Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup
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So much better than takeout! Packed with bites of tender chicken, rice noodles, cilantro, basil and lime juice!
Featured Comment
reasons to make thai red curry noodle soup
- Restaurant-quality made right at home for half the cost (and even tastier IMO)
- Fragrant, flavorful, cold weather comfort food, full of bold Thai flavors
- No-fuss one pot dinner which means less dishes, less clean up
- Great clean-out-the-fridge meal, adding in any lingering veggies that needs to be used up
- Quick and easy for busy weeknights but also fancy enough for company
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. This is typically used for stir-fry, soups or mixed with coconut milk for curry. Red curry paste 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
- 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.
- Fish sauce is a hero. Fish sauce is a key ingredient here, balancing out the flavors, and adding saltiness and umami without overpowering it. A little bit goes a long way.
- Mix it up. Swap the red curry paste for green, add in more veggies (cabbage, zucchini, mushrooms or bok choy) or use your favorite noodles (vermicelli, udon or soba noodles).
- Divide and conquer. When storing leftovers, separate the noodles and broth. This will help the noodles retain its texture.
what to serve with thai red curry noodle soup
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! Shrimp or tofu are both great options.
We personally love Mae Ploy (contains shrimp paste). Thai Kitchen is also great with mild heat, and more readily available at most grocery stores.
Fish sauce has a strong, pungent “fishy” smell but when cooked, it brings in savory, salty, umami goodness.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 days, separating the rice noodles from the broth.
We do not recommend freezing this as coconut milk tends to separate when frozen.
Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 tablespoons red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 (13.5-ounce) can coconut milk
- 4 ounces rice noodles
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- ¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Equipment
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Add chicken to the stockpot and cook until golden, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.
- Add garlic, bell pepper and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in red curry paste and ginger until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in chicken broth and coconut milk, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Stir in chicken. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in rice noodles, fish sauce and brown sugar until noodles are tender, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat; stir in green onions, cilantro, basil and lime juice; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
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Outstanding! Easy to make! I always make a “huge” Dutch Oven pot of it and freeze several mixed serving sizes! Perfect for late nights at work!
I add mushrooms, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli & sometimes asparagus and/or green beans!
I also add a “lot” of Sriracha & sesame seeds!
I love it spicy!
My favorite soup!
This has been a staple in my house for years now. We fry diced tofu instead of chicken and add it on top to each bowl. SO good
For How Many Guests is the Recipe?
Substituted shrimp as I didn’t have chicken. Everything else exact. Oh my! Will make again and soon!
Made this tonight- added some chili oil and a tsp of soya sauce to the whole pot. 10/10- even the kids loved it! I served it with finely cut up lettuce and sprinkled some crushed peanuts on the top- amazing recipe!
This has become a family favourite. No modifications, it’s perfect as is.
I loved this recipe!! I added mushrooms because they were on the verge of going bad and ramen noodles instead of rice noodles but other than that I followed the recipe exactly. It’s super flavorful without being overwhelming. If you’re looking over the recipe, 6 cups of broth sounds like a lot but it reduces and comes out perfect, especially after adding the noodles.
Just damn delicious
Love this soup, I use the Udon noodles instead of the rice ones! So delicious
Yummy! The only thing I did different was switch chicken breast with chicken thighs.
Fragrant and flavourful, I just needed some comfort food with my cold that I could actually smell and taste. I’m exhausted but so worth it! Also, it took me two hours to prepare & chop up all the ingredients so don’t believe the “15min”
I have made this recipe several times and it’s always delicious! I use rotisserie chicken to make it quicker. This is definitely one of my favorite soup recipes!
Excellent recipe and super easy. I added extra rice noodles (6oz instead of 4) and it was fabulous!! Highly recommend if you crave Thai food.
All I have to say is…. This is DAMN DELICIOUS.
Looks amazing, can’t wait to try it.
It is ridiculous how good this soup is, feels like comfort food but is healthy to boot!
This is the most flavorful soup I’ve ever made. I will only eat that soup at meals until it’s gone!!!
Made this for the first time last night and it was so full of flavor!! I used chicken thighs and low fat coconut milk because that is what I had. It was really good and I plan to make it again. We actually ended up having some naan bread with it because it felt like it needed something to soak up all the yummy sauce. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
This was easy and delicious. The whole family enjoyed it, and this will definitely be in our dinner rotations.
Can you add more curry after you add the noodles?
I found it could have used a smidge more curry too, but I would recommend adding your curry to a little oil and “frying” it before adding it into your soup. Bring outs the flavour of the curry.