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This hot & sour soup is an easy and nourishing dish! It’s paleo, whole30, AIP, and an all-around healthy and filling meal.

A pot of hot & sour soup after cooking and ready to be enjoyed.

Soup season is here, and hot & sour soup is one of those classics that we all know and love. The good new is that’s it’s so simple to make at home! It’s made with easy-to-source and healthy ingredients that are paleo, gluten free, AIP, and whole30. Sign me up, right?

The Ingredients You’ll Need for the Easy Hot & Sour Soup

  • Pork tenderloin. You can also use ground pork, or tofu if you’d like. You can even adapt this to be an egg drop soup.
  • Chicken broth. 
  • Cabbage. You won’t always find this in hot & sour soup, but it adds more nutrients for not a lot of cost. Bok choy would be another great addition.
  • Shitake mushrooms. You can also use wood ear mushrooms.
  • Arrowroot starch. This replaces what would traditionally be cornstarch in this dish and thickens the soup. You can likely use tapioca starch.
  • Garlic & ginger. 
  • Chili sauce or chili oil. This is optional if you’re nightshade-free like me, but this is where the heat would come from! You can add 1 tsp at a time.
  • Lime. Gotta have that sour flavor! We use lime juice in this recipe instead of rice vinegar to keep it grain free, but that works as well.
  • Coconut aminos. This is the soy sauce substitute that you can buy at most health food stores and online.

The ingredients for hot & sour soup before cooking it.

How to Make Hot & Sour Soup

  • Step One. Cook the pork tenderloin and set aside.
  • Step Two. Saute the garlic and ginger then add the mushrooms and bamboo shoots and then shredded cabbage at the end.
  • Step Three. Add in the chicken broth, coconut aminos, lime, chili sauce, and salt and pepper.
  • Step Four. Add the pork in and allow to si,mer.
  • Step Five. Combine 1/4 cup of broth with arrowroot starch. Mix and then add to soup to thicken.
  • Step Six. Finish with green onions and enjoy!

Step by step photos of making the hot & sour soup.

Tips & Tricks

  • Add seasoning to taste. Make the soup as hot or as sour as you’d like with more lime juice, or chili oil if using.
  • Up the veggies. Bok choy would be a great addition to this soup as well as more mushrooms.

A pot of hot & sour soup with a spatula stirring the final product.

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Easy Paleo Hot & Sour Soup (Whole30 & AIP)

★★★★★

5 from 7 reviews
  • Author: Michelle
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
  • Diet: Gluten Free
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Description

This hot & sour soup is an easy and nourishing dish! It’s paleo, whole30, AIP, and an all around healthy and filling meal.

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 tbsp avocado oil
  • 12 oz pork tenderloin, sliced into very thin strips (sub ground pork, or even ground chicken)
  • Salt and pepper (omit pepper for AIP)
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1-inch ginger, grated
  • 2 cups shitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 small head green cabbage, shredded
  • 1/2 cup sliced bamboo shoots (optional)
  • 8 cups chicken broth (divided)
  • 3 tbsp coconut aminos
  • 1–2 tsp chili sauce (omit for AIP)
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • 1 1/2 tbsp arrowroot starch
  • 2–3 tbsp green onion, chopped

Instructions

  1. Using a large stock pot or Dutch oven, heat the avocado oil over medium heat. Add the pork tenderloin, seasoning with salt and pepper. Saute for about 3 min on each side or until cooked through.Set aside.
  2. Adding more fat to the pan if needed, cook the garlic and ginger for 2-3 minutes or until fragrant. Add the mushrooms and bamboo shoots and saute for 4-5 minutes or until tender. Add the shredded cabbage and cook until mostly wilted for about 2 minutes.
  3. Pour in the chicken broth (reserving 1/4 cup and setting aside), coconut aminos, lime, chili sauce if using and more salt and pepper to taste. Add the pork back and simmer for about 10 minutes to combine the flavors.
  4. While the soup is simmering, combine the 1/4 cup of broth with the arrowroot starch. Whisk together to thicken and add to the soup and stir. Simmer for another few minutes to allow the soup to thicken.
  5. Finish with green onion and further to taste.

Notes

All nutritional information are estimations and will vary. Nutrition facts do not include optional bamboo shoots.

  • Prep Time: 5
  • Cook Time: 30
  • Category: Main Dishes
  • Method: Stove Top

Keywords: hot and sour soup

This recipe was originally published in 2018 and updated in 2024. Photos by Modern Food Stories.