Pressure Cooker Chinese Hot and Sour Soup is an authentic vegetarian soup, with wood ear mushrooms, tofu and lily flowers. It is Gluten Free, Low Fat, Low Carb and super healthy!

Pressure Cooker Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

This Pressure Cooker Chinese Hot and Sour Soup has been a favorite of my husband since he was a kid.

Every time we go out to a Chinese dinner, he orders a bowl.

Unlike me, Ed seems to get sick every Winter. And he is a baby when sick! Seriously.

Hot and Sour Soup used to take quite a while on the stove.

So that I can make it for him in an instant, well, not quite an instant, I converted my recipe to the Instant Pot and it is a breeze.

Of course, this Soup can be made in the Power Pressure Cooker and any other brand of Pressure Cooker.

Cast of Ingredients for Pressure Cooker Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

There are not too many ingredients to Hot and Sour Soup and it comes together so easily.

(Please excuse the blurry and bad photos for this recipe (I’m going through a difficult time at the moment.)

If you don’t have all the ingredients called for in the recipe, I will add substitutions in the notes sections. You will still end up with a terrific Instant Pot Hot and Sour Soup, it will just be a tad less authentic.

While you have soup on the mind, check out my Pressure Cooker Nordstrom Tomato Basil Soup and my Pressure Cooker Zuppa Toscana Soup.

*** Substitutions for the fancy products are listed in the Notes section on the Recipe Card Below. Your Soup will still be Amazing using them instead. However, the Soup will be Super Amazing using the recommended ingredients. 🙂

Rehydrate the Dried Woodear Mushrooms

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What are Wood Ear Mushrooms?

They are sometimes called “Black Fungus.”
They are a fungus.
They are in the shape of an Ear.
Wood Ear Mushrooms grow on Wood, either dead or alive.
Modern research has concluded that auricula-judae has antitumour, hypoglycemic, anticoagulant and cholesterol-lowering properties.1

Dried Wood Ear Mushrooms are pretty inexpensive. I paid $1.50 for 2.5 ounces at my local Asian store.

Today, Amazon has them on sale for only $9.69 for a whole pound. You might think that sounds high, but they expand about 10 times the size. Seriously.

That is enough for EIGHT or more (depending on how many you like in your Soup) large pots of this Pressure Cooker Hot and Sour Soup. If you love Hot & Sour Soup, go with the pound bag.

You can get Whole or Shredded Wood Ear Mushrooms.

The Shredded Wood Ear Mushrooms cost a bit more than the Whole, as the stems and hard nubs will already be removed. I’d go with the whole, if I were you. It doesn’t take much effort to cut off the nubs and slice the Fungus.

An essential ingredient to a great Hot and Sour Soup are the Dried Lily Flowers. Many people leave them out of their Soup, but it will take it up a notch. You will only need a bit, as these expand quite nicely.

Soak the Lily Flowers separately, so that you will be able to squeeze out the water.

Again, if you want to leave these out, just do it. The Soup will still be delicious. You know from my recipes, I aim for extra delicious. 🙂

Rehydrated Woodear Mushrooms aka Black Fungus

As you can see, I wasn’t kidding. Look at the size of these damn things!

This is a large soup bowl of re-hydrated Wood Ear Mushrooms that started out as just two ounces of dried Wood Ear Mushrooms.

Option – If you like a thicker Soup, set aside about 1/4-1/2 cup of the Mushroom Water and whisk it with 1 Tablespoon Potato Starch to be added in after pressure is released. This is not something that I do, but I know others prefer more substance to the liquid part of Soup.

When you drain the Lily Flowers, make sure to squeeze them out well, since they may contain a little sodium metabisulfite.

Grate the Fresh Ginger and Fresh Garlic

A Cheese Grater works well for grating the Fresh Ginger and Fresh Garlic.

Typically, the Asian broth used to make this Soup, is first cooked and then strained of any solids.

To make life easier, I am doing it all in once step. Hence the reason for grating the Ginger and Garlic, as finely as possible.

You can even use a Mini Food Chopper to grate the Garlic and Ginger at the same time.

If you already have some of my Ginger-Garlic Paste in the refrigerator of freezer, use two Tablespoons.

Add Mushrooms, Lily Flowers Tofu, Garlic, Ginger to Pressure Cooker

This recipe is very close to a “dump and go,” method. There is really very little work involved.

Tofu comes in 14 ounce blocks so use between 10-14 ounces. It is up to you how much you want to use.

Sometimes you will see sliced pork in the recipe, sometimes not. If you want pork, add it, otherwise, keep it vegetarian. Ed prefers a vegetarian version.

Pour in Soy Sauce and a little Sambal Oelek

White Pepper is what gives Hot and Sour Soup, the heat, but I love adding just a little bit of Sambal Oelek too.

Huey Fong Sambal Oelek Chili Paste is something that everyone should keep in their refrigerator. It is a nice and pure Chili, which won’t interfere poorly with the other ingredients.

Pop some in and give everything a nice stir. I’ve been using this di Oro Living Spatula for a while now and I really like it. It is one solid piece, so no yukkies get caught in crevices.

Pour in Vegetable or Chicken Stock

Keeping this Vegetarian, I use Better than Bouillon Vegetable Base and mix it with Fresh Water.

You can use Better than Bouillon Chicken Base, if you like. I always have various flavors of Better than Bouillon Base in my refrigerator, as it is a great option to use, if you don’t have fresh Chicken Feet Bone Broth or Homemade Chicken Bone Stock/Broth.

I believe I first introduced the Better than Bouillon line of flavor Bases to you in my Pressure Cooker Pork Chops and Homemade Mushroom Gravy recipe, almost two years ago. Check out this recipe, as it is in the top ten on this blog!

For this recipe, I like to keep it vegetarian and go with the Better than Bouillon Vegetable Base option.

Pour Pour in the Scrambled Eggs and Toasted Sesame Oil

Pour in the Scrambled Eggs and Sesame Oil

If you prefer a thicker Hot and Sour Soup, now is the time to Whisk in the reserved Mushroom Water/Potato Starch Slurry.

Make sure to first hit the Sauté or browning button and bring the Soup to a Simmer. If you don’t have one of those buttons, just use any button that will heat up your Pressure Cooker.

While you are waiting for the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker to simmer, use a Measuring Cup and Whisk together the Eggs and the Sesame Oil.

Pour in the Egg Mixture and wait a few seconds, so that the Eggs will begin to firm.

Then slowly, stir the Soup in a circular motion, just a few times.

Fresh Chopped Scallions get added Last

Push the Keep Warm Button and add in the Chinkiang Vinegar, White Pepper and the rest of the Toasted Sesame Oil.

If you need this Soup now and don’t have time to get some Chinkiang Vinegar, here are some options.

I recommend Apple Cider Vinegar, Rice Vinegar or White Vinegar (in that order). They all have slightly different tastes and you may find you prefer one over the other.

Personally, I like the Chinkiang Vinegar, which is a Chinese Black Vinegar.

Adding in the “hot and sour” ingredients, shortly before serving, will pop the Hot and Sour flavor nicely.

Drop in the Scallions and you are ready to serve.

Garnish with Cilantro, if desired

Totally forgot to add the Cilantro garnish.

Serve the Soup with some Sambal Oelek on the side, for those who prefer a more intense heat.

Grab a bowl and warm blanket and curl up in front of the fire or TV and relax.

This makes a lot of soup! You can easily cut the recipe in half, or package it up using your Foodsaver and freezing, as it freezes and reheats very well.

Special thanks to Ed for helping me create this recipe. It’s his favorite. I prefer Won Ton Soup, so this is to his taste….. and you know how picky he is!

More Instant Pot Vegetarian Soup Recipes to Make:

Kitchen Equipment and Essentials

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Here is your handy printable recipe:

Pressure Cooker Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

What are Wood Ear Mushrooms?

More Instant Pot Vegetarian Soup Recipes to Make:

Kitchen Equipment and Essentials