Tom Kha Gai Soup
with chicken, zucchini, and mushrooms
Smarts: We use 1 cup of coconut milk (based on 4 servings) tonight here and the other cup gets used in tomorrow night's dinner. #ReduceFoodWaste
Ingredients
- Chicken breasts, boneless & skinless - 1 lb
- Fish sauce - 2 tsp + 1 1/2 Tbsp
- Brown sugar - 1 tsp + 1 tsp
- Lemongrass - 3 stalks, mashed
- Ginger - 1/2 inch, sliced thinly
- Garlic - 3 cloves, minced
- Mushrooms, brown or shiitake - 1/2 lb, sliced thinly
- Zucchini, large - 1, sliced thinly
- Tomatoes, small - 2, sliced thinly
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Coconut milk - 1 cup
- Stock, chicken - 3 cups
- Jalapenos (opt) - 1, sliced thinly
- Cilantro (opt) - 1/4 bunch, leaves torn off of stems
- Limes - 1/2, sliced into wedges
- Hot sauce (opt) - to taste
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Chicken - Chop into bite-sized pieces. Toss with first part of fish sauce and first part of brown sugar. Tenderize with a fork. (Can be done up to 1 day ahead)
- Lemongrass / Ginger / Garlic / Mushrooms - Prep as directed. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Zucchini / Tomatoes - Prep as directed.
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Make
- Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add cooking oil and then aromatics - lemongrass, ginger, and garlic. Saute for ~1 minute, until very fragrant.
- Next add chicken and saute until golden, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Fold in mushrooms and saute for another 2 to 3 minutes until mushrooms start to get golden.
- Pour in coconut milk, chicken stock, and second parts of fish sauce and brown sugar. Cover and bring to a boil and then simmer uncovered for 4 to 6 minutes.
- While soup is cooking, slice jalapeños, pick off cilantro leaves, and slice limes into wedges.
- Fold in zucchini and tomatoes. If you sliced zucchini super thin, the residual heat will cook the zucchini and you can just turn off the heat. Otherwise, simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes to cook the zucchini.
- Season with hot sauce, and more fish sauce if it’s not savory enough.
- Divide into bowls and serve with jalapeños, cilantro, and lime wedges.
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
57 reviews
Vegetarian Version - 4 serving recipe Amazingly delicious soup! Legit only complaint is that it was so deliciously savory, when I went back for a second bowl, my tongue had been overstimulated and it no longer tasted as spicy/salty/umami as the first. Good news though, the next day it's just as good if not better! Using lemongrass was new for me and I really enjoyed the flavor it added. I ended up using a full 32 ounces of broth instead of just 3 cups, which I would do again. There is a lot of veggies in the recipe and I wanted to make sure I had plenty of broth for every serving. This is a great foundational recipe to have in your repertoire as it can easily be whipped up (or something similar with whatever you have on hand) and could be very adaptable to almost any protein source. Looking forward to making it again!
0 HelpfulThis was a very good, very quick recipe. It has just the right amount of heat. I added a bit more broth and a dash of salt.
0 HelpfulSpeaking as a born-and-raised Southeast Asian who’s eaten more than her fair share of Thai food, this recipe produces a really authentic (and yummy!) tom kha gai. I did end up using a little more garlic and ginger to start with, and adjusted with a touch more coconut milk, fish sauce, and hot sauce at the end to bring out the flavors of the soup. I did not use jalapeños because I have to imagine they’re a weird American substitute, they are not usually used in traditional Thai cooking.
0 HelpfulThis is one of my favorite soups to order at a Thai restaurant, so I was very pleased with how this turned out. It came together very quickly. I used lemongrass paste as I didn't have lemongrass. The soup was very tasty; I did need to eat this with a bowl of rice on the side. Cilantro and jalapenos were just the ingredients to bring the soup all together hitting all those senses--sour, salty, tiny bit of sweet, spicy.
0 HelpfulThis was quite delish!! I didn't put the lemongrass or ginger into it. I did add an extra cup of broth mix into it..I really enjoyed this, next time I'm gonna have to add some wild rice to it..
0 Helpful