Chinese Chicken and Corn Soup

Chicken and Corn Soup

If you love Chinese food, chances are that you have tried Chinese Chicken and Corn Soup at one time or another. Despite it being popular and well known as a Chinese starter, it also happens to be quite common in Vietnamese households.

My children absolutely adore this soup for all of the obvious reasons – it’s comforting, they can slurp and eat the soup noisily, and it’s bright yellow!

Chicken and Corn Soup Recipe

My mother made this soup quite often when I was growing up, and always from scratch, of course. Her version starts off with a homemade chicken stock which she would make by using a whole chicken to create the broth, and the meat would be shredded to add later to the soup.

This is also how I like to make this Chicken and Corn Soup at home. But when time is tight, I either make the chicken stock by using the Instant Pot or pressure cooker (see my recipe for Chicken Pho), or I resort to a good quality store-bought chicken stock.

Of course, homemade chicken stock is always best, but sometimes it is totally fine to take a short cut or two in the kitchen.

Cooking with Fresh Corn

Fresh corn adds a lovely bright flavour to this soup, and adding the corn cobs to the broth will intensify the corn flavour even more.

But if you don’t have fresh corn to hand, frozen corn also works well in this recipe.

Easy Chicken and Corn Soup

My mother’s version of this Chinese Chicken and Corn Soup, as well as many restaurant versions, tend to have a high broth to corn ratio. I think this is because Chinese Chicken and Corn Soup is typically served as a light starter.

For a more substantial soup, I recommend being generous with the quantity of corn. You can add more or less corn to the recipe below.

5 stars (4 reviews)

Chinese Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup

Thanh | Eat, Little Bird

Prep20 minutes mins

Cook30 minutes mins

Total50 minutes mins

Serves: 2 to 4

A delicious and comforting Chinese Chicken and Corn Soup using fresh corn. It’s so easy to make this classic Chinese takeaway dish at home, plus it is healthier and fresher!

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Ingredients

• 3 to 4 ears of corn, husk and silk removed, see Kitchen Notes
• 1 litre (4 cups) Asian Chicken Stock, or chicken stock with stock cubes
• 500 ml (2 cups) boiling water
• 5 spring onions, (scallions), the white parts kept whole and the green parts sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 4 ginger, sliced thickly
• 2 coriander roots, (cilantro roots)
• 1 to 2 small chicken breast fillets
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine, or dry sherry
• 2 tablespoons cornflour, (US: cornstarch)
• coriander, (cilantro) finely chopped
• white pepper, freshly cracked

Instructions 

1. Use a very sharp knife to remove the kernels from the corn (see Kitchen Notes below).
2. Reserve the cobs.
3. In a large pot, bring the chicken stock and boiling water to a gentle simmer over medium-high heat.
4. Add the reserved corn cobs, corn kernels, white part of the spring onions (scallions), garlic cloves, ginger, coriander (cilantro) roots (if using), and chicken breasts.
5. Simmer on low-medium heat for about 20-30 minutes until the corn is tender.
6. Remove and discard the corn cobs, spring onions (scallions), garlic cloves, ginger, and coriander (cilantro) roots (if using).
7. Remove the chicken breast fillets, shred and set aside.
8. Remove half of the soup to a blender and blend, or into a large jug to purée with a stick blender.
9. Return the puréed soup to the pan.
10. Slowly pour in the beaten eggs in a thin stream, stirring the soup constantly as you do so. The eggs should form into thin threads as they cook.
11. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil and Shaoxing wine.
12. Mix the cornflour (cornstarch) with some water to create a slurry.
13. Slowly pour some of the slurry into the soup, stirring the soup quickly as you do so to prevent lumps from forming. You may not need all of the slurry – just add enough until the soup has thickened slightly in consistency.
14. Taste for seasoning and maybe add some freshly ground white pepper.
15. Add the shredded chicken.
16. Serve with coriander (cilantro) and the reserved green spring onions (scallions).

Kitchen Notes

• CUTTING THE CORN
  * Removing the corn kernels from the cob can be a messy task. One trick is to use a bundt pan or ring pan – place the corn cob into the hole of the bundt or ring pan, and carefully slice off the kernels, allowing them to fall into the pan.
  * Another method is to place the corn lengthwise on the cutting board and to slice off the kernels as close to the cob as possible. Cutting the corn lengthwise is safer than cutting it while holding it upright.
• USING FROZEN CORN
  If you are short on time, you could also use 2 cups frozen corn kernels for similar results.
• USING LEFTOVER CHICKEN
  Quite often, I omit the chicken from the recipe, but I will add shredded chicken from a leftover roast chicken or rotisserie chicken.
• MAKE IT VEGETARIAN
  Use a vegetable broth and omit the chicken from the recipe.
• MAKE IT MY MOTHER’S WAY
  1. Omit the chicken stock, water and chicken breasts from the above recipe.
  2. Start by placing 1 whole chicken (about 1kg or 2 lb) in a large pot, and barely cover it with water (about 1.5 litres or 6 cups).
  3. Add the corn cobs, white spring onions (scallions), garlic cloves, ginger, and coriander (cilantro) roots.
  4. Bring the pot to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
  5. Remove any impurities from the stock as it simmers, and let everything simmer for about 1 to 1.5 hours, or until the chicken is tender.
  6. Remove the chicken and set it aside to rest.
  7. Remove and discard all of the flavourings in the stock (you can strain the stock into a clean pot, if you wish).
  8. Add the corn kernels, together with 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon sea salt, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 2 tablespoons shaoxing wine.
  9. Taste for seasoning. You may need to add more water if the broth is too concentrated.
  10. Proceed as per the rest of the recipe above.
• OVEN & STOVE TEMPERATURES
  All recipes on this website have been tested on an induction stove and/or with a conventional oven (i.e. an oven without fan). All recipes on this website use temperatures for a conventional oven, unless otherwise mentioned. Convection ovens (i.e. fan-forced ovens) are typically 20°C/70°F hotter than conventional ovens, but please check your manufacturer’s handbook.
• CONVERSIONS
  To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.

Nutrition Information Nutrition Information

Serving: 1g, Calories: 299kcal, Carbohydrates: 44.2g, Protein: 11.9g, Fat: 10.2g, Cholesterol: 141.3mg, Sodium: 437.6mg, Fiber: 3.9g, Sugar: 10.5g

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Update

This recipe was first published on 2 November 2011. It has been updated with new photos and more comprehensive recipe notes.

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