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 amazing! One of the top meals I’ve made and I cook often. We used tofu instead of chicken and it’s a make again and again dish for sure. Thank you!
This is absolutely amazing. Spicy and rich! Heavenly!
I really want to make this today, but my family and I do not like coconut so does this coconut milk taste like coconut and if it does, what can you substitute for the coconut milk can you use have cream instead?
YUMMY!!!
I made this and it was delicious/อร่อย. I’m making this in a moment for the Superbowl party today. Thanks for the recipe!
This is a great soup, one you could play with a lot. I used thigh meat which has a lot more flavor and is more forgiving when cooked longer. After tasting I also added a little extra curry paste.
Will definitely make again
This is so good! So much flavor!
INCREDIBLE!!! This is one of the best dishes I’ve ever made! The only alteration I made was adding an extra pepper. My guests went back or thirds and took my phone to ensure I sent them the recipe. This dish was absolute perfection!!!
Just made this with fresh turkey thighs instead of the chicken and it is amazing. 🙂 Thanks so much for the recipe! I’ll be making it many more times.
This Red thai curry soup has the most amazing depth of flavours. I tried red Thai curry chicken from a different website and it did not even come close to this soup I was so sorely let down and dissapointed. Especially because I had a Thai banquette with my whole family and knew how much better it could of been. So thank you for sharing such an amazing recipe. It is simply delicious that even though my almost 2 yr old knows its spicy and will cough over it and need a Ltr of water (despite having a non spicy meal option) he still demands and wants to eat it.
Wow. Just wow. This recipe turned out amazing! I added 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter along with the red curry and it was amazing!
Such a wonderful recipe! Thank you so much! I’m wondering if anyone has come up with an idea to make this in a slow cooker? Sometimes when I’m running low on time I like to throw everything in the morning and go… Of course the noodles would have to be cooked right before serving but I wonder how the crockpot with work… Any ideas on how to make it work? Or has anyone tried?
I made this in my crockpot. I don’t do rice noodles, we serve this with rice but I imagine you wouldn’t do the rice noodles til last. I also put coconut milk in an hour before serving…not sure if it would curdle if I put it in any earlier.
So everything in the crockpot except coconut milk, low for 8 or high on 4. Pulled out chicken to shred Add coconut milk, cook for an hour and serve! Delicious.
Delicious! Made this for a party and everyone liked it, even my 7 year old. I used my food processor to cut up the peppers and onion so they weren’t chunky in the soup, which I think made it better. Not very spicy, in case you wondered.
I LOVE this soup. Under 400 calories, tasty, and filling!? I tend to like my food spicier, so I added a few dried Chili’s (after having made it exactly as written previously) and it came out perfect.
Amazing flavor. Added sriracha on the side. Love this soup!
Really delicious! I made without the chicken/chicken broth as we are vegetarian. I added a green pepper and some baby corn and only used half a table spoon of fish sauce. Will be making again as it was lovely!
So good! Wanted a nice simple flavorful soup for a winter night. The coconut and chicken brother were both good teammates! Better than any restaurant dish I’ve had!
Fantastically flavored broth (I did use oyster sauce instead of fish sauce) but I followed the rest to a T – and the chicken was overcooked. I’ll make this again, but I’ll do something a bit different with the chicken.
Can we replace the rice noodles with zucchini noodles or rice?
This is beyond words. I swear this tastes better than any Thai restaurant I’ve ever ate!