Thai Coconut Soup, or tom kha, is a classic Thai chicken soup recipe that’s so much more intensely flavored than most western soups, it’ll wake you up, tingle your taste buds and make your nose run (in the best way.)
Thai Coconut Soup (aka Tom Kha) is a Southeast Asian classic
This soup is completely different from all the other soups that I make and that’s why I love it. The flavor profile is pure Thai, but it’s completely attainable in a Western kitchen thanks to a few key ingredients readily available in most supermarkets.
basic ingredients in Thai coconut soup ~
These flavors form the backbone of this soup, they’re simple yet powerful…
- chicken stock
- coconut milk ~ buy full fat coconut milk in the can.
- curry paste ~ The soup gets its beautiful salmony color from red curry paste (Thai curry paste comes in red and green varieties.) I was happy to discover them in new smaller 4 oz sizes, which is perfect for someone who cooks Asian food only occasionally.
- fish sauce ~ don’t skip this for authentic flavor.
- chili paste ~ I always have a jar in the fridge, it’s an ingredient I use over and over again, not just for Asian recipes.
- Lemongrass or lemongrass paste ~ another ingredient that makes all the difference. You can sometimes find it fresh in your produce section, but the paste works just fine, and you’ll find that in the Asian section of your store.
- lime juice ~ fresh!
- cilantro ~ fresh!
- hot peppers ~ any small variety your supermarket stocks.
Once you’ve stocked these Thai ingredients you’ll have them on hand for future Thai inspired recipes like my Thai Spaghetti Salad or my Thai Beef Salad.
additional ingredient suggestions for Thai soup
- chicken ~ feel free to use a rotisserie chicken for convenience
- onions ~ regular onions or scallions
- mushrooms
- baby bok choy
- pea pods
- carrots
- kale
- bean sprouts
- bell peppers
substitutions for a Thai vegan soup
- vegetable broth for the chicken broth
- Tamari sauce for the fish sauce
- tofu or mushrooms instead of chicken.
Thai Coconut Soup
Thai Coconut Soup, or tom kha, is a classic Thai chicken soup that's so much more intensely flavored than most western soups, it'll wake you up, tingle your taste buds and make your nose run (in the best way.)
Servings: 4 servings
Video
Ingredients
- 4 cups chicken stock (use vegetable for vegan)
- 1/2 yellow onion, or 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 inch piece of peeled fresh ginger, minced
- 1 stalk lemongrass,upper and outer leaves trimmed off, peeled and halved the long way (or 2 tsp lemongrass paste)
- 2 small hot peppers, sliced thinly
- 13 ounce can coconut milk, full fat
- 1 Tbsp chili paste
- 1 Tbsp red curry paste
- 2-3 Tbsp fish sauce (use Tamari sauce for vegan)
- 2 cups cooked chicken (use tofu for vegan)
- handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
- juice of 1 lime
- salt to taste
- minced red bell pepper for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Put the chicken stock in a soup pot, along with the onion, ginger, stalk of lemongrass and sliced hot peppers. Simmer over medium low heat for about 15 minutes.
- Add the coconut milk, pastes, fish sauce, and chicken. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes so the flavors can meld.
- Add the lime juice, cilantro and salt to taste. Remove the lemongrass and serve.
Nutrition
Calories: 369 kcal · Carbohydrates: 15 g · Protein: 26 g · Fat: 31 g · Saturated Fat: 22 g · Cholesterol: 60 mg · Sodium: 411 mg · Potassium: 692 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 5 g · Vitamin A: 635 IU · Vitamin C: 4 mg · Calcium: 44 mg · Iron: 5 mg
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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I had to substitute a couple ingredients, but the soup was still great!
I made this for dinner a couple of nights ago. It was a huge hit, totally rivaling my daughter’s favorite soup at a local Asian bistro! Great to know we can now make it at home. Love it!! Yours is one of my go-to sites for recipes.
This was dinner last night. Quick, easy, and my husband (who is NOT a chicken fan) said the chicken in this soup was out of this world! I only had lemongrass paste so that is what I used. This is a keeper!
I’m a big fan of this soup too. I have a couple of tips as I use to cook it in a restaurant and also use to grow it. The best way to get the most flavour out of the lemongrass is to cut the long stringy top off and throw it out, peel it a little then bash the base with a meat mallet a couple of times. No need to halve it. Also for the lady that doesn’t have access to it I’ve often used lemon rind just cut off with a potato peeler instead. Use it in the same way as lemongrass but make sure you don’t have any of the bitter white pith on it.
Hi Sue – This looks delicious! I can’t find lemon grass in my area. Is there something else I can use (perhaps purchase online)? Thank you.
Hi Donna! There are a lot of flavors going on in this soup, so if you have to leave out the lemongrass it won’t be a huge problem. You can also use lemongrass paste, which comes in a tube or a jar, and might be more available in the Asian section of your local large supermarket.
I just discovered your website and seriously loving it! It love Thai coconut soup and this one looks delicious. I buy the larger Thai chili pasts and freeze it in dollops of 1 tbsp. on aluminum foil, freeze it solid and then keep it in freezer bags…this way, you just thaw a dollop as you need it.. Hope this helps. Shelley
Welcome in Shelley — and thanks for the tip, I should do that with a lot of my more exotic Thai condiments!
I love the freezing tip, Shelley, that’s so smart.
We absolutely love this dish and you really made it look delicious in your photos! In fact, we need to get to our Thai Kitchen restaurant really soon…we can’t go long without Thai food.
This is the perfect soup for a gray winter’s day. Thanks for the lovely and luscious recipe 🙂
I must try this…it looks delicious and I love your photos of the finished soup and the ingredients…so pretty.
I love Thai flavours whatever the region – one for my cooking journal in readiness for the cooler weather. Lovely!