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This is the soup that fills a gap nobody knew they had. Chinese-Australian comfort food at its purest, somewhere between restaurant takeaway and Mum’s kitchen. Creamy without being heavy, golden from the corn, threaded with delicate egg ribbons. Twenty minutes of actual work. The rest is just patience and the right amount of white pepper.

The recipe lives in Heat & Serve alongside its 24 cousins. This is the gateway version: the one you’d make on a cold weeknight without overthinking it.

The white pepper question

White pepper, not black. Black pepper is good in most things; in this soup it’s wrong. White pepper has a different heat profile, dustier, more aromatic, and it complements the corn the way black never will. If you’ve only got black, halve the quantity, but find white before you make this twice.

Scotty Boxa

Hearty Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup

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Creamy chicken and sweet corn soup, slow-simmered with the aromatic depth of ginger and white pepper. The Aussie pub-classic warm-up bowl.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Ingredients Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients
 

  • 600 g chicken thighs, cubed
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large brown onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
  • 4 cups chicken stock 1 L
  • 2 cups sweet corn kernels fresh, frozen, or canned (drained)
  • 1 can creamed corn 420g / 14oz
  • 1/2 cup thickened cream
  • 2 tbsp cornflour mixed with 3 tbsp cold water
  • 1 tsp white pepper
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 green onions, sliced to garnish

Instructions
 

Method
  1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high. Brown the chicken in batches, about 4 minutes per batch. Set aside.
  2. Reduce heat to medium. Cook onion, garlic, and ginger 5 minutes until soft and fragrant.
  3. Return chicken to pot. Add stock, sweet corn kernels, and creamed corn. Bring to a simmer.
  4. Simmer uncovered 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through and tender.
  5. Stir in the cream and white pepper. Whisk in the cornflour slurry to thicken slightly.
  6. Slowly drizzle the beaten egg into the simmering soup while stirring in one direction. The egg will form delicate ribbons.
  7. Taste, adjust salt. Ladle into bowls. Top with green onions. Serve with crusty bread.

Nutrition

Calories: 320kcal

Notes

Egg ribbons. The trick to those silky strands is stirring in one direction while drizzling slowly. Move the spoon clockwise the whole time. Stops scrambled eggs.
Speed version. Use a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket. Shred 400g of meat off it, skip the browning step, add to the pot at step 3.
Soy sauce upgrade. A teaspoon of light soy sauce gives it more umami. Optional but recommended.
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 320

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Crusty bread suggestion

Sourdough, ripped not sliced. Charred on a hot pan with butter. Dunked unapologetically into the soup. This is the way.

If you want a leftover hack, this soup thickens overnight as the cornflour sets. Re-warm gently, add a splash of stock to loosen, and you’ve got essentially a different (better) soup the second day.

I’m Scotty Boxa. Australian author, professional bad decision maker, and the bloke responsible for the rest of this website.

If this soup hit the spot, the rest of Heat & Serve is built like this. 25 soup and stew recipes for the cold half of the year, all written like I’m telling you over the kitchen counter.