Thai Chicken Noodle Soup


Asian, Chicken, Main Courses, Originals, Soup / Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Can a bowl of soup compare with history in the making? No. But at some point in the very near future, the election coverage will end, and you might be hungry.

Lately, I’ve been making this Thai Chicken Noodle Soup. Imagine a bowl piled high with noodles, chicken and a broth flavored with ginger, chilies, garlic, lemongrass, lime and soy sauce. Topped with cilantro and sliced chilies. Something that will fill your stomach, wake your taste buds and clear your sinuses faster than Dr. Oz wielding a neti pot.

And, you know, this is a democracy, so feel free to play around with the recipe. Add some mushrooms or a can of unsweetened coconut milk. Use angel hair or udon. Trade the Thai chilies for serrano, jalapeno or habanero peppers. Leave them in instead of straining them out.

Just promise me you’ll do one thing: slurp.

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

By Rebecca Crump (Ezra Pound Cake)

  • 8 ounce thin noodles
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 6 cups chicken broth
  • 1 (3-inch) piece ginger, peeled and sliced
  • 5 Thai chilies, seeds removed (3 chopped, 2 finely sliced)
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 stick lemongrass, sliced open
  • 4 lime leaves, torn
  • 1 pound cooked chicken, shredded
  • 2 limes, juiced
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce (or fish sauce)
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  • Fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles, and cook according to package instructions. Drain in a colander, toss with sesame oil, and return to pot.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add ginger, 3 chopped chilies, garlic, lemongrass and lime leaves.
  3. Lower the heat, cover, and gently simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
  4. Strain through a fine sieve back into saucepan, discarding everything but the broth.
  5. Add chicken, lime juice, soy sauce and sugar; season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
  6. To serve, place some noodles in the bottoms of each serving bowl. Ladle soup over noodles. Garnish with cilantro and sliced chilies.

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10 thoughts on “Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

  1. I am so going there with this one this weekend…a swim meet weekend, what could be better than slurping this down between swim sessions all day Saturday and Sunday??? So glad I know you…sort of…LOL! And, I do, promise to slurp…and, well, you know…it’s a given with the GUYS! Thanks for the recipes.

  2. This looks delicious. It’s very similar to the one I make whenever one of us gets to feeling under the weather (which is always a sinus thing…) Anyway, I really like the flexibility of your recipe.

  3. I made this last night, and it was incredible and oh so easy! The only this is, my grocery store didn’t have Thai chilies, so I used Serrano, but it was SPICY. (And I generally really love spicy food, but this was a bit too much). I ended up adding two more cups of chicken broth, so next time I think I’ll just use one or two chopped chili in the broth instead of three.
    Thanks!

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