Tom Kah Gai is a traditional Thai soup. Chopped chicken thighs and shiitake mushrooms swim in a flavorful broth perfumed by ginger, shallots, lime, lemongrass and chile peppers. Deeply aromatic, its flavors offer a beautiful combination of sweet, salty and sour that’s spiked with just a little bit of heat. You can top it with a handful of fresh herbs like cilantro and Thai basil which give the soup a wonderful, vibrant green punch.
We serve ours as a light meal, topped with a squeeze of lime, and accompanied by a bowl of steamed jasmine rice. I often serve sliced mangoes or cultured coconut mango popsicles for dessert.
Tom Kha Gai (Thai-Style Chicken and Coconut Soup with Lemongrass)
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 318kcal
The interplay of sweet, salty, and sour comes together in Tom Kha Gai, a flavorful Thai soup that’s perfumed by lemongrass and spiked with hot peppers. This recipe is featured in my new cookbook – Broth and Stock which is published by Ten Speed Press and available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and your local bookseller.
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups chicken foot stock
- 1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms thinly sliced and stems reserved
- 3 Thai chilies smashed
- 1 stalk lemongrass
- 2 tbsp ginger paste
- 6 lime leaves
- 2 shallots peeled and diced with skins reserved
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 13.5 oz coconut milk
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar
- cilantro for garnish
- thai basil for garnish
- lime wedges for serving
Instructions
- Pour the stock into a large saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Toss shiitake stems, chiles, lemongrass, ginger peelings, shallot skins and lime leaves into the simmering broth. Cover the saucepan, and let the aromatics infuse the broth with their flavors about twenty minutes.
- Turn off the heat and strain the broth into a pitcher or jar through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding the solids. Wipe the saucepan clean. with a kitchen towel to remove any stray debris.
- Return the flavored broth to the saucepan and then add mushroom caps, sliced ginger, and shallots. Spoon in the chopped chicken thighs. Stir the coconut milk, fish sauce, and palm sugar into the broth and simmer over medium heat until the vegetables soften and the chicken cooks through, turning an opaque white, about twenty-five minutes.
- Ladle into soup bowls, garnish with sprigs of cilantro and Thai basil and serve with lime wedges alongside.
Nutrition
Calories: 318kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 71mg | Sodium: 1406mg | Potassium: 883mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1.5% | Vitamin C: 24.9% | Calcium: 3.4% | Iron: 19.1%
Jenny, the link for the pasture raised chicken isn’t working. Wold love to know what that source is…
Thanks!
Hi Peggy! I just updated the link – sometimes they get changed on us after we’ve linked to them.
Made this last night and it was delicious! thank you!
come on down!
I’m happy to put you up down under 🙂