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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Pretty tasty! I went easy on the garlic for fear it would be too spicy, but otherwise made it as written. Nice flavor, not too spicy. Broth was a good density. Will make it again.
I had everything but the red curry paste so I substituted 2tbl yellow curry powder & 2tsp chili paste. Next time I would add only 1 tsp chili paste – a lil too spicy for us! I had Pho rice noodles – they were awful in the soup. Too sticky & thin!! I would leave them out or get different noodles. I also added mushrooms. But I loved it and would make it again. Maybe try using red curry paste too!
Mm. So good. I added Sriracha for an extra kick of spice! Delicious!
Do I need to soak the noodles before adding? Also shud the be broken in half
This is delicious! I’ve made it a couple times, but this time I added a large sweet potato and some lemongrass paste! So so good, both as is, and with additions!
This soup is incredible! Hubby and I will be making this again! So quick and simple.
Best soup I’ve ever eaten hands down!!!!!
Another 5 star recipe!! Next time: double this.
Great flavor! I used shrimp for this dish instead of chicken. The only thing I’d change next time is using a wider rice noodle… Just a personal preference. Yummy!
it was DAMN delicious! …really! amazing !
Amazing!!!! Will make again
This is so delicious. It’s just like eating pho at restaurants.
I’ve made this twice in the last 3 days for two different dinner parties. It was a HUGE hit both times. I omitted all onions (hub doesn’t like) and used rotisserie chicken and linguini sized rice noodles. Last night my friend said it was like take out – that’s high praise.
I used Mae Ploy red curry and Red Boat fish sauce (from Amazon). These brands are far better than what my grocery store carries. One rotisserie chicken was perfect for two batches.
This soup sounds delicious!! Will try it soon!!
This was delicious! I do like spicy foods, so I added some roasted chili paste and dried chili this time, next time I’ll add some Thai chili’s to the broth while it’s cooking. I’ll probably do the noodles separately also, since it won’t get eaten in one sitting. Would be great with rotisserie chicken or shrimp also.
2nd time making it and was just as good as I remember !!!
I cheated this time and used a deboned rotisserie chicken from Sams. I also cooked noodle separate because last time when reheated didn’t turn out great.
Sooooo flavorful!!! Thanks for mixing up my week and tantalizing my taste buds!!!
This was incredible!!! It was so flavorful and I loved every bite. I made the recipe as directed but added in some mushrooms and I loved how it turned out. Will definitely be making this again!
PERFECTION. Used less coconut due to personal preference and this was one of the best meals I’ve ever made and tbh I make some great food. This will be on regular rotation FOR SURE.
Is the fish sauce completely necessary? Idk why but the idea of fish sauce always has grossed me out
I skipped it bc my husband doesn’t like it and it was great
Kat, In lieu of fish sauce, Worcestershire Sauce or Soy Sauce. Most of us have either one of those on hand. Bear in mind you will not taste the fish sauce if that’s the reason you want a substitute.
I suggest you think of fish sauce as “salt”. It really adds that umami flavor. My favorite brand is Red Boat – excellent quality. Chef’s sneak in fish sauce for that special something you can’t put your finger on. It’s kind of like putting a bit of anchovy paste into spaghetti sauce – you can’t taste the anchovy but it deepens the flavor of the sauce.
This is fantastic!
Very rich and flavorful! However to appease my inner tastebuds and palate, I made a few tweaks. Instead of chicken I used shrimp lightly seasoned with garlic powder and blackening season. After frying them in olive oil, I followed the recipe with a few additions: sliced mushrooms cooked with the onion, garlic, and red pepper, shaved carrots added to the broth and coconut milk mixture, and fresh spinach added to the soup while simmering. I also used 3/4 kosher salt for seasoning. I believe this is one of my favorites!