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.
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.
Video
Did you make this recipe?
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I added shiitake mushrooms, lemon grass, Thai chilis, and made it with shrimp. My husband and I both loved it.
EXCELLENT! Easy and tasty. I doubled the recipe but only had 1 small jar of Red Curry Paste so I used it all… a little less than 6 Tbsp… then I added extra fish sauce in error and substituted ginger paste for the fresh ginger. I gave my daughter a container and she praised this soup which made me happy. While my soup wasn’t spicy, it was really good and I was sad when it was gone; good thing I had doubled the recipe.
Looking forward to trying this! What size rice noodles – similar to thin spaghetti?
This is an amazing soup!
Excellent!
Amazing!
Very good! I added shiitake mushrooms, threw in a few shelled shrimp, and some hardboiled quail eggs for some extra umami flavor.
This recipe is awesome. I have made it many times but this time I added mushrooms and zucchini and it is delicious.
I was nervous about making this because of the comment that said it didn’t have a lot of flavor. This soup has tons of flavor!! Absolutely amazing my picky 8 year old loved it also!!
Thank you for this recipe! I’ve made it twice in the last two weeks! The flavors mellow a bit if you have any left for the next day.
I made this using leftover cooked Thanksgiving turkey. It turned out delicious, I will make it again. So many of my favorite flavors are in this soup!
Made this for my wife and me. Absolutely loved it. Her first comment was “This is as good if not better than buying it at a restaurant.” It’s a “keeper”
I have made this about 5 times in the past two months!
It is absolutely DELICIOUS!
I switch out my vegetables but favor, asparagus, snow peas, yellow squash, mushrooms, bean sprouts, green beans, red, green or yellow pepper, scallions & peas! So far, only roasted chicken from the Market, SO much easier, along w doubling the chicken broth!
Sometimes I make it as a soup with the vermicelli noodles & other times with Jasmine or Basmati Rice!
I LOVE spicy hot so add 1 jalapeño (good size) & red pepper flakes!
It is great to freeze but often, I eat this large fabulous meal, myself, over the course of a few days!
Easy five stars!
Thank you damndelicious.net! One of my favorites!
I LOVE this recipe! However, I am sad it isn’t good doubled. The broth is too watery.
Delish!!!!!!!!
This recipe is amazing! Followed it spot on and the flavor is sooo good! If you like more spice just add a bit more of the red curry paste but the recipe as is is perfect! New favorite in our house!
Simply AMAZING!!!!
I love Thai food, so clean tasting. Thank you so much for this recipe! It was absolutely delicious!!! I wouldn’t change a thing about it.
Delicious
Left the brown sugar out
And still delicious
This was FANTASTIC. Definitely going in the soup rotation. I didn’t change a thing (rare for me) and it had the perfect spice and lots of great flavor layers. You are a gem!
I have to admit, I am not blown away by this recipe’s taste. It is very easy to make though! I love knowing what is going into my dishes as opposed to take out. I wonder if this will get better as leftovers when the flavors have time to sit more. That would change my vote!
Could this be made using an Instapot? Sounds yummy, was thinking for a work potluck….