Thai Shrimp Soup with Coconut Milk for a Quick Lunch Recipe
A light, fragrant soup with shrimp and coconut milk is a dish that in Thailand can easily be a full meal. It’s somewhere between classic Tom Yum and Tom Kha, but in a simpler, home-style version. Perfect when you want Thai vibes without complicated ingredients and long cooking.
This is a hybrid of two popular Thai soups – spicy-sour Tom Yum and milder, coconut-based Tom Kha. In taste it’s closer to home-style versions than to the very hot restaurant variants.
In terms of flavor it sits exactly between spicy Tom Yum and milder Tom Kha, so it also works for people who avoid very hot soups. It’s based on a few key Thai ingredients but doesn’t require a whole cupboard of exotic spices. Thanks to frozen shrimp and curry paste you can build a multi-layered flavor profile on a weeknight.
Why this version works
- Combining stock and coconut milk gives a broth that is both light and creamy.
- Briefly frying the curry paste in oil draws out its aroma without long cooking.
- The shrimp go into the pot at the end, so they stay juicy instead of rubbery.
- The ingredients are easy to find in regular supermarkets or online, without hunting down specialty stores.
Chef's tips
If you’re using frozen shrimp, thaw them in a sieve in the fridge and drain very well – the meltwater will dilute the flavor and lower the soup’s temperature. Don’t add salt before the fish sauce and lime juice, as it’s very easy to oversalt. The perfect moment to turn off the heat is when the mushrooms are soft, the shrimp are pink, and you can see a delicate coconut “mist” on the surface of the soup rather than a thick, greasy layer.
How to serve
Serve in large bowls with jasmine rice or thin rice noodles, which you can pour over directly with the hot soup. For a full “Thai-style” dinner, add a simple cucumber, cilantro and lime salad and a small bowl of fresh chilies or chili flakes so everyone can adjust the heat to taste.
Watch out for
- Don’t let the coconut milk come to a rolling boil, as it can curdle and split.
- Don’t cook the shrimp longer than it takes for them to turn pink – reheating them for a long time will make them tough.
- Be sure to fish out the kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass before serving, as they’re tough and fibrous.
Substitutions
- You can replace frozen shrimp with fresh ones, reducing the cooking time to 2–3 minutes.
- You can swap shiitake for button mushrooms or oyster mushrooms, keeping similar slice thickness.
- If you don’t have kaffir lime leaves, add a strip of lime zest and remove it before serving.
- In a pinch, replace lemongrass with lime zest and juice added at the end.
Ingredients
- raw shrimp - 250 g
- coconut milk kokosowe z puszki - 400 ml
- vegetable or chicken stock - 600 ml
- lemongrass - 1 pieces
- kaffir lime leaves - 3 pieces
- fresh ginger or galangal - 20 g
- shiitake mushrooms or button mushrooms - 120 g
- red or green curry paste - 1.5 tablespoon
- fish sauce rybny - 2 tablespoon
- sugar trzcinowy lub biały - 1 teaspoon
- lime juice - 2 tablespoon
- cherry tomatoes - 8 pieces
- fresh coriander - 2 tablespoon
- oil roślinny - 1 tablespoon
Preparation
- Lightly bash the lemongrass with the handle of a knife, then cut it into 3–4 pieces. Slice the ginger thinly. Slice the mushrooms thinly and halve the cherry tomatoes.
- Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the curry paste and fry for about 1 minute, stirring, until it becomes very fragrant but not burnt.
- Pour in the stock, add the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and ginger slices. Stir, bring to a gentle boil and simmer over low heat for 5–7 minutes so the stock absorbs the aroma.
- Add the coconut milk, mushrooms and tomatoes. Simmer for another 5 minutes over low heat, until the mushrooms soften.
- Add the shrimp. Cook for 3–4 minutes, until the shrimp turn pink and opaque. Do not cook them longer so they don’t become rubbery.
- Season the soup with fish sauce and sugar. Stir and taste. Finally, turn off the heat and add the lime juice to keep a fresh, citrusy flavour.
- Remove the pieces of lemongrass and the lime leaves from the soup (they are not pleasant to eat).
- Serve the hot soup sprinkled with fresh coriander. You can serve it with a bowl of cooked jasmine rice on the side or add some rice directly into the soup bowl.
Storage
No storage information available for this dish.
I most often make this soup on Mondays, when all I have in the fridge is stock, frozen shrimp and a can of coconut milk – it’s my way to have a Thai-style evening without special shopping.
