Thai Tom Kha Gai is a coconut milk soup with mushrooms, chicken, ginger and lemongrass. This quick and easy recipe makes a satisfying, clean and delicious meal.
This post is sponsored by Truvia® Natural Sweetener.
Tom Kha Gai is a traditional Thai soup made with coconut milk, galangal, mushrooms, chicken, lemongrass, ginger, and kaffir lime leaves. It’s creamy, tangy, and has a slight kick to it for a belly-warming cozy soup that covers all the flavor bases.
Thai food is my ultimate comfort food, and making it at home is one of my most coveted rituals.
I love the way my home smells while I’m cooking, and enjoy the combination of creamy, tangy, sweet flavors. I also love making Thai for friends and family, as it’s always an impressive crowd-pleaser!
Depending on where you live, it can be challenging to find galangal, kaffir lime leaves, and lemongrass.
In order to make this yummy soup accessible to all, I use ingredients anyone can find at any grocery store. The flavor isn’t a perfect replica of the Tom Kha you’ll find at an authentic Thai restaurant, but it comes close.
In this sense, this is not an authentic recipe for Tom Kha Gai, as it replaces galangal with ginger and kaffir lime leaves with lime juice and lime zest.
Traditionally, Tom Kha Gai includes cane sugar to give it a little sweetness, offsetting the heat and sour flavors. This soy-free, refined sugar-free approach to Tom Kha Gai makes for a tasty rendition.
I use Truvia Natural Sweetener instead of cane sugar to keep the sweet but sugar-free. Truvia is a zero-calorie sweetener naturally sweetened from stevia leaf extract, which makes this soup keto-friendly. For those who are celebrating everyday wellness in the New Year, this is a great recipe to keep your palate pleased and to kick off your self-care routine.
Let’s hop to it!
How to Make Tom Kha Gai:
Heat the avocado oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the edges begin to brown, about 5 to 8 minutes.
Add the garlic and mushrooms and continue sautéing another 3 minutes, until mushrooms begin to sweat.
Add the remaining ingredients, stir well, cover the pot, and bring to a full boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook 20 to 30 minutes, until the soup is very aromatic and the chicken is cooked through.
Serve soup in big bowls with lime wedges and cilantro.
Recipe Adaptations:
- Omit the Truvia sweetener to make Whole30, or replace the Truvia with 1 to 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup or coconut sugar to give it that sweetness but keep it Paleo
- Replace the lime zest and juice with 10 kaffir lime leaves.
- Use oyster mushrooms or shiitake mushrooms instead of baby bellas
- Add another can of coconut milk for even creamier soup.
- If you can find galangal, replace the ginger with it (or use it in addition to ginger if you love ginger)
- Add red chili sauce or a chopped jalapeno to make soup spicy (it is mild as written)
You May Also Love:
- Coconut Curry Vegetable Soup
- 30-Minute Thai Curry Noodles
- Thai Coconut Chicken Soup
- Pressure Cooker Green Curry
- Green Curry Thai Noodle Soup
- Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Soup
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Thai Tom Kha Gai
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 small yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 8 ounces mushrooms chopped
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 15-ounce can full-fat coconut milk
- 1 large chicken breast chopped
- 1 1-inch nub ginger, peeled and grated*
- 2 stalks lemongrass peeled and chopped into 2-inch pieces **
- 2 Tbsp Truvia Natural Sweetener
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp lime zest***
- 3 Tbsp lime juice***
- 2 Tbsp red curry paste
- sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat the avocado oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the edges begin to brown, about 5 to 8 minutes.
- Add the garlic and mushrooms and continue sauteing another 3 minutes, until mushrooms begin to sweat.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients, stir well, cover the pot, and bring to a full boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook 20 minutes, or until the soup is very aromatic and the chicken is cooked through.
- Remove and discard the lemongrass before serving.
- Serve soup in big bowls with lime wedges and cilantro.
Notes
Nutrition
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This is SO good!
My changes: I added two slices of jalapenos to give it just a little heat. I also added 1 cup of snow peas and 1 cup of carrots because I wanted more vegies and a more colorful dish. (I have no idea if this kicks it out of paleo/keto because I am not a follower of those protocols)
I make my own chicken stock (I use a partially eaten rotisserie chicken cooked 3 – 4 hours in a crockpot in vegetable broth. Then I remove the bones/skin. I remove a bit of the fat by transferring to another container and then measuring it out — you can see the fat sticking to the surface of the containers)
All of that sounds so fantastic, Laura! I especially love the heat from the jalapeno. Thanks so much for your feedback!! xoxo 😀
Made this a few days ago; it was awesome! The red curry paste I used from our local Asian market was … spicy, especially on leftover day. Speaking of leftovers, I added some more mushrooms, cuz I guess we sought them out on day one, and some vermicelli noodles to give it some more substance for dinner. As for the chicken, I must have cut the pieces too small, as they were dried out in less than 15 minutes. Next time, and there will be!, larger, more consistent cutting up of the chicken and a check after 10 minutes. All in all, DELICIOUS!
I’m so happy you enjoy the soup, Dennis! Thanks so much for letting me know! Bummer about the chicken…hopefully larger pieces will help. Sometimes I cheat and use store-bought rotisserie chicken to ensure it stays nice and tender. Thanks so much for the sweet note! 😀 xo
yum yum easy to make packed full of flavour
So happy you like it, Deb!
Just sat down to have a bowl of this soup- I have to say I was a bit skeptical, having never made any Thai dish before( I do have lots of experience eating it though ) It is wonderful! the only thing I did different was added a bit of heavy cream thicken it. Definitely will be making again! Thank you!
I’m so happy you like it, Eleanor! The addition of heavy cream sounds delightful! xoxo
What is the serving size? 1 cup?
Hi Kristen!
1 serving will be 1/6th of the recipe, which should come out to just under 2 cups per serving 🙂 Hope you love the soup! xoxo
Would you be able to can this soup for long term storage (my daughter goes to college almost 1800 miles away and has some allergies so I make meals and ship to her and she would love this soup)
Hi Dawn! I must confess, I have no experience with canning and shipping soup, so I don’t know how it would work out. I wish I had a better answer for you! If you’ve had success in the past with canning soups and shipping them to her, I assume this soup would be no different. Best of luck! xoxo
hi
just after some clarification on the nutritional values. Yield is 6 but then it says “serving one of 1 of 4”, what does that mean?
It’s a meal for 4 people, not 6?
Do you have the fibre count too please? Net carbs!
Thanks for the recipe by the way
kaffir lime leaves…please
Hi Jay! I mention in the post very clearly in multiple places that if you have access to kaffir lime leaves to use them. Most grocery stores in the U.S. do not carry them and not everyone has access to specialty markets to purchase them.
Absolutely delicious! Thanks so much for sharing. Will be making this for years to come. I added some more vegetables (baby corn, carrots and mushrooms), red Thai chilli’s, thin rice noodles, two cans of coconut milk as you suggested in your notes. I left out the fish sauce just because we don’t eat fish sauce and used olive oil and brown sugar instead of avocado oil and sweeter as it’s what we had on hand. Thank you once again!
My pleasure! I’m so thrilled to hear you enjoy the soup. All of your additions sound amazing! I’ll have to try the same changes the next time I make the soup. Thanks so much for sharing your experience xoxo