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Hot and sour soup (ہاٹ اینڈ سور سوپ) is about 93 calories per serving — the lowest-calorie dish on a Pakistani-Chinese menu, built from chicken stock, shredded chicken, julienned vegetables and egg ribbons with white pepper and vinegar providing all the heat and sourness. At under 100 kcal, it’s the dish that changes the maths of a full Chinese meal: a bowl before your main costs you less than a single spring roll.
Quick answer
- Calories: ~93 kcal per serving (homemade)
- Serves: 4 · Cook time: 25 min
- Region: Pakistani-Chinese · Tags: chinese, kam-tel (low-oil), soup
Calories in Hot and Sour Soup: the count
~93 calories per serving. A serving is a quarter of a pot made with 6 cups of chicken stock, 1 cup of shredded chicken, 1 cup of julienned carrot, capsicum and green beans, 1 beaten egg, 3 tablespoons of vinegar, 1 teaspoon of white pepper, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and a cornflour slurry, finished with a few drops of sesame oil. The stock and chicken carry the protein; the cornflour thickening and the egg carry most of the calories.
Why the calorie count is so low
Hot and sour soup is the kam-tel (کم تیل) dish of Pakistani-Chinese cooking — almost no oil goes into a bowl. The entire pot uses a few drops of sesame oil as a finish, which amounts to a fraction of a teaspoon per serving. Everything else is stock, lean chicken, vegetables, egg and seasoning. Compare that to:
| Dish | Kcal per serving | Main calorie driver |
|---|---|---|
| Hot and sour soup | 93 | Chicken stock + egg |
| Chicken chopsuey | 329 | Deep-fried chicken + gravy oil |
| Schezwan chicken | 326 | Shallow-fried chicken + paste |
| Chicken chow mein | 420 | Maida noodles + stir-fry oil |
| Chicken fried rice | 390 | Rice + egg + oil |
Hot and sour soup is 3–4 times lower in calories than the mains on the same table. This is why it works so well as a starter for a weight-conscious meal rather than a side or a shared dish — the bulk of the calories in a Pakistani-Chinese meal come from the noodle and rice dishes, not the soup.
Soup starters and weight management
Starting a meal with hot and sour soup does more than just add a low-calorie dish. Research consistently shows that a hot liquid starter reduces total meal intake — the warmth, volume and slight viscosity from the cornflour thickening engages satiety signals before the dense main arrives. At 93 kcal, the cost of the starter is lower than the saving it produces at the main course.
If you’re building a lighter Pakistani-Chinese meal, this is the logic: start with hot and sour soup, then eat a smaller portion of your main. The combination of chopsuey + hot and sour soup comes to around 420 kcal — the same as a single portion of chow mein, but with a two-course meal. See our healthy Chinese food guide for how to put the full lighter version together.
Hot and Sour Soup: full macro breakdown
For a standard ~93-calorie serving of hot and sour soup (6 cups stock, 1 cup shredded chicken, 1 cup vegetables, 1 egg, across 4 servings):
| Macro | Approx. amount | % of calories |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | 7–9 g | ~35% |
| Carbohydrates | 7–9 g | ~34% |
| Fat | 2–3 g | ~27% |
| Fiber | 1–2 g | — |
Fat is negligible because there’s almost no cooking oil in the dish. Protein and carbohydrates are roughly equal because the chicken provides the former and the cornflour slurry plus vegetable starch provides the latter. The sodium is the thing to watch — soy sauce and a well-seasoned stock push the sodium to 600–800 mg per serving, which is meaningful for anyone on a low-sodium diet.
How Hot and Sour Soup fits a desi diet
93 kcal is almost a free meal by the standards of Pakistani food. For context, a single chapati is ~100 kcal and a small portion of daal chawal is ~400 kcal. Hot and sour soup used as a starter before a lighter main makes a complete Pakistani-Chinese meal entirely manageable within a 600–700 kcal dinner budget. The soup also hydrates, warms the stomach, and makes the meal feel more substantial — all without adding meaningful calorie load.
Tips for a lighter Hot and Sour Soup
- Use homemade low-sodium stock. The soup is already low-calorie; reducing sodium is the main nutritional improvement available. A homemade stock made without stock cubes and with minimal added salt can cut sodium by 30–40% while improving flavour.
- Skip the sesame oil or halve it. The few drops per serving add around 10–12 kcal. In the context of 93 kcal total, that’s meaningful — but the soup does lose some of its characteristic aroma.
- Load the vegetables. Double the carrot, capsicum and beans for more fibre and volume at almost zero extra calories. The cornflour already holds the soup together so extra vegetables don’t change the texture.
- Use less cornflour. The lightest version uses 1 tablespoon of slurry instead of 2 — the soup is slightly thinner but perfectly fine, and you save around 15 kcal per serving.
Frequently asked questions about Hot and Sour Soup calories
Is hot and sour soup good for weight loss?
Yes — at 93 kcal it’s one of the lowest-calorie options in any cuisine, not just Pakistani-Chinese. High protein relative to calories, minimal fat, and the satiety benefit of a hot starter make it genuinely useful for a weight-loss plan. The sodium is the one thing to manage if you’re retaining water.
Is hot and sour soup healthy?
At under 100 kcal with real chicken stock, lean protein from the chicken and egg, and a cup of vegetables, it’s nutritionally solid. The limitations are sodium (from soy sauce) and the minimal fibre. It’s far healthier than fried starters and functions well as a meal starter or a light lunch.
How many calories in restaurant hot and sour soup?
A restaurant bowl typically runs 120–180 kcal, higher than homemade because restaurants use more cornflour (thicker consistency is easier to control in batches), more soy sauce, and sometimes a small amount of oil in the stock base. Still very low by restaurant standards.
Why is hot and sour soup so low in calories?
Because the base is stock, not oil, cream or a starchy sauce. Almost the entire volume of the dish is a liquid containing very little fat and only light thickening from the cornflour. The chicken and egg add protein for very few calories. The only calorie-dense elements — soy sauce and a few drops of sesame oil — are used in small quantities.
What is the difference between hot and sour soup and sweet corn soup?
Hot and sour soup is sharpened with vinegar and white pepper; sweet corn soup is thickened with creamed corn and egg and is milder and sweeter. Sweet corn soup runs 120–160 kcal per bowl. Hot and sour soup is the lower-calorie, more nutritionally dense option.
Related reading on Hot and Sour Soup
- Hot and sour soup recipe — the full step-by-step method for this dish
- Calories in chicken chopsuey — the natural follow-on main, at 329 kcal
- Healthy Chinese food for weight loss — how to build a full lighter Pakistani-Chinese meal
Get the exact calorie count for Hot and Sour Soup
Your stock richness and cornflour quantity are the two variables that move this number most. RotiAI computes the exact kcal for your hot and sour soup, and Sehat Mode builds halal, satisfying meals like this into a personalised desi diet plan.
