Thai Chicken Coconut Curry Soup — An EASY one-pot soup that’s ready in 20 minutes and is layered with so many fabulous Thai flavors!! Tastes BETTER than from a Thai restaurant!! It’s hearty yet HEALTHY comfort food that tastes AMAZING!!
Thai Coconut Curry Soup … with Chicken!
This easy coconut curry soup is a spinoff of this Thai Chicken Coconut Curry, which has been in the top 5 most popular recipes on my entire website for the past year and it has nearly one hundred 5-star reviews.
Since you all love that recipe so much, I made you a soup version, essentially just doubling the coconut milk and adding some chicken stock.
The soup tastes as good – or better – than you’d find in a Thai restaurant. Big statement, but I stand behind it.
With cold weather upon us, nothing is better than diving into a bowl of this hearty yet healthy comfort food soup that’s layered with flavors. I could drink the coconut milk-based broth every single day.
This chicken coconut curry soup is ready in 20 minutes, is made in one pot, is naturally gluten-free, and is healthy overall (coconut milk and oil have fat but they’re ‘good fats’),
The curry soup is savory, salty, there’s natural sweetness from the sweet Vidalia onions, carrots, and coconut milk. There’s perfect acid balance from lime juice and a very gentle heat from the Thai red curry paste.
There’s plenty of vegetables for texture and the chicken is so tender.
Thai Chicken Coconut Curry Soup Ingredients
To make the richly flavored chicken curry soup with coconut milk, you’ll need to gather the following ingredients:
- Coconut oil (or olive oil)
- Onion
- Chicken
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Coriander
- Coconut milk
- Chicken stock
- Thai red curry paste
- Shredded carrots
- Fresh spinach
- Cilantro
- Lime juice
How to Make Coconut Chicken Curry Soup
Making scratch Thai coconut curry soup is SO easy! Full instructions are provided in the recipe card below, but here’s an overview of the cooking process:
- Start by sautéing an onion in coconut oil.
- Add boneless skinless chicken breast pieces, and cook until the chicken is cooked through.
- Add garlic, ginger, coriander, coconut milk, chicken stock, Thai red curry paste, carrots, and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Finish with fresh spinach, cilantro, lime juice, and you’re ready to start slurping. It’s such an easy soup that comes together effortlessly!
FAQs
Absolutely! The great thing about curries in general — which is totally different in this context than ‘curry powder,’ and here I mean of mixture of vegetables and protein in a sauce or broth — is that you can add vegetables or legumes to your liking.
For example, feel free to add cauliflower, zucchini, stewed tomatoes, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, edamame, frozen peas, fresh spinach, kale, or whatever you have lurking in your produce drawer or freezer.
I think of curries as a stir-fry-meets-soup, and there are no rules with what to add to either those in my book. Enjoy all the wonderful flavors and dive in.
As for the spices, I really wouldn’t deviate too much with the garlic, coriander, and ginger.
I used one can of full-fat and one can of light coconut milk. For extra creaminess, use all full-fat coconut milk. I wouldn’t use two cans of light coconut milk unless you’re aware that the broth won’t have as much body and will be more watery tasting.
I don’t consider the soup to be spicy because the jar of curry paste is diluted by approximately 45 ounces of liquid (two cans of coconut milk, one can of chicken stock) but it definitely has the rich Thai flavor profile you’d find in a Thai restaurant.
For me, using less than the full jar of curry paste would result in lackluster soup.
NO! The Thai red curry paste is essential in this recipe. It adds a richer and smoother flavor profile than curry powder (Indian) does and you cannot substitute curry powder for curry paste.
If your grocery store doesn’t stock curry paste, order from Amazon (affiliate link).
I use the Thai Kitchen brand because I’ve had good luck with it, I can find it at my local grocery stores, and I know what I’m getting into in terms of spice and heat level and the overall flavor profile.
There are other brands that of course you can experiment with.
I used an entire 4-ounce jar of Thai red curry paste for the soup. If you’re not used to working with it or eating things made with it, I suggest starting with one-third to one-half of the jar and working up from there, to taste.
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Thai Chicken Coconut Curry Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, olive oil may be substituted
- 1 medium/large sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, diced small
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, diced into bite-sized pieces
- 3 to 5 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
- 2 to 3 teaspoons ground ginger or 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- two 14-ounce can coconut milk, I used one can full-fat, one lite; I don't recommend using two cans of lite - too watery
- one 15-ounce can chicken stock, I used reduced sodium
- 1 to 1 ½ cups shredded carrots
- one 4-ounce jar Thai red curry paste, added to taste (read blog post for more details; I use the whole jar. Start with 1/3 to 1/2 of the jar if you're new to Thai red curry paste or are very sensitive to spicy food)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- about 3 cups fresh spinach leaves, loosely packed
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped for garnishing (basil may be substituted)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 to 2 tablespoons brown sugar, optional and to taste
- naan, optional for serving
Instructions
- To a large pot or Dutch oven, add the oil, onion, and sauté over medium-high heat until the onion begins to soften about 5 minutes; stir intermittently.
- Add the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through; flip and stir often to ensure even cooking.
- Add the garlic, ginger, coriander, and cook for about 1 minute, or until fragrant; stir frequently.
- Add the coconut milk, chicken stock, carrots, Thai curry paste, salt, pepper, and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium, and allow mixture to gently boil for about 5 minutes and carrots are soft.
- Turn the heat off and add the spinach, cilantro, lime juice, and stir to combine. Stir until spinach has wilted and is tender, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Taste the soup and optionally add brown sugar (does not make it sweet in my opinion but rather rounds out the flavor profile and marries things together), additional curry paste, salt, pepper, etc. to taste. Soup will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
- Adapted from Thai Chicken Coconut Curry
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Favorite Thai Curry Recipes:
Thai Chicken Coconut Curry – An EASY one-skillet curry that’s ready in 20 minutes and is layered with so many fabulous flavors!! Low-cal, low-carb, and HEALTHY but tastes like comfort food!!
Green Thai Chicken Coconut Curry – An EASY, one-skillet curry that’s ready in 20 minutes and tastes BETTER than from a Thai restaurant!! It’s healthy comfort food that tastes AMAZING!!
Sweet Potato and Chickpea Coconut Curry – An easy one-skillet curry that’s ready in 30 minutes and is layered with so many fabulous flavors! Healthy comfort food that tastes amazing!
Chickpea and Kale Thai Coconut Curry – An easy one-skillet vegan curry that’s ready in 15 minutes and has amazing Thai-inspired flavors! Low-cal, low-carb, and healthy but tastes like hearty comfort food!
Cauliflower, Chickpea, and Chicken Coconut Curry – An EASY, one-skillet curry that’s ready in 20 minutes and tastes BETTER than a restaurant!! The Thai-inspired coconut milk broth makes this healthy comfort food taste AMAZING!!
My hubby loves all of your recipes. Especially the curry and the soups. I can’t seem to find a yellow curry soup. Would you be able to provide one or let me know what changes I might make to alter the yellow chicken curry into a soup version. Your site has become my absolute FAVORITE!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Karin, and I am thrilled to hear that my site has become one of your favorites!
To make the yellow curry more soup-like, I would add a second can of coconut milk and then also add a 15 ounce can of chicken stock (about 2 cups), simmer, and see how that’s looking. And then if you need to add more salt, curry paste, seasonings, etc. to season it properly since you’ll have added a lot of extra liquid which will need some seasoning help, season to taste.
Absolutely delicious!!! My husband & I love it! Great recipe, thank you!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Susan, and I am glad you and your husband both love the recipe!
Easy and delicious! Cooking time is 20 minutes but there is prob 20 minutes of prep time as well.
Easy and delicious! Cooking time is 20 minutes but there is prob 20 minutes of prep time as well.
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad it was easy and delish!
This was so good! Due to health issues I’m gluten free, dairy free, grain free and almost fat free. I started this recipe being blind to the word soup. I really thought I was making a curry stew.
At the end I realized it was a soup recipe, so I added chickpea flour to thicken it.
I also added a large tomato and baby corn.
Served it with a side of broccoli and roasted sweet potato.
Delicious!!!
This was so good! Due to health issues I’m gluten free, dairy free, grain free and almost fat free. I started this recipe being blind to the word soup. I really thought I was making a curry stew.
At the end I realized it was a soup recipe, so I added chickpea flour to thicken it.
I also added a large tomato and baby corn.
Served it with a side of broccoli and roasted sweet potato.
Delicious!!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad that this was a winner!
For more of a vegan/GF curry that’s thicker and not as soup like, this is my favorite https://www.averiecooks.com/sweet-potato-chickpea-coconut-curry/
great
I had already made the coconut chicken curry from averie cooks and was so impressed by I made tried to make the same recipe again. Although, by mistake I made the coconut chicken curry soup instead of the normal curry . At first , I was disappointed by the silly mistake but then after trying I was incredibly happy to have tried the soup recipe. It was so delicious and the flavors were amazing . It had the perfect amount of spice and is definitely something I will be making again in the future (not by accident)!! A few notes: I used Penang curry paste instead of red curry which I think improved it. And I only added 1/4 of a cup instead of 1/2 cup but it was still quite spicy and I would recommend any more. I doubled the recipe but found that it only served 6 instead of the proposed 12. However we ate it as a main course not an appetizer. Overall it was amazing and highly recommended!!!!!!
AMAZING!! I just made this soup this week as the weather got extra chilly. So hearty and delicious! My family savored each sip!
AMAZING!! I just made this soup this week as the weather got extra chilly. So hearty and delicious! My family savored each sip!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad your family savored every sip and that it was amazing!
This soup is AMAZING – perfect for a cold winter evening. Just enough heat to warm you up, so very creamy, and the flavor combination is just wonderful. I love your suggestions for additions – we’re going to try it with chickpeas next time as they are a favorite in our house.Thank you so much for another fabulous recipe!
This soup is AMAZING – perfect for a cold winter evening. Just enough heat to warm you up, so very creamy, and the flavor combination is just wonderful. I love your suggestions for additions – we’re going to try it with chickpeas next time as they are a favorite in our house.Thank you so much for another fabulous recipe!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it turned out amazing and perfect for a cold winter night!
I doubled this and made it for almost 20 people tonight and each of them could not stop raving about how amazing this was! I added cauliflower which was an excellent choice I think. Maybe next time I will add more veggies. Thanks for creating this deliciousness
I knew the minute I saw the post I was going to make this today. Soooo good!!! You are right–the broth is to die for….we both loved it. It! Lots of flavor without a ton of heat (that is what I love about red curry paste). Happy New Year!
I knew the minute I saw the post I was going to make this today. Soooo good!!! You are right–the broth is to die for….we both loved it. It! Lots of flavor without a ton of heat (that is what I love about red curry paste). Happy New Year!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it turned out wonderfully! I loveeed this broth so much! I love red curry paste so much too :) Happy New Year!
This looks amazing! Totally making it for dinner this week!
Paige
https://thehappyflammily.com