This Thai chicken soup is slightly spicy, light and creamy, and packed with tender chicken, bok choy, rice noodles, and the flavors of curry and coconut. It's homey, comforting and so delicious, and will be on the table in about 30 minutes.
Every time I make this soup I wonder why I don't make it more often. It's both creamy and light, and packed with so many of my favorite flavors like red curry and Thai spices. And, most importantly these days, it's only takes about 30 minutes to prepare, start to finish.
As with this recipe for 30-minute rotisserie chicken soup, one of the reasons this soup comes together so quickly is because it starts with pre-cooked chicken.
I originally developed the recipe as a way to use up leftover Tahini Grilled Chicken but quickly realized that any kind of pre-cooked or leftover chicken works perfectly. Three of my favorites:
If you're the type of person who plans meals a few days in advance, plan to make some extra chicken one night just so you'll have leftovers for this soup. Or, simply pick up a rotisserie chicken at your local market and be done with it.
Recipe and Ingredient Notes
This soup gets its creaminess from coconut milk, a pantry staple at my house because of recipes I make on the regular like this soup, coconut chickpea curry, chicken adobo with coconut milk, and crispy coconut lime chicken.
In this recipe I prefer to use full-fat canned coconut milk which is less watery and more flavorful than the coconut milk sold in refrigerated cartons. The exception is the cartons of Thai Kitchen coconut milk that are often sold right next to the canned varieties, which is basically the same thing as the canned coconut milk just in different packaging.
You can also use coconut cream in this soup. But, because it's thicker and more concentrated than coconut milk, thin it out with some water. I find that ⅔ coconut cream and ⅓ water is just about right.
Whatever brand of coconut milk you choose, stay away from powdered or sweetened varieties. Both have their uses, but this soup isn't one of them. I usually use full-fat coconut milk to maximize all that creamy goodness, but you could use a reduced fat variety if you prefer.
Red Curry Paste is simply a blend of spices, shallot, garlic, and chilies, and generally available in the Asian foods section of most major grocery stores. It adds flavor to this Thai chicken soup, of course. But, it also adds tremendous depth and umami.
Like the coconut milk, I generally like Thai Kitchen's Red Curry Paste because it's spicy without going overboard.
This recipe also calls for Thai seasoning blend, which I know is kind of vague. But, here's the thing: Pretty much any Thai seasoning will work. Often, I mix up my own Thai Seasoning Blend, especially if I already have all the ingredients on hand.
At other times, when I'm feeling kinda lazy and just want to be eating a warm bowl of soup as soon as possible, I reach for a prepared blend. Most recently, I ordered Spice Hunter Thai Seasoning and thought the flavor mix was delicious.
How to serve this soup
Spoiler alert: the garnishments are where it's at.
I mean, this soup is perfectly delicious without any of the garnishments. But, it's much better with them.
A bit of fresh lime juice, a handful of scallions, roasted salty peanuts, fresh cilantro, and as much chili garlic sauce as you can handle add flavor, upon flavor, upon flavor.
If you're a fan of a good garnishment spread whereby you lay out the main dish and surround it by several flavor-packed toppings for everyone to garnish to their hearts content, check out this recipe for black bean soup with pickled onion and cilantro oil, vegetarian chili with pico de gallo and chimichurri, and this stupid-easy toss it together no-recipe recipe for white beans on toast with veggies and greens.
More popular soup recipes:
- Red Lentil Soup with Ham and Aleppo Pepper Oil
- Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup with Garlic and Mushrooms
- Thai Pork and Noodle Soup
- Shrimp, Rice, and Shiitake Mushroom Soup
- Zuppa Toscana
- Black Bean Tomato Soup
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📖 Recipe
Thai Chicken Soup with Noodles
This quick Thai chicken soup is slightly spicy, light and creamy, and packed with tender chicken, bok choy, rice noodles, and the flavors of curry and coconut.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable, canola, coconut, or extra virgin olive oil
- 3 large shallots, peeled and chopped
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce, divided
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon Thai seasoning blend (*See note)
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- Two 14-ounce cans of coconut milk, unsweetened, reduced or full-fat
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 pound bok choy, leaves removed, stalks chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 4 ounces red curry paste
- salt and pepper
- 7 ounces pad Thai rice noodles
- 1 -2 pounds cooked chicken, shredded or cut into bite-size pieces
Garnishes:
- Chopped fresh cilantro
- Chili Garlic Sauce
- Chopped scallions
- Peanuts, roasted and salted
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- Add the oil, chopped shallots and 1 tablespoon of the fish oil to a large saucepan and set it over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the shallots are soft, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in the cilantro and Thai seasoning and cook, stirring, 1 minute longer. Add chicken or vegetable broth, coconut milk, and sugar. Turn the heat up to high and bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes to let the flavors blend.
- Add the chopped bok choy and cook for 2-3 minutes, until tender. While the bok choy cooks, combine the lime juice, red curry paste, and remaining 2 tablespoons of fish sauce in a small bowl. Stir it into the soup along with salt and pepper to taste.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add cooked chicken and pad Thai noodles. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes to cook the noodles and warm the chicken.
- Serve with garnishes.
Notes
- I often use Spice Hunter Thai seasoning (see link below). Or, you can [mix up your own.](https://alittleandalot.com/spice-mix-recipes/)
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 432Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 131mgSodium: 2490mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 2gSugar: 8gProtein: 35g
Nancy says
Delicious recipe! I loved this soup and will definitely make it again!
RebeccaBlackwell says
Hi Nancy! I am so happy to hear that you liked this recipe! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know! xo
Sergio says
Can’t wait to make this! It looks so delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Amanda Mason says
I'm loving the versatility of the chicken you can use in this recipe! Like you, I'm a chicken lover and I always have some type of chicken around. And the garnishments you listed...all sound so amazing! What a perfect lunch recipe!
Neha says
Chicken noodles soup is my most favorite of all soups. But I never found a good recipe to try at home. I think you got me covered, it looks so delicious!
Jenni LeBaron says
This looks and sounds like perfect Thai comfort food in a bowl. I love a good curry based dish and this one really sings with notes of fish sauce, coconut milk, and plenty of lime!
Anna says
Thai flavours and Thai cuisine are probably my favourite! It's all so fragrant and aromatic, and absolutely hard to resist! Your chicken soup looks and sounds delicious, looking forward to trying it very soon!
Tammy says
I LOVE that chilic garlic sauce and put it in almost everything! The spicier the better. This soup looks and sounds amazing..loving all the fixings too! Sounds so delicious...craving a bowl right now!
RebeccaBlackwell says
Me too! I love, love, love chili garlic sauce. I usually add too much and end up burning my face off. But, it's worth it. 🙂
Loreto Nardelli says
Love Thai flavors! I could sure use a bowl of good chicken soup like this on a rainy gloomy day like today.
RebeccaBlackwell says
Me tooooooo! We're having a a soup-weather kind of summer so far! There are worse things. 🙂
Veronika's Kitchen says
So much flavor in one bowl! I never tried it before but it sounds so delicious! Going to save the recipe for future!
Aleta says
Yummm this is seriously calling my name! I love all things with rice noodles yet have not ever had them in a soup before! I love the ingredients you have used in the soup, I can already tell it's going to be amazing. I am making blackened chicken thighs tonight that I bet well go really well with this.
Leslie says
Oh my...this looks just divine! I bet this is packed with flavor too! Thanks for sharing!
Veena Azmanov says
I love Thai flavor option, unique and flavorful. This soup is a perfect meal for a nice rainy day. I love it.
Elaine Benoit says
Yum! This Thai chicken soup looks fantastic. I'm always looking for great and (new to me) soups and am so glad I found your recipe! I can't wait to make it!
Heather says
Ooh I'm love all these flavors in this dish. This has to be outrageous...how can it not be? And you're right I'm guessing the garnishes make this especially delicious.