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 20+ 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 1x
- 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
Flavorful, fast and easy recipe. I did opt to add the potatoes and I loved the consistency.
Great, glad this worked for you!
Outstanding blend of flavors! Well done. I did substitute cherry peppers for the jalapenos, which provided nice color when finely chopped.
Another home run. Everyone loved this soup. Hate to admit that I used frozen broccoli which I bought during COVID however it did not affect the end result. Flavours were perfectly balanced. Added the spinach but not the potatoes. Topped the soup with the peanut chili crunch!! That condiment will always be in my fridge. Thank you Sylvia:)
Yay!🙌
Another home run. Everyone loved this soup. Hate to admit that I used frozen broccoli which I bought during COVID however it did not affect the end result. Flavours were perfectly balanced. Added the spinach but not the potatoes. Topped the soup with the peanut chili crunch!! That condiment will always be in my fridge. Thank you Sylvia:)
Fabulous soup! I am not a fan of lemongrass so left it out. I didn’t have spinach and found it wasn’t needed for flavour. I might try it another time for colour but we loved it as is. I used coriander (cilantro to you) and mint leaves as garnish. This soup is going to be a regular with us! Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks so much and so happy you liked it! 👏
Amazing soup!!! So complex, but light and refreshing. I followed the recipe with the optional addition of white sweet potato.
Thanks for the great recipe
Looks wonderful; can’t wait to try thus recipe. You could add teaspoon of lime zest as a sub for lemongrass for people who are having trouble locating it. It’s often a substitute for lemongrass in Thai recipes.
Jennifer
What an Incredible soup! We LOVED it and, like so many things here, it has become a new favourite. Thank you, Sylvia, again and again!
Thanks so much Laura!
Great recipe ! Easy and fun !
Thanks, Gurtaj! Glad you enjoyed this!
We loved this soup. I enjoyed the fresh ingredients and how flavourful the soup was. Definitely a soup to be made again.
I did it today and really good soup, definitely I’ll do it again. Thank You 🙂
Glad you liked it!
Simply delicious! and beautiful too! The entire family loved it. Will do it again soon, this time to share with friends, as a starter.
Thanks a lot 🙂
Thanks so much Sandra, so happy you liked it!
Simply delicious! and beautiful too! Thank you.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was simply divine! The nicest broccoli soup I have ever tasted, let alone made 😉
Awesome recipe! Makes the house smell amazing.
My husband loved this and said it was the best broccoli soup he ever had…I have to agree. The lemongrass really does the trick. Despite not having a sweet potato on hand it was still delicious and easy to make. Thank you Sylvia for another great healthy and yummy recipe!
m.
I’ve just made this and although mine didn’t turn out as brilliantly green as the photo (I used the Golden sweet potatoes available in Australia which may have made it a more mellow colour) it tasted heavenly, the fresh lemongrass and chiliens really make it sing as well the fish sauce and lime juice at the end. Definitely a recipe to add to the list!
Wow, just gotta say … I came for the recipes, but your food photography is astonishingly beautiful! It’s amazing what you can do with a bowl of soup. Absolutely world-class. Hats off!
thanks Chessie!
MG that smell!! It’s so good! At the side I fried some julienned of sweet patato.
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I can’t use fish sauce as my husband is allergic to fish, so used coconut aminos and a little extra salt and it worked out really well. We both loved it and will have it again.
I’m fortunate to live in Seattle where Asian grocery stores are plentiful. If I buy green curry paste, how much should be used in this recipe?
Because they vary in heat greatly, maybe start with 3 Tablespoons, and you can always add more to taste.
Wow! My grandmother always made brocooli soup for us as kids, but this Thai version sounds so delicious!
Sylvia, I am having difficulty finding lemon grass. Is there something I can substitute? thanks. mert brubaker
Hi Mert, Lemongrass is such a difficult ingredient to find a substitute for…nothing really comes close. Maybe wait until you stumble upon some. 🙂
I have seen lemongrass paste in a tube at the supermarket. Could this be a substitute if fresh is not available?
I have never tried it! It should work….but have personally not tried it.
This is a delicious! recipe! And the aromas wafting from the kitchen were irresistible! I found lemon grass in a jar in the freezer of a local Asian store, already chopped up ready to go! Easy! The same store also had kefir leaves frozen in little packets. I look forward to trying more of your recipes! thanks!
Outstanding soup! My family loved it! Even my reluctant vegetable eating child, that usually picks anything green out, liked it. It had great flavor. I love your recipes!
Yay! I’m glad you and your family enjoyed ….and Thanks Amy for being the first to comment. I was beginning to think it sounded a little too “out there” for people to try…but i really like this one too.
I made broccoli soup once and I loved it! This one looks so delicious!
x Annabelle