Loaded with coconut milk, veggies, and tender bites of chicken, this Instant Pot Thai Coconut Chicken Soup is the very definition of good for you comfort food
Spring, summer, winter, or fall, I crave Thai red curry all year long.
Every weekend for the past 8 years my husband and I have gotten a babysitter for “date night.” In the warm months date night consists of a high adventure ride through the mountains on my sanity saver that my family refers to as “Katie”. Katie is otherwise known as a KTM 1290 Adventure Motorcycle, but some call it, “weird looking street bike.”
In the cold months date night is usually running errands and grocery shopping, but I still love and treasure every second of it.
No matter the time of year, 9 times out of 10, date night dinner is all about kickin' back at my favorite Thai restaurant and taking a full hour to consume egg rolls, peanut sauce and a giant bowl of red curry.
I beg them for their recipe at least once a month and they just smile, laugh, and walk away.
Until I can discover this perfect red curry secret, I'm thrilled to be making batch after batch of this glorious Thai Coconut Chicken Soup, AKA Tom Kha Gai.
WHY YOU WILL LOVE THIS EASY THAI COCONUT CURRY SOUP
- Crazy easy, flavorful, one pot dinner. However, if you have a second pressure cooker, a side of brown rice to soak up the flavorful broth is pretty much gold
- One minute pressure cooking time. ONE MINUTE!
- Creamy bites of eggplant. Trust me on this one. I used to be a fervent eggplant hater, but when cooked right, it is melt in your mouth amazing
- You'll just about get your full day's serving of vegetables with this one meal, and you'll love every second of it
- The broth, it's insane
HOW TO MAKE EASY TOM KHA GAI
- Stir together the magical peanut curry broth
- Prepare your veggies
- Chop your chicken
- Stir chicken into the pot first, top with veggies, do not stir
- Pressure cook for 1 minute, done!
- Garnish with fresh basil, peanuts, and a splash of lime juice
I've said it many times before, so I apologize if you're tired of hearing it, but if there was ever a food to slow down and savor, it's Thai food. This soup is medicine for the mind, body, and soul and has the power to transform my mood every single time.
Good mood, superpower, body and soul healing Coconut Curry Soup. How could you possibly not be printing off this recipe right this very second?
Enjoy!
PS: If you have the secret to the best restaurant-style Thai Red Curry, I've only got two questions for you: How much for your recipe? Is my kid's college savings enough?
VARIATIONS
- I love a full vegetarian bowl of curry soup. Use vegetable broth and amp up the veggies. You won't miss the meat for a second
- Make it with green curry paste
- Serve over brown rice noodles instead of rice
BEST VEGETABLES FOR CURRY SOUP
I've eaten a bowl of red curry nearly every Saturday for 2 years, so I'm gonna consider myself an expert.
- Must haves are broccoli and cabbage because they soak up the broth so well.
- Ideally, there is well-cooked eggplant (it gets so silky smooth), bell peppers, and mushrooms. Basil is the best garnish.
- Just say no to canned mini corn cobs – yuck those things taste like the can. Bamboo shoots and carrots are allowed as long as they are minimal.
Voila, perfect bowl of curry.
BEST RED CURRY PASTE
- Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste – easiest to find in every grocery section in the oriental aisle, most commonly used in just about any curry recipe you'll find online
- Thai and True Red Curry Paste – a recent discovery and possibly the most flavorful. I've never seen it at my local grocery stores so I suggest ordering it on Amazon.
- Homemade Red Curry Paste – I made this once upon a time and was absolutely delighted
I'm going to give fair warning here to prevent anyone from feeling like I betrayed them:
Each curry paste may vary in heat level from one bottle to the next, even in the same brand. Eight times out of ten, the heat level is very mild and perfectly acceptable to all I serve.
Then all of a sudden, WHAM! Spicy town curry paste and it ruins the whole pot of soup. I've made a habit of tasting a small dab of straight paste to determine what I'm dealing with. I highly suggest this quick taste test.
MORE RECIPES TO USE YOUR RED CURRY PASTE
- Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup with a Thai Twist
- Thai Mango Chicken Red Curry
- Instant Pot Thai Butternut Squash Red Curry
TOOLS USED TO MAKE INSTANT POT THAI COCONUT CHICKEN SOUP
Recipe adapted from Show Me the Yummy
PrintInstant Pot Thai Coconut Chicken Soup
Loaded with coconut milk, veggies, and tender bites of chicken, this Instant Pot Thai Coconut Chicken Soup is the very definition of good for you comfort food
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 minute
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients
- 2 (14 ounce) cans lite coconut milk
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup peanut butter (I use the natural PB without sugar)
- 1 (4 ounce) jar red curry paste (start with half of a jar if you're worried about it being too spicy)
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- zest and juice of 1 lime
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
- 1 small yellow or sweet onion, diced small
- 3/4 cup sliced carrots
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1 heaping cup chopped eggplant
- 1 red bell pepper sliced thick
- 1 green bell pepper sliced thick
- 1 heaping cup broccoli florets (cut big)
- lime wedges, torn basil, red pepper flakes, and chopped peanuts for garnish
Instructions
- Add coconut milk, chicken broth, peanut butter, curry paste, soy sauce, sugar, fish sauce, ginger, salt, garlic, and lime to the pressure cooker pot; stir well to combine.
- Add chicken, onion, carrots, mushrooms, and eggplant; stir.
- Add bell peppers and broccoli on top, do not stir.
- Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a sealed position. Cook at high pressure for 1 minute.
- When cooking is complete, quick release the pressure.
- Stir, taste, and season with extra salt, sugar, or pepper flakes if needed.
- Serve hot with lime wedges, torn basil, chopped peanuts, and a bowl of rice for adding to the soup as desired.
Notes
- Curry paste can vary in heat level from one jar to the next. I suggest tasting a small bit of the paste. If there is no heat, go ahead and add the whole jar. If it's spicy, start with half of a jar. If it's REALLY spicy, a couple tablespoons might be plenty. You can always add extra curry paste after it's cooked if needed.
- As written, this is a simple dump and walk away meal. For an extra depth of flavor, take time to saute the onions in oil for 5 minutes, then add the curry paste and stir constantly for 1 minute. Add the rest of the broth ingredients and proceed with remaining directions.
- If you like your veggies very al dente, consider cooking them in a saute pan as the chicken and eggplant cook in the pressure cooker.
- Add whatever veggies you like! This recipe is very flexible, just leave quicker cooking veggies on top of the broth to cook and cut them into large bite size pieces to prevent overcooking them.
Keywords: instant pot soup, red curry, thai food
So I’m pretty sure we live in the same town (I think we have some mutual friends), but I’m wondering where in the valley you get decent thai food???!!! Didn’t have a good experience with the only one I know of here… everything tasted like salt =( would love to hear of your good experience(s)!
Jen, Are you in Cache Valley? I go to the ghetto Thai House and order the red curry, just vegetables, number 4 spicy. My husband always orders the green curry. I love it so much, we eat there almost every weekend!
I am! Small piece of history, it used to be the home of my great great grandma! I was wondering if you got the house or the red curry. I think I had the yellow curry last time and it was a bit lackluster… more salt tasting than curry =( I’ll give your recommendation a try. There are a lot of dishes I’d like to try there but I don’t want to commit to a whole meal, so it’s nice to have a recommendation!
Jen, no way, that’s so crazy! How did it end up being turned into restaurants? It could use a little makeover inside, haha! I didn’t love the yellow curry, it had a bit of an Indian taste to me. The house I like okay, but it’s quite sweet. It kind of tastes like the red curry with peanut sauce mixed in. I hate being disappointed when I got out to dinner, so once I discovered I liked the red curry, it’s what I’ve stuck with. It just never gets old. I will warn you however, about ever 5th time it’s bland and boring and breaks my heart. But I keep going back 🙂
I had the red curry and veggies per your suggestion… it was really good! Thanks!!!!
Jen, I’m glad you liked it! I had it last night and it was a good one 🙂
Hi Marci 🙂 Your blog has quickly become a fav of mine (obviously!). I think we might be food-cravings twins? I made the orange chicken last week for the second time. Delicious. I love the time you take to refine your recipes so that they really are no-fail for us.
This one is currently in the instantpot as I type. I was searching for a tasty Thai soup that didn’t call for lemongrass/kaffir lime leaves/galangal, as none of those are available near me right now–and I was delighted when your site popped up! I know it will be perfect. I didn’t have quite enough coconut milk in the fridge so I added more broth to make up the volume. I am also using cauliflower instead of broc (as that’s what I had on hand) and some quartered tomatoes that were languishing on my cupboard. No mushrooms of eggplant unfortunately. Can’t wait to have a hearing bowl. Even though it’s summer I’m still craving that comforting curry goodness.
Thanks for all you do! It really helps me, and other I am sure!
Erin, Mmmm, that Orange chicken just makes me so happy! I hope you loved the Thai soup. I’m not a huge eggplant fan but I absolutely adore it in this soup. It cooks up so creamy. I crave curry no matter the temperature outside! Thanks for such a sweet comment!