Wok & Skillet

  • * START HERE *
  • Recipes
    • Asian (by Cuisine)
      • Chinese
      • Filipino
      • Indonesian
      • Japanese
      • Korean
      • Malaysian
      • Thai
      • Vietnamese
    • Recipes by Ingredient
      • Chicken
      • Beef
      • Pork
      • Seafood
      • Vegetables and Salads
      • Noodle Recipes
      • Rice Recipes
      • Soups
    • QUICK AND EASY (30 mins and under)
    • Appetizers and Snacks
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes
    • Baked Goodies
    • Drinks
    • Desserts and Sweets
  • Resources
    • How To's
    • Kitchen Resources
    • Asian Pantry
    • Healthy Wok Cookbook
  • About
  • Contact
menu icon
go to homepage
  • * START HERE *
  • Recipes
    • Asian (by Cuisine)
      • Chinese
      • Filipino
      • Indonesian
      • Japanese
      • Korean
      • Malaysian
      • Thai
      • Vietnamese
    • Recipes by Ingredient
      • Chicken
      • Beef
      • Pork
      • Seafood
      • Vegetables and Salads
      • Noodle Recipes
      • Rice Recipes
      • Soups
    • QUICK AND EASY (30 mins and under)
    • Appetizers and Snacks
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes
    • Baked Goodies
    • Drinks
    • Desserts and Sweets
  • Resources
    • How To's
    • Kitchen Resources
    • Asian Pantry
    • Healthy Wok Cookbook
  • About
  • Contact
search icon
Homepage link
  • * START HERE *
  • Recipes
    • Asian (by Cuisine)
      • Chinese
      • Filipino
      • Indonesian
      • Japanese
      • Korean
      • Malaysian
      • Thai
      • Vietnamese
    • Recipes by Ingredient
      • Chicken
      • Beef
      • Pork
      • Seafood
      • Vegetables and Salads
      • Noodle Recipes
      • Rice Recipes
      • Soups
    • QUICK AND EASY (30 mins and under)
    • Appetizers and Snacks
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes
    • Baked Goodies
    • Drinks
    • Desserts and Sweets
  • Resources
    • How To's
    • Kitchen Resources
    • Asian Pantry
    • Healthy Wok Cookbook
  • About
  • Contact
×
Home » Asian Recipes (by cuisine)

Sizzling Rice Soup

Published: Feb 18, 2018 · Modified: Feb 16, 2025 by Char · This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. View my disclosure policy for details · 12 Comments

2124 shares
  • Share
  • Email
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Sizzling Rice Soup features a light broth with vegetables and chicken or shrimp, topped with toasty, crispy rice. The sizzling and crackling sounds of the piping hot rice, as it’s poured into the soup, are sure to impress your guests. Now you can make this Chinese restaurant favorite at home!

sizzling rice soup in a large bowl

Sizzling Rice Soup is a light and flavorful broth filled with fresh vegetables and tender pieces of chicken or shrimp, topped with crispy rice.

The magic of this dish is in the presentation: as the crispy rice is poured into the hot soup right at the dinner table, it sizzles and crackles, adding both flavor and wonderful texture.

I had never heard of Sizzling Rice Soup until I moved from Malaysia to the United States, where I quickly discovered its popularity in American Chinese restaurants. This unique dish, originally from Taiwan, is often served family style, with the crispy rice bringing a little thrill to the table as it sizzles in the hot broth.

Now that I’m back in Malaysia, I’ve had to learn to make it myself, as it’s still not widely available, even in Chinese restaurants here. Recreating it at home brings back fond memories of my time in the U.S.

I hope that you will enjoy this Sizzling Rice Soup recipe!

Ingredients for Sizzling Rice Soup

  • Cooked Rice: The crispy rice is a key element that contributes both flavor and texture to this dish. In the instructions below, I will outline a couple of methods for preparing the crispy rice for this soup (Square Crispy Rice Cakes, or Loose Crispy Rice). Or to save time, you can use Instant Sizzling Rice Crackers and skip some of the prep work
  • Chicken Stock: A light, flavorful chicken stock serves as a base for the soup. For the best flavor, homemade chicken stock is ideal, but a good store-bought stock works well
  • Soy Sauce: This Asian cooking staple adds an umami flavor and a touch of saltiness to the broth
  • Sesame oil: This adds just a touch of a nutty flavor to the soup
  • Shaoxing wine (optional): The Shaoxing wine enhances the soup, adding a layer of depth 
  • Ground white pepper: Just a small dash of white pepper adds a subtle heat and rounds out the flavors of the soup
  • Vegetables: You can use a variety of vegetables in your soup. Some great options are bok choy, carrots, snow peas, sugar snap peas and baby corn
  • Shimp: Plump, juicy shrimp add a touch of sweetness and pair so well with the light broth. You can use either fresh or frozen shrimp. Alternatively, you can also use chicken. 
  • Cooking oil is used to fry the crispy rice with that golden brown exterior

How to Make Sizzling Rice Soup

There are three steps to making Sizzling Rice Soup:

  1. 1) Preparing the rice. The cooked rice will need to be baked in order to dry it out.
  2. 2) Prepare the soup
  3. 3) Deep-fry the prepared rice to make crispy rice puffs

1) Preparing the Rice

There are a couple of ways in which the sizzling rice can be prepared and served. The crispy rice is either packed and then cut into square cakes (like thin rice crispy treats) or served loose (as pictured above).

The first step is to cook the rice, then dry the cooked rice by baking it in the oven. (Side note: If you do not have an electric rice cooker, click here for a step-by-step guide on How to Cook Rice Without a Rice Cooker)

Square Crispy Rice Cakes (Option 1 for the Sizzling Rice)

To make square crispy rice cakes, pour 1 cup of cooked rice onto a baking sheet, then use a spatula to spread and pack the rice evenly to not more than ½ an inch thick.

Bake at 300 degrees F for about 1 hour until dry. Allow the rice to cool completely before cutting them into 2-inch squares. Just before you are ready to serve the soup, deep fry the squares until puffy and slightly golden brown.

Instant Rice Crackers for Chinese Sizzling Rice Soup (10 Oz.)

Shortcut: You can also find Instant Sizzling Rice Crackers at Asian supermarkets or online. These pre-made rice crackers are convenient as you can skip the baking. All you need to do is to deep-fry them just before serving.

Loose Crispy Rice (Option 2 for the Sizzling Rice - PREFERRED)

Personally, I prefer my crispy rice to be loose in my Sizzling Rice Soup (as opposed to the square rice cakes) for a few reasons – it takes a lot faster to bake/dry the rice in the oven (20 minutes as opposed to 1 hour), and I prefer a little bit of crunchy rice in each bite, rather than having to break apart the large piece of rice cake once it’s in the soup.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then spread 1 cup of cooked rice on the sheet in a very thin layer. Using a fork helps ensure the rice stays fluffy and separated so it bakes evenly.

Leftover rice is perfect for this as it’s not too clumpy and will separate well.

cooked white rice on a baking sheet

Bake for 20 minutes.

The rice probably will not brown much, but you will notice that the rice grains will be very hard and almost translucent. Not each grain of rice will be completely dry but this is sufficient for deep-frying.

Allow the rice to cool, then pick up the parchment paper to pour the baked rice into a bowl.

baked white rice in a red bowl

Set the baked rice aside to prepare the soup.

Tip: This baked rice can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the fridge. If you will be storing the rice for more than a few days, increase the baking time for a few more minutes or leave it out on your kitchen countertop for a few hours to ensure that each grain is completely dry before storing.

Would you like to save this?

We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!

2) Preparing the Soup

Since the Sizzling Rice Soup will be served family-style (so you can pour the crispy rice into the soup for that sizzling effect) as opposed to individual bowls, I recommend using a large pot that you can cook and serve the soup in, just so you won't have to worry about transferring the hot soup into a large serving bowl once it is ready.

Some great options include clay pots, ceramic stockpots, and dutch ovens.

Bring 4 cups of chicken stock to a boil over medium-high heat, then add one carrot (sliced). Click here to read the step-by-step guide on how to cut the carrot into flower-shaped slices.

Of course, you can slice the carrot however you like, but this makes the dish look so pretty 🙂

Add one teaspoon of soy sauce, one teaspoon of sesame oil, one teaspoon of Shaoxing wine (optional), a dash of ground white pepper, and ½ a teaspoon of salt to the soup.

pouring soy sauce into boiling soup

Add 2 stalks of baby bok choy, chopped into bite-sized pieces. You can add just about any vegetable to this soup but I would recommend limiting it to 3 kinds to keep the soup simple. Baby corn, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots are some great options.

soup with carrots and vegetables

Bring the soup to a boil again over medium high heat, then add 8 – 10 medium shrimp. Let the soup boil for a few seconds, turn off the heat, then cover the pot. The shrimp will continue to cook so turning off the heat at this time will ensure they don’t overcook.

Tip: This soup can easily be made vegetarian by swapping the chicken broth for vegetable broth and omitting the shrimp.

soup with vegetables and shrimp

Leave the soup pot covered until you are ready to serve.

3) Making the Crispy Rice

The secret to making the rice sizzle is to pour the crispy rice into the soup while the crisp rice is still piping hot.

Just before you are ready to serve, heat approximately 1 cup of cooking oil (or just enough to deep fry the rice) in a wok over medium-high heat.

Before you pour the rice in, test the oil to make sure that it is ready for deep-frying by placing a wooden chopstick in the wok. If it starts to bubble immediately, it is ready.

testing hot oil with wooden chopstick

Pour a small batch of rice into the wok. After just a few seconds, the rice grains will puff up and turn brown.

making crispy rice in wok

Use a stainless steel soup skimmer or a spider strainer to scoop up the rice from the oil.

Scoop up any stray grains of rice with your wok spatula and place it on the skimmer. It’s important not to leave any grains of rice in the hot oil as they will burn quickly and affect the taste of subsequent batches.

fresh crispy rice from wok

Place the crispy rice on a serving plate, then fry up the next batch as quickly as possible. You’ll be doing 2 – 3 batches in total to deep-fry all of the rice.

Work as fast (but safely!) as possible to ensure that the rice stays hot enough to sizzle when it is poured into the soup.

Pour all of the crispy rice into the soup and watch it sizzle and crackle! Enjoy!

sizzle rice soup in a single bowl
​Can I use other types of broth besides chicken stock?

Yes! While chicken stock is traditional, you can use vegetable broth or even a light seafood broth if you want a different flavor profile. Vegetable broth works well for a vegetarian version, and seafood broth complements shrimp beautifully.

Can I make the crispy rice ahead of time?

Yes, absolutely. Store the baked rice in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge.

How do I store leftovers?

If you know you'll have leftovers (for example, if you’re making a double batch), store the extra soup in the fridge without the crispy rice.

Once the crispy rice is added to the soup, it becomes mushy rather quickly, so I recommend keeping them separate. Save some of the baked rice so that you can deep-fry it fresh next time you’re ready to enjoy the soup again.

This dish will keep in the fridge for up to 2 - 3 days.

What other types of vegetables can I serve in this soup?

Aside from bok choy and carrots, you might try adding snow peas, sugar snap peas, baby corn, bamboo shoots, or water chestnuts. Whichever combination you choose, I recommend limiting it to just three types of vegetables so as not to overwhelm the flavors of the soup

​What causes the rice to sizzle?

The sizzling sound happens when the hot, crispy rice comes into contact with the soup. Steam is released, creating a sizzling and crackling effect. This reaction happens because the moisture in the soup instantly evaporates when it comes into contact with the dry, high-temperature surface of the rice, giving you that exciting sound and texture that makes Sizzling Rice Soup so fun and unique!

sizzling rice soup in a large bowl

Sizzling Rice Soup

Char Ferrara
Sizzling Rice Soup features a light broth with vegetables and chicken or shrimp, topped with toasty, crispy rice. The sizzling and crackling sounds of the piping hot rice, as it’s poured into the soup, are sure to impress your guests. Now you can make this Chinese restaurant favorite at home!
4.46 from 59 votes
Print Recipe Pin for later
Prep Time 15 minutes mins
Cook Time 30 minutes mins
Total Time 45 minutes mins
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1 cup cooked rice
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 1 carrot sliced
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 dash ground white pepper
  • 2 stalks baby bok choy chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 8 - 10 shrimp medium-sized
  • cooking oil for deep-frying the rice
US Customary - Metric

Instructions
 

Preparing the Rice

  • Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, the spread the rice evenly on the baking sheet in a very thin layer using a fork.
  • Bake the rice for 20 minutes.
  • Allow the baked rice to cool, then pour into a bowl. Set aside

Preparing the Soup

  • Bring 4 cups of chicken stock to a boil over medium-high heat. Add sliced carrot.
  • Add soy sauce, sesame oil, Shaoxing wine (if using), white pepper, and salt to the soup.
  • Add bok choy to the soup.
  • Bring the soup to a boil again, then add the shrimp. Let the soup boil for a few seconds, turn off the heat and cover the pot.

Making the Crispy Rice

  • Just before serving, heat cooking oil in a wok over medium-high heat. 
  • When the oil is hot (see instructions in the recipe post on how to test this), pour a small batch of rice into the wok. 
  • Deep-fry the rice in 2 - 3 batches until slightly golden brown. Use a stainless steel soup skimmer to scoop up the rice from the oil.
  • Immediately pour the crispy rice into the soup for that sizzling effect.
  • Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 165kcalCarbohydrates: 22gProtein: 10gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 858mgFiber: 1gSugar: 5g
Tried this recipe?Tag @wokandskillet on Instagram or Facebook!

Other Soup Recipes You Might Enjoy

  • Wonton Soup
  • Tom Yum Soup
  • Chinese Hot and Sour Soup
  • Chinese Egg Drop Soup
  • Thai Coconut Chicken Soup
  • Indonesian Chicken Soup (Soto Ayam)

More Asian Recipes (by cuisine)

  • rice cooker claypot chicken rice
    Rice Cooker Claypot Chicken Rice
  • slow cooker beef massaman
    Slow Cooker Beef Massaman Curry
  • Massaman Curry Paste
  • Indonesian Chicken Soup (Soto Ayam)

Comments

  1. Siena Ciarrocchi says

    November 02, 2019 at 12:22 pm

    Yumm so good! Thank you! I didn’t have time to do the rice so I used a brown rice rice cake, broke it into little bits and fried that! It turned out great!

    Reply
    • Char says

      November 02, 2019 at 6:29 pm

      Hi Siena, what a great idea! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave this comment and sharing. I'm so glad that you enjoyed the recipe!

      Reply
      • Sarah says

        January 27, 2020 at 8:24 pm

        We get this soup at a restaurant that makes it with beef. Any ideas what type of beef I should use? Thank you.

        Reply
        • Char says

          January 28, 2020 at 4:10 am

          Hi Sarah! I have not tried this recipe with beef before but it sounds interesting! Do they use a beef broth as well? If so, I would imagine either ground beef or very thinly sliced beef (maybe a sirloin?) would be great in this soup.

          Reply
  2. Sher Effler says

    May 23, 2020 at 3:42 pm

    Yummy good! I've tried several recipes but this one is it! Put water chestnuts and green onions. Voila! Thanks!

    Reply
    • Char says

      May 24, 2020 at 2:39 am

      Thank you for your kind comments! I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Elias Osvaldo Gutierrez says

    February 01, 2021 at 4:52 pm

    HI thank you for sharing this. my favorite restaurant growing up served this and it was my families favorite. They since closed unfortunately , and maybe hopefully mine will come out okay ? I do remember there's having pork and beef too. is that something in your recipe? I didn't finish reading I'm just excited to say thank you for sharing.

    Reply
    • Char says

      February 01, 2021 at 7:30 pm

      Hi Elias! You're very welcome; I'm so glad you found the recipe! This recipe does not have pork or beef, but it is quite versatile so you are welcome to substitute the shrimp for the pork and beef. I hope you enjoy the soup!

      Reply
  4. Martha says

    March 01, 2023 at 7:37 pm

    My family loved it. But the next time I’m going to double everything except the both.

    Reply
    • Char says

      March 04, 2023 at 10:46 pm

      I'm so glad you and your family enjoyed this soup! 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 【ᐅᐅ】Sizzling Wok | Cincinnati, OH 45255 | Menu - Mai 2018 says:
    May 19, 2018 at 4:47 pm

    […] you can get a whole room to yourself so you don39t need to worry about offending any other people that go to enjoy the amazing food. The crispy Hunan Fish and Mapo tofu are also delicious. We were in […]

    Reply
  2. Basic Chinese Chicken Stock - Wok & Skillet says:
    September 29, 2018 at 3:07 am

    […] Sizzling Rice Soup […]

    Reply
4.46 from 59 votes (59 ratings without comment)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




charmaine ferrara

HI! I’M CHAR

I take the mystery out of Asian cooking so that you can make your favorite takeout dishes at home!

More about me

Popular Posts

  • Chicken Rice
    Rice Cooker Hainanese Chicken Rice

  • These traditional Chinese Peanut Cookies are sweet morsels of peanutty goodness that crumble and melt in your mouth. This popular Chinese New Year treat is so easy to make and irresistibly delicious.
    Chinese New Year Peanut Cookies

  • Pineapple Jam Tarts
    Pineapple Jam Tarts

  • thai larb salad
    Thai Larb

  • pad woon sen
    Pad Woon Sen (Thai Stir Fried Glass Noodles)

  • chicken chashu
    Chicken Chashu for Ramen

Recent Posts

  • meal planning with plan to eat
    Weekly Meal Planning with Plan to Eat: A Real-Life Look

  • char siu fried rice
    Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu) Fried Rice

  • air fryer char siu with rice and vegetables
    Air Fryer Char Siu

  • muah chee (chinese peanut mochi)
    Muah Chee (Chinese Peanut Mochi)

Looking for More Recipes?

Click Here to go to My Recipe Index

Simple Meal Planning - Plan to Eat

Let’s Keep in Touch

Sign up for my newsletter to get the best recipes, kitchen tips, and fresh inspiration—delivered straight to your email inbox!




Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.


Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • About Char
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure Policy

Resources

  • *Start Here*
  • Resources
  • Recipes

Contact

  • Contact

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. View my disclosure policy for details.

Copyright © 2025 Wok & Skillet

Rate This Recipe

Your vote:




A rating is required
A name is required
An email is required

Recipe Ratings without Comment

Something went wrong. Please try again.