A delicious Thai chicken soup, with rice and mushrooms, all in a lightly creamy Thai flavoured red curry broth. A deliciously different chicken and rice soup!
Why you’ll love this Wicked Thai Chicken Soup
- This Thai chicken soup is chock full of flavour, with the wonderful Thai flavours of red curry paste, fish sauce, lemongrass and coconut milk.
- Thai soup with chicken and rice means this soup is also hearty enough to satisfy as a dinner soup.
- Customize this Thai chicken soup recipe to your own taste preferences, making it as wicked (or not) as you like!
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
Chicken – I generally use boneless chicken breasts, though boneless skinless chicken thighs are fine here, too. If you happen to have left-over cooked chicken, you can certainly use that and skip the step of cooking the chicken ahead. Finally, make is super easy by using shredded rotisserie chicken.
Mushrooms – Regular white or cremini mushrooms are best here.
Red Bell Pepper – use fresh bell pepper if you have it. Jarred roasted red peppers will also work here.
Fish Sauce – Ideal if you have it. If you don’t have fish sauce, you can substitute soy sauce.
Worcestershire Sauce – again, ideal if you have it. If not, simply omit.
Lemongrass Paste – look for this in a tube, generally in the produce section. You can also use lemongrass stalks, if you have easy access to them. While the flavour is a lovely addition, you can omit.
Half and Half Cream – this is 10% b.f. cream. You can substitute milk, but your soup will be less creamy. For a non-dairy soup, replace the cream with more coconut milk.
Coconut Milk – I like to use regular coconut milk for the creaminess and thickness, but lite will work here as well.
Thai Red Curry Paste – I prefer red curry paste in this soup. If you only have green or yellow, you can use, though the flavour profile will be a bit different.
Sambal Oelek – this is the spicy Asian Chili sauce that is largely responsible for the “Wicked” part of this soup. It packs a punch, so use to taste or omit if you don’t want any heat. Asian Chili Garlic Sauce is a good substitute or even Sriracha.
Rice – any cooked rice is fine here, but I find classic long-grain rice tends to work best. Basmati or Jasmine should also work well.
For thickening the soup – cornstarch or arrowroot starch, mixed with cold water.
Cook’s Notes
- One important note about this soup! You don’t want to combine the soup with the rice until right before you will be eating it. If you’re cooking rice at the same time you are making the soup, simply spoon some warm rice into a bowl and spoon the hot soup overtop. If you are starting with leftover rice, simply warm slightly before adding to bowl and spooning the hot soup over top.
- Likewise, if you have leftover soup and rice, refrigerate separately. To reheat, you can add the rice to the soup to reheat, as long as you will be consuming right away.
- The reason for this? The rice soaks up the soup as it sits, quickly resulting in a bowl of rice instead of a bowl of soup.
- Start with leftover cooked chicken (or chicken from a rotisserie chicken) and/or leftover cooked rice to make this soup even more quickly!
Top Tip!
Change it Up! Use Asian rice noodles instead of rice. Simply soak or cook any Asian rice noodle and add some to the bowl before spooning over the hot soup.
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Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons cooking oil, such as vegetable or canola oil
- 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 medium red bell pepper, cored and seeded then sliced into thin 2-inch strips
- 8 oz mushrooms, white or cremini recommended
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 6 oz chicken breast, diced or cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon lemongrass paste, or 1-2 stalks lemongrass, optional
- 1 cup half and half (10%) cream, or use 1 cup more coconut milk instead
- 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1 small can or if using a large can stir coconut milk first, then measure out
- 2 teaspoons red curry paste
- 1 teaspoon Sambal Oelek chili paste, or Asian Garlic Chili Paste/Sriracha
- 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
To finish soup:
- 2 cups cooked rice, long grain white, basmati or brown rice or try a mix of long grain with wild rice for some added texture
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
For garnish:
- Fresh cilantro, parsley or basil, chopped
- Lime wedges, for drizzling
Instructions
- Make this soup as Wicked (or not), as you like! If you love bold flavours, go ahead and add more of the lemongrass, curry paste and Sambal etc., to your taste preference. If you don't want any heat, simply omit the Sambal altogether. Don't forget to taste and add salt at the end of cooking, as needed, to really bring out all the great flavours.
- Start the rice cooking. *You can cook the rice ahead and refrigerate or you can use left-over cooked rice.
- Heat a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp. oil. When hot, add mushrooms and cook until golden and tender. Remove to a plate. In the same pot, add another 1 Tbsp. oil and heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, until no longer pink. Remove chicken to the plate with the mushrooms. Add a splash more oil, if needed. Add the onion and red pepper, and cook, stirring, just until softened. Return the mushrooms and chicken to the pot. Add the broth and heat through. Add the fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce and lemongrass paste (if using) and simmer 5 minutes. Add cream and coconut milk, turn heat to low, then cover and simmer 2 minutes.
- In a small bowl, combine curry paste, Sambal Oelek, tomato paste and cornstarch and mix until incorporated. Stir into soup until combined and heat until soup simmers, thickens slightly and has a velvety appearance. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper, as needed.
- To serve, spoon some hot rice into a bowl, then spoon hot soup over-top. Serve immediately garnished with cilantro, parsley or basil leaves and lime wedges to add a drizzle of fresh lime juice to the soup.
- Store any leftover rice and soup separately, as the rice will soak up all the soup broth if store together.
Notes
More Thai Soup Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
This is so up my alley, I love all those powerful Thai flavors! I have a little section of my fridge devoted to my Thai sauces, so I’m set to make this soup, and it’s just the perfect warmup for a chilly fall day :)
Thanks Sue and yes, I keep my fridge well stocked too, as Thai is one of my favourites, too!
I just love the name of this soup, Jennifer! And anything with that chili paste gets my attention (love the spice). It’s cold and raining here today so this would be perfect :)
Thanks Dawn! If you like Thai red curry, you will love this soup, for sure :)
Another outstanding soup recipe Jennifer – so pretty and no doubt delicious. It’s getting cold now and soup is all I want to eat. Bet the flavor is wonderful!
Thanks so much, Tricia :) We saw our first snow flakes falling from the sky for a few minutes yesterday. Definitely soup season here!
Jennifer–you were kind enough to help me with the brand of curry pastes you use and I am so grateful. This recipe calls for fish sauce. Is there a particular one you use that you can recommend for me. Thanks.
I had to go and check my cupboard, but I find that my fish sauce currently is Thai Kitchen brand as well. I don’t really have any brand loyalty when it comes to fish sauce. I live in a small town, so I go with what’s on the shelf and around here, that’s almost always Thai Kitchen. Again, you might have more options if you are close to an Asian grocer. You will only use a bit at a time, so it will last a while :)
Made this tonight for my wife and I.
Added a green pepper as well as red – just because I wanted to use it up. And also sautéed the chicken with a TSP of sesame oil and a TSP of honey and salt and pepper to impart it some flavour. Delicious.
Sounds perfect Ken and so glad you enjoyed this soup! Thanks :)
Thanks for a great recipe Jennifer – made it verbatim except added a tiny bit of sugar to taste at the very end.
Thanks Nick and glad you enjoyed this! One of my favourite soups :)
Considering winter has had a variety of weather, soup can be any time. Even though my palate takes a few minutes to adjust to the “heat”, I like dishes with interesting taste. And your soup did not disappoint. It was easy to prepare and very tasty. Chose to add the rice to the bottom of the bowl rather than adding it to the soup.
Thanks Irene and glad you enjoyed it. I make it with the rice in the bowl, too, since I like left-overs :)
I’ve just moved to Florida from New England so with weather is still hot but I don’t care…I’m making your soup. It sounds great.
Thanks so much, Karen. Enjoy! :)
It is not quite soup weather here, but that is not stopping me from making all the soup recipes ;) This looks so tasty!
Thanks Cathleen :)
This is totally my kind of soup and even though it’s still 105 degrees down here in South Florida I’m still moving ahead with soup season darn it! Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe ~ Cheers:)
Thanks Stephanie. It’s worth cranking up the AC for :)
Hi. I do not comment on sites but I have to say thank you for the wicked Thai soup recipe. I used to buy this at Loblaws takeout for lunch. Also was able to buy it-from Sysco in large bag from a friend that worked at Sysco(Peterborough). Also my daughter had asked me to make Chelsea buns just like the ones we used to get from Hyserts in Bancroft. I made these and she and everyone else loved them. Fond memories. Am making them tomorrow as I am going to visit her. Enjoy your blog.
You are most welcome Sherry. Enjoy the soup :) And thanks for commenting!
I love these Thai flavors, the perfect soup for chilly fall nights!
Thanks Laura :)
It wasn’t soup weather here until about 3 days ago. And now – BOOM! Chilly air is here! As much as I miss summer, I’m loving the change in the air. And I’m so happy for soup season – probably my favorite thing to make!
Same Liz. We live on soup!
Wow Jennifer, I can tell this soup is going to be a fall/winter favorite at our house! Spicy and flavorful, just the way I like it!
Thanks Mary Ann. I think you will love this one :)
This soup looks packed with flavor. I am with you Jennifer – I love this time of year and soups are some of my favorite fall meals. Give me a chunk of bread and a bowl of hot soup – heavenly!
Thanks Tricia. And yes .. must have bread! :)
Had this in a local cafe last week and came home and found your recipe on my favourite food blog. Yours is so yummy! It has been raining here for 2 days solid so this was perfect for our supper this evening. Keep them coming…. ;)
So glad to hear! Thanks :)