This nourishing Thai-inspired Red Curry Chicken Soup is packed with flavor. It's made with paleo-friendly ingredients and loaded with zucchini noodles, sweet potato vermicelli, chicken thighs, red curry paste, and coconut milk for a cozy and satisfying favorite.
Jump to:
I love Thai food and this delicious Red Curry Chicken soup is no exception. This soup is light, full of warm spices, and SO darn flavorful. It is made with juicy chicken thighs, loaded with veggies and contains all my favorite Thai flavors like coconut milk and red curry paste. It is truly the perfect union of healthy and phenomenally delicious.
Want other great Thai-inspired recipes? Try this Thai Peanut Dressing or this Spicy Thai Chicken Salad.
What I Love About This Recipe
This recipe is a classic fall and winter favorite for me! Here’s why I love it:
✔ Nourishing & Nutrient Dense – This soup is loaded with veggies and healthy ingredients! It is a great source of beta-carotene and potassium, along with other vitamins and minerals, and contains beneficial amino acids like glycine, proline, glutamine, and arginine, thanks to the bone broth.
✔ High Protein – With 1.5 lbs of chicken thighs and bone broth, this soup contains 15 grams of protein per 1 cup.
✔ Delicious & So Comforting – Loaded with Thai flavors, warm spices, and a balance of macronutrients, this curry chicken soup is hard to beat on a cold and rainy day.
Need another paleo-friendly Thai-inspired recipe? Try this Paleo Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai.
Ingredients
Chicken Thighs – Chicken thighs are perfect for soup, so tender and juicy.
Coconut Milk – Full fat coconut milk adds richness to the soup. Lite coconut milk can be used but will be less creamy.
Sweet Potato Vermicelli – Also called sweet potato glass noodles, these noodles are made 100% from sweet potato starch and are comparable in taste and texture to rice noodles. These are the Sweet Potato Glass Noodles that I used.
Red Curry Paste – Other types of curry paste may be used but will create a different flavor profile.
See the full ingredient list and measurements in the recipe card below.
Possible Substitutions
- Olive oil or sesame oil can be used in place of avocado oil.
- Low sodium soy sauce can be used to replace coconut aminos for a lower carb option. Keep in mind it will not lend the slight sweetness that coconut aminos has.
- Sriracha can be used in place of chili paste, but sriracha frequently contains sugar so read the label if you avoid added sugars.
- If you don’t have any fish sauce on hand you can add more coconut aminos. Fish sauces adds saltiness and a nice umami flavor, but the quantity used in this recipe won't make a life changing difference.
- Sweet potato glass noodles can be replaced with rice vermicelli.
If you try any modifications, let us know what works by leaving a comment!
How to Make Red Curry Chicken Soup
Step 1: Heat 1 tablespoon of avocado oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Once hot, add the diced onion, minced garlic, and grated ginger to the pan. Cook until fragrant.
Step 2: Add the diced chicken thighs to the pot with the onions. Cook for several minutes, stirring throughout, until the chicken starts to become opaque (it does not need to be fully cooked at this point).
Step 3: Add the carrots and bell pepper. Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the veggies begin to tenderize.
Step 4: Mix in the curry paste. Stir to coat and allow to cook for about 1 minute, or until fragrant.
Step 5: Stir in the coconut milk, broth, coconut aminos, lime juice, fish sauce, and coconut sugar. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a low simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed.
Step 6: While the soup is cooking, prepare the zucchini by spiralizing it into noodles or quartering lengthwise and chopping. Prepare the sweet potato vermicelli according to the directions on the package. Set prepared noodles aside.
Step 7: Remove the cooked soup from the heat, and stir in the noodles and allow them to heat in the soup for several minutes. Serve the soup topped with fresh chopped Thai basil or cilantro, and lime wedges if desired.
Commonly Asked Questions
Store this curry chicken soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 3-4 days. It can be reheated in the microwave or on the stove top.
For longer storage you can freeze it. Allow the soup to cool completely before placing it into an airtight container. Place in the freezer for up to 2 months. If you plan to freeze, I would recommend leaving the zucchini noodles and the sweet potato vermicelli out because they can become soggy when frozen in liquid and then reheated. To add in fresh zucchini noodles and sweet potato vermicelli, simply allow the soup to completely thaw in the refrigerator and reheat it on the stove top. Once the soup is hot, add in the raw zucchini noodles and cooked sweet potato glass noodles and allow them to cook for about 5-10 minutes in the soup.
You can easily make this soup low carb by swapping the coconut aminos for low sodium soy sauce (gluten-free if needed), replace the coconut sugar with your preferred keto sweetener, and omit the sweet potato vermicelli and add another spiralized zucchini.
To reduce the carb count even further, sub out the carrots for non-starchy veggies like bok choy or broccoli.
When preparing this recipe there are several ingredients you want to evaluate when purchasing to make sure they are appropriate for a paleo diet.
Some varieties of coconut milk, fish sauce, and curry paste may contain non-paleo ingredients, so just be sure to check the labels and check for added sugars, gums and other ingredients that may be problematic for you diet.
If you don't follow a specific diet you don't really need to worry about this.
Recipe Variations
This soup can be made countless ways and is almost always delicious. Here are some ideas to try:
- Add chilis, chili flakes or chili sauce for an added kick.
- Switch up the veggies! Try sweet potato, fresh green beans, water chestnuts, bok choy, mushrooms etc.
- Add all the toppings! Cilantro, fresh mint, peanuts and/or cashews. Be creative!
- For a vegan option, omit the fish sauce, bone broth and chicken. Sub in some vegetable broth, mushrooms, a pinch of salt and cubed extra firm tofu.
Dietitian Notes
- Each 1 cup serving has 15 grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber, and is loaded with micronutrients like beta-carotene and potassium.
Want some another great healthy and comforting soup? Try this Paleo Chicken Noodle Soup.
Recipe Tips
- Preparing ingredients before you start cooking is helpful with the progression of this recipe.
- Because the soup needs to simmer for 30 minutes, nothing needs to be cooked fully at the end of each step.
Try These Great Dinners
Looking for other tasty recipes? Here are a few you might like:
Did you try this Red Curry Chicken Soup?
I would love to see how it went! Share a photo and tag me on Instagram or leave a comment on Pinterest.
Love this recipe? Connect with me by leaving a comment below! 😊
📖 Recipe
Red Curry Chicken Soup
Equipment
- Stock Pot
- Spiralizer
- Veggie peeler
- Knife
- Cutting board
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Avocado oil
- ¾ cup Yellow onion, diced about ½ medium onion
- 5 Garlic cloves, minced about 2 tablespoons
- 2 tablespoon Grated ginger about 1.5-inch piece of ginger
- 1.5 lb Chicken thighs diced
- 1 cup Carrots, thinly sliced on the diagonal about 2 large carrots
- 1 Red bell pepper, sliced about 1 cup
- ¼ cup Red curry paste
- 1 14.5-oz can Full-fat coconut milk
- 2 cups Chicken bone broth
- ¼ cup Coconut aminos Or gluten-free low sodium soy sauce for keto
- 3 tablespoon Lime juice about 1 small lime
- 1 tablespoon Red Boat Fish Sauce
- 2 teaspoon Coconut sugar
- 3.5 ounces Sweet potato vermicelli cooked according to package (you can sub rice vermicelli)
- 1 Large zucchini spiralized, or quartered lengthwise and chopped
For Serving (optional)
- ½ cup Cilantro or Thai basil chopped
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of avocado oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Once hot, add the diced onion, minced garlic, and grated ginger to the pan. Cook until fragrant.
- Add the diced chicken thighs to the pot with the onions. Cook for several minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken starts to become opaque (it does not need to be fully cooked at this point).
- Add the carrots and bell pepper. Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the veggies begin to tenderize.
- Mix in the curry paste. Stir to coat and allow to cook for about 1 minute, or until fragrant.
- Stir in the coconut milk, broth, coconut aminos, lime juice, fish sauce, and coconut sugar. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a low simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed.
- While the soup is cooking, prepare the zucchini by spiralizing it into noodles or quartering lengthwise and chopping. Prepare the sweet potato vermicelli according to the directions on the package. Set prepared noodles aside.
- Remove the cooked soup from the heat, and stir in the zucchini and sweet potato noodles and allow them to warm in the soup for several minutes. Serve the soup topped with fresh chopped Thai basil or cilantro, and lime wedges if desired.
Notes
- Preparing ingredients before you start cooking is helpful with the progression of this recipe.
- Because the soup needs to simmer for 30 minutes, nothing needs to be cooked fully at the end of each step.
Leave a Reply