Easy Thai Coconut Soup “Tom Kha Gai”

When it comes to soup, this is hands down one of my favorites. It is creamy, savory, and spicy! The best part of this soup is it is completely dairy and gluten free! When I go to my favorite Thai spots, I always get this classic soup. What makes my recipe stand out is you are able to replicate this dish with common grocery store items. No worries on having to go to the Asian Market! While I like to stay as authentic as possible, sometimes that is not realistic. So enjoy the flavors from my favorite soup with one-stop shopping!

In your soup pot, first sauté thinly sliced onions, minced garlic, and ginger with some coconut oil. Sauté until fragrant about 1 minute. The traditional recipe calls for galangal, a root similar to ginger in the same family. This can be tricky to find, so ginger is a fine substitute. Next, add about 3-4 cups chicken broth. To make this even more nutrient dense, add chicken bone broth!

To the broth veggie mixture, add however many Thai Chilies you would like for heat. I added about 3-4 and thought it was mild-medium spice. Add 2 stalks of lemon grass. For the lemon grass, I like to either cut them in half or take the back of the knife and smash them once of twice. This opens up the stalk so you get that delicious flavor! Most large grocery stores have fresh lemon grass. If you do not have lemongrass, then some lemon zest is an easy substitute.

Next add your red curry paste and fish sauce. These were easily found in my local grocery store in the International section. Add your coconut milk and give your soup a stir! Pre-chop your chicken into small bite sized pieces and put it in the soup. The chicken will cook in the broth.

This soup traditionally calls for Makrut lime leaves. This is hard to find unless you got to a speciality grocery store, so I just used lime zest! Finally, add some sugar, and Thai basil. I did use actual Thai basil, but if you do not have that, use a combination of cilantro and basil. I dipped the whole leaves and stem into the soup to cook, but remove them and the lemongrass before serving.

Throw in your salt and mushrooms and let the soup simmer on low to medium heat until the chicken and mushrooms are cooked. I like soups that cook low and slow. I find the flavor is delicious. This soup is even better the next day! Disclaimer* color of this soup can vastly differ based on how much red curry paste you add and how much coconut milk. Flavors are similar but more paste will be more spice and more milk will be creamier!