Coconut Chicken Soup
This satiny soup delivers the flavor spectrum in every creamy spoonful – tangy lemon and lime, sweet coconut, complex curry paste, and fiery chilies. Add earthy mushrooms and moist chicken and it’s a party on the palate.
This recipe calls for cooked chicken, which makes it a great recipe for utilizing leftovers. That said, if you don’t have leftover cooked chicken, you can buy pre-cooked chicken from the grocery store. If you’d rather cook your own chicken, simply poach two chicken breasts in lightly boiling water for 10 to 12 minutes, until cooked through. When cool enough to handle, cut the chicken into bite-size pieces.
For a vegetarian soup, leave the chicken out, or add tofu chunks. You can make this soup completely vegetarian and/or vegan by leaving the chicken out. For a vegan soup, use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, leave out the fish sauce, and swap in tofu for the chicken. Also, select a vegan curry paste since some varieties contain fish sauce.
Smash that lemongrass! When I say “smash” the lemongrass, I mean pound it gently to break down the fibers and allow the lemon essence to shine through. You can do this with a meat mallet (firmly but gently) or side of a chef’s knife.
Coconut Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 small red or green jalapeño pepper, seeded and sliced, or 2 Thai chiles, halved and seeded, or more/less to adjust heat level
- 1 lemongrass stalk, smashed and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2 teaspoons red or green Thai curry paste
- 4 cups canned unsweetened coconut milk, not coconut cream
- 2 cups cubed or shredded cooked chicken
- 8 ounces sliced mushrooms, button or cremini
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar or granulated sugar, plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce, plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, plus more to taste
- Chopped green onions for serving
- Fresh cilantro leaves for serving
Instructions
- In a large stock pot or saucepan, combine the broth, jalapeño, lemongrass, and curry paste. Set the pan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Using a slotted spoon or fine sieve, remove and discard the pepper slices and lemongrass. Add the coconut milk, chicken, and mushrooms to the pan and return to a simmer. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Add the coconut sugar (or granulated sugar), fish sauce, and lime juice. Adjust the seasoning by adding more sugar, fish sauce, and/or lime juice as desired.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and top with the green onions and fresh cilantro.