Coconut Curry Soup
This coconut curry soup is unique and delicious. It is the perfect coconut curry fix for the winter weather and it comes together in a flash!
Coconut and curry are flavors meant to be together. So why not marry them into a soup? Hm?
After seeing several variations of coconut chicken curry soup around, I decided to create my own based on the specific flavors we like in our family. The verdict?
Well, this just may be my favorite coconut and curry combination to date!
A healthy and hearty meal, thanks to layering a ladle of soup over hot, steamed rice, this soup has wonderful flavor.
The light coconut milk and touch of brown sugar lend a slight sweetness that offsets the subtle salty fish sauce and slight hint of cayenne.
Lime juice and fresh cilantro brighten up the entire concoction.
Mild enough (heat-wise) for my kids to devour and flavorful enough for my husband and I to ooh and aah over, this soup is unique and delicious. Perfect coconut curry fix for the winter weather.
Oh, wait…and did I mention this comes together in a flash? Dreamy.
What To Serve With This:
Whole Wheat Bread
Creamy 5-Cup Fruit Salad
Green salad
One Year Ago: BLT Pasta
Two Years Ago: Naan
Three Years Ago: My Mom’s Fabulous Lasagna
Coconut Curry Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds chicken breasts, (about 3), cut into 1-inch pieces
- Salt and pepper for seasoning
- ½ cup chopped yellow onion
- 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 (14-ounce) can unsweetened light coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ tablespoon curry powder
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, about 1 medium lime
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro
- 3-4 cups hot cooked rice for serving
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat until it is hot and shimmering. Pat the chicken pieces dry with a paper towel and season them lightly with salt and pepper. Add them to the hot oil. Let the chicken cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the onions and red pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until the onions and peppers are slightly softened. The chicken and vegetables don’t have to be fully cooked as they will simmer and cook further in the next step.
- Add the chicken broth, coconut milk, fish sauce, cayenne pepper, brown sugar and curry powder. Stir to combine. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook, gently, for 10-15 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and cilantro. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve a ladle or two of the soup over a scoop of rice and garnish with more cilantro, if desired.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
I made this in the fall and am just now getting around to commenting. I’m terrible! This soup was delicious. Fish sauce always makes me queasy so I always use less than it calls for, but the overall flavor is so good. Thanks for another great recipe!
WOW! WOW! WOW!
I made this tonight for dinner, and even my kindergartener wants to take leftovers for lunch tomorrow. The only modification I made was to use jalapeno garlic marinated chicken breasts (on a super sale at our local “fancy” supermarket), so I omitted the cayenne, and I used “full fat” coconut milk.
I can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
Hi there! I made a version of your soup the other day and posted it to my blog. I gave you complete credit of course! Terrific recipe. 🙂
Another winner! Excellent soup. Nothing else to say…it’s just awesome!
Hi Mel, I made this soup last night and it was delish! I didn’t have the fish sauce but I will look for it at the market and try it next time I make this – I will definitely be making this again!
Found this recipe through Pinterest and I just made it tonight! I replaced chicken with tofu and put vegetable broth instead:) Thanks for sharing it was very yummy
Excellent. Next time I would do a little less lime, more cayenne/curry.
I made this last night. It was great. We love curry so I changed it to 1 tbsp.
Seriously loved this!! Thank you so much! I love your recipes!!
I made this over the weekend. AWESOME! I added 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, 1 tsp cumin and 1/2 c mushrooms and it looked so good I skipped the broth and made it a curry instead. Love it. We licked the plates clean! Thanks for the recipe!
I made this the other night for my family. I love this sort of thing and I thought it was fantastic and so easy. My husband and I ate it as soup, so good! And I used more rice and less broth for my boys who don’t do well with soups that aren’t really thick. We all loved it and had zero leftovers. Thanks for another great recipe!
Thai Coconut Chicken Curry is one of my most favorite foods ever, but this was awful. I’ve tried lots of your recipes and loved them all, and tried several of your curry/Thai dishes and they were great (Red Coconut noodles were amazing) but the chicken broth ruins the flavor of the curry. There is no coconut flavor at all, and I added an extra can of coconut milk trying to salvage it. Next time I make it I won’t use any chicken broth at all, just the coconut milk.
Kim – I think the difference with this recipe is that it is a soup not a straight up curry-over-rice recipe. Because of that, the chicken broth is needed to make it, well, a soup. I understand where you are coming from about the coconut milk not being strong enough but I think if all coconut milk was used in place of the chicken broth it might make the soup lose some of the complexities of the flavor since too much coconut milk can hide the subtleties of the unique flavors. However if you ever try it again that way, you’ll have to let me know if it still works as a soup with the equivalent of coconut milk instead of broth. I’m sorry you didn’t love it but am glad you have found some other curry/Thai dishes to enjoy!
Mel – we had this tonight and LOVED it! I couldn’t find fish sauce at Winco though – we’ll have to try it with that when I find some! Thanks for the yummy recipe.
Yum, yum, yum. This was so delish. I found myself debating on drinking the leftover yummy juice off the plate…and I did! My 16 month old gobbled this up as well. I always tey to add more veggies so I think next time I will add in some carrots, broccoli, and zuchini…but this was amazing. Love this blog Mel 🙂
Just finished my bowl- it was perfect! When my 4 year old asked what was for dinner he said, “but I like chicken curry”…I had to show him there was chicken in the coconut curry soup. He and my 2 year old gobbled their whole bowl of it, btw.We have a favorite Thai place just down the street, but we may not even have to go there anymore thanks to you. We always keep coconut milk on hand for such times as this. Thanks for such a delicious and easy curry recipe! **One note- I didn’t have red pepper so I used green and I threw in a peeled and chopped sweet potato pre-simmering just for kicks – yum!
This is the first of your recipes that I have made although they all look delicious. It was really good! I added mushrooms as others had suggested and also added some chopped spinach to get more veggies in our dinner. I also used brown rice instead of basmati. Will definitely make again.
This looks unbelievably delicious! Can’t wait to try it in my own kitchen!
I made this tonight – wonderful! Anything with basmati rice and coconut milk is pretty much a MAJOR win in my book – and this one didn’t disappoint! Thanks again for another wonderful recipe.
Delicious! Thanks for the inspiration for dinner. 🙂
I may be wrong, but this recipe may not have the “soup” tag. I tried searching for it that way and it didn’t show up. Just a little fyi… Oh, and I’ve made this twice this week. So yummy!
This looks delish – we love curry and thai food around here. I am always leery of buying fish sauce and hoisin sauce because I bought some hoisin sauce once that was nasty. Do you have any brand suggestions? Thanks for the great recipes – especially the easy ones!
I made this soup tonight and while only 1 of my kids really liked it both my husband and I loved it! The heat from the cayenne and curry were perfect while the lime and cilantro really brightened the soup. My husband has requested that I put this in my permanent recipe collection!
Made this last night. The flavor was very yummy. My broth was also more clear… not sure why I was expecting more of a creamy broth. I think next time I’ll use full fat coconut milk to give it a richer flavor. Thanks for the tasty recipe!
So so so good!! We never eat curry stuff and this was amazing. 🙂 And so easy! Thank you.
Second time making this soup in a week! Its that good! (well your recipes are always that good!) Thanks again for this wonderful recipe!
This was really good, we made it for supper tonight. Our son asked for leftovers for dessert!
just made this tonight for dinner – DEEEElicious with 2xs the cayenne! Next time I’ll add mushrooms also
Making mine right now and it looks nothing like yours. Mine looks more like a clear broth than a creamy broth. What did I do wrong??
Made this with Red curry powder since thats what i had on hand. I also added mushrooms, and little red dried chilies. This soup turned out soooooo good! I’m making it again this week!
I’m reporting back. This was delicious!!! My son has requested that I make it again next weekend. Two thumbs up!
I am definitely making this tomorrow night, but I’m going to throw it in the slow cooker (because I am slightly obsessed with my slow cooker).
sad news–even catching a whiff of curry powder turns my stomach–i just have a violent reaction to it. don’t think any less of me for it, mmmkay? 🙂
I made this today and it’s simmering, waiting for all of my snowboarders to get home. I always like to greet them with a soup to warm them up. I’ll tell you what though, they better hurry because I keep “tasting” it every time I walk by. So delicious, but I’m in love with all of your curry recipes.
Hey Chris I thought this sounded pretty good sans the chicken. connie
Made this one last night, and it was delicious. We doubled the cayenne for an extra kick. I think we’ll make it with shrimp next time!
I just started to follow your blog so this is our first recipe I’ve made. I adore curry but my husband does not care for. But after making this tonight for dinner and after his second helping I think we have a favorite! Yay!
This looks fantastic and coconut milk is really good fat, so I always use full fat! I make a stir fry very similar.
These pictures are gorgeous!
I love curry & I never made this soup before. I need to try new recipes & this one looks delicious. Thanks
Oh Yum yum Yum yum Yum yum Yum. This is going on the menu this coming week for sure!
Sounds delish! I love curry! This I will try! Thanks!
I want to eat this. My husband does not eat curry anything. I’ll have to tell him to eat a PB&J or something.
This looks so good! I think i will add some lemongrass, mushrooms and some thai chilies! (i like mine really spicy!) Does Red curry powder taste different than yellow?
I love how you stand behind your spice combinations. Also, thanks for sharing the links, I always love to know which blogs peak your interest. Assuming its the well-rounded, high quality ones…or its the pictures.
You must have been reading my mind! I was craving a soup like this a couple of days ago at 5 a.m. while I pondered what to have for breakfast before I went to work. (Reyna will attest to the fact that our family was never big on traditional breakfast foods.) I had a carton of pre-made coconut curry broth, bok choy, rice noodles and grilled chicken on hand and put that together with a splash of Siracha. It quelled the craving, but reading your recipe has got my tummy grumbling for more. I can’t wait to try yours!
Sounds delicious! I love the combo of coconut and curry. Can’t wait to try it.
I will make this fit into my diet. It looks so good. This low carb diet has left me with a dangerous curry deficiency.
Wait… tell me what curry powder you used… there’s lots of kinds out there!
Linda – you are right! There are so many different brands/types of curry. I’m glad you asked me what kind I used because I meant to mention it. I currently have the Spice Islands brand of Curry Powder. It is a golden orange/yellow color. It is mild and flavorful!
Now THIS….I cannot wait to make… I am in love with curry and Thai food, especially if it has cilantro and lime. MMMMMMMMMMM… Thank you Mel!
I love coconut and curry mixed together….putting it all in a soup is an idea made of win! Nom!