I’m sitting here with a blank screen trying to figure out if I can even accurately describe to you how good this Thai Red Curry Vegetable Soup is. Maybe I should tell you that I wanted to skip the bowl and just eat it straight out of the pot with the huge ladle as my spoon? Maybe I should admit that I almost wanted to tell my boyfriend that I didn’t cook anything today so I could hide the soup and eat it all myself (no, not really, that’s mean).
The point is, this Thai Curry Vegetable Soup is good. So, so, so good. That paired with its simplicity and ease of preparation means there’s a good chance I’ll want to make this about once per week. I probably shouldn’t be eating that much coconut milk, but I’m sure I’ll find some way to rationalize it.
What Is Thai Red Curry Paste?
Thai red curry paste is a mix of red peppers, chiles, ginger, garlic, and other spices. Not to be confused with Indian curry powder, which is a mix of different spices and is usually sold as a powder, rather than a paste. Thai red curry paste can be used in soups, stir fries, sauces, and more.
Is Thai Red Curry Hot?
The spiciness of Thai red curry soup depends on the brand of Thai red curry paste used. I used Thai Kitchen brand, which is common in U.S. grocery stores, and it is not very spicy. Green Thai curry paste, on the other hand, is quite a bit spicier.
Customize the Vegetables
I happened to go to an Asian market yesterday where I picked up the ingredients for this soup (at really amazing prices, I might add), but if you can’t get the same vegetables as me, you can still make this Thai Curry Vegetable Soup! The beauty of this Thai Curry Vegetable Soup is that you can use just about any vegetable you like, although I try to at least have some sort of leafy green. Other vegetables that would be great choices include: spinach, kale, collard greens, cabbage, mushrooms, bean sprouts, snow peas, carrots, or red bell peppers.
Make it Vegetarian
I made a vegetarian version (minus the fish sauce, anyway) today, but you could easily add meat to this soup. Toss in some shredded rotisserie chicken, or brown some chicken pieces in the beginning with the Thai curry paste. If you prefer shrimp, I suggest adding it at the end and simmering just a few minutes, or until the shrimp turn pink.
Noodle Options
And what about the noodles? That’s customizable, too! You can skip the noodles all together if you want, or use a brick of cheap-o ramen if that’s what you have. It’s still going to taste amazing.
Easy, flavorful, and customizable–This Thai Curry Vegetable Soup is EXACTLY Budget Bytes style.
Thai Red Curry Vegetable Soup
Servings 4 (about 2 cups each)Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp neutral cooking oil* ($0.04)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger ($0.05)
- 2 Tbsp Thai red curry paste ($0.62)
- 1 small sweet potato (about 1 lb.) ($1.61)
- 1 bunch baby bok choy ($0.55)
- 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth ($0.52)
- 1 13oz. can coconut milk ($1.29)
- 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce ($0.07)
- 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.02)
- 3.5 oz. rice vermicelli noodles ($0.39)
GARNISHES (optional)
- 1/2 red onion ($0.29)
- 1 lime ($0.17)
- 1 handful fresh cilantro ($0.17)
- Sriracha to taste ($0.15)
Instructions
- Prepare the vegetables for the soup and garnishes first, so they’re ready to go when needed. Mince the garlic and grate the ginger using a small-holed cheese grater. Peel and dice the sweet potato into one-inch cubes. Wash the bok choy well, then chop into one-inch strips, separating the fibrous stalks from the delicate green ends. Thinly slice the red onion and roughly chop the cilantro.
- Add the cooking oil to a large soup pot along with the minced garlic, grated ginger, and Thai red curry paste. Sauté the garlic, ginger, and curry paste over medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the diced sweet potato and chopped bok choy stalks to the pot (save the leafy green ends for later) along with the chicken or vegetable broth. Bring the pot to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 5-7 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender.
- While the soup is simmering, bring a small pot of water to a boil for the vermicelli. Once boiling, add the vermicelli and boil for 2-3 minutes, or just until tender. Drain the rice noodles in a colander and set aside.
- Once the sweet potatoes are tender, add the coconut milk, fish sauce, and brown sugar to the soup. Stir, taste, and adjust the fish sauce or brown sugar if needed. Finally, add the bok choy greens and let them wilt in the hot soup.
- To serve, divide the rice vermicelli among four bowls. Ladle the soup and vegetables over the noodles, then top with red onion, cilantro, a wedge or two of lime, and a drizzle of sriracha.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Video
How gorgeous are those colors??
How to Make Thai Curry Soup – Step by Step Photos
Start by preparing your vegetables, so they’re ready to use when you need them. I just happened to go to an Asian market the day before, so I picked up this Japanese yam, baby bok choy, limes, cilantro, and a red onion. Read through the intro if you need ideas for alternate vegetables.
Peel and dice the yam (or sweet potato, either will work), thinly slice the red onion, cut the limes into wedges, and cut the bok choy into strips. Try to keep the stalk end and the leafy green ends separate, as you’ll add them to the Thai Curry Vegetable Soup at different times.
You’ll also want to mince two cloves of garlic and grate about 1 Tbsp fresh ginger. It’s important to note that Thai red curry paste is VERY different from the curry powder that is used in Indian cuisine. This one is basically a mix of red chiles, garlic, galangal (similar to ginger), lemongrass, and a few other spices. If you want to make this soup EXTRA easy, skip the garlic and ginger, and just add more of the Thai red curry paste. ;)
Add a couple of tablespoons of any neutral cooking oil (like canola, vegetable, peanut, sunflower, grapeseed), the minced garlic, grated ginger, and 2 Tbsp of the Thai red curry paste to a large pot. Sauté the garlic, ginger, and curry paste over medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
Next add the hard vegetables, in this case, the yam (or sweet potato) and stalks of the bok choy, so they can simmer in the soup and soften.
Add four cups of vegetable or chicken broth, place a lid on top, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5-7 minutes, or until the sweet potato is soft.
While the soup is simmering, I cooked the rice vermicelli separately (this package is 3.5oz). The reason I cooked the noodles separately is that they cook super fast and I didn’t want them to overcook in the soup. I might, at some point in the future, add them to the soup at the end and let them soften that way, but today I wanted to be extra sure, so I just cooked them separately. They only take about 2-3 minutes to soften in boiling water, then drain the noodles in a colander and set aside.
Back to the soup pot. Once the sweet potato cubes are soft, add a 13oz. can of coconut milk, which transforms the soup into this creamy goodness.
Also, add 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce and 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar. Now, if you’ve never used fish sauce let me just tell you that it is very potent and doesn’t smell good, but because it’s used in such small quantities, that doesn’t really transfer to the dish you’re adding it to. It just adds a subtle umami flavor and a bit of saltiness. If you can’t get fish sauce or want this dish to be vegetarian, you can leave it out. It still tastes good, but IMHO will be missing that je ne sais quoi or authentic flavor that fish sauce gives. Also, if you skip the fish sauce, you can probably also skip the brown sugar.
After adding the fish sauce and brown sugar, give the broth a taste and adjust the flavors if needed. Finally, add the leafy green ends of the bok choy and let them wilt in the hot soup (the pot should still be over low heat).
To serve the Thai Curry Vegetable Soup, place some of the rice vermicelli in the bottom of a bowl…
Ladle the soup and vegetables over the noodles…
Then add your garnishes: thinly sliced red onion, lime wedges, chopped cilantro, and a drizzle of sriracha.
And then dig in.
And try not to die of happiness from the tastiest Thai Vegetable Soup ever.
Hey beautiful. ;) ;) ;)
This dish is very bland. Since it’s a little bit salty, and a little bit sweet, I didn’t know what to add to make the flavors stronger and still keep the salty sweet balance.
You can add more of the Thai curry paste to increase the spices without altering the sweet-salty balance. :)
I finally got around to trying this and was really impressed with how easy it was to follow the directions & how quickly it came together! Next time, I’ll probably add a bit more of the Thai curry paste, as it is on the milder flavour side for my palate, though still delectable. :) Thanks for all of the great food ideas!
SO SO SO GOOD! I halved the recipe and made it for myself so I could have two days worth and omg it was amazing! This is now one of my new favourite meals to cook at home, I’m obsessed with it. Next time I probably won’t bother buying red onion for garnish as I didn’t have a use for the rest of the red onion so it went to waste but DO NOT skip out on the lime and sriracha, it really compliments this dish so well, make sure you squeeze that lime into the soup once you’ve finished taking your instaworthy photo!! I also used light soy sauce instead of fish sauce to make it vegan :-) I will definitely be making this on a regular basis!
This recipe just tastes like the Thai curry I usually make. Yummy!
Oh wow I had great expectations. I didn’t have any of the garnish but thought the soup would stand on its own. I love thai food and this was sadly lacking in flavor. And it is now an expensive soup because I spent money on ingredients that I will use so sparingly that they will expire and need to be tossed. Despite adding extra everything to the broth it was bland bland bland. I’ll stick to the expert thai restaurant version thank you! I am sorry that I even thought I could replicate it.
Sooo yummy, and perfect for winter! I used shiitake mushrooms, carrots, spinach, and leftover rotisserie chicken – I love that you can throw whatever you have on hand and customize it however you like! Please do not skip that fish sauce, y’all- it gives it a nice salty kick and really gives body to the soup. I also added extra red curry and sriracha, cuz I’m a fiend for that heat!
Every recipe I’ve tried on Budget Bytes has always been a home run! Thank you for such a great recipe!!
I did not like this at all!! I thought from others reviews it was going to be amazing. It’s actually the worst I’ve tasted. I’ve travelled to authentic Asian restaurants and have Asian friends and family so I am well versed in the dishes of Asia. I also cook Asian dishes frequently. I followed the recipe to the T, tasted it …blah, so I added more ginger, garlic, and fish sauce. Still not appetizing. I purchased a well known Thai Curry paste. Who knows why but Iwill not make again.
I made this last night. It was delicious!
I added some shrimp at the end but what a great recipe.
Thank you for sharing!!!!
This is my hubby’s favorite soup! He asks me to make it all the time :)
I loved this soup. It was easy to make and tasted great. Next time, I would add less Red Curry Paste as it was quite spicy!
11/10, will absolutely make again!
I used a splash of vegan Worcestershire sauce in place of fish sauce, but I image it’s just fine without it.
I love that Japanese Yams add just a hint of sweetness. I did add about 1/3 of a block of pressed, cubed firm tofu for protein.
Seriously looking forward to my leftovers for lunch this week.
Any nutritional information available for this recipe?
If you are looking for nutritional information, you can copy the recipe and put it into MyFitnessPal and it will calculate it per serving
This recipe is really fantastic by the way. So easy and so flavorful!
I rely on information like that also, and just import her recipes to myfitnesspal myself and it calculates them that way :) Doesn’t take but a couple minutes
Soooooo good!!!
Our daughter told us she had made a really good Thai curry soup and told me where to find it on your site. I tried it, hoping it would be good. I had been disappointed with some other recipes I had found other places online.
It was wonderful! I put small chunks of chicken in it and loved it. I made it just like the recipe said. My husband liked it also. When we were eating it for leftovers, I was so excited about having it again I forgot to get out the noodles but it was still great. I didn’t realize I had forgotten them till we were finished reading and we’re cleaning up.
Fantastic recipe! Like some of the other commenters, I increased the ginger and curry paste to my tastes. I also added extra firm tofu for protein. Press, cube, and throw in when you add the greens.