Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup
This Thai red curry noodle soup is packed with bold flavors and fresh ingredients. From fresh ginger, herbs and coconut milk to red curry paste, rice noodles and green onions, this Thai noodles soup is heartwarming and delicious!
I love trying out recipes from different cuisines! I used to always think if I wanted a good Thai dish or Indian dish, I would need to go out to eat, but no longer! It’s so easy to make some of your restaurant favorites right at home. Try my Indian butter chicken recipe, my massaman curry recipe, or my chicken curry and rice recipe and you’ll see what I mean.
Why This Recipe Works
- Quick dinner in just 25 minutes! Don’t let the list of ingredients fool you. This recipe comes together really easily and doesn’t take long to cook! It’s a great dinner idea for a weeknight when things get busy.
- A healthy and fresh dinner idea. Thanks to all the fresh vegetables, this recipe tastes so fresh and light (by light I mean it doesn’t feel like it is really heavy on your stomach). The lime juice and coconut milk also provides a nice, fresh flavor.
- Easily customizable and adjustable. Vegetarian? No problem! Use vegetable broth instead. Carnivore? Great! Add some grilled or shredded chicken or cooked shrimp! Need more heat? Bring it on! Double the red curry paste or add some crushed red pepper flakes. Can’t handle the heat? No worries! This recipe isn’t even at a medium level, but if you are worried, cut the red curry paste amount in half.
Ingredients
- Linguine Rice Noodles: Rice noodles have a different texture than normal pasta noodles. I prefer a thicker/more substantial noodle, so I went with linguini. However, you can use any rice noodle variety you’d like. You can find these noodles in the Asian/Indian cuisine food aisle of your grocery store.
- Red Curry Paste: You can find this in the Asian/Indian food aisle of your grocery store. The Maesri brand red curry paste is a common one. I used Thai Kitchen. Also used in my Coconut Curry Noodles recipe.
- Fish Sauce: This sauce has a umami, earthy, and savory flavor to it.
- Coconut Milk: I used full-fat coconut milk, but you won’t notice a difference in consistency and texture if you choose to use a lite coconut milk.
- Thai Basil: This basil has more of an anise type flavor to it with a bit more spice. It’s delicious and perfect in Thai meals such as this.
- Lime: This adds a city aroma and is a very common ingredient found in all Thai curries and soups.
- Chicken Broth: You can use vegetable broth or low-sodium chicken broth, both taste great!
Ingredient Substitutions/Variations
If you like a thinner noodle, a common one is rice vermicelli noodles.
There’s a distinct fishiness to the sauce, but that flavor is joined with a salty, briny, and caramel-y like sweetness. While yes, it adds some definite flavor and punch to this dish, you can leave it out if you don’t have it/don’t want to buy it. A common fish sauce substitute is soy sauce. However, in Thai cooking light soy sauce is preferred because it has a lighter and more delicate flavor than regular soy sauce. Note, I have not made this soup with soy sauce so I can’t say how it will affect the flavor.
If you don’t have Thai basil or can’t find it, regular basil works well, too.
If you’re a vegetarian, you would want to use the vegetable broth.
Protein: You can add protein to this dish by adding chopped, cooked chicken (rotisserie chicken or grilled chicken would work great here) to the soup. Shrimp would also be delicious!
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Add the olive oil, bell pepper, and onion to a large pot and cook until the peppers and onion are tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
- Stir in the red curry paste, ginger, salt, and pepper and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the broth and coconut milk and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Once the mixture is boiling, add in the rice noodles, fish sauce, and brown sugar. Cook until the noodles are tender, about 4 minutes (time will vary depending on the noodle variety and noodle thickness you use).
- Remove from heat and stir in the green onions, cilantro, basil, and lime juice.
- Portion into serving bowls and top with additional lime wedges and cilantro/basil leaves. Serve immediately!
Expert Tips
If you’d rather have more of a noodle dish than a soup, half the broth and coconut milk!
Red Curry Paste: If you’re wanting to up the heat, double the red curry paste. If you’re really really wanting to avoid spice, cut the red curry paste in half. However, the 3 tablespoons of red curry paste didn’t produce a hot or medium (on the spicy scale) dish.
Storing: Store in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Serve this dish with some homemade naan.
FAQs
Nope! There aren’t any spicy ingredients in this dish. The red curry paste adds flavor but not much heat. You’ll know if a dish is spicy if there are things like jalapeños (other spicy peppers), cayenne pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.
The flavor has a warm flavor to it, but it doesn’t have a spicy bite to it. If you are wanting more heat, add more of the red curry paste. If you are wanting less, cut back on it.
The basic ingredients in red curry paste are usually chili peppers, tumeric, ginger, cumin, coriander, and garlic. You’ll find variations that include additional ingredients.
Curry paste has whole chili peppers in it where curry powder does not. This is why curry paste is usually spicier than curry powder. However, curry paste also contains additional ingredients.
The easiest substitution for red curry paste would be curry powder. I’d do 1 teaspoon of curry powder for 1 teaspoon of curry paste. I haven’t tried this substitution method, so if you do, let me know how it turns out in the comments. You can also make a homemade version of red curry paste with the ingredients listed in an FAQ response above.
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Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper - diced
- 1 small yellow onion - diced
- 3 garlic cloves - minced
- 3 tablespoons red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 6 cups low sodium chicken broth - or vegetable broth for a vegetarian meal
- 13.5 oz can coconut milk - I used full fat
- 8 oz linguini rice noodles - or any rice noodle variety
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar - packed
- 3 green onions - thinly sliced (also referred to as "scallions")
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro - chopped
- 1/4 cup thai basil leaves - chopped (can use regular basil if you can't find Thai basil)
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
Equipment
Instructions
- To a large pot or Dutch over set over medium heat, add the olive oil, bell pepper, and onion. Cook until the peppers and onion are tender and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
- Stir in the red curry paste, ginger, salt, and pepper and cook until fragrant, 1 minute.
- Stir in the broth and coconut milk. Bring to a boil. Once boiling stir in the rice noodles, fish sauce, and brown sugar. Cook until noodles are tender, about 4 minutes (time will vary depending on the noodle variety you use).
- Remove from heat and stir in the green onions, cilantro, basil, and lime juice.
- Portion into serving bowls and top with additional lime wedges and cilantro/basil leaves. Serve immediately!
Welcome to this delicious corner of the internet! Here I share the recipes my family loves.
3 Comments on “Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup”
Seriously one of my favorite recipes! It’s easy, delicious, and one batch makes alot so we always have leftovers (family of 3)
Thanks for coming back to leave a comment MaKayla!
This turned out so good, and it came together easily. My four year old said he didn’t like it and then continued to eat all that was on his plate, so it’s safe to say he actually really liked it haha. We’ll be coming back to this recipe for sure!