Quick red Thai curry noodle soup
I’ve actually posted a recipe very similar to this before, but considering the photo was appalling and this recipe really deserved better, I thought I’d redo it.
Now, if you’re one of those people who cooks everything from scratch, you might hate me for this one, because it’s a bit of a cheat’s recipe. I enjoy making things from scratch (e.g. my homemade red enchilada sauce) but I’d be lying if I said I never take a short cut. This soup recipe uses shop-bought red Thai curry paste (why faff around with unfamiliar ingredients when someone who actually knows what they’re doing has already done it?), and I even used a pre-prepared mixture of stir-fry veg (far cheaper than buying each vegetable individually). If you’d prefer to buy each veg separately so you can have more control over what you include, that’s doable too. You could even view this as a fridge clear-out recipe and just use whatever you have on hand.
Red Thai curry is one of my favourite Asian dishes – it’s got a nice amount of spice but it isn’t overwhelming, and isn’t overly heavy unlike some Indian curries. The sauce is usually fairly thin, which is why it was so easy to serve this as a soup-style dish – although if you wanted, you could make this a little thicker and serve it as a curry with the noodles or rice on the side. The shop-bought curry paste is really easy to use – just mix it with some coconut milk and you’ve got yourself a tasty red Thai curry.
This recipe is perfect for this time of year because it’s fresh and fragrant, and you don’t need to turn your oven on! The heat is just about holding up here in the UK (though the sunshine has been a bit shy the last couple of days), so a stovetop meal is ideal.
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- 1tbsp oil
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- 300g mixed stir-fry vegetables (I used a pre-prepared mix with beansprouts, mangetout, baby corn, carrot, cabbage and onion, but you can use whatever you like)
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- 2-3tbsp red Thai curry paste (make sure it’s veggie!)
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- 400ml tin coconut milk
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- 300g fresh noodles (I used egg noodles but you can use a vegan noodle if needed)
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- Salt
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- Black pepper
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- 300ml water
- 2tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
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- Heat the oil in a large wok or deep frying pan, and stir-fry the vegetables for around 5 minutes – you want them to be slightly softened, but still with a nice bit of crunch.
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- Add the curry paste and mix well (I used 3tbsp but if your paste is particularly spicy, or if you just like a milder curry, you might prefer to only use 2).
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- Add the coconut milk and the fresh noodles, and season to taste. I also added around 300ml water – just add however much you need to get the curry/soup to your desired consistency. Cook over a medium heat for a few more minutes, simmering very gently, until the curry is hot.
- Stir in the chopped coriander, and serve.
This looks my favorite dish at the Thai place we visit whenever we can. I’m looking to try this but the only red curry paste we’ve been able to find has been the ‘Maesri Thai Red Curry Paste’. We tried it for a previous recipe and liked the flavor but it was just too spicy. We were thinking about trying the yellow instead but our store also has a yellow sour as well. Just wondering how these might be instead or maybe doing half/half?
I’m actually not too familiar with yellow curry paste, but you could definitely give it a go! I’m sure half and half would be fine too. To be honest though I love the flavour of the red curry paste, it’s slightly sweet which I really like, so I think if it were me I’d just stick with the red but use a bit less :)
Hi Becca,
Thai curries are one of my favorite!
We just made some the other day. It was delicious.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Amy
Pretty good for an easy, quick, healthy meal :) Needs a balance of the brown sugar/lime/heat but it’s all preference.
Tried it and loved it! Only used 2 spoonfuls of curry paste and 200g of noodles. Perfect for 2 people. Seriously good soup.
Yay glad you liked it, thanks Krystal!
My local grocery store didn’t have fresh coriander so I bought the dried kind in a jar. Should I still use the same amount? Making this tonight for Meatless Monday :)
Do you mean you have the dried herb (dried cilantro), or the ground up spice? When I say fresh coriander, that’s what some parts of the world would call cilantro. In the UK, ground coriander (the brown spice) is very different – it comes from a different part of the plant. If that’s what you’ve got, I’d just skip it or use fresh parsley or something instead, it’s there more for freshness and crispness than for flavour :)
just a quick question for clarification, do the noodles cook in the soup, or should they be cooked before being added? Thanks!
Since they’re fresh noodles rather than dried, they only really need heating through, so you can just dump them straight in the sauce. If you’re using dried noodles it might be best to cook them a little first :)
Is there a brand you recommend for red curry paste? All the ones I have seen have shrimp paste in them. I made this with yellow curry paste instead.
I think for this one I used Asda’s own brand, which is veggie. Often own brand pastes are vegetarian because they’re a bit cheaper ;)
Your Thai curry noodle soup looks great, great colours, great recipe and great photos too, I love them :)
Best wishes,
Alice
Searched for a coconut milk & noodle soup recipe and stumbled upon this one! Just made it, only with indian curry powder instead of the curry paste and udon noodles. Thanks for the inspiration, it tastes delicious!
we just had our first rain of the season and this looks like the perfect dinner to go with it. Thanks for sharing.
Found this via Pinterest and just made it. I didn’t have the noodles on hand so added some sauteed broccoli and served it over rice like a curry. Great recipe! And really easy. Just the thing for a busy weeknight. Thanks!
You pictures are truly beautiful. This soup looks really delicious. I pinned it!
Thank you so much for linking up to Saturday Dishes.
Blessings and have a wonderful weekend!
Diane Roark
We loved this recipe, Next time I think I will add some hot sauce but that is just a personal preference. Pretty cheap to make and easy and quick! 3 things I love about a recipe!
Glad you enjoyed it Shannon! :)
this looks delicious – love the idea of serving red curry as a soup! Great for cold days or wet days or any day at all :-)
Ha yeah I must say I don’t necessarily wait for the rain ;)
This might be a tasty soup, but this is definitely not a Thai red curry soup.
As one who is familiar with Thai dishes, this dish should be made differently.
Anyway, this looks good.
Just made this and added Quorn pieces too (which I fried first in the saucepan after frying all the veg and putting them into a saucepan together) yum yum yum! I always find it hard to use all the stirfry veg you get in bags really cheaply as I don’t want to eat 5 stir fries a week – this is perfect for that! xo
Quorn sounds like a great addition! Glad you enjoyed it :)
I’m a fan of doing what I do well and letting others do what they do well and I’ll always end up with a great dish to serve family and friends. This red curry looks smashing.
Oh, this is perfect. I love using a good curry paste for this dish too. Easy and always turns out good. Your curry looks delish.
I love red curry, and this looks fantastic. I love the addition of the stir fry veggies. I am totally making this soon. Thanks!
Let me know how you like it :)
Wow Becca, this soup looks amazing. I love these types of asian soups, they’re so full of flavor. I’ll have to give this a try. :)
mmm i loooove curry. this looks so good!!
I agree, sometimes the “cheats” way is just simpler, especially when you’re busy. I use a big bag of frozen veg in most of my soups anyway, so thanks for this recipe. Pictures are great :)
My oh my! This dish looks delicious! I’ve never had curry soup, but your pictures make me want to give it a try. :D
Yep, this is definitely the sort of meal I could eat on a daily basis. Lots of flavour and easy to prepare. Great recipe Bec!
I pretty much always use pre-made Thai pastes, they’re generally pretty good quality and even Thai cooks use them and it makes a super quick easy meal so how can that be bad. Love the redux photos they look delicious.
I agree, I’ll leave all the spice mixing to the people who know what they’re doing :)
Thai is my favorite kind of Asian food- and who doesn’t need the convenience of pre-packaged foods now and then?
It’s in the 60s here now, so freaking chilly in my office. I am craving something nice and warm :)
Green curry is my favourite, but I have LOADS of red curry paste in the pantry at the moment (what can I say, I got a good deal!). I made a noodle soup at the weekend with Vietnamese spices – using some of the tofu I won from you! :) It was yummy but nowhere near as photogenic as yours.
Ooh glad to see you’ve enjoyed the tofu :) your soup sounds amazing!
It was really great to have the selection of different tofu, actually – I’ve only really used the firm kind before. Great fun to see how the different types behave :)
replace the tofu with fried paneer …yummy