Thai Broccoli Soup with Coconut Milk – bursting with authentic Thai flavors. Make from scratch in 40 mins! Vegan & Gluten Free adaptable! Love Broccoli? See our 25+ Fresh, Yummy Broccoli Recipes!
This vibrant, flavorful Thai Broccoli Soup wakes up the taste buds! Made with fresh lemongrass, ginger, chilies, shallots and lime – it has a delicious brightness we all could use in winter, taking us away to warm and far-off places.
It’s kept vegan with coconut milk rather than heavy cream or dairy. For a nice contrast in texture to the creamy soup try adding crispy shallots, Peanut Chili Crunch or toasted coconut right before serving.
It’s vegan, adaptable (sans the fish sauce), and gluten-free. A warm bowl of sunny goodness on a cold winter’s day….just what the doctor ordered!
Fresh, simple ingredients make up the base of this soup.
Thai Broccoli Soup Ingredients:
- Broccoli
- shallots
- garlic
- ginger
- jalapeno or serano
- lemongrass
- broth
- coconut milk
- cilantro
How to make Thai Broccoli Soup
The best part, it’s pretty simple to make!
- Saute
- Simmer
- Blend!
- Add coconut milk.
Finish the soup with lime zest, crispy shallots, or toasted coconut and of course fresh herbs. Chili flakes or threads are pretty here too.
Expert Tip
To get this soup vibrant and green, blend in fresh baby spinach!
The color of this soup makes me so happy.
I hope you enjoy this Thai Broccoli Soup. I’ve recently updated it to make it a little more simple. Let me know what you think!
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Thai Broccoli Soup with Coconut
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 8 cups
- Category: Soup, dinner idea
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Thai
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A simple delicious recipe for Thai Broccoli Soup with Coconut Milk- bursting with authentic Thai flavors. Make from scratch in 40 mins! Vegan & Gluten-Free. | Updated 11/2019
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 fat shallots, chopped
- 4–5 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 2 teaspoons chopped ginger
- 1 medium-sized jalapeño pepper sliced ( 1/2 jalapeno for mild heat) seeds ok
- 1/4 cup chopped lemongrass, or use lemongrass paste
- 4 cups veggie broth or chicken stock
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
- 1 pound broccoli, chopped small ( slice tough or large stems thinly, to cook faster)
- 1 1/2 cups potato or sweet potato (optional) diced, see notes.
- ——
- 1 cup coconut milk (liquid and solids) saving a couple of tablespoons for garnish (See notes)
- 1 teaspoon sugar, or alternative
- a handful of baby spinach
- 1/2 cup cilantro -tender stems OK (divided)
- 2–3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Optional: 1-2 teaspoons fish sauce (optional or vegan fish sauce, or add a little more salt to taste)
Garnishes- crispy shallots, toasted coconut, Peanut Chili Crunch, roasted peanuts, lime zest, mint, cilantro, chili threads, coconut milk, croutons, lime wedges
Instructions
- Saute: Heat oil in a medium, heavy-bottom pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the shallots, saute 3 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, and jalapeno. Saute 3 more minutes until the shallot is tender. Add lemongrass, saute 1-2 more minutes.
- Simmer: Add the veggie or chicken stock or broth, kefir lime leaves, salt, broccoli and potatoes, and bring to boil – it’s OK if the broccoli isn’t all submerged, it will still steam. Cover, lower heat, and gently simmer 10-12 minutes, or until broccoli is fork-tender. Once tender, turn the heat off, uncover.
- Blend: Add a big handful of baby spinach to give the soup a more vibrant green color. Add 1/4 cup cilantro (save the rest for garnish) and blend until very smooth using an immersion blender. Or cool the soup and blend in batches using a regular blender (keeping in mind, blending a blender full of hot soup will explode!) Fill the blender only halfway full & place a kitchen towel on top of the lid and firmly hold the lid down while blending- or wait until it has cooled!
- Place the blended soup back in the pot over low heat. Stir in the coconut milk (solids and liquid) – you can start with half a can and add more to taste. Add sugar and stir until warmed through. Do not boil or you will lose the lovely color!
- Add lime juice, and optional fish sauce to taste, or add salt. Find the balance.
- Divide among bowls, garnish with any of the options above.
Notes
For a “thicker” soup, feel free to add more diced potato (or sweet potato)- totally optional. If adding more potato, you will need to adjust salt, lime , fish sauce accordingly.
You can add the coconut milk to taste- start with 1/2 cup, add more as needed.
Crispy Shallots, Kaffir lime leaves and Chili threads can all be found at Asian markets- and no, these are not essential, but add a nice touch. 🙂
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ⅓ cups
- Calories: 200
- Sugar: 2.5 g
- Sodium: 692.9 mg
- Fat: 10.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 9 g
- Carbohydrates: 12.1 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 3.7 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This looks delicious. Can this soup be served at room temperature? And is this better made the day before. TIA.
Hi Liza, I have never had this soup chilled but my guess is it would taste good? I think it’s best the day of- as far as vibrant color.
May I freeze this and defrost over the next two weeks?
Yes, that should be fine Joel!
Looks great, but why does it appear that an ingredient is missing? There is a block in the ingredients list that has only a hyphen next to it.
That is just to separate the cooked ingredients from the ones added just before serving.
Delicious! An easy and quick meal!
Glad you enjoyed!
Hi! This looks amazing, I wanna try this recipe. In the recipe it says “SEE NOTES for potato”, but I didn’t find the note? 🙁
Sorry about that Nathalie, it is in there now!
Hi Sylvia! The recipe itself still does not say what to do with the potatoes….Can you help?
Excited to try this recipe!
Sorry about that. Add it with the broccoli. 🙂 I think I got it fixed now, hopefully!
Never a fan of broccoli soup until I made this one! Wow, guests were asking for the recipe. I omitted the lemon grass, used 1 kefir leaf , did not use any potato, did use the spinach, and did add fish sauce and lime at end. This recipe is a keeper. Used very fresh organic broccoli and my own chicken stock. Also served with baked tofu puffs, chili crunch, cilantro.
Love the photos at your site- inspiring~!
Thanks so much Annie! So happy you enjoyed and tweaked it to make it work for you.
Hi Sylvia, this soup looks amazing, but can you let me know what is a portion/serving size? I’m calorie counting and want to make sure I stay in check. Love your site!
Thanks Lorie- added it now!
The coconut milk and lime juice are the keys to bringing out the beautiful flavor of this recipe. I used a bit of green curry paste in place of the lemongrass, and served topped with fried tofu squares. So good!
Perfect Lauren- I bet the green curry paste added a lot!
Most amazing soup, though I added kale and broccoli an left over chicken, no spinach.
Also, can each of coconut cream an coconut milk. No coconut.
Comfort food!
Glad you made this work for you!
I had an idea for this soup and google led me to Feasting at Home. So good and the spinach for green was a brilliant tip. Now I’m a subscriber to the newsletter for dinner idea inspo 🙂
Awesome, glad you are here Shannon!
Family loves this soup, would make again
Great to hear!
Delicious. Thank you for this recipe.
Glad you enjoyed this Maureen!
This was sooo good! I also make the broccoli poblano soup and so this was a nice variation. Love all the goodness and flavor.
Thanks so much Ana- glad you gave this one a go!
I loved this – so creative! I couldn’t find the jalapeño I bought, so I added some Thai chili paste I had in the fridge. Will make again!
Perfect Rose! Gald you enjoyed this!
Really love this blog! Having been making some great recipes from it lately and this was no exception! Not the prettiest soup, but it had delicious flavor. I used broccolini instead of broccoli. To save some time, I took a shortcut by using green curry paste instead of the lemongrass, jalapeño, lime leaves and cilantro. I plan to have for lunches with garlic naan bread! Very happy with how it turned out!
I made this today and really enjoyed it. Used two lemongrass stalks and about eight calamansi (lime substitute where I am).
Looks great! How many lemongrass stalks do I need for 1/4 of a cup chopped lemongrass?
I would say 1 really big one or two small ones.
Thanks!
Excellent recipe!
is there any disadvantage to adding the coconut milk before blending?
No, but it is easier to gauge how much to add if you wait till after.
Oh Em G!!! How have I lived 48 years without this in my life? I have been on a vegetarian kick lately—just craving vegetables. Found this recipe while searching for vegetarian soups and it’s just perfect!! Thanks so much.
Haha! thanks Jennifer. ❤️
This soup sounds excellent. I will try it out. However, do we not remove the kafir lime leaves and lemongrass before blending?
Remove the leaves, the lemongrass is chopped here so leave that in. 🙂
Well, you’ve done it again. This was delicious! My only issue was that fresh lemongrass was not available so I bought dried – and the recommended substitution amount I found was on the high side. (I used a full teaspoon and a scant one – or less – would be better.)
Thank you again for a beautiful recipe.