As a young girl, I used to visit my Nanna every school holidays, and without fail, she would always cook Austrian Egg Soup. I loved it and still do to this day.
My mother also cooked it from time to time, and now I cook it for my family, and it goes down well, especially on a cold winter day!
And since I come from an Austrian background, I thought what better to share one of the easiest Austrian dishes you can make, especially if you are on a budget.
The best thing about this soup is it is quite easy to adapt to your taste. And if you have a sick person in the house, move over chicken noodle soup, because you can give them egg soup also.
Some history about Austrian Egg Soup.
There are quite a few variations of Egg soup which can also be called egg drop soup. According to Wikipedia, its origin is China, but many cultures have different versions of their egg soup. So it is tough to pinpoint the original background, due to it being around as far back as 1,400 B.C.E. in China and Egypt.
In Austria, people made the soup to give to sick people and young children, and it is called Eierflockensuppe. Which makes sense, because when you search for egg soup or egg drop soup, you mainly get the chinses recipes for this soup and it is made with a chicken broth.
What makes the Austrian Egg Soup different from the Chinses Egg Drop Soup?
With the Chinese soup, its made with chicken broth and contains other ingredients such as tofu, scallion, bean sprouts and corn. The consistency of the egg mixture is also a lot thinner than the Western cuisine style egg soup.
Although the Austrian style soup calls for a boiling pot of soup for the egg mixture to go into the main difference is it’s just the soup stock and the egg mixture that goes into it. The egg mixture is thick, giving the person cooking it the ability to create small egg drops or dumplings in the soup more than whips of an egg.
What ingredients can I add to Austrian Egg Soup?
Depending on what you and your family like, you can add things like spring onion, carrots along with Vermicelli Egg Noodles or Angel Hair Pasta.
And if you do not want to use a vegetable-based soup like in my recipe below, you can use a chicken soup instead.
To the egg mixture itself, you can add parsley, chives, chervil, basil, dill or tarragon or find a combination of a few that you like together.
How do you add the egg mixture to the soup?
My Nanna used to do this two different ways, depending on what she was in the mood to have.
The primary way is to take a teaspoon of the mixture and drop it into the boiling soup. Being careful not to put the spoon into the boiling soup as it will cook what is on the spoon, and you will end up with a big mess of cooked egg mixture on your spoon.
The second way is to have it slightly thinner and drizzle it into the soup, making longer and thinner strips instead of dumplings.
Note* – always add the egg mixture while the soup is boiling as this will cook the mixture quickly so that it does not fall to the bottom of the pot and stick.
Stir it quite frequently also to help avoid and mixture sticking to the bottom. And do not add too much at once.
How To Make Austrian Egg Soup.
To make this you only need a few basic ingredients; eggs, water, Vegeta, plain flour (all-purpose flour if you are in the US), and a little salt and pepper to season.
My Nanna only added the egg mixture to her soup, but my children love having the noodles and spring onion added.
Other Soup Recipes To Try
You can never go wrong with soup recipes and here are just a few of our other favorite soup recipes:
- Hearty Leftover Roast Lamb and Vegetable Soup
- Authentic Chinese Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup
- Nanna’s Slow Cooker Lamb Shank and Vegetable Soup
Austrian Egg Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Litres Water
- 4 tsp Vegeta
- 4 Large Eggs
- 1¼ Cup Plain Flour (all-purpose flour)
- Salt and Pepper to season
- 2 Rolls Vermicelli Egg Noodles (70g)
Instructions
- Place 2 Litres of water in a large sauspan and put on the stove to boil.
- While water is heating, crack the eggs into a medium mixing bowl and whisk.
- Once the eggs are fully whisked, gradually add the flour and whisk after each addition until combined and smooth.
- When all the flour is incorporated and the mixture is smooth, season with salt and pepper and mix through.
- Add the Vegeta to the hot water and stir till dissolved.
- When the water starts to boil, slowly add spoonfuls of the mixture to the water. And stir every so often to avoid anything sticking to the bottom of the pot.
- Once all the egg mixture is added, crush the egg noodles and add to the boiling water. Turn the soup down to simmer and cook till the noodles are tender or to your liking, stirring occasionally.
