Thai curry soup with spinach is the perfect blend of spicy, salty, sweet and sour. It’s easy to make and so delicious!
We love Thai food — but I’d never really tried making it at home before now. I figured I couldn’t go wrong by starting with a simple soup and I was right about that. This one came together quickly and disappeared fast!
Even if you’re not a big fan of Thai food, I think you should give this soup a try. It might break you out of that boring lunchtime routine you’ve got going on…I’m preaching to myself here, friends, because this Thai Curry Soup helped to wake up my tastebuds and convinced me to get more creative at lunchtime.
As a quick side note, my husband turned up his nose when he caught a whiff of the fish sauce for this recipe straight from the jar. It does smell pretty bad by itself. But my advice is…don’t skip the fish sauce! The soup is a tasty blend of flavors and the fish sauce (which is made from fermented, salted anchovies) adds a distinct salty taste, but doesn’t jump out at you in the final dish.
My Recipe Inspiration
I can’t take credit for this tasty recipe. It comes from Katya, who has a lot of easy-to-follow recipes using fresh ingredients on her blog, littlebroken.com. I link directly to her Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup below, but first I’m sharing a few ingredient notes and simple changes I made here.
Ingredients for Thai Curry Soup with Spinach
- Olive oil
- Yellow onion, diced
- Red bell pepper, diced
- Carrots, diced
- Garlic, minced
- Fresh ginger, grated or diced
- Red curry paste: It’s made from dried red chiles that have been pounded with Asian shallots and spices. The heat of curry paste varies from brand to brand, so you might want to sample it before using the full amount. I used Thai Kitchen brand.
- Chicken broth (or vegetable stock)
- Full-fat coconut milk: I used a lower fat version because that’s what we had on hand.
- Fish sauce: I used 2.5 tbsp. instead of three, but next time would probably use the full amount. The saltiness of fish sauce varies depending on the brand. I used Blue Dragon brand.
- Ramen noodles (or rice noodles): Discard the seasoning packet that comes with Ramen or reserve it for another use.
- Fresh baby spinach, optional: I added a generous handful of chopped spinach.
- Fresh basil (or cilantro) — The original recipe calls for cilantro, but I substituted basil.
- Fresh lime juice
Note: My only changes were to add spinach; substitute basil for the cilantro and cut back just a tiny bit on the fish sauce. I also used a lower fat coconut milk instead of full-fat.
The Basic Steps
Thai Curry Soup with Spinach is simple to make. First, you’ll cook the onion, pepper and carrots in the oil. Next you’ll add the garlic, ginger and red curry paste and cook until fragrant, about one minute.
Then add the chicken or vegetable broth, coconut milk and fish sauce. Let it come to a simmer and cook uncovered about five minutes. Add spinach and noodles and cook until the noodles are tender and the spinach is wilted. Stir in lime juice and basil (or cilantro) just before serving. That’s it!
Get the quantities and full directions here.
Looking for more soup recipes?
Spicy Corn Chowder with Bacon
Three of the Best Lentil Soups with Lemon
Ginger Noodle Soup with Bok Choy
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