Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup
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Yes, you can have Thai takeout right at home! This soup is packed with so much flavor with bites of tender chicken, rice noodles, cilantro, basil and lime juice!
It’s been about 6 weeks since our Thailand trip.
And yes, I needed a teeny tiny break from Thai food. But let’s be real. That only lasted like 0.2345 seconds.
So I’m back on the Thai food binge for the foreseeable future, starting with this noodle soup.
Now you know I love a red curry. But I love it even more with rice noodles.
It’s so cozy, it’s so comforting, and it’s so fragrant with all the cilantro, basil and lime juice. Although I always add a little bit of extra lime juice to my bowl for that extra zesty kick!
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.
Did you make this recipe?
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This is hands down the best soup I’ve ever made! Was thinking on skipping out on the lime juice and fish sauce since it was the only things I didn’t have on hand and I’m SO glad I DIDN’T. 11/10!
This soup is fabulous! Tonight was the third time I’ve made this and each time its been a little different. Time #1, followed recipe exactly – the soup itself was amazing, however, we found the noodles “got in the way.”
Time #2, tried cooking the chicken ahead of time in the croxkpot, with the broth and coconut milk, intending to saute the peppers and onions and curry paste right before serving – guess what! Coconut milk separates and gets weirdly “chunky” in the crockpot. I used my immersion blender to incorporate it all back in and it was fine, but I wrote that experiment off and unsuccessful. Tonight, I slowcooked a chciken breast in 3 c of broth and did everything else as stated in the recipe… just shredded the chicken and added it along with the broth it cooked in to the stockpot after cooking the peppers/onions and adding the coconut milk. Worked perfectly! Also, forwent the noodles and cooked a batch of jasmine rice to ladle the soup over… a good substitute if noodles arent on hand or unavailable.
Thanks again for another keeper, Damn Delicious!
Thank you for your feedback, Rebecca!
I made this tonight, easy ingredients and so easy to prep. I ate a huge bowl and my husband got seconds. Thanks for the great recipe!
i just made it for dinner, it was good but too spicy for me. my husband loved it. i am vegetarian so i used vegetable broth and tofu, I cooked my tofu before. will do it again.
Can I use angel hair pasta instead of rice noodles? If so, how many oz.? I luv cappellini! Are rice noodles lighter than pasta noodles? TY. Mike
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Omitted the chicken, doubled the noodles, added shiitake mushrooms, lite coconut milk, had no basil, vegan version. This broth was the bomb! Thank you!
The best ever!! I even got my picky eater kid , and my 13yr. old, who only eats” panda “..#gross! To try it. ….
She LOVED IT .
This was so dang yummy! Even my teenagers loved it! My husband cannot get enough red curry. He had a very similar soup at a restaurant recently and it left me wanting more. I have always been intimidated to try making something that seems so exotic but it was really easy.
I think I’ll try cutting the chicken into dinner pieces (like the restaurants do). I also want to try it with shrimp and play around with different veggies in it. Thanks so much for sharing this delicious recipe!
Yum, so delicious! Thanks for this awesome recipe.
Made it last night and followed the recipe as close as I could with available ingredients. Used Thai Kitchen green curry instead of red, and sadly didn’t have any limes so used a combo of apple cider vinegar and lemon juice in place (would definitely use lime next time, but this worked in a pinch). I also used the leftover meat from a roasted chicken I had a couple days prior, and made a good hearty stock from the carcass for the base of this soup.
I have a question for the next time I make this (because I will make it again!) – I cooked the rice noodles separately and then added them because I was worried about the soup being starchy, but would rather avoid that step next time if not needed. Does it make the soup starchy to cook the noodles right in the broth?
Not at all! 🙂
Yum! Just made this and decided to try a chicken, tofu and shrimp combo – it was great! Also, we only had bean threads (no rice noodles) but this substitution worked!
Thanks so much for another super soup recipe for this winter!
That’s great!
Can I use green curry paste?
Yes, absolutely – but only if you’re okay with it turning into a Thai Green Curry Noodle Soup recipe! 🙂
I just made this tonight, and it was SO good! I wasn’t expecting it to taste as good as takeout, but it really did. (Plus it made a huge pot, so I have leftovers to look forward to!) I’ve tried a lot of recipes from this site and this is one of my favourites.
This was so delicious- my fiance and I both loved it!
I mistakenly bought vermicelli noodles (made from mung beans) instead of rice noodles. I followed the package instructions and soaked the noodles in hot water for 5 minutes, drained and rinsed them, and then added them to the soup at the end. It turned out great!
Do I use precooked rice noodles or uncooked?
Uncooked rice noodles as they will cook in step #6.
used spegetti squash instead of rice noodles. This was really yummy! Doubled the curry and accidently added extra brown sugar. Also added a little red chili paste for a tiny bit of heat.
I love Thai food. I am particularly fond of curries. Will this recipe substitute green curry paste for the red without negative effects?
Yes, absolutely – but only if you’re okay with it turning into a Thai Green Curry Noodle Soup recipe! 🙂
Making this for dinner tonight! Cant wait to report back. Lately I’m all about Asian inspired dishes =)
Yum, yum and double yum!!! Made this last night and it lived up to your website-damn delicious. I cruised your site a few days ago, saw the recipe and had all the ingredients; a good omen. I followed the recipe, tasted and seasoned along the way and only adjusted some of the quantities according to taste. Since I had Italian and Thai basil in the garden, used both. I served it with fresh lime wedges, Thai basil and Siracha. Perfection. It looked just like your picture (which by the way, kudos to your photographer). Can’t wait for seconds!
Love your site. Gave your cookbook to my daughter last year for Christmas and she was delighted-she knew you. I’ve been cooking for 50 years and have hundreds of cookbooks but I an always looking for new things. Your site always delivers. Thanks for sharing your passion.
Thank you, Denise! Chungah takes the pictures herself. 🙂
This was by far the BEST recipe I have tried!! I did add 4 tbs of Red This Curry paste instead of 3, and I added 1 more can of coconut milk and 1 Lb of shrimp. Outstanding!!! Everyone wanted the recipe!!
That’s awesome. Thanks for sharing!
Does this reheat well? My family is in a soup club and this looks like an awesome recipe to make for everyone – however, we often cook one day and deliver the next, so it would need to be okay reheated. If so, would you cook through step 6, and then have families add in the fresh veggies/herbs/juice at the end of reheating? Thank you!
Yes, that’s the best way to do it and assures the integrity of the recipe. But as always, please use your best judgement when it comes to storing and reheating.