20-Minute Thai Noodle Soup: The Flavor-Packed Meal You'll Wish You Tried Sooner

TL;DR

This spicy soup is for you if you enjoy spicy, flavorful coconut soups such as the Thai Tom Kha Gai soup or if you are into deep, complex Asian food flavors.

The soup is not a traditional dish but rather a Thai-influenced soup that includes typical Thai flavors. Basically, the soup flavor profile resembles Thai curries prepared with Thai red curry paste.

It's a quick and easy one pot soup. That is because the base of the soup cooks quickly with the red curry paste and noodles.

The veggies are added raw into a soup bowl, which saves cooking time. That way you can add as much cut spring onion and cabbage as you like, and because the fresh ingredients are raw, you are bound to have a nutrient-rich soup for dinner.

Ingredient Notes

This spicy Thai noodle soup comes together really fast and includes fresh raw ingredients.

Besides you can adjust the ingredients you add when it's time to enjoy the soup.

Vegetarian or with meat/seafood

The soup is meatless, vegetarian, gluten-free, and lactose-free and can be turned vegan if you use non-egg noodles and vegan fish sauce.

You can also prepare this spicy Thai noodle soup with chicken or shrimp/prawns too.

In that case, add the cut meat /seafood to the pot after having stir-fried the red curry paste, and cook it through.

Stir-Fry Pastes

The Thai red curry paste is a major ingredient in this soup, as well as ginger and garlic, finely chopped or in paste form.

Liquids and Seasoning

The coconut milk and broth make up the soup, while the fish sauce and brown sugar add more flavor depth and a Thai touch to the soup.

Noodles

Use Asian chow/low mein noodles in this soup, not Italian spaghetti, because they taste differently.

I prefer the soup with egg noodles, but you are free to try this soup with rice noodles too.

Fresh Vegetables

Fresh spring onions and cabbage are added fresh and raw to the bowl with the soup and noodles.

You can also add sprouted mung beans, avocado, or some chopped banana flowers if you feel adventurous.

Garnish

For the garnish, you can choose to add a combination of red chili flakes, cut green chilis, cilantro, crushed peanuts, cut green spring onion stalks, and a drizzle of Lime Juice.

All these ingredients turn the Thai noodle soup spicy with a touch of sweet, salty, and sour.

Process Overview

Step 1

Heat up the oil in a large deep pan or wok and stir cook the ginger and garlic with the red curry paste for a minute.

Pour the coconut milk and broth into the pan and mix.

Step 2

Season your cooking soup with fish sauce and brown sugar and combine.vBring to a boil and place the uncooked noodles into the soup.

Cook your noodles soft as per packet instructions.

Step 3

Keep your choice of fresh ingredients chopped and ready.

Place fresh ingredients with noodles into your bowl and top with soup and garnish. Serve hot.

Serving

I enjoy this soup as is with no extra side dishes or other meals as a weeknight quick-fix dinner solution.

It's great when the temperatures start to dip outside in fall and winter, but I have made it occasionally for us too in the hotter months of the year.

You could prepare a small Asian side salad with this Thai noodle soup.

Storing

This soup is so easily prepared within minutes, that you don't really need to prepare a bunch ahead.

If you do have leftovers, keep them in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 7 days.

In case you need to meal prep and freeze, cook the soup as per my instructions and store it in an airtight container in your fridge. Prepare the fresh ingredients, the green onions and cabbage, just before serving or on the day when you intend to enjoy this soup.

If you are taking this soup to work and reheating it in a microwave, make sure to keep the fresh veggies separate from the soup so that you can just add them to the reheated soup before you start to enjoy your meal.