Thai Red Curry Chicken Soup
I shared about this soup on Instagram and in my menu post this week, and I got a fair number of message asking for the recipe.
This is definitely going into our regular rotation because:
- we all thought it was delicious (most importantly!)
- it uses chicken broth, which I am always trying to get into our bellies
- it presents sweet potatoes in a way that does not gross out my sweet potato haters
- it has no dairy, which makes this a great option for Sonia
- it's a pretty speedy main dish to throw together
And though no one at my house has issues with gluten, this soup is also gluten-free, which means I could serve it to gluten-sensitive friends.
It comes from my Dinner Illustrated cookbook, which I've been using an awful lot lately!
(If you want a copy, check your library or look for the used copies on Amazon.)
Whenever I make a Thai-inspired recipe, I'm always a little surprised at how the ingredients come together to make something that's really delicious (especially when fish sauce is involved, because that stuff smells so disgusting!)
Speaking of which, if fish sauce squicks you out, you can use less of it, sub soy sauce for it, or use a combo of fish sauce and soy sauce.
I often do a 50/50 mix of the two because sometimes I do feel like fish sauce becomes a tad overpowering in recipes.
A large portion of this soup's flavor comes from the red curry paste. I use the Thai Kitchen brand, which I linked to in the recipe card, but it can be easily found at most grocery stores.
It's usually labelled as hot, but I did not find this soup to be especially spicy, and even the spice wimps in my house agreed. If you like more heat (like me!), stir some extra curry paste right into your bowl of soup. 😉
One last thing: when I made this, I used the single sweet potato specified in the recipe, but I definitely did not think it was enough potato.
So, I'm going to use two next time, and I modified the ingredient list to reflect that.
I hope you guys like this soup as much as we do!
Thai Chicken Soup
a slightly-spicy, dairy free chicken soup
Ingredients
- 3 scallions
- fresh cilantro
- 2 medium sweet potatoes (24 ounces)
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 4 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 (14-ounce) cans coconut milk
- 2 limes
Instructions
- Prep veggies. Finely slices scallions, separating the whites and greens. Chop six tablespoons cilantro. Peel sweet potato; cut into quarters lengthwise and slice thinly.
- Prep chicken., Trim breasts, halve lengthwise, slice ¼ inch thick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Start the soup! Heat vegetable oil in medium saucepan over medium high heat until shimmering. Add curry paste, scallion whites, and 3 tablespoons cilantro, and cook for 1 minute.
- Add broth, 2 teaspoons fish sauce, and coconut milk; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes.
- Turn heat up to medium-high, add sweet potato and chicken, and cook until chicken is done and sweet potato is tender, about 5 minutes.
- add 2 teaspoons fish sauce to soup. Juice limes and add 3 tablespoons lime juice to soup. Or leave soup as-is and serve with lime wedges. Serve bowls of soup sprinkled with scallions greens and chopped cilantro.
Notes
I like to salt my chicken an hour ahead of time if possible, as I think it improves the texture.
If you find fish sauce to be too fishy, you can use soy sauce instead. Or you can use a combo of the two.
I use Thai Kitchen red curry paste, which does not seem super spicy to me. I stir some extra into my bowl of soup to add a little more heat.
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Thank you for sharing!
I got this cookbook from the library at your recommendation and have fallen in love with it! So many good recipes.
This sounds amazing!
I looked for Dinner Illustrated on my library catalog, but the search just brought up children's books about dinner. Haha.
This sounds really good! I am not sure about my husband, since he's not a fan of "wet chicken" as he calls most chicken dishes, but the spice might win him over. I'll have to give it a try!
Haha, "wet chicken" cracked me up.
I'm assuming he's not a fan of dry chicken, at least as we might often think of it. Does he just prefer chicken roasted or baked, like not in a sauce?
Fried. Always fried. He even calls roasted chicken "wet chicken."
Whoa. I thought for sure roasted chicken wouldn't fall under that heading!
I was one of the commenters that asked for the recipe. Thank you!!!
That looks really good, especially in this cold weather. I love how you're trying out a lot of Asian recipes! 😀
I'm sure you could put me to shame with your cooking skills when it comes to Asian cuisine!
FYI, the coconut milk in your soup is super bad for people with high cholesterol/triglycerides. It has saturated fat.
I believe most supermarkets carry a lite coconut milk, which has less fat than regular coconut milk. I haven't tried it myself, but I imagine it would work fairly well in this soup.
Ah, Fish Sauce. I love Pad Thai and am continually in search of the perfect recipe. I am also a 30+ year vegetarian, but my family eats meat. I typically cook dishes where I can easily avoid the meat. Sometimes, I just have to look the other way and Fish Sauce is one of those very rare times. The other problem with FS is the amazingly high sodium content. It's astronomical! Therefore, I buy FS at the huge Asian Market, because they have an entire section of the stuff, not just one or two brands. Reading the labels can significantly reduce the amount of sodium involved. With this in mind, be careful of the sodium content of all the other ingredients. Low sodium Soy Sauce is readily available and never, never add salt! I would seriously avoid pre-salting the chicken.
That said, I am so inspired by this recipe that I'm tempted to run right out and buy some red curry paste so I can make it tonight. Instead, I will add it to my shopping list and wait until tomorrow. Thanks for being an endless source of inspiration, Kristen!
I always buy the low-sodium soy sauce too; otherwise it sometimes seems like my dishes can turn out too salty, especially if they call for a lot of soy sauce.
OMG, I was good and waited to shop and make this, as promised. It was wonderful! I had to go to a meeting, which admittedly isn't the best time to try a new recipe. I prepared it, then scooted. I didn't wash my hands thoroughly enough, because I could smell a hint of the curry paste on my hands the whole meeting, which made me soooo hungry.
When I got home, there was a hot, steaming bowl waiting for me. Unbelievably, DH had fished(!) all the chicken out for me. I didn't read the directions well enough and put all the fish sauce in at the beginning, so it had melded nicely and didn't taste fishy at all. It was so good, I want to make it again tonight. Thank you!
Making it for the fourth time again tonight. Thanks for this winner, Kristen!
Haha, that is impressive!
Is the cookbook a Cooks Illustrated Dinner Cookbook?
It's actually published by America's Test Kitchen, which is one of the brands related to Cook's Illustrated (along with Cook's Country).
America's test kitchen is the basically the parent company of CI and CC.
Though, Cook's Illustrated predates America's Test Kitchen. Cook's Illustrated began in the 1990s, whereas the ATK show started in 2001. I'm not sure how they're arranged currently (ATK does feel like the mothership), but CI is definitely older.
Thanks! This sounds wonderful.
I have loved this soup for years and have yet to find. a recipe that comes near the version sold at my local restaurant. I will try this.
Made it last night! Thanks for the recipe! My husband loved it and finished off the rest (only made 1/2 recipe since it's only 2 adults eating). We both loved the spice/heat level, and I used a mix of red and green curry paste since I ran out of the green, oops! This one's going into our rotation, perfect for a rainy night!
I made this recipe the other night. It was so delicious and incredibly flavorful that I was happy I made the full recipe for just the two of us. The second night the soup was just as good and to up the heat a bit for my palate I added a dash of sriracha. This will definitely be a keeper.
I made this tonight: it was excellent. I omitted the cilantro in Step 3 for someone who doesn't like it, but added extra to the bowls (Step 6) for those who do. Will definitely make again.