A warm and delicious spicy Thai coconut soup filled with chicken, mushrooms, and okra. This spicy thai chicken coconut soup with okra and mushrooms is the perfect weeknight dinner.
One of my favorite cuisines is Thai. When you’re obsessed with food, it’s really hard to narrow down your favorite cuisine because there are just so many! How can you pick between that spicy Thai green curry and that Japanese teriyaki chicken? Or that Vietnamese garlic noodle and that chicken Madeira? You really really can’t.
I do really love my Thai food though. It might be that my dad is a chef at a Thai restaurant in San Anselmo and that I grew up eating a ton of Thai dishes. But it could also be that I love the taste of all the spices and flavors in their dishes. So many Thai dishes have a combination of lemongrass, lime kefir leaves, coconut milk, and chili peppers. It’s so refreshingly different.
Plus, it feels like we haven’t talked about Thai food in a long while. As in one year and 8 days. Um, what?! How is that even possible?
So we’re going to have to remedy that, now.
You may already know that I’m also obsessed with spicy food. I have a high tolerance. But don’t worry! I know not everyone can eat spicy foods, so when I play around with the recipe, I make sure someone else tastes the dish too, that way I don’t go overboard. It’s also perfectly fine to reduce the amount of chili peppers or chili paste in the recipe, or even leave it out, especially if you can’t eat spicy foods. Or you can always throw a whole chili pepper on top for garnish. I do it all the time. =)
I know.
My friends think I’m insane, but what can I say? I can’t live without my chili peppers.
This soup is amazing by itself, filled with chicken, mushrooms, and okra. It is flavored with lemongrass and lime kefir leaves and fish sauce. But you can definitely make this a meal by serving it with a side of rice. Or for something more unique, you can always serve it in a bread bowl. Although to be honest, it didn’t quite work for me. Since the soup is thin and not thick, the bread absorbed all the liquid, leaving almost no soup behind and the bread became super soggy. But in case you wanted to try it that way… lol
Add a little bit of olive oil to a medium sized pot over medium to high heat.
Once the olive oil has heated, add minced garlic, minced ginger, and sliced onions. Cook them until they’ve softened and become aromatic.
Add the mushrooms, lemongrass, and lime kefir leaves. Cook for a few minutes until the mushrooms have softened.
Pour in the chicken broth and coconut milk. Season the soup with chili paste, fish sauce, and sugar. Allow the soup to simmer for several minutes.
Now, add the okra. Cook for a few minutes until the okra has softened and become tender. Then lastly, add the shredded chicken.
Remove the lemongrass and lime kefir leaves.
Serve the soup with rice.
Enjoy!
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- ¼ medium sized onion, sliced
- 1 cup sliced mushroom
- 1 oyster mushroom, sliced
- 1 piece lemongrass (about 3 inches), sliced in half
- 2 lime kefir leaves
- 3 cup chicken broth
- 1 ¼ cup coconut milk
- 5 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons chili paste
- 6-8 okra
- 2 cups cooked shredded chicken breast
- Add a little bit of olive oil to a medium sized pot over medium to high heat.
- Once the olive oil has heated, add minced garlic, minced ginger, and sliced onions. Cook them until they’ve softened and become aromatic.
- Add the mushrooms, lemongrass, and lime kefir leaves. Cook for a few minutes until the mushrooms have softened.
- Pour in the chicken broth and coconut milk. Season the soup with chili paste, fish sauce, and sugar. Stir the soup with a ladle to incorporate the ingredients. Allow the soup to simmer for several minutes.
- Now, add the okra. Cook for a few minutes until the okra has softened and become tender. Lastly, add the chicken breast to the soup and cook until warmed.
- Remove the lemongrass and lime kefir leaves.
- Serve the soup with rice.
laura lecce says
What a great winter dish, I feel warmer just reading about this yummy soup!
Miriam says
Love the idea of using okra in this! And I also love spicy food, and Thai food… although I’ve had to learn how to tone down the heat since other people don’t seem to share my level of spice tolerance.
B. says
I’m definitely going to give this a try!
tatikprice says
Great recipe, thank you for sharing, Andrea! I love Thai food, and okra. I have pinned it to my “Noteworthy recipes” board on Pinterest, will have a go at it sometime soon!
Natalya ❤ tatikprice.wordpress.com ❤
dormousetidings says
That looks divine 🙂
Image Earth Blog says
I love Thai food, especially this type of meal. Flying there on Sunday for a 3-month volunteering stint so looking forward to the food again!
valentinadami says
I love thai food, is not that easy to find some of those ingredients here in italy, but this recipe looks great!
A Palate For Pie says
This sounds divine! Okra is one of my favorites.
Rupali says
Looks so tempting. I am going to try this on weekend.
leggypeggy says
I love Thai food too, and this looks great. Nice to see someone using okra.