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!
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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.
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
- 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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Did you make this recipe?
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This was absolutely delicious!!! I made it just as you directed!!!easy and wonderful!!!
Damn delicious! You could also throw in some pineapple cubes.
I continue to make this recipe at the repeated requests from my family. I don’t use chicken but rather a nice firm white fish such as Cod or Turbot. I first Sautéd a small amount of the fish instead of chicken to get the wonderful brown bits into the broth but the fish for the bowls of soup is baked separately and added to each bowl. Today I baked Cod for this recipe and it was a really big hit! I recommend this recipe wholeheartedly!
Phenomenal!!!! I followed another user’s suggestion and used 4 cups of chicken broth instead of 6. Also, I increased the amount of red curry paste to 4 tbs. Perfection.
Love this recipe! I skipped on the chicken and added some bouillon to augment the flavor. I also added cherry tomatoes, baby corn and shrimp. Yum!
I added thin egg noodles, but my hubby said it was better with rice.
Perfect recipe! I made it exactly as is except I only had light coconut milk, ugh! BUT! It’s still tasted absolutely fantastic! I can’t wait to make it again!
Amazing soup! I added a tbs more of the curry paste and chilling oil because we love our soups hot and spicy.
I didn’t have rice noodles so I used glass noodles and it was just perfect.
The glass noodles don’t get soggy and they don’t absorb all the liquid so the left over was just as perfect as on the day I made it.
This soup is delicious!! I didn’t make any changes and thought the flavor was spot on! We will definitely be making this soup again.
Fantastic! My family loved it! We will make this again and again! Thank you!
This was so fantastic. Were used Bird’s instant red curry paste. I did make the noodles separately, but I think they would have had more flavor if I had followed the instructions.
I feel like this recipe alone is pretty bland. I suggest adding some lemongrass and kaffir lime. Definitely makes it more flavourful
I absolutely love this soup. I did however make some changes. I add about 6-7 dried Kaffir lime leaves, 2 TBSP of fish sauce instead of 1, 1 TBSP lemongrass paste and a can of bamboo shoots. I leave out the noodles and I have jasmine rice on the side which I dip into the soup with a spoon. I also omit the cilantro just because it not a fan of it. With these tweaks it just makes it taste so authentic and it’s the best soup I’ve ever had!
The soup is delicious, although it took me around 3 hours to make. I did add lemon zest, fried quartered mushrooms and marinaded the chicken in some red curry paste, garlic and ginger before frying.
I also used 100g of the red curry paste instead of the recommendation of 45g.
Thank you for this GREAT Recipe!! I made it today, and this will be one I will make very often. Can’t wait to see what other recipies you have..
i love this recipe sm!! i’ve made it for friends and family. they’ve all loved it!
I made this and it was delicious. The only thing I might do differently next time would be to use 2 tablespoons of red curry paste as opposed to 3.
This is delicious. Tonight we made it with frozen chicken-veggie potstickers from Trader Joe’s instead of rice noodles and that was exceptional. The recipe lends itself to creativity. Thank you so much for this one.
Soooo amazing! Prep took the longest amount of time during the production of this soup, if you don’t count trying to find fish sauce at my local market. Great flavor! I will make this again during the cold weather!
I used 1 Tbs of the red curry and it was plenty hot. I also used the whole package of noodles. The rest of the ingredients were spot on. Fed 2 adults and a teen boy. We ate it ALL.
So good!
Perfect for our Sunday night!
Completely unreal! Most my Thai meals I’ve searched have been a flop but this one does not disappoint! My husband and I love spice so because of that too double the curry paste, otherwise it’s perfect as is!