Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup
by Chungah
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An easy one pot dinner! Thai red curry noodles deliver on flavor and convenience. With tender chicken, rice noodles, cilantro, basil + lime!
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Why you’ll love this thai red curry noodle soup recipe
- Restaurant-quality. Now you can make your favorite takeout dish right at home for half the cost with better quality ingredients using your favorite protein.
- Packed with flavor. This noodle soup is simply downright fragrant, flavorful, cold weather comfort food, full of bold Thai flavors.
- One pot dinner. This no-fuss, one pot dinner means less dishes, less clean up, making it so effortless for busy weeknights, but also fancy enough for weekend company.
- Clean-out-the-fridge meal. And of course this makes for the best clean-out-the-fridge dinner, adding in any lingering veggies that need to be used up.
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).
How to make thai red curry noodle soup
- Sear the chicken. First, season the chicken with salt and pepper, searing until golden brown in a Dutch oven over medium heat.
- Cook the aromatics. Cook the garlic, bell pepper, and onion until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the red curry paste. Stir in the red curry paste, adjusting the amount of curry paste to your (or your family’s) spice levels.
- Deglaze the pan. Add the chicken broth and coconut milk, deglazing by scraping the prized caramelized brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot (fond).
- Simmer. Simmer until slightly reduced and the flavors have blended, about 10 minutes. The longer it simmers, the more it reduces.
- Cook the noodles. Stir in the rice noodles (or desired noodles), fish sauce, and brown sugar. Rice noodles will cook quickly, about 5 minutes.
- Add the finishing touches. Add the green onions, cilantro, basil and lime juice, seasoning with salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve. Serve warm, keeping the noodles and broth separately if preparing for leftovers.
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.
I personally love Mae Ploy (contains shrimp paste). But Thai Kitchen is also great with mild heat and more readily available at most grocery stores.
Rice noodles are my go-to, coming in various sizes (wide, medium and thin). Rice vermicelli is used here, the thinnest rice noodles. But udon or soba noodles are also solid options.
Fish sauce has a strong, pungent “fishy” smell but when cooked, it brings in savory, salty, umami goodness.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 days, separating the rice noodles from the broth.
Unfortunately freezing is not recommended as coconut milk tends to separate when frozen.
Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup
Video
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
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.
Equipment
Notes
- Use your favorite protein. This recipe will work well with chicken thighs, chicken breasts, shrimp or tofu.
- Full fat coconut milk will be more rich. 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 out 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.
Did you make this recipe?
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Made it twice now and making it again tomorrow! My whole family loves it!!!!
My family LOVED this soup!!
So delish! I had to add a little more coconut milk and red Thai paste and brown sugar. It just wasn’t giving. I also added mushrooms, cashews, shrimp, and fresh bean sprouts. Absolutely delish! Definitely making this super easy dish again.
This is so delicious. I made it vegan for my daughter (veggie broth and tofu) and just added in the chicken (for me) and tofu at the end. It was sooo delicious. Reducing the soup to make it thicker added so much flavor and texture. Really great recipe.
This was delicious will make again!
I am curious if you think that I could make this with almond milk instead of coconut milk? I have an intolerance to coconut and end up with a stomach ache when I eat much with coconut milk (even though I love the flavor of soups with it). Thank you for your thoughts!
I made this as close to recipe as I ever do with anything. (Slightly more garlic, substituted parsley for the cilantro, and added some baby bok choy to make it more of a meal.) I’m very pleased with how it turned out and will definitely be adding it to my repertoire of soup recipes. I really want to get my hands on some Thai basil to make it with that. I think it would be even better than the more readily available sweet basil I had to use.
When did you add in the bok choy? I’m making this tonight and I want to add shittake mushrooms and bok choy but I’m not sure when to add them.
LOVED this recipe – it is solid! The ratio of ingredients was perfect, and I made only a few changes, merely out of personal preference. I added lemongrass…and sriracha because I like heat. I didn’t have vermicelli noodles, so I blanched smaller, flat rice noodles (not pad thai-sized), mixed in some neutral oil to keep them from clumping, put them in the bottom of the bowl before ladling the soup over, and the final result was perfection. Thanks so much – this one is definitely a keeper, as are many of your recipes!
This recipe took care of my Thai craving and is an absolute favorite of my husbands! Nice and light yet so yummy and savory! MAKE THIS DISH!
This is absolutely the best and is my only go to for this soup. Other recipes pale in comparison.
Could you post the brand of noodles and curry that you use? Looks amazing but would love to get the exact ones you have shown 8in the picture! Sorry if i missed them somewhere.
Thank you!
I make this so often I have this page bookmarked! So yummy
Wow !!!! Mouth watering recipe!! All my guest were blown away . Thank you !!
Loved this soup. It would probably work with fish, since the broth isn’t overpowering.
Making this again tonight with shrimp instead of chicken. We are trying to eat low carb so plan to bulk it up with cauliflower and carrots and toss in some bean sprouts and skip the noodles. Not as good without them but the broth is so good, I think we will still love it!
Super flavorful, crowd pleaser!
This soup is absolutely delicious! So, so good! Have made it several times now, and it’s just so flavorful and so easy! Okie
This soup is amazing – third time making it for the season – this time I’m using some leftover smoked turkey instead of chicken. So simple, so tasty!!!
This is a delicious meal any time of year. I’ve made it at least five times and my entire family loves it.
I just made a double batch of this recipe, it is amazing! Terrific job on the recipe. I substituted turkey for chicken but otherwise followed perfectly, which is rare for me.