Tom kha gai (Thai coconut chicken soup)
The famous Thai coconut soup: a fragrant broth infused with lemongrass and ginger, or galangal if you can find it, silky with coconut milk and full of tender chicken and mushrooms, then seasoned off the heat with fish sauce and plenty of lime. Sour, salty, creamy and gently warm, with chilies on the side.
- Time
- 45 min (15 prep + 30 cook)
- Servings
- 4
- Per serving
- 480 kcal
- Protein
- 41 g
Ingredients
- 3 cups chicken broth, low-sodium
- 2 stalks lemongrass, cut in 2.5 cm (1-inch) pieces and bruised
- a 7 cm (3-inch) piece ginger, thinly sliced; galangal if you can find it
- 1 small onion, cut in thin wedges
- 4 cups mushrooms, sliced (oyster or white button)
- 1 1/3 lb chicken breast, in thin bite-size slices
- 1 can (14 oz) coconut milk, full-fat
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/4 cup lime juice, from about 3 limes
- 2 tsp honey
- a handful fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1–2 red chili pepper, thinly sliced, to serve on the side (optional)
Steps
- Bring the broth, lemongrass and ginger to a gentle simmer in a large pot and let them infuse for 10 minutes, so the broth smells of citrus and pine.
- Add the onion and mushrooms and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Add the chicken and keep at a gentle simmer for about 8 minutes, until it is 165°F and the mushrooms are soft.
- Turn the heat to low and stir in the coconut milk. Warm it for 2–3 minutes without letting it boil, because a hard boil makes coconut milk split.
- Take the pot off the heat and stir in the fish sauce, lime juice and honey. Heat dulls lime, which is why it goes in last. Taste and balance it: it should be clearly sour and salty first, then creamy, with only a hint of sweetness.
- Lift out the lemongrass and any ginger slices you can find, and ladle into bowls. Top with cilantro and serve the sliced chilies at the table for anyone who wants heat. It keeps 4 days in the fridge; reheat gently and do not boil it, then add a fresh squeeze of lime.
Good to know
What is galangal, and do I need it?
It is ginger's sharper, more citrusy, pine-scented cousin and it is what makes this soup taste like Thailand, so buy it fresh or frozen at an Asian grocer if you can. Ginger makes a very good soup, but a different one. Add the same weight, and 4 torn makrut lime leaves if you find them.
Do I eat the lemongrass and galangal?
No. They are there for flavour and are far too woody to chew, so fish them out or eat around them. In Thailand the pieces are simply left in the bowl.
Can I use light coconut milk?
Yes, at about 82 instead of 63. The soup will be thinner and a little less silky, so taste for lime and salt at the end.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 88
- Protein
- (34%)
- 8 g
- Fat
- (53%)
- 5 g
- Carbohydrates
- (14%)
- 3 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 337 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1920 kcal goes into the pot and 2318 g of ingredients comes out as about 2175 g of food: 88 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.