Easy Thai Shrimp Soup
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Skip the take-out and try making this at home – it’s unbelievably easy and 10000x tastier and healthier!
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reasons to make easy thai shrimp soup
- Takeout favorite
- Budget-friendly
- Uses easy-to-find ingredients
- Cold weather comfort food
- Leftovers taste even better
- Super flexible recipe (and can be made vegetarian friendly)
what is red curry paste and where can i find it
Commonly used in Thai dishes, red curry paste is made from a blend of red chili pepper, garlic, lemongrass, Thai ginger and various spices.
Red curry paste is typically used for stir-fry, soups or mixed with coconut milk for curry. It is readily available in most grocery store chains, particularly the Thai Kitchen brand, and online, with some brands containing shellfish (shrimp paste).
tips and tricks for success
- Know your shrimp size. Shrimp size is calculated on number of shrimp per pound. The smaller the number, the larger your shrimp. There are about 40-50 medium shrimp per pound.
- Buy frozen shrimp. For superior quality and freshness, using frozen shrimp is ideal (but avoid the bags with freezer burn), opting for a quick thaw under cold running water.
- Use your favorite protein. This recipe will work well with chicken thighs, chicken breasts, shrimp or tofu.
- Use full fat coconut milk. Although lite coconut milk can certainly be used, full fat coconut milk will yield a much more rich and creamy broth.
- Mix it up. Swap the red curry paste for green, add in more veggies (cabbage, zucchini, mushrooms or bok choy) or use rice noodles in place of rice.
- Stir in more stock with leftovers. When reheating leftovers, stir in more stock as needed as the rice will continue to soak up the broth.
what to serve with thai shrimp soup
Easy Thai Shrimp Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
You can thaw frozen shrimp overnight, transferring it from the freezer to the fridge the day before. For a quick thaw, you can run them under cold water until completely thawed, about 5-10 minutes. Pat them dry as thoroughly as possible to remove any excess moisture.
Yes! Chicken is a great swap for the shrimp, and you can sub chicken stock for the vegetable stock as well.
We personally love Mae Ploy (contains shrimp paste). Thai Kitchen is also great with mild heat, and more readily available at most grocery stores.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 days.
We do not recommend freezing this as coconut milk tends to separate when frozen.
Easy Thai Shrimp Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 (13.5-ounce) can coconut milk
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 1 1 /2 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
- Season shrimp with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Melt butter in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add shrimp, and cook, stirring occasionally, until pink, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.
- Add onion and bell pepper to the Dutch oven. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in red curry paste, garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in coconut milk and vegetable stock; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 8-10 minutes.
- Stir in rice, shrimp, lime juice and cilantro.
- Serve immediately.
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All i have is red curry sauce-do you know the what the equlivant of red curry paste to red curry sauce?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
I made this last night and it was a huge hit with my family! Quick question. Has anyone ever used tofu instead of shrimp, and if so, how did they do it?
I just made this. I cannot believe how delicious it came out. Thank you for this recipe.
made this for my family, they loved it! even though I 2x it there’s not much leftover:-)
it was a little spicy tho.. I was wondering why and then I looked at the curry paste bottle and it was at its highest!! make sure you don’t make that mistake!
but lucky for me they LOVE spicy (well most of ’em)
thanks chungah! I am not going to put my email on here for safety reasons btw:)
I don’t have fresh ginger, would the ground ginger work?
Yes, the ratio for fresh to dry herbs is typically 3:1.
I made this and it was very good. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m wondering if anyone has tried it with rice noodles instead of rice? And did it turn out?
Love this soup! Made it a few weeks ago and again tonight. I added a few more vegetables (carrots, celery & green pepper) as well as some mushrooms. Other than that followed the recipe exactly. So so good.
Thank you for this recipe… it is delicious! I used green chili paste instead of red, just because it’s what I had on hand. Didn’t feel like it was spicy enough, so added some cayenne. I kinda over-did it. I loved it but my family complains that it hurts their throat, though they still really like it and continue to eat it. 🙂
This is a beautiful recipe. I added Talipia chunks as well. My wife & I loved it.
It is my very strict policy that when trying a new recipe I follow it to the letter. But for the first time, I had to break that policy due to being ill with a terminal (probably) cold. I had ingredients close enough to what was called for to justify skipping a potentially life-threatening trip to the grocery store and making substitutions. I used chicken stock instead of vegetable, jasmine rice instead of basmati, pre-cooked shrimp, omitted the peppers and cilantro, and added a splash of fish sauce (that may have been the NyQuil’s idea). Basically, I felt like I was completely butchering your beautiful recipe.
It was delicious.
I think that if you don’t alter the basics too much (broth, red curry paste, and coconut milk) you can get pretty creative with this soup.
This is a perfect recipe for someone suffering with a cold. Thank you; it really did help me feel better 🙂
I’d like to halve the shrimp and add tofu. Any ideas at what stage of add the tofu? Fry it with the shrimp and set aside, or fry with the onions? I’m not very familiar with cooking with tofu but I’d like to cut the cost a bit.
You can stir in the tofu with the rest of the ingredients in step #6.
Could you use anything other then coconut milk ? this looks amazing but Im allergic to coconut
Sarah, here is a great forum discussing possible substitutes – hope that helps!
This was absolutely delicious! My grocery didn’t have red curry paste, so I made up a combination of chili sauce, sriracha sauce, chili powder, paprika, and cardamom. It turned out very similar to the red curry we get at a local Asian restaurant, and was even better the next day. Definitely in the recipe rotation!
I am not the best cook, but this soup was super easy and so delicious! My husband and I we love it and I will cook this soup again for sure! Thank you for the yummy idea!!!
This is my third time making this soup and it is beyond delicious. Thank you so much.
Overall a very good dish. I was nervous it was going to be too spicy (needed to be kid-friendly) so added only 1 Tbls of red curry paste to start, but ended up using the full 2 Tbls and it was not spicy at all. Entire family enjoyed it. To get closer to the take-out version I would add more heat and also serve very hot; temperature-wise.
Not sure who out there could prep and cook the entire meal in 30 mins. Took me 30 mins just to prep the ingredients!
Hi! this recipe looks delicious!! I was just wondering if this info was correct- “538 calories per serving”, or is that for the whole thing? Thank you!
The nutritional information is for each serving.
Do you have to cook the shrimp in a separate pan or can you cook it in the soup at the end? Thanks! Going to make this today!
Chelsi, you can cook the shrimp in a separate pan first to avoid overcooking the shrimp:
Melt butter in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add shrimp, salt and pepper, to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until pink, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.
Hi! I made sure to read through the comments first to see if my question had already been asked. Can I use homemade chicken stock instead of vegetable or shrimp stock? Thanks!
Yes, absolutely.