15 Minute- Thai Coconut Curry Noodle Soup is FAST, FLAVORFUL & sooooo EASY! A rich fragrant broth w/ either shrimp, tofu or chicken! Vegan adaptable!
No Matter how hard the past, you can always begin again. ~Buddha
This 15 Minute Thai Coconut Curry Noodle Soup is called Khao Soi, and hails from the Northern part of Thailand where the weather stays a bit cooler. It’s a godsend when time is short, or you are feeling a bit lazy, yet you crave something warm and spicy.
The coconut broth is fragrant and rich, coating the noodles well. And once the flavorful base is made, what you put in the soup is very adaptable. Today I’ve added prawns – but it’s delicious with tofu or chicken too, or even just veggies.
Spring showers have been here, making everything exceptionally bright and green and lush. On rainy spring days like we’ve had these past few weeks, all I want to do is wrap myself up in a cozy blanket, curl up with a good book and slurp soup. Preferably with a little heat and some kind of noodle.
THAI COCONUT CURRY NOODLE SOUP (Khao Soi)
A flavorful and very addicting Northern Style Thai Coconut Curry Noodle Soup, called Khao Soi. Easy and fast, and so yummy.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 15 mins
- Yield: 3-4 1x
- Category: Main, soup, seafood
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: Northern Thailand
Ingredients
- 4 ounces dry rice noodles
- 1 tablespoon coconut, peanut or olive oil
- 1 large shallot finely diced ( or sub half an onion)
- 2 tablespoons chopped lemongrass
- 2 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 2 tablespoons Thai Red Curry Paste (store-bought, I like this brand), more for more spicy
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric – optional
- pinch cardamom– optional
- 14-ounce can coconut milk
- 1 cup chicken broth (or use water and one chicken bouillon cube)
- 4–6 kefir lime leaves (optional, but delicious!)
- 1 thinly sliced red bell pepper (optional- sub other veggies)
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce- or vegan fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce ( perhaps reduce if using vegan fish sauce, or use to taste)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar, palm sugar or alternative substitute
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce (Sambal Olek)
- 8–12 ounces raw, peeled and deveined prawns (or crispy tofu, or raw chicken- or leftover baked chicken or rotisserie chicken)
- 1 lime
- Garnish with fresh basil ( Thai basil is best!) or cilantro, bean sprouts, lime wedge, or scallions.
Instructions
- Place noodles in a shallow baking dish and boil enough water to just cover them. While water is boiling, prep the shallot, garlic, lemongrass, red bell pepper, then get all other ingredients ready by the stove.
- In a medium pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add shallot and lemongrass. Saute until fragrant and golden, about 3 minutes. Add garlic, saute 1-2 mintues. Add red curry paste. Saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the coconut milk , chicken broth and kefir lime leaves and bring to a simmer, stirring. Once gently simmering add the bell pepper, fish sauce, sugar, soy sauce and chili garlic sauce.
- Add the prawns ( or chicken or tofu) and gently simmer until cooked. Give a generous squeeze of lime. Taste, adding more lime/salt/ red curry paste if necessary.
- Drain the noodles. If serving the soup immediately, toss the noodles right into the pot and then serve.
- Alternatively, divide noodles into the bowls and ladel the flavorful soup over top.
- Garnish with fresh basil, bean sprouts, thinly sliced red onion and chopped scallions.
Notes
To bump up the flavorful coconut broth even more, add few slices of galangal!
Feel free to make the soup broth the day before and keep in the fridge, keeping the noodles separate ( they will swell in the soup) and simply reheat.
To bump up the heat, add more red chili paste or chili sauce, or a few thinly sliced fresh chilies ( as a garnish)
Keywords: curry noodles, thai noodle soup, thai curry noodles, THAI COCONUT CURRY NOODLE SOUP, Khao Soi, thai curry noodles
Just made this. Absolutely delicious and so easy. Had everything on hand except red bell pepper, so subbed thinly sliced carrots and frozen peas. I prefer the flavour profile of green curry paste, so used that instead of the red. Topped with basil, lime wedges, scallions and as per your notes added fresh ginger (didn’t have galangal) to the broth and fresh red chillis to the garnish. Also added crushed peanuts on top. Thank you!
★★★★★
I enjoyed making this recipe. My family loved it. I used chicken and Thai chili paste in the recipe. I was out of the red curry paste so used the yellow curry paste instead. Same company. My husband does not care for noodles so I made both white rice and noodles. We loved it.
★★★★★
Perfect- sounds great! Like how you adapted to your needs, thanks for sharing!
This was my third recepie from feastingathome and I am so impressed. This was easy, quick, and so flavorful. I didn’t use any of the optional seasoning and used rotisserie chicken leftovers. This was my first time using red curry paste, and not being afraid of heat I eyeballed those 2tbl and it was HOT. But still so good!! I will definatly make this again.
★★★★★
Thanks so much Jennifer, thanks for the comment- helpful! Do you happen to know the brand of red curry paste you were using? For other readers?
This was amazing! I used rotisserie chicken and the optional turmeric, lime leaves and subbed a roasted jalapeno for the chili paste and roasted anaheim pepper for the bell since I can’t eat bells. I had bought the fresh lime leaves for another recipe and froze the remaining leaves which I thawed before using. I removed the rib before tearing leaves into small pieces but leaves were still not able to be chewed. I guess I should not have torn leaves into pieces but left whole and removed before eating?
★★★★★
Thanks Beth, Yes, add the leaves whole. You can just pick around them or remove.