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This is bonkers good! Thank you for being so darn talented.
Warm, rich, savory coconut creamy broth, swirls of chili oil floating on top, beautiful veg and cubes of flavor-soaked tofu, and a pile of steamy rice at your service. This soup is a cool night, sweatshirt sleeves over your palms, curl up and into a warm bowl kinda meal.
Oh, we love so many things about this one. It is super fast and so very customizable because you can play around with your protein and veg. We found it to be great for the whole fam, too. Like for example, if your kiddos find soup-eating to be the literal hardest thing in the world? Cool, cool, no prob – you can pull out the tofu and veg and just serve it on rice for them without the broth (more for you). Or if you want chicken, you can swap that in for the tofu (or follow this seriously good recipe instead!).
It’s super cozy with warm, punchy, fresh, sweet-spicy flavors, and we are so ready to curl up with big trough-y bowls of this all season long.
Prefer To Watch Instead Of Read?
How To Make Thai Coconut Soup
This beauty is inspired by an absolute favorite Thai soup called Tom Kha. Traditional Tom Kha has galangal in it (the “Kha” part, the “Tom” means “soup”), which is a fragrant root vegetable that is like, ginger-adjacent, as well as makrut lime leaves, lemongrass and Thai chiles. Though these ingredients are extremely delicious, we found them a bit harder to find in our regular grocery stores. So we substituted some things like ginger, lime juice, and chili paste, while still keeping the fresh lemongrass (which is becoming increasingly more common to find, yay!), earthy mushroom and sweet red pepper, and creamy coconut milk for a definitely inspired-by-but-not-totally-authentic nod to the soup we love.
For a look at a more traditional soup, blogger and YouTuber Seonkyoung Longest has a really beautiful video and recipe post for Tom Kha Gai (made with chicken or “Gai”) that’s worth a watch. She explains a bit more about the difference between galangal and ginger as well as the other ingredients that you would traditionally see in a Tom Kha recipe.
Bringing this soup-nod together is actually pretty darn easy. You’ll get the aromatics going first, and then it’s kind of just a stack and simmer sort of deal.
- Sauté garlic, ginger and lemongrass until super fragrant and yummy.
- Add chili paste and any veg you like (we did mushrooms + red pepp).
- Then add your tofu (or other protein of choice, chicken is also great) and broth and let it simmer for a bit.
- Coconut milk goes in and deepen the flavors with some brown sugar, lemon zest, fish sauce, and fresh cilantro. Yum, yum, yum!
- Scoop over some steamy rice, top with chili oil, more fresh cilantro…whooboy, we’re getting hungry.
So many beautiful fresh ingredients and flavors that only get better the longer they sit together (hello yes, leftovers dream!). The tofu holds its shape and texture beautifully, however, you could omit it if you like. But oh my, it is nice how that amazing broth just sneaks up into those delicious little cubes.
What To Serve With This Soup
Our favorite way to serve this champ is just ladled right over the top or alongside some fresh steamy rice. The soup is so good to scoop and slurp on its own, but we loved the extra little texture chomps that the rice provided.
Is there a limit to how much fresh cilantro you can slap onto something? Hahahaha no, just pile it on there. Shower with a fresh lime squeeze, dribble some chili oil on top, and then dribble some more because it is so spectacular.
This keeps really well for leftovers, but we would store the rice and soup separately for optimal texture success. If your soup separates a little, that’s totally okay! Just give her a good shake and she’s good to go.
Make It Your Own
We also love a good go-with-the-flow meal and this soup IS that. It is super versatile, so you can customize it to whatever you fancy. Not a tofu fan? No prob – chicken or shrimp would be outstanding. Want a bunch of other vegetables in there because, oh no, you got overzealous in the produce aisle this week? Great, toss them in!
Don’t like cilantro? How dare you, please leave. KIDDING. Other fresh herbs, like basil, would be so, so good.
However you put your signature on it, get ready to have yourself warmed from the inside out. Slurp after smile after slurp after smile, this little cozy, fragrant, rich, creamy little wonder has got your number.
Thai Coconut Soup: FAQs
Absolutely! Chicken or shrimp in this soup would be really good.
Fish sauce and chili paste are the only non-vegan ingredients in this soup. You could either purchase a vegan fish sauce (typically found at health-food stores) or use soy sauce (to taste) in place of the fish sauce. You could omit the chili paste or use a fresh Thai chili instead.
If lemongrass is a hard-to-find ingredient for you, a bit of lemon zest can work in a pinch.
We’ve got what you need right in the notes section of the recipe card for full Instant Pot instructions!
Thai Coconut Soup with Tofu and Rice
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 5–6 servings 1x
Description
It’s Thai Coconut Soup with Tofu and Rice! A savory coconut creamy broth, swirls of chili oil floating on top, beautiful veg and cubes of flavor-soaked tofu, and a pile of steamy rice at your service.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- one 3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and cut into thin slices
- 3 stalks lemongrass, ends trimmed, outer layer peeled, and cut into bigger chunks
- 1–2 tablespoons roasted red chili paste
- 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 block of extra firm tofu, pressed and cut into small cubes
- 5–6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- about 20 ounces full fat coconut milk (I like Aroy-D brand, and I use about 1.5 cans)
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce (more or less to taste)
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- juice and zest of 1-2 limes (to taste)
- salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon)
- lots of cilantro
- chili oil for serving
- rice for serving
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger, and lemongrass; sauté for 3-5 minutes (but don’t let the garlic brown – if it starts browning, remove from heat / turn the heat down).
- When everything is soft-ish and smells really nice, add the roasted red chili paste and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and red pepper (and any other veggies you like). Sauté for 3-5 minutes to get them sweating a bit, and then add the tofu and broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Add coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice and zest, and salt. Stir in the cilantro. Taste and adjust till you get it just how you like it. Pull out the lemongrass chunks.
- I like to ladle the soup over a shallow bowl filled halfway with rice – so the soup kind of goes on one side and the rice on the other, with the coconuty broth spilling over into the rice a bit. Top it off with extra cilantro and chili oil. SO, SO GOOD.
Notes
Some recipes instruct you to keep the ginger in bigger chunks so you can pull it out before serving – but personally I kind of enjoy an occasional bite of thinly-sliced broth-soaked ginger, so I just leave the ginger in!
The lemongrass stalks, especially when in bigger pieces, can be really tough, which is why I’d advise taking those out before serving. You could also use lemongrass paste for a little more convenience so you can just get the flavor without needing to pull out the stalks of lemongrass.
Instant Pot Instructions: Press the Sauté button on the Instant Pot and heat the oil. Then, sauté the garlic, ginger, and lemongrass for 2-3 minutes until soft-ish. Add the roasted red chili paste and sauté for another minute. Then, add in the tofu and 4 cups of broth. Place the lid on the pot and cook on Manual mode (high pressure) for 3 minutes. Quick release the steam using the valve. Stir in the coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice and zest, and salt. Add in the mushrooms and red pepper. If you feel like it could use more liquid, you can add an additional cup of broth if needed. Press the Sauté button again to simmer the veggies for 5-6 minutes until softened. Pull out the lemongrass chunks and stir in the cilantro.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Thai-Inspired
Keywords: thai soup, coconut soup, tom kha
More Coconutty Goodness
- Spicy Instant Pot Carrot Soup (zingy in all the right ways)
- Instant Pot Cauliflower Curry (*muah muah* so good!)
- Coconut Curry Ramen (the most slurpable noodles)
- 5 Ingredient Vegan Vodka Pasta (creamy, tangy, and luscious)
Time To Show You Off!
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of luscious coconut milk recipes. Check it out!
Hi, how many grams of tofu? I don’t know how much is a block of tofu where you live, in my country it’s almost 200g. Thank you!
Roughly 410 grams!
Another POY keeper! This was SO good. I was craving it but didn’t have any protein to add, so added edamame. I was left with so much extra broth I’ve been adding to it for delicious leftovers daily. I love veggies and would add way more next time. I bought a package of stir fry veg mix from Trader Joe’s and sautéed those to add- very good addition! If you’re short on time but craving comfort, the cheater frozen ginger and garlic cubes, and lemongrass paste cut down on the time for this recipe. Thank you POY team for all of your delicious inspiration!
I just finished making this for my family and rushed right over to leave a review. This was a HIT!!! We used gochujang paste for the chili paste and it was *chefs kiss*. Definitely adding this one to our regular rotation.
Thank you for this recipe. it is a keeper!
Instead of the red chili paste, I used the rest of a tub Mae ploy Green curry paste I had (I’d guess about 6 tablespoons so it did come out spicy) and 2 cans of 65% coconut milk. 560g extra firm tofu, and some additional veg onto of mushrooms, peppers: carrot, sliced red onion, bamboo shoots.
Salted well and added extra brown sugar to taste as per recipe
Kids and adults alike loved it.
I used 1.5lt of chicken stock(cube.) There is a lot of soup remaining for another day even after feeding 5 of us today.
This looks amazing! I must try it. Can you freeze it?
SOOOO delicious ! I didn’t even have all the ingredients and it came out so beautifully. I had made it for my mom a few months ago; and she’s been begging me to remake it ever since. So I’m making it for us tonight. Can’t wait to re-live this meal. Great recipe, will be trying more thank you!!!
How should I go about substituting shrimp for tofu?
You could pan fry the shrimp and stir them in right at the end. Enjoy!
One of my favorites! Making it on a regular basis
Hi! Would gochujang be an ok substitute for the red chili paste? Or is that too different of a flavor profile?
We probably wouldn’t recommend that sub as the taste will be too different.
CAME OUT SO DELICIOUS!!!!! i didn’t have lemongrass, tofu, chili paste, or cilantro but I was able to sub the last 3 ingredients for tilapia(seasoned,seared and added at the end) siracha and basil and it came out absolutely fantastic !!!! 10/10 recommend I would note that the this recipe is indeed a SOUP i was expecting more of a curry consistency j bcuz of the ingredients but no it’s rlly soupy 😭
I never comment on these blogs, but I had to let the people know that this is the recipe you’re looking for! Thai soup is a tough nut to crack, and this recipe ticks all the boxes. Incredible soup, perfect for a cold winter day.
Galangal is NOT IN THE INGREDIENT LIST! I got home from the market with no galangal, which is the important ingredient, apparently. I guess I’ll substitute ginger.
I’ve been waiting for a Tom Kha recipe that hits the spot, and this is it! I can never get the balance of salty and sweet down, and this was a great balance. Thank you!
Made this last year and it’s one of my POY favs! Love the tofu but have a lot of shrimp I need to use – would you recommend sautéing a bit with the veggies in the beginning or just adding it in with the broth like you would the tofu and let them cook while it simmers?
Shrimp would be delicious! We’d suggest a quick sauté for the shrimp and then keep them on the side until the very end. Then you can stir them into the soup. Just don’t want the shrimp to overcook and get chewy.
Yummmm, this reminds me of one of my favourite dishes from a local restaurant. Has anyone tries rice noodles instead of rice? And have any suggestions on how I could do it? Nomnomnom slurp, nom!
We haven’t tried rice noodles, but I’m thinking you could just cook them separately, and then add them in at the end!
This is a very thin and lackluster soup.
We made this last night with homemade chicken broth and a ton of veggies: shiitake mushrooms, yellow and orange bell peppers, bok choy, sweet onion, and carrots. It was SO delicious!
This is super good and filling! I love curry of all kinds, but really like how this comes together. Don’t skimp on the fish sauce, brown sugar and lime. They really make it.
AMAZING. I have never had Thai soup and it’s definitely a new fav. ❤️
I love this recipe, but need to make no to low sodium. The recipe says it has over 1k sodium. Help!
We’d recommend using less salt and less fish sauce to cut down the sodium!
I really enjoyed this recipe. I followed the Instant Pot directions and used lemongrass paste. Also just dumped in two full cans of coconut milk. Worked great, tastes takeout Thai food worthy over a bowl of rice!
Our new favorite soup HANDS DOWN! Made it for our friends who just had a baby and it was incredible. We love tofu but I’m planning to make for family who doesn’t love tofu – if using shrimp instead would you cook them separately and add in? If not at what point would you add them to the cooking process in the soup? THANK YOU!
This soup is a home run!! Easy, healthy, comforting, delicious. Thank you so much and keep them coming.
You are truly passionate about your food blogging career. Thai Coconut soup is something I would’ve never thought about putting together as a healthy weight loss meal with you personally asked me. How about adding not just a tofu, but also steamed shrimp, scallops, and chopped lobster meat? 🙂
Absolutely delicious. Just the best combination of easy and damn tasty. Thanks for yet another amazing recipe!!!