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This healthy and nourishing Chicken Coconut Curry Soup is packed with good-for-you ingredients! Lower in salt and calories but bursting with flavor, this delicious soup is a great option for a healthy lunch or dinner.
It’s Time for A Healthy and Nourishing Chicken Coconut Curry Soup
After returning home from a recent trip, I zipped to the grocery store to replenish our empty refrigerator. Knowing that I wouldn’t have time to do much cooking for a couple of days, I bought some chicken coconut curry soup from the market’s hot bar.
My husband and I thought it was really tasty, so I decided to try making it myself at home. A quick peruse of online recipes gave me plenty of options. However, a lot of those recipes contained way more calories than I wanted to spend on a cup of soup.
And so, I set out to make my own version, a Healthy and Nourishing Chicken Coconut Curry soup that skimps on calories but not on healthy ingredients or flavor.
This soup was my lunch pretty much every day last week. I liked it so much that I’m planning on making it again this week. It’s that good!
Ingredients and Subs for Your Healthy and Nourishing Chicken Coconut Curry Soup
Plenty of healthy ingredients, plus spices and aromatics to kick the flavor is key for making a Healthy and Nourishing soup without sacrificing on taste. But let’s dig a little deeper.
Protein Options
Lean chicken breast is my go-to protein for light and healthy soups, and that’s what I used. But you could also substitute chicken thighs, tofu, or shrimp. Even firm fleshed fish such as salmon, cod, or halibut could be good here, just remember to add it at the very end and simmer until just cooked.
If you’d like to make this a vegetarian soup, go with the tofu and replace the chicken broth with vegetarian vegetable broth.
Vegetables
What really makes this soup is the amount and variety of vegetables. I used lots of onion, carrots, celery, and bell pepper, plus a whole bunch of cilantro. Increasing the veggies not only ups the nutrition in this lighter chicken coconut curry soup, but it also makes the dish very filling and satisfying.
If there’s something on my list you don’t care for, just substitute for an equal amount of a vegetable you do like. Green beans, bok choy, water chestnuts, or mushrooms could work well here. And if you don’t like cilantro, try using about a cup of well-chopped basil.
Make sure to dice or chop the veggies into very small pieces, and cut the carrots into small matchsticks. This takes a little extra time but ensures you’ll get a variety of veggies in every bite.
Spices, Aromatics, and Seasoning
Spices and aromatics are important for any soup. I leaned into Thai flavors by frying slices of garlic and stem ginger in the olive oil I would later use to cook the veggies.
Naturally, curry plays a big role in this soup. But the choices of spice blends and heat are almost endless, so the curry you use is a matter of personal taste.
I started with one tablespoon of Thai-style red curry paste, then gave it a taste. The heat level was just right – I wouldn’t have wanted it any spicier. However, I wanted more curry flavor. And so, rather than more of the spicy paste, I added mild ground curry powder.
That did the trick for me, but your palate may be different. Whatever curry you use, I recommend starting with a little, and then tasting to see if you want to add something more or different.
Sodium is an issue for me, so I used Coconut Secret coconut aminos for my soup. It gives a nice savory, umami with a minimal amount of sodium. However, you can substitute soy sauce for the coconut aminos. Finishing the soup bit a little rice vinegar enhances the flavor and brings in a subtle hint of acidity.
Coconut Milk
Using a modest amount of light coconut milk gives this soup a wonderful flavor a richness without adding tons of calories and fat. I actually like it better than full-fat coconut milk. The Healthy and Nourishing version keeps the other flavors from being buried under an avalanche of coconut.
Print
Healthy and Nourishing Chicken Coconut Curry Soup
- Yield: Makes 8 cups 1x
Ingredients
- 1 large garlic clove, peeled and sliced
- 1 inch stem ginger, peeled and sliced
- 2 T olive oil
- 12 oz chicken breast, cut into small, bite-sized pieces
- ½ onion, small diced fine
- 2 large carrots, sliced into matchsticks
- 4 stalks celery, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, small diced
- 1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 can fat free coconut milk
- 1 T Thai Red curry paste plus 1 T mild curry powder (See post for thoughts about spice levels)
- 2 T coconut aminos (or 1 T soy sauce)
- 1 T rice vinegar
Instructions
- Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a heavy bottomed pot. Add sliced garlic and stem ginger to oil, fry until the garlic begins to turn brown. Remove garlic and ginger from oil with slotted spoon.
- Sprinkle the diced chicken lightly with salt and pepper. Add onion and seasoned chicken to the pot. Cook and stir until onion is translucent and the chicken pieces are cooked on all sides.
- Add the all the remaining vegetables to the pot, as well as the broth, light coconut milk, curry paste and powder, coconut aminos and rice vinegar. Turn up the heat to bring the liquid to a boil, then turn it down again and let the soup simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasons if necessary before serving.
