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.
Lori Fontanes says
Sounds perfect on a cold day like we’re having today!!!
terryb says
This recipe looks amazing! One of my favorite soups is tom ka kai. If I’m not mistaken, this is a version of that or something similar. Either way, your recipe has coconut milk, lemongrass, okra and chili paste, winning ingredients in my book. They’ll be on my gracery list soon! Thank you for sharing this great recipe! 🙂
Julie is Hostess At Heart says
This soup looks delicious Andrea! Thank you so much for co-hosting FF this weekend! I hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day.
Hilda says
Very nice! I love Thai food too, and just about anything with okra. Thanks for co-hosting this week.
Dini @ The Flavor Bender says
Thai flavours are my go to when I need comfort food! I am loving this for Winter… the flavours and all the veges – I’m getting hungry just thinking about all the flavour in this! 🙂
LydiaA1614 says
This is going to be on my weekend menu for sure! We love Thai food.
Thursday says
Absolutely mouthwatering. This recipe looks amazing
elizabeth says
I adore okra. It’s an underrated vegetable.
Andrea| Cooking with a Wallflower says
I know! Me too!
Real Kids. Real Life. says
Oh my word this looks amazing! One question – where would I find lime kefir leaves? I don’t even know what those are!
Andrea| Cooking with a Wallflower says
So sorry for the late reply! You should be able to find lime kefir leaves in the Asian produce section. It’s usually used in Thai cooking. Hope that helps!
kerbey says
I want this right now.