Thai Coconut Mushroom Soup

Sometimes a big, heavy soup just isn’t what you’re in the mood for, so when something brothy is the answer to your soup cravings, turn to this Thai Coconut Mushroom Soup. It’s lightly creamy, but beautifully infused with Thai-inspired flavors, including red curry paste, ginger, lemongrass, and coconut milk. Earthy, umami mushrooms and shallots round out the soup, making it both satisfying and easy to prepare. This soup is a small-batch recipe — perfect for two people or one with leftovers — but can easily be doubled for the whole family.

I was making dinner one evening — just normal, everyday cooking, not anything for the blog — and while tasting and adjusting the sauce before adding the chicken, I had a lightbulb moment: The sauce was so good that I just stared into the pan for a moment, trying to commit to memory what I had just done.

I didn’t grow up with authentic Thai cooking but was fortunate enough to learn the basics of the Thai seasoning palate fairly early on, and it’s been a steady presence in my kitchen ever since: I always have curry pastes, ginger, lemongrass, fish sauce, and coconut milk in my fridge or pantry.

Anyway, the sauce that day was the inspiration for this soup, with some Tom Kha Gai influences thrown in. Carby, hearty soups are here to stay at SoupAddict, but sometimes something light and slurpy is exactly what we need!

Key Ingredients

Here are the main ingredients that make this soup special. The full list with quantities appears in the recipe card below.

Thai red curry paste — This curry paste is my shortcut to effortless and fabulous flavor. It not only adds a cornucopia of complex notes, but it’s also responsible for the vibrant orange-red color of the soup. So much goodness from one little container (read more about Thai red curry paste below).

Mushrooms — Cremini, shiitake, and button mushrooms are commonly found in U.S. grocery stores, and any — or a mix of all! — work perfectly well here. For the photos in this post, I also added oyster mushrooms because the small specialty grocery store I frequent had them in stock that day. You could also use rehydrated dried porcini mushrooms for extra umami. Pro tip: Slice cremini or button mushrooms as thinly as possible to help them float in the soup. This recipe has a lot of mushrooms, but because of the broth’s consistency, they tend to sink to the bottom of the bowl.

Shallots — Red shallots are a foundation allium (i.e., in the onion family) in Thai cooking, and their sweet and mellow flavors fit particularly well into this soup. You don’t need much; just a small one thinly sliced or chopped sets just the right tone.

Coconut milk — Be sure to buy unsweetened coconut milk. A canned version is your best bet, as a boxed version made for drinking is not likely to have the creamy solids found in canned versions. Shake-shake-shake the can and scrape all of that goodness into the soup.

Ginger & Lemongrass — These zesty aromatics are sort of a pain to prepare in their whole forms, and quite frankly, here in the Midwest, they’re hard to find when outside of their normal seasons. So, I usually go with the paste versions of both as I’d rather use this shortcut than not have them at all! For purposes of cooking soup, the pastes are perfectly acceptable substitutions. If you’re using whole versions, swap them one for one.

The 411 on Red Curry Paste

Thai red curry paste is one of my very favorite cooking ingredients. It adds razzle-dazzle to everything from soups to salad dressings to chicken sauces to noodle dishes.

It gets its deep red color from dried chiles that have been rehydrated; chiles that run the gamut from mild to prickly, depending on the brand of paste. Most formulations also contain lemongrass, Kaffir lime zest or leaves, cilantro, garlic, and shallots. Some brands add shrimp paste or shrimp flakes for extra umami. The result is a unique, complex flavor that you just can’t find in anything else.

If you’re new to this paste and don’t want to be surprised by fiery heat, try the Thai Kitchen brand, which is so mild you can eat it right out of the jar. Ignore the fact that it says “hot” on the jar — it isn’t! It’s available in most big-box grocery stores. You can move up the heat scale with the Maesri and Mae Ploy brands, which definitely have some kick to them. Helping the zing situation, though, is that many Thai-leaning recipes use coconut milk or cream, which helps to temper spicy heat.

How to use red curry paste: When using in a hot soup or sauce, take an extra minute or two to “bloom” the paste in a little bit of oil in a cleared space of your hot pan. The heat releases the flavor compounds in the paste, making it extra fragrant and succulent. The paste can also be stirred into yogurt for a creamy marinade for chicken or shrimp, or blended into a vinaigrette for a zesty dressing.

If you’d like to try more of my soups made with Thai red curry paste, I recommend my potsticker-filled Thai Red Curry Dumpling Soup, my quick and easy Thai Pumpkin Soup, and my extra-noodley Thai Curry Shrimp Soup.

How to Make Thai Coconut Mushroom Soup

Ready to make the recipe? Skip to the recipe card now to get the full ingredient list, quantities, prep/cooking times, and detailed instructions. Or, keep scrolling for a visual walk-through of making the soup.

Recipe FAQs

This soup has been a favorite on the blog for several years. It’s brothy but not consommé-sparse because the creaminess from the coconut milk creates a smooth and substantial base for the mushrooms. The Thai seasonings give it so much flavor; it’s just a delight to enjoy for a quick lunch or a light dinner. If you try this soup, I’d love to hear what you thought about it. Leaving a comment and a star rating helps me know what kind of soup recipes best hit the mark.

This post was originally published in October 2024 and was updated to add video, plus helpful information to enhance the cooking experience.