkey Meatloaf
  • Dark Chocolate Cherry Protein Bites

Archives

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Connect

Hi There. I'm Molly. I'm a food-obsessed, self-taught cook and I can't wait to share my passion for all things culinary with you. My love for egg yolks is just the tip of the iceberg! Read More…

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • Twitter
Copyright © 2025 Yes to Yolks