Thai Red Curry Dumpling Soup

Discover the mouthwatering and heady aromatic flavors inspired by Thai cuisine in this Thai Red Curry Dumpling Soup. This vibrant soup is a delightful fusion of spicy red curry paste, fragrant ginger, lemongrass, and garlic, plus fish sauce simmered together in a rich, flavorful broth. Stuffed potstickers add a satisfying heft, making this soup a hearty main dish. Whether you’re craving something a little exotic or just need a comforting bowl of soup fast, this easy-to-make recipe brings a hint of Thai cuisine right to your kitchen.

Why I love this soup, and think you will, too

This soup is inspired by my reader-favorite Potsticker Soup and came about when I was craving the distinctive seasonings of Thai red curry paste. Combining the two created exactly the soup I was looking for, and wanted to share it now!

When it comes to a soup that somehow seamlessly combines exotic flavors with comforting familiarity, this Thai Red Curry Dumpling Soup checks all the boxes. Here’s why we love it here at Casa SoupAddict:

• Quick & Easy — With simple ingredients and straightforward steps, this soup is perfect for busy weeknights. It also works as a work-from-home lunch. Ready in under 30 minutes!
• Bold Flavors — The combination of Thai red curry paste, ginger, lemongrass, and garlic creates a rich and aromatic broth that’s full of depth.
• Comforting — Tender, stuffed dumplings are always fun, especially in soup.
• Unique — It brings the exciting flavors of Thai cuisine to your table while still being a cozy, comforting dish.
• Versatile — This soup can be easily customized with your favorite type of dumpling and different vegetables or added proteins.
• Perfect for any occasion — It’s a cozy weeknight meal or an impressive dinner party starter.

Main Ingredients, Prep Notes, and Substitutions

Thai red curry paste — One of my favorite seasoning blends. This zesty paste consists of red chiles and then, varying from brand to brand, lemongrass, galangal, fish sauce, shrimp paste, and other seasonings. It’s a quick and easy way to add loads of flavor to a soup. Maesri is always a favorite brand, but in the U.S., you’re more likely to find the Thai Kitchen brand at the big-box grocery stores.

Dumplings/Potstickers — If your area has a strong presence of Asian cuisine, you’ll have a lot of dumpling options, both fresh and frozen. This recipe assumes the minimum availability — i.e., frozen — which also, unfortunately, reflects my area (where we have strong German and Mexican influences, but sadly not enough Asian). The Bibigo brand should be widely available in the frozen food section of most major U.S. grocery stores. I always buy the “mini wontons.” They’re not exactly miniature, but they are smaller than regular wontons/dumplings/potstickers and fit better on the soup spoon.

Potstickers can be pan-fried or boiled for this soup. I usually take the easy route and just add the frozen dumplings straight into the soup. But you can coax a little extra flavor by pan-frying them separately, turning each dumpling occasionally to get a little golden color on all sides. Then add them to the soup at the end.

Aromatics — Onions, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass are my aromatic vegetables of choice for this soup. I absolutely adore lemongrass, but its availability in my neighborhood is sketchy at best. I used to buy tubes of lemongrass paste but now it’s also difficult to find. So, if you have lemongrass at the time you’re making this recipe — and I scored a tube at Meijer — I recommend adding a tablespoon of either paste or very finely minced fresh (peel away the woody outer layers first).

I also highly recommend using fish sauce in this soup, with a little sugar to balance it out. Fish sauce is a strong source of incredible umami and deepens the already robust flavors of this soup.

Broth — I use chicken broth for this soup because it’s a more neutral flavor than vegetable broth, but you can absolutely use veggie broth instead.

Greens — I always like to add a handful of greens to this soup, both for nutrition and to add some visual interest. Here, I’m just using baby spinach because it’s readily available and always in my fridge. Although spinach will wilt in the hot soup, I always make sure to chop it or slice it into strips, so that there aren’t sheets of spinach floating around in the soup.

You can use any cooking-hardy greens that you prefer, including kale, cabbage, collard greens, or bok choy.

Cook’s Notes

• Can you make this soup ahead of time? Yes, absolutely! The potstickers are pretty hardy and hold their shape for a day or two in the soup in the fridge. In fact, the photos here of the soup in the bowl were taken the next day. Delicious!
• Can you freeze this soup? I wouldn’t recommend it, as I don’t think it would be a good result. It’s asking a lot of any kind of food, but especially the dumplings, to endure partial cooking (by the manufacturer), then freezing, thawing, cooking, and freezing, thawing, cooking again.
• Can this soup be made vegetarian/vegan? Yes, quite easily, too. Be sure to choose vegetable-stuffed dumplings, use vegetable broth, and double-check the ingredients on your red curry paste to confirm it doesn’t include fish sauce or shrimp.
• My soup looks a little greasy. What’s going on? It’s actually not grease. In the photo directly above, the red curry paste simply is not completely married into the coconut milk-based broth at this point. This is perfectly fine and normal and doesn’t impact the flavor of the soup. Letting the soup rest overnight allowed everything to blend smoothly, but don’t feel like you always have to make the soup ahed of time. If the appearance is bothersome, try adding a quarter cup of the coconut milk in step 2, and let the seasonings cooking a little longer in the milk, stirring frequently, to help the paste break down faster.

How to Make Thai Red Curry Dumpling 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.

Step 1: Saute the onions

Heat the oil in a soup pot or Dutch oven and saute the onions until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes.

Step 2: Stir in the seasonings

Spoon the red curry paste, ginger, garlic, and lemongrass over the onions and stir to mix. Let the seasonings bloom in the warmth of the pot, until very fragrant, just a minute or two.

Step 3: Add the soup liquids

Increase the heat and pour in the chicken broth and coconut milk, stirring well. Bring the soup up to a gentle boil. Measure in the fish sauce and the sugar.

Step 4: Add the dumplings

Carefully drop the frozen dumplings into the soup. They’ll sink and, depending on the depth of your pot, disappear. Don’t worry! You can see in the photos above that once the dumplings plump up, they’ll be visible again.

Let the dumplings cook for the time called for on the package — usually a couple of minutes — and turn off the heat.

Step 5: Finish the soup

Stir in the spinach, green onions, cilantro and a squeeze of lime. Let the soup rest until the spinach has wilted (just a few minutes). Ladle into bowls, and top with your favorite toppings.

What to serve with Thai Red Curry Dumpling Soup?

Toppings

This soup is a beautiful canvas for a wide variety of toppings. Here are some suggestions:

• A sprinkling of sesame seeds
• A drizzle of toasted sesame oil
• A generous spoonful of chile oil or chili crisp
• Green onions sliced on the diagonal
• Lots of minced cilantro
• Fried onions
• Sliced chile peppers
• Chopped Thai basil

Sides

American kitchens may not be well-stocked with traditional sides such as pickled veggies or kimchi, but a little greens or bread makes a wonderful side:

• Asian Cucumber Slaw
• Grilled Baby Bok Choy
• Scallion pancakes from Serious Eats, if you have some time on your hands.
• And of course, when it comes to soup, it’s always hard to go wrong with some nice, crusty bread or tender Za’atar Flatbreads with Ginger Scallion Sauce for dipping.

As of the publishing date of this post, my blog is celebrating its 16th anniversary of bringing delicious soups to the internet. This soup recipe post also kicks off Souptember 2024, the best time of the year for us soup lovers.

I hope you’ll try this soup and find that it’s a worthy representative for both!

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Thai Red Curry Dumpling Soup

A simple yet flavorful soup that brings together the best of Thai flavors and comforting dumplings. Tender potstickers simmer in a fragrant broth infused with red curry paste, ginger, and garlic, finished with fresh greens.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Thai

Keyword: red curry dumpling soup, thai red curry dumpling soup

Servings: 6

Author: Karen Gibson

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger (paste or about a 1″ knob)
• 1 tablespoon minced lemongrass or paste (optional)
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 14 ounces canned coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 pound frozen dumplings (potstickers, wontons)
• 1 cup chopped spinach
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 lime

Topping suggestions:

• green onions sliced on the diagonal
• minced cilantro leaves
• chopped Thai basil
• fried onions
• chile oil or chili crisp

Instructions

• Heat the oil over medium in a 4 to 5 quart soup pot or Dutch oven until the surface shimmers. Add the onions and sweat, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until softened.
• Spoon in the Thai red curry paste, ginger, and lemongrass (if using), along with the garlic. Stir into the onions and let cook for a minute or two, until the mixture is fragrant.
• Increase the heat to medium-high, and pour in the chicken broth and coconut milk. Bring the soup to a low boil, then adjust the heat to maintain an active simmer.
• Stir in the fish sauce and sugar, then add the dumplings. Let the soup come back up to bubbling, and cook for the time indicated on the packaging to ensure they’re properly heated through (use the “steam” time if there are no boil directions). Just a few minutes should do it, as any meat within the dumpling is usually pre-cooked (double-check, though!)
• Turn off the heat and add the spinach, green onions, and cilantro. Let the soup stand until the spinach wilts. Squeeze the juice from half of the lime into the soup and stir. Taste, and squeeze the other half if it needs it.
• Ladle into bowls and add your favorite toppings.

Notes

For a different take on the dumplings/potstickers, you could pan-fry them in a separate skillet, according to package directions to get some golden brown coloring on them. They won’t need to boil in the soup, so add them any time after the soup has been brought up to a simmer.

Nutritional information, if shown, is provided as a courtesy only, and is not to be taken as medical information or advice. The nutritional values of your preparation of this recipe are impacted by several factors, including, but not limited to, the ingredient brands you use, any substitutions or measurement changes you make, and measuring accuracy.