Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup (Printable View)

Creamy Thai-style soup with shrimp, coconut milk, and aromatic spices ready in 35 minutes.

# What You’ll Need:

→ Seafood

01 - 12 oz large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

→ Aromatics & Vegetables

02 - 2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and smashed
03 - 4 kaffir lime leaves, torn (optional)
04 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
05 - 1 small onion, thinly sliced
06 - 3.5 oz mushrooms, sliced
07 - 1 small red chili, sliced (optional)
08 - 1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger or galangal, sliced

→ Broth

09 - 14 fl oz coconut milk
10 - 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
11 - 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste

→ Seasonings

12 - 2 tablespoons fish sauce
13 - 1 tablespoon lime juice, plus more to taste
14 - 1 teaspoon sugar

→ Garnish

15 - Fresh cilantro leaves
16 - Lime wedges
17 - Sliced green onions

# How To Make It:

01 - Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Sauté onion, garlic, lemongrass, ginger or galangal, and chili for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
02 - Stir in Thai red curry paste and cook for 1 minute to release its aromatic compounds.
03 - Pour in coconut milk and chicken broth. Add kaffir lime leaves if using. Bring to a gentle simmer.
04 - Add mushrooms and simmer for 5 minutes until just tender.
05 - Add shrimp and cook for 2-3 minutes until pink and cooked through.
06 - Stir in fish sauce, sugar, and lime juice. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired, adding more lime juice, fish sauce, or sugar.
07 - Remove lemongrass, ginger or galangal, and lime leaves from the pot.
08 - Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with cilantro, green onions, and lime wedges.

# Best Practices:

01 -
  • It comes together in 35 minutes, which means you can go from craving Thai takeout to actually eating something better than what you'd order.
  • The coconut milk makes it creamy without being heavy, and the shrimp cooks so fast you'll forget they were ever raw.
  • One pot, minimal cleanup, maximum flavor complexity—it's the kind of dish that makes you look like you spent hours cooking.
02 -
  • Don't skip smashing the lemongrass because the difference between bruised and unbruised is the difference between a good soup and one that tastes like you actually know what you're doing.
  • The soup will taste slightly underseasoned while it's hot because your taste buds are affected by temperature; let it cool slightly before you adjust seasoning, or you'll end up with something aggressively salty.
  • Fish sauce is polarizing, so taste it before you add the full amount if you're cooking for people who've never had it—you can always add more but you can't take it out.
03 -
  • Buy shrimp the day you plan to cook if possible, and keep them in the coldest part of your refrigerator; frozen shrimp work too but fresh ones stay more tender during the brief cooking time.
  • Toast whole spices like coriander or cumin in a dry pan before grinding them and stirring into the curry paste if you want to deepen the flavor even further, though this step is optional for the casual cook.
Go Back