Why You Shouldn't Freeze Egg Drop Soup

Whether you order it from your favorite Chinese takeout spot or you whip up a batch of this easy-to-make soup at home, many will agree that egg drop soup is delicious. Comforting, warm, and just the thing for when you have a cold or it's just cold outside, you don't want to miss out on a single drop of this soup — so what do you do when you have an overabundance that you don't want to go to waste?

According to The Recipe Critic, egg drop soup will last approximately three to four days in the refrigerator. If you want to keep your egg drop soup for longer than that, you may be tempted to toss it in the freezer — but not so fast. Freezing your egg drop soup could irreparably damage the texture, leaving you with something different after you reheat your leftovers. The gelatinous makeup of egg yolks, says the American Egg Board, doesn't do well in the freezer, resulting in a thick, gelled, rubber-like texture upon reheating. And, since egg drop soup is, at its core, made up primarily of just broth and eggs, freezing the mixture just ends with an unsavory mess.

But that doesn't mean you need to resign yourself to losing out on your leftovers. Instead, if you're making a batch of egg drop soup and you know you'll have more than you can eat in the next few days, set aside some of the broth before you add the egg yolks. Freeze the broth for later use and, when you're ready to enjoy another bowl of egg drop soup, reheat the broth and add in fresh eggs.

However, if you don't plan to have fresh eggs on hand and really need to freeze them as well, you can do so, combining the two soup elements right before you chow down — just with a caveat. You never want to freeze plain egg yolks for the reasons stated above, but you can, the American Egg Board says, freeze egg yolks if you combine them with ⅛ teaspoon salt per ¼ cup of egg yolks. This slows the yolks' change in texture. Once frozen, the yolks will keep for up to a year in your freezer.