Spicy Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

This soup has a wonderful balance of fresh flavors. I made it for the first time last night and followed the recipe exactly as written, except I put in more chicken. (I used about 3 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken breast.) My husband declared this dish an A+ and requested it again tonight for our New Year's Eve dinner. We just enjoyed our second night in a row of this soup for dinner and we all loved it again. Definitely as good, if not better, than anything you'll get in a restaurant!

Good flavors in this soup. I made a double batch. I wanted it to be a little creamier - probably the light coconut milk. A bit of a process to do on a work night, unless you buy a cooked chicken at the market. But a wonderful weekend soup. Served with a tossed green salad. Thanks Cooking Light!

My husband said it was "restaurant quality".

Soup is very flavorful and quick to make. I used chicken tenders to quickly cook and shred. This will be a go to recipe that's tasty!

This had a wonderful flavor and just the right amount of kick. I did use twice the amount of lemongrass. I used a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store to make this very quickly and easily. Baby bella mushrooms tasted great... and I don't like mushrooms.

Made this last night and it is AMAZING!!!! The broth is to die for I all but licked my bowl clean. Even with the mushrooms it was wonderful.......AND I am NOT a mushroom fan at all. I did cut the red bell pepper into smaller pieces neither one of us are fond of huge chunks of bell pepper.

Made this tonight and it was fantastic. Followed the recepie except for the lemongrass stalk, I used the minced type you get in a tube at the market ( I used 1 tsp). My husband loved it as well and thought it was very hearty. A great light dinner on a day when you might have otherwise overindulged.

We loved this soup. I had no lemon grass and had to cut back the spicy sambal oelek for the sake of my sensitive stomach. The flavor was fantastic! We can't wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I echo the person who said the broth was so good she wanted to lick the bowl. haha. In this case I knew we'd both be extra hungry and I didn't have as much chicken as the recipe called for, I added a little tofu and some extra veggies and some cooked brown rice to make the meal a little bulkier.

This soup was fabulous, I didn't use fish sauce, only because I didn't have any. I couldn't find fresh lemon grass but found it in a tube, so I used 1T of that. We also added some noodle. The family loved it, we will definately make this again.

Rarely, and I mean it may never have even happened yet, do I give 3 stars but this recipe just wasn't quite there for me. One of my VERY favorite things to order at a Thai restaurant and I was really excited to make it at home. I think my problem was the fish sauce....next time I might try a little less. Probably more of a mental thing as I'm sure the restaurant version has this ingredient, but it's a bit different adding it myself. Don't let my review discourage you...it was still good, I just might tweak it a bit the next time :)

Just love this. Noodles are great but they nearly double the calories -- I put a handful of baby spinach in the bottom of the bowl before I add the soup. Pretty and delish!!!

This is delicious. If other reviewers feel it lacks oomph, I think it's the chicken broth. I use penzys paste with water and it gives it depth. Also gives a bit more sodium but if you're aware of that, it's worth it for the flavor. So easy and wonderfully satisfying. Used rotisserie for convenience.

Nice, not what you get at the Thai restaurant but for a light, easy to make-at-home recipe its pretty tasty! For my pregnant palate I would have cut back on the sambal to 1 tsp and I also added some rice noodles/glass noodles to make it a more substantial meal. Since I found lemongrass and am freezing remainder I will probably make again.

This was ridiculously good! Also found this recipe for cooking the chicken breasts (delicious, but not as light as the rest of the recipe) - http://www.thekitchn.com/super-kitchen-m-36891

Great flavor. Will make this again. We got 3 servings filling 3/4 of each bowl out this batch (not 4 srvgs); it was a meager dinner--drank some water to get full. A simple salad on the side would of helped. Next time I will double the recipe as it was a lot of cutting/chopping and leftovers would have been nice and a full bowl of soup. Will reduce fish sauce from 4 tsp to 3 tsp next time.

My husband and I loved this soup. The flavor was so good, that a week later we made it again with a few tweaks. The second time, I made it into more of a curry. I added 2 tsp. red curry paste, a bit of wondra for thickening, and only added 1/2 to 1 cup of chicken stock. Also, instead of chicken, I added uncooked shrimp once the sauce was to the thickness I wanted. It was fantastic. We'll make it for some of our friends.

The combination of flavors in this soup recipe are terrific. We thought the soup was too broth-y. Next time will try it with rice noodles, as one reviewer suggested.

Was just ok - followed recipe precisely; was not very spicy and broth was watery. It was easy though, and relatively quick. Mushrooms were nice addition.

Really good. Better than some restaurants.

This recipe was really quite delicious. I followed other reviewers suggestions and I think it was perfect. I only used 1 T of fish sauce. I'm not a fan of hot/spicy but I think it needed some chili to balance the flavors. I used 1-2 t. of garlic chili pepper sauce instead of the sambal oelek because I was afraid of it. The broth was rather thin so I added 1 bunch of cooked somen noodles and put a big handful of fresh baby spinach in the bowl before pouring in the soup. The color was nice. I would probably add more mushrooms and red peppers next time. The toppings at the end really bring it together, don't skimp!

This soup is awesome! I didn't want to waste what remained of the can coconut milk, so I dumped the remainder in soup pot. I think that made it even better!

Well...it is not Tom Ka Gai. It is a good start for a lighter Thai soup though. Like another reviewer mentioned, this is a huge fave at Thai restaurants and I was looking forward to seeing if it really could be a lighter version. It isn't really. Some of the elements are there but it was lacking the flavor power behind the creaminess of the coconut milk. Maybe more chili paste, kaffir lime leaves... I am going to look at the regular version and see if I can't amp it up a bit but keep the lighter milk. Am also going to see if the leftovers are better. If you have not had this soup at a restaurant, you should try the recipe here if you like the elements. Served with an Asian slaw and potstickers. That was a good combo for a nice size dinner.

I love this soup and so do the family members that I shared it with. I added Udon noodles and it was even better. Very easy!

This soup is simple to prepare. It uses leftover chicken (I used a store bought Rotisserie) and it is inexpensive. The third time I prepared this recipe, I was out of chicken stock and used vegetable stock instead. Still outstanding!

I made this for dinner tonight and it was awesome. I added more Sambal and some red curry paste. It also needs a pinch or two of salt. That could be why some thought it lacked flavor. Always season your food! :) I would definitely make this again!

I am literally eating this right now, and it is so good that I felt compelled to leave a review of it. I didn't have Sambal Olek (couldn't find it in 2 grocery stores), so I used red curry paste and one tsp. of ground red pepper instead. For the chicken, I boiled the chicken breasts in no salt added chicken broth with some black pepper and garlic. I will definitely make this again. Don't skip the toppings at the end, it really brought everything together.

Soup was easy to make, but a bit lacking on flavor. It also needs noodles to fill up the loose broth. Next time I will increase some of the spices/ingredients to make it a richer flavor and reduce the number of scallions per serving.

Delicious filling soup. I did just a little of the Sambal Oelek, because I don't like too spicy. I definitely will make this soup again.

This is our new favorite soup recipe. It gets rave reviews everytime. We make it just as the recipe says, though sometimes we make a brown rice and put it in the bottom of the bowl when we serve. Delicious!!!!

it was fabulous. i wondered if anyone else noticed that the picture for the recipe looked like it had curry in it? with or without curry, i loved it. i will add more chile paste next time. we had it with sticky rice and cucumber.

Yum! This is VERY similar to CL's Coconut Red Curry Hot Pot with Braised Chicken and Mushrooms (October 2010), which calls for red curry paste instead of sambal oelek and also has some rice noodles thrown in. We prefer that recipe to this one, simply because the ratio of broth to coconut milk is more even (so you can actually taste the coconut!). This recipe is super tasty, too, but I'd definitely try the other if you're looking for an obvious coconut flavor. It's subtle here. This recipe wins in terms of prep time, though - really fast and easy!

Excellent soup! I used 1 tbsp of lime juice and I thought it was plenty. Served with Thai Shrimp and Tofu with Asparagus. Will make again.

This was really good and very easy to prepare. My wife and I both loved this.

This was so fantastic. I followed the recipe pretty closely and couldn't think of a single thing I would change. Preparation was a little time consuming, but well worth it once the family tasted it!

Loved this soup so much last week, I am making it again today (before my leftover lemongrass goes bad)! My BF was very excited because he loves this type of soup, but has a mild fish allergy and can not usually eat the restaurant version. We replaced the fish sauce with Ponzu sauce (think soy sauce plus lime), and it was great! He requested more lemongrass this batch, but I thought it was perfect with the original recipe. Also great as leftovers. We used "Caribbean Lime" rotisserie chicken from the store.

I have made this four times already. It is really delicious and quick to make. If you are not watching calories, regular coconut milk makes this taste so, so good.

Pretty good, even though I left out the garlic, lemongrass, cilantro, and lime juice. VERY spicy, even though I only used half the chile paste.

Great, wouldn't change a thing. Very spicy.

This soup is very good! I used a little less fish sauce than the recipe called for (I was afraid my boyfriend wouldn't eat it if it smelled too much like fish sauce) and I didn't use lemongrass because my grocery was out of it, and it was still great! I also added a little cooked white rice to it, to bulk it up. I love how it has got a little kick and unique flavors. I'm a huge fan of soup in the winter and come February I'm looking for something new to switch up the usual chicken noodle and chili. This hit the spot! Definitely keeping this one around.

This was a hit, plain and simple. Great use of rotisserie chicken. I will definitely make this again.

LOVE this recipe! didn't change a thing

Love this recipe! Added pho noodles, which tends to sop up a lot of the liquid, so I added a little extra stock and coconut milk.

Made this and the husband loved it. Only changes I made were reducing the amount of chicken stock from 3 cups to 2, and I added 3 kaffir lime leaves for a more authentic Thai flavor...they are a must in any Thai curry. Other than that, it was fantastic. Will make again.