Full disclosure, I never enjoyed hot and sour soup when I was a kid. My parents and older sister loved it and I was always reaching for the wonton soup instead. Recently though, I found myself craving this spicy soup with vinegar and decided to try and create a vegan version. Turns out, this vegan hot and sour soup is absolutely delicious and I've been making it on the regular!
Simple to make
Spiced with white pepper
Sour with vinegar
Comforting
And so full of flavour
Ingredients For Vegan Hot And Sour Soup
The Woks Of Life have a lovely family recipe for hot and sour soup if you want to take a look at a traditional recipe. WoonHeng is one of my favourite plant-based bloggers and has a vegan hot and sour soup recipe that is much more traditional if you're looking for a recipe with a few more traditional ingredients than I am including in mine.
The main ingredients in my vegan hot & sour soup are:
- Bamboo Shoots
- Extra Firm Tofu
- Young Green Jackfruit
- Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
Bamboo shoots, tofu, and dried shiitake mushrooms are traditional to hot and sour soup. Soft or silken tofu is often added, as are dried wood ear or black fungus mushrooms. Feel free to add those extra ingredients if desired! Young green jackfruit is my own spin on a substitution for pulled pork which can often be included in the traditional version!
And for the seasonings you will need:
- Vinegar (white vinegar is best)
- White Pepper
- Tamari or soy sauce
- Red Chilli Flakes
- A bit of Sugar and Salt
- Arrowroot Starch or Corn Starch
- And Kala Namak (or Black Salt) for a bit of "egg" flavour
Kala Namak, or black salt, is optional for this recipe. Traditionally, hot and sour soup has ribbons of whisked egg that cook in the soup. The black salt is a volcanic salt that smells like sulphur and is a surprising substitute for the smell of eggs! I usually don't find that black salt adds much of an "egg" flavour in my other recipes like this 10 Minute Tofu Scramble, but in this recipe... I actually think it does!
Rehydrating Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
If you can't find dried mushrooms for this recipe don't despair! You can absolutely use fresh mushrooms. Rehydrating dried mushrooms is most traditional so I will walk you through it!
- The first step is to consult your package of dried mushrooms. There will most likely be instructions for how to soak the mushrooms on the package.
- Typically, the mushrooms can be soaked overnight in cold water or...
- In very hot water for 30-45 minutes.
- The mushrooms have a tendency to float. Putting something on top to hold them under the water (like a bowl or plate) will help the mushrooms soak more evenly.
Finally... don't discard the water the mushrooms soaked in! Use that flavourful water as part of the broth for the soup!
How To Make Vegan Hot & Sour Soup
With all your ingredients prepared this vegan hot and sour soup will take just 25 minutes to make!
- Splash a bit of oil or broth/water in a large pot and heat over medium.
- Add the pulled jackfruit, sliced bamboo shoots, and the sliced tofu.
- Then add in the seasonings (soy sauce, red chilli flakes, sugar, white pepper, and salt). Cook for 5 minutes.
- Next, add the rehydrated and sliced mushrooms. Cover with the broth and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Make a slurry with the starch and cold water. Slowly add the slurry into the soup and cook for 5 minutes to thicken the broth.
- Pour in the vinegar and add some black salt and/or extra white pepper if desired.
- Serve!
Recipe Cost
This recipe makes 6 servings and costs us approximately: CAD $8.26 ($1.38/serving).
If I don't use my homemade broth and don't have reserved soaking liquid from the mushrooms my cost goes up to between $12 and $15.
Let me know in the comments below if you try this vegan hot and sour soup and how you like it!
If you like this recipe, you might like my quick and easy Lettuce "Kimchi" Salad!
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Vegan "Hot & Sour Soup" - With Jackfruit
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This vegan hot and sour soup is so full of flavour & comfort! Pulled young green jackfruit steps in as a meat substitute with great texture!
Ingredients
- ½ tbsp vegetable oil
- 283g young green jackfruit, shredded
- 175g extra firm tofu, sliced thin
- 270g bamboo shoots, sliced thin (1 - 1 ½ cup)
- 2 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
- ½ tsp red chilli flakes
- 1 tsp cane sugar
- ½ -1 teaspoon white pepper (can use black pepper if needed)*
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 cups dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked & thinly sliced (72 g, see notes)*
- 8 cups vegetable broth (2-3 cups can be the water the mushrooms soaked in)
- ⅓ cup arrowroot starch (or cornstarch)
- ¼ cup water (or cold broth)
- ¼ tsp kala namak (black salt for “eggy” flavour), optional
- ¼ cup - ½ cup white vinegar
- Green onion to garnish, optional
*Ingredients you need that are not part of our pantry and freezer tips.
Instructions
*Before getting started, take a look at the notes below for some helpful tips regarding the preparation and ingredients for this vegan hot and sour soup.
- Heat oil (or a splash of water/broth) in a large pot over medium heat. Add shredded jackfruit, thinly sliced tofu, and thinly sliced bamboo shoots. Stir and cook for about 1 minute.
- Add tamari or soy sauce, chilli flakes, sugar, white pepper and salt. (You can start with ½ teaspoon white pepper and increase the spice later if desired. Some traditional recipes suggest adding white pepper only at the end of the cooking time so the taste doesn't turn bitter. I've never detected a bitter taste but feel free to add the pepper when you add the vinegar to the soup in step 6). Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms. Stir.
- Add broth. Cover the pot and bring the soup to a low boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Make the slurry by combining starch with ¼ cup cool water or broth (don’t use hot broth from the soup as it will make the starch clump). Whisk the starch into the liquid until it is fully combined. Slowly stream the starchy water into the soup while stirring. You want to stir the starch in right away because it has a tendency to clump if it’s not dispersed through the soup quickly enough. Continue to cook and thicken the soup for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the black salt, if using, for the eggy flavour. Then stir in the vinegar. If the vinegar is added too early it will boil off and the sour taste will be lost so don’t cook the soup too much longer now. Carefully taste your soup and add more vinegar if desired and more white pepper for desired heat.
- To serve, garnish with sliced green onion, more chilli flakes, and a drizzle of chilli oil if desired!
Notes
If using dried shiitake mushrooms, soak them in advance according to the package instructions. They can be soaked overnight in cold water or can often be quick-soaked in hot water according to the package. Reserve the water the mushrooms soaked in and use it in the soup! If some of the stems are a little hard after soaking you can omit them from the soup if you wish (I usually just slice them thin and add them in).
For the jackfruit, make sure the can you have is young green jackfruit in brine not sweet jackfruit in syrup. To prepare the jackfruit, I pull the pieces apart with my hands but you can also use a food processor to gently shred the jackfruit.
Feel free to substitute some of the dried shiitake mushrooms for wood ear or black fungus mushrooms. You can also use fresh shittake if you don’t have dried.
Cost Comparison: CAD $8.26 ($1.38 per serving) using homemade vegetable broth and the soaking liquid for the mushrooms. Using the soaking liquid for the mushrooms and 5 cups of store-bought vegetable broth costs: CAD $12.06. And using 8 cups vegetable broth if you are not rehydrating mushrooms adds roughly $6.08 to the recipe cost bringing it to CAD $14.34 ($2.39/serving). Ordering hot and sour soup from a restaurant would cost us roughly $2.95/serving. The jackfruit in this recipe costs us $2.99 which would be similar in cost to making this recipe with a bit of meat and an egg.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stove-top
- Cuisine: Chinese, American
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