Hot and Sour Cabbage Soup

I now make this all the time, having incorporated a few tweaks. I always brown the pork in a bit of sesame oil first - this gives great bits to scrape up from the bottom which contribute depth to the flavor of the broth. Just as the pork browns I add 1/2 sweet onion, thinly diced, along with the garlic and the ginger. Then the chicken broth and the remaining ingredients in their order, excluding the cayenne which I haven't used since the very first time when I made this as written. I also use an entire 8 oz. container of diced mushrooms, and rice vinegar in place of white vinegar.

I am on the South Beach Diet so I used lean ground turkey instead of pork and eliminated the corn and added snap peas and bamboo shoots. This was sooo delicious and easy to make! Kudos!

I just made this recipe and it tastes like I just picked it up at my favorite Chinese restaurant! I did not add the cayenne pepper because it was spicey enough with the Sezchuan sauce. I am doing Weight Watchers so I used a "soy meat product" called Yves meatless ground stuffer for lettuce wraps in order to cut calories. It figures out to 2 Points per serving this way! I think I might count it as a Core meal too. Very delicious!! I am thinking you could easily add tofu to this as well. Thanks for a keeper!!

This is the exact recipe I needed to use my leftover cabbage & raw ground pork ingredients from making gyoza. The taste is better than expected even if you don't have all the ingredients! I only had one vegetable which was the cabbage (sauteed some onion first in the pot before adding the broth). I used both chicken & beef broth a can each that's all I had in my cupboard, to make a serving for 2. Instead of Schezwan sauce, I used some Srircha chili sauce to give it some spice without measuring. Instead of real ginger, I used powder ginger. Once I added the vinegar, I tried to minimize stirring the soup that much, since I learned from making chicken adobo, to not disturb or stir the meat while it has vinegar otherwise it makes it more sour! Since I had Asian cilantro chopped up as a topping before serving to give it some herb freshness. Will definitely make again!

very good. I didn't have sezchuan sauce so I used the rooster hot sauce. It was great and easy. I also just used the veggies I had on hand and hot Italian sausage instead of ground pork. ** this time I added sourkraut for some of the cabbage and did not add the vinegar. Excellent!

Fabulous!! Even though I burned my tongue during the taste-test, I could sense the hot vs. sour. I will definitely make again. I might experiment with different brands of szechwan sauce.

How great on a cold, cold night! This vegetarian left out the pork and used vegetable broth. I served the cayenne pepper on the side because of some young tongues at the table. Yummy!!

I wasted a LOT of produce and food on this one. Not good, tasty, or ANYthing.

Restaurant quality at home. I omit the corn, use rice vinegar for distilled and use Sriracha Hot chili sauce to taste. Those who like it hotter, can add to their own liking per individual serving.

Joan and I agreed this was one of the best Hot and Sour soups we have ever had. This soup eclipsed many of the finest restaurant we have enjoyed worldwide. As far as changes, I like others browned the pork first. I added more green onions, just because I like them.I use chicken stock paste base to make the stock richer and fresher. I used a 16 ounce bag of coleslaw as my concept of a small head of cabbage. This soup jumped to the top of our favorite list.

This stuff is delicious!

Oh, yes! This hit the spot when you get the cravings for it. I might increase the vinegar to 1/2 c. next time, just because I like the "bite" of it and kick up the heat just a tad. Thank you!

Fantastic! Hubby and I did a taste test and ended up adding a little more szechuan and a few more squirts of soy sauce for more flavor. Also browned the pork in the sesame oil, and left out the corn. Added thin sliced onion, snap peas, and a few carrot strips for color. Saved the green onion to top the soup once served. Next time I will add some straw mushrooms.

Great! Added thin egg noodles! Yum!!!

Made this for lunch and am happy to know that there will be plenty of leftovers for other lunches this week. Did make a paste with some of the hot broth and 3-4 Tb cornstarch to help thicken, left out the green onions(didn't have any) but added dried parsley instead, made my own szechwan sauce, and did add the cayenne. It was the perfect amount of spiciness for us.Next time I will use bok choy instead of cabbage and add carrots for more color.Thanks for the post.

We make this all the time, it is amazingly good. I do usually add a lot more garlic and sometimes tone down the spice, it can be too spicy for some. Definitely taste like a gourmet Asian soup. We freeze the leftovers in small containers for quick meals you can heat up in the microwave later.

Very good and easy to make. Didn't have Szechwan sauce so used picante sauce instead and replaces sesame oil with sesame seeds.

Love this recipe! thanks for sharing. Very low cal and delicious!

Absolutely divine. You will enjoy this hot and sour cabbage soup recipe.

We enjoyed the soup quite a bit. Had to make some modifications due to what was available, but still a very good soup. We made the soup a day before and it definitely needed the time for all the flavors to blend. A day later was a much better soup than during and right after cooking. Used turkey broth and ham from Thanksgiving, about 1.5 lbs, but turned out very tasty. The spiciness was good for me, but my wife had to tone it down with cottage cheese. We also use cilantro instead of green onion. I would make this again as I'm a soup lover and like the flavors. Hopefully chicken broth and sausage will make it even better.

I really enjoyed this soup and it was great for freezing and taking for lunches to work. Thanks for sharing!

I bought a cabbage from the farmers market, went online and found this recipe. . OMG!!! It was so wonderful even on a hot day. Our 17 & 13 yr old children even loved it. Thank you!

Great recipe! I added some cilantro & lime juice to top it off.

I altered the recipe slightly by nixing the meat (I'm on a vegetarian style diet), adding tofu and also nixing the corn and peas. It was very good at first, but after a bowl or two it begins to taste like that "diet cabbage soup". However, the broth is very good. I might use bok choy and bamboo shoots to mix up the flavor a bit next time.

My whole family loved this soup. I can easily add to it if I need to use up some veggies. We have added tofu a couple of times.

I loved this soup. I did not use all the ingredients but I stuck pretty close and it was wonderful.

I like this a lot! But, I advise going easy with the hot sauce. You can always add more... you can't take it out however! I used 1/4 of the amount called for and it was plenty hot for me.

Fabulous recipe - loved it. The only thing I did different which works well is used italian sausage links - cooked in advance - then sliced and placed into the broth - that way you can easily control how much meat you get with the soup. Definitely going to become a staple in my household - DH loved it! Cheers!

I didn't have any pork so I stirred in about two tsp of bacon grease to get a little pork flavor, and wasn't sure what the Szechuan sauce was so I used the Srirachi rooster sauce (lots!). Very tasty and easy. I will definitely be making it again. I will probably make the broth with no meat/veggies when I'm craving something quick and spicy!

I love it. I made a few changes. I had left over won ton wrapprs that I cut into slices which make a great noddle. I will make this again.

This was really good!!!! My whole family loved it, even my dad who doesn't always like Asian inspired dishes. I changed it a little, just more to my taste. I browned the meat in the sesame oil and a little bit of chicken broth. I also added more garlic and had red onions instead of green, just because we did not have any. Also, I could not find Szechwan sauce, so I substituted it with some Siracha sauce and Oyster sauce. The soup was really good!!!! Going to make this one again!

Everyone liked this recipe, and it was easy... with half the chicken stock it made a great "stew" over rice! I added a cup or so of diced tomatoes and left out the cayenne and bean sprouts and used just a cup of shredded cabbage instead of a whole head... the kids are not huge cabbage fans. Will definitely make again and again.

I absolutely love this soup! It has the best flavor. I always replace the ground pork with ground turkey. Sometimes I use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth and I think it actually gives it more flavor. I cook the meat before adding the broth and other ingredients. Sometimes I use regular onions in place of the green onions. Green onions haven't looked very good in our grocery lately. My family and friends love it. I always tell everyone not to judge it by it's appearance but by the great flavors.

Made this for company. It was a big hit! Just like our favorite restaurant! I did use less Schezwan as I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy/hot!

Good but not great. I used very lean ground turkey instead of pork & bamboo shoots instead of corn. Even though I used 4 ounces more meat than it called for there are a lot of veggies here & it does kind of get lost in the mix a bit. The broth came out real flavorful. I did cook the meat (with cayenne & ground ginger & a bit of soy sauce) before adding everything else- including more fresh ginger to the broth. EDIT: Upon further reflection I've decided to rate this 5 stars instead of just 4. I froze several pints of it and each time I thawed out another pint I found myself really enjoying it. I also think that my original statement that the meat "kind of gets lost" was probably because I didn't dig deep enough into the pot for the first bowl. Incredibly easy to make, extremely healthy (especially if you use lean ground turkey) and quite tasty- what more can you ask for?

Great recipe! Even my wife, who normally doesn't like hot-and-sour, loved it. I used some leftover pork loin, cut down on the cabbage, added some jullienne carrots and bamboo shoots. For 'shrooms, I used some dried oyster mushrooms I had lying around, soaked 30 min. before adding to the pot. Then, just as I was finishing up, a friend dropped by with a sackful of lobster tails (we're in the Bahamas), so I quickly boiled one of those, chopped it and threw it in the pot. Mmmmm.

OMG this was unbelievably awesome.. i used ground turkey instead of pork, browned the turkey with the onions in the sesame oil first then added the rest, didn't have the bean sprouts or the corn, used powdered ginger instead of fresh, used the rooster hot sauce for the szechwan, used chicken bouillon instead of the canned stuff.. this was super super good.. ty so much for the recipe.. UPDATE: this was a lifesaver.. the recipe is pretty flexible when it comes to the amounts of the ingredients and the types of ingredients one can use.. i subbed leftover grilled chicken thighs that i chopped up.. used the bean sprouts and corn this time.. i actually ended up repurposing a failed recipe that had similar ingredients, turning it into this wonderful soup.. ty again for the recipe

Very good. I had some ground pork that had been in the freezer for a few months, and found this recipe. I didn't have any cabbage, but did have bok choy. It is terrific with bok choy. As other reviewers have stated, I browned the pork first with the white parts of the scallions and the garlic. Also I used rice vinegar. I like ginger root a lot, so I upped the quantity. Omitted the corn - it seemed weird. Otherwise followed the recipe pretty closely. Will make again.

One of our friends gave us some cabbages, and after making stuffed cabbage, I tried this recipe out. I do not eat pork so I used ground turkey. I followed the rest of the ingredients precisely but in proportions to suit my own taste. It turned out fantastic, both my husband and stepson enjoyed it as well.

Awesome recipe! We wanted a little more punch of flavor so we added more vinegar, mushrooms and lime juice to taste, which kicked it up a notch. We used almond oil instead of sesame oil only because I had it on hand. We loved it! Thanks for the recipe!!!

This is phenomenal! My only issue was too much cabbage...but I can work around that. Used rice vinegar simply because I have a full bottle and dried mushrooms. I have been looking for a replacement for my favorite hot and sour chinese soup that I could make without running to the Chinese market. Almost all hot and sour soups contain gluten and I was diagnosed gluten intolerant 2 years ago. So thank you for sharing!

Used red peppers and a bag of pea pods in place of corn and mushrooms. Also added an extra quarter cup of vinegar-less red pepper

I found this a couple of years ago and make it often. The only change I make is to omit the ginger which is just my personal taste. It's so easy and quick to make. Thank you so much for what has become one of my favorite soup recipes!

used small salad shrimp instead of pork

Yum! This was delicious and EASY. The soup turned out a bit too salty for our taste. Next time I will use low sodium ingredients. Otherwise a keeper!

Easy and tasty

this is ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!!!!!!! The only changes I made was that I used cubed pork instead of ground pork and thinly sliced it. I have made it twice already and it's one of the best Asian soups I've ever had. Ordered hot and sour soup from a Chinese delivery recently thinking it would taste similar and I was disappointed because it wasn't even CLOSE to this good! It's a definite remake over and over in my home :)

Delicious! So easy to make. I made it with ground turkey and it was wonderful. This will definitely be a go to recipe in our house.

This was fantastic! I did make some changes, some suggested by other reviewers: I pre-cooked the pork in the sesame oil (I only had toasted sesame oil on hand); then I added the sczechwan sauce and soy sauce and let the meat simmer in that a minute before adding the broth, veggies and other ingredients. I added some shredded carrots for color and nutrients. I ended up needing to add extra broth because it was looking like a stew instead of a soup. I did have trouble with the 1/3 teaspoon measure, as in I've never seen one, for the cayenne pepper, so I just used a 1/2 teaspoon and didn't fill it all the way. I just had leftovers for lunch and it seems less spicy than last night, but that's easily fixable. There are only 2 of us so I am freezing about 4 servings.

I am not an experienced cook and this turned out fantastic. I wanted to make it exactly as written, but I do not like pork or want to use bean sprouts so I substituted ground turkey sausage and snow peas cut on the diagonal. I didn't have green onions so sauted chopped yellow onion when I browned the ground turkey. This made a huge amount of soup so I froze some and just had the last of it today for lunch. One last thing was to top with Wonton strips and it was even better than the Hot and Sour soup in my favorite Chinese restaurant.

Absolutely loved it! 2 things I changed, I used leftover shredded pork roast instead of sausage and instead of Szechwan sauce I used Sriracha. Tasted better than any restaurant version in my opinion.

I was really impressed with this recipe. It was both hot AND sour... Too often, hot and sour soup is all hot and little sour. My wife does not like anything spicy, and even she liked this soup. I changed a few things, though... The Szechuan sauce I used had plenty of heat, so I did not add any Cheyenne pepper. In fact, I needed to add more chicken stock to dilute the heat from the Szechuan sauce. I also added extra-firm tofu. Although not normally part of hot and sour soup, I also added pre-made wontons (from Trader Joe's).

Absolutely delicious. So easy and so yummy.

YUM! Unfortunately I didn't have schezuan sauce, and the local market didn't either, so I improvised and used hoisin. Since the hoisin sauce isn't spicy, I added some chili flakes, and a couple extra dashes of cayenne while sautéing the ground turkey sausage (personal preference) in a tablespoon or so of sesame oil. I took another reviewer's suggestion and used rice wine vinegar for my "sour" addition, and added a little extra, as I like a good tang to my hot & sour soup. I also opted for canned mushrooms, since the market didn't have sliced ones, and I wanted a "throw it all in the pot & let it go" sorta soup ;) This soup is really good!

I made this last night and we were both so impressed with this recipe. I made a few minor changes, mainly adjusting quantities of cabbage, mushrooms etc. I used ground turkey instead of pork and chili paste instead of Szechwan sauce. It has a nice kick and just the right amount of sour. I'll be making this again.

Delicious. The only thing that I would suggest is to brown the pork in a pan then drain the excess fat instead of cooking the pork in the broth.

Made this the other night, using the advice of a few commenters. I cooked the sausage, onions, mushrooms and garlic, and then added the other ingredients. This soup was so good. I used rice vinegar (milder) because my husband is not a big fan. He loved it. Yum, yum, yum.

I'm a sissy when it comes to spicy hot but am enjoying a bowl right now. I did not add any cayenne pepper to the pot yet I'm coughing in between spoonfuls. My husband liked it and Is going for a second bowl. He gave it a 4 on the heat scale of 1-10. I browned half of the pork and added the rest with the broth. It's a hearty soup full of goodness. I added more broth because it wasn't soupy enough for us.

Fantastic recipe will definitely make again!!

Wow! This soup has amazing flavor. I followed the recipe exactly, but I would recommend half as much cabbage. I prefer more broth in my hot and sour soup. This is definitely a go to recipe and will use if often. Thank you so much for sharing it, RHONDA35!

I looked up a recipe to use leftover cabbage and it worked very well. It was well liked and had just enough kick to make it interesting.

This is very, very good soup! Perfect for my family, we do like spicy food. I also used ground turkey, fantastic. Other than salt and pepper, really not much adjusting needed here. Thanks for a terrific recipe. This will be a favorite for our dinners, no doubt!

Love this soup. I did brown the pork with some sweet onion as suggested in a review and put the vinegar in when it was all tender so I didn't stir too much which was also a suggestion. Thanks for a great recipe. My cabbages are all ready for harvesting so I was looking for a new recipe. This is perfect.

Always been a big fan of hot & sour soup but had never made it. This recipe was simple and came out delicious! I had to force myself to stop eating to much the first time. The only changes I made were ground ginger instead of fresh, and I added sliced bamboo shoots for more texture. Awesome!

Awesome easy soup. Just follow the directions and you will be amazed. Got a kick that will surprise you.

I love this soup! I followed recipe directions, and it was awesome!

This was great! Made it exactly as the recipe states and was blown away by how great the flavors came together. Even the kids like it and they don't like much! :)

Meh. Underwhelming and lots of effort (shredding and slicing takes time not accounted for in recipe) &special order ingredients (Lilly buds and dried wood ear $ shiitake mushrooms all available online, not cheap). Then you still end up pouring bottled hot sauce in anyway, to make it hot enough. Gotta be a better way.

So good, I followed Xia Neifion Clark's recommendation so check out what she suggested! The only thing I would recommend is to add a bit more spicy stuff to even out the taste but it was fantastic!

Well now, this is it! On the stove now. I always keep bagged shredded cabbage mix in the fridge but already used it in another recipe. Going to add ramen noodles (noodles only) and go with it. This recipe let's you use whatever veg you have on hand, and keep tasting, for more hot and sour. This will accompany frozen potstickers, for our dinner tonight. This is a keeper!!! Thank you for sharing.

not outstanding but a really good way to use up left over cabbage all in all pretty tasty

I was looking for something a little different to use my cabbage for and gave this recipe a try. Turned out pretty decent for a low cal soup although my wife was not a fan of how it smelled.

Both my husband and I loved this soup. It is great. I couldn't add the bean sprouts since the ones at the store were nasty looking. Added more mushroom and cabbage to make up the difference. We will have this again!!!

I just made this recipe and loved it. It's so tasty for how simple it is. I left the corn out (forgot to buy it) but it was still great. I also added thin egg noodles like another reviewer suggested, and turned it into a meal. I will make this over and over.

I made it to recipe. It was great couldn't stop eating it, shared with family. It was very good !

I thought this soup was very tasty. I used a meaty Boston Butt pork roast bone for the stock and meat. This is a great low carb choice for me, and I intend to make it again.

This very versatile recipe can be tweaked every which way to Sunday and still be delicious. it can be made totally vegetarian, or use whatever broth you have on hand. I always throw in a small can of bamboo shoots and water chestnuts. use any hot sauce you like. I use Tabasco, Chilulu and powdered cayenne red pepper. Thank you for this wonderful recipe. it's a keeper.