No-Oil Lemon Rice Egg Drop Soup

TL;DR

The broth is first infused with freshly grated lemon zest, squeezed lemon juice and seasoning.

Eggs are then dropped in with the already cooked plain rice. It's that straightforward, and your dinner is ready within 15 minutes.

Therefore, I recommend this soup for beginner cooks, all those who love rice, lemon and eggs, and of course, for all of us active worker bees.

The soup is inspired by Asian congee meals, which is a savory rice porridge. I have a basic brown rice gruel congee recipe if you like this type of food.

Ingredient Notes

• Lemon — You will use the lemon zest and the lemon juice. Pick untreated (no pesticide) lemons if possible because the lemon zest needs to be grates. To clean pesticide coated lemons, keep the lemons in a bowl of lukewarm water with baking soda mixed in. You can use your favorite citrus grater to grate the lemon zest coarse or fine.
• Eggs — Try with different eggs than just chicken eggs if there is availability. I like quail eggs and duck eggs.
• Broth — I like chicken broth or stock, but you can use vegetable broth, beef broth or bone broth too. The substitution is bouillon cubes and water.
• Salt & Black Pepper
• Rice — I use leftover cooked rice and I prefer brown rice because it keeps me longer full. You can boil a batch of rice separately just for the soup, but the purpose is to use up leftovers and to save time prepping this soup. Just boil a larger portion of plain rice next time and keep it in the fridge to cool, as it remains good for a few days. Plain boiled rice can be used to make fried rice or a salad too.

Process Overview

Step 1

Zest clean lemon and juice the lemon. Break the eggs into a bowl and scramble them. Keep the ingredients aside.

Step 2

Pour broth into a soup pot, stir in lemon zest, salt and black pepper.

Gradually bring to a simmer.

Step 3

Drop the eggs into the broth and scramble with a whisk.

Stir in cooked rice.

Step 4

Continue to simmer soup for a few minutes, to infuse ingredients.

Take from the heat and mix in the freshly squeezed lemon juice. Serve soup hot.

Serving

I like this soup served as a lighter dinner meal with some bread and a small side salad. The side salad can be western or an Asian side salad. A vinegar or citrus-based dressing pairs better with this dish.

You can serve the soup too as a starter.

I think the lemon rice egg drop soup can be eaten too, just like Asian congee, as I based the recipe on congee. Congee is great when you feel under the weather or weak.

Storing

This soup keeps well for up to 5 days refrigerated, and you can freeze it too (to meal prep).

Simply, pour it into a fridge or freezer-friendly container. I like to use rectangular glass containers which can then be placed into the oven or microwave directly to reheat the soup.

More Feel Good Soups

• Bok Choy Clear Soup
• Asian Vegetable Tofu Soup
• Healing Broth Soup