Thai red curry noodle soup
Rice noodles and tender chicken in a creamy, spicy red curry coconut broth, finished with lime and a big handful of herbs.
- 40 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.96 a serving
- 650 calories
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 8 oz rice noodles
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 lb boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 1 can coconut milk
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 limes, 1 juiced, 1 cut into wedges
- ½ cup cilantro, leaves
- 2 green onions, sliced (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
Each serving has about 650 calories, 31 g protein, 65 g carbs and 29 g fat, and costs about $3.96 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No boneless chicken thighs? Chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins work.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No coconut milk? Light coconut milk works.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Soak the noodles in a large bowl of very hot tap water for 10 minutes, until soft but still chewy, then .
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Timer: 10 min
While they soak, the shallots, the garlic, the ginger and slice the bell pepper. Slice the chicken thinly on a separate board.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Grate. Grating means rubbing food across the holes of a grater to make fine shreds or flakes. It spreads cheese, garlic or ginger evenly through a dish so it melts right in.
How you’ll know: Even shreds fall off the back of the grater, and you stop while the piece is still big enough to hold.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and cook the shallots, garlic and ginger for 2 minutes, until soft.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Add the curry paste and half the coconut milk and stir for 2 to 3 minutes, until it smells amazing and little drops of red oil appear.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Frying the paste in the thick coconut cream is what makes Thai curry taste deep and rich.Add the rest of the coconut milk, the broth, fish sauce and brown sugar and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Add the chicken and bell pepper, turn the heat to medium-low and for 8 to 10 minutes, until the chicken is white all the way through.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 9 min
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Stir in the lime juice, then taste: add more fish sauce for salt, more sugar for sweet, more lime for sour.
Divide the noodles among bowls, ladle the hot soup over, and top with cilantro, green onions and lime wedges.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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