This Thai Shrimp Soup is quick and easy to make and packed with flavor! This shrimp coconut curry soup has simple ingredients and is naturally paleo, Whole30 compliant and low carb. It’s much healthier than takeout and ready faster!
I’ve been wanting to make more healthy versions of takeout lately and had to try out this soup!
Thai food is a favorite but I rarely attempt to make copycat homemade versions of my favorites. With the exception of my spaghetti squash pad Thai (that you need to try!) this is really my first attempt.
I looked at a bunch of coconut curry Thai shrimp soup recipes on the internet and took a shot at my own Whole30 version. The final version is loosely adapted from Allrecipes as well as a few other recipes I found online.
Since it’s Whole30 compliant, that means no noodles or sugar, but other than that the basics of the soup are all naturally paleo and Whole30 friendly! Like broth, coconut milk, spices and of course shrimp!
I was pleasantly surprised by how quick and easy the soup was to throw together on the stovetop and the flavors were perfect.
What You Need to Make This Thai Shrimp Soup
The ingredients for this soup are simple and should be available at most grocery stores. Here’s everything you’ll need to prepare the soup:
- avocado oil or olive oil
- garlic, minced
- onion, diced
- fresh ginger
- lemongrass
- red curry paste
- chicken or vegetable broth
- fish sauce
- full fat coconut milk (unsweetened)
- fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
- medium shrimp
- Lime
- Sea salt
- Cilantro
- Scallions
How to Make Thai Shrimp Soup
The soup couldn’t be easier to make! Prep your ingredients first, then heat the oil in a large stock pot over medium heat.
Add the onion and cook until fragrant, then stir in the garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and curry paste and cook for one minute.
Pour the broth into the pot while stirring continuously, then stir in the fish sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and stir, then add the mushrooms. Cook and stir until the mushrooms are soft, about 5 minutes.
Add the shrimp and cook until no longer translucent , about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime zest and juice and season to taste with salt. Serve right away, garnished with chopped cilantro, sliced scallions, and lime wedges.
Store leftovers in a tightly lidded container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. To keep the soup longer, you can freeze it for up to one month, then reheat on the stovetop until heated through.
Tips for the Perfect Thai Shrimp Soup
As with most recipes that cook quickly, I like to make sure I have all of my ingredients prepped and ready to go in the pot. This makes the cooking part a breeze and for this recipe, the prep is minimal (just some dicing and mincing.)
If you’re not used to cooking with coconut milk, make sure you buy the right type. Look for unsweetened full fat coconut milk that comes from a can. This recipe uses 2 full cans of coconut milk.
I find that certain brands have a better flavor than others when it comes to coconut milk. My favorite is the 365 brand (Whole Foods) and my second favorite is Thai Kitchen.
This was one of my first times cooking with fresh lemongrass. Lemongrass comes in small stalks and has a tough outer layer which you want to avoid cooking with. Peel away the outer layer and mince the softer inside to use in the soup.
Seasoning is key for making any recipe taste amazing, so feel free to adjust the salt and lime added at the end of the recipe to suit your taste.
Make sure to give the flavors a chance to meld together before getting an accurate taste. I have made this mistake too many times, and over-salted, which is basically the worst thing you can do to a meal/soup in my opinion!
I hope you’re ready for a delicious soup that’s packed with flavor, protein, good fats and veggies too!
Grab your favorite stock pot and all your ingredients because it’s time to cook – let’s go!
Thai Shrimp Soup {Paleo, Whole30, Keto}
Thai Shrimp Soup {Paleo, Whole30, Keto}
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp avocado oil or olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger minced
- 1 Tbsp minced lemongrass MInce the inner part of one stalk
- 1 Tbsp red curry paste
- 3 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth (check ingredients for Whole30}
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- 2 14 oz cans full fat coconut milk
- 8 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms sliced
- 1 lb medium shrimp peeled and deveined
- Zest of one lime grated
- 1 1/2 Tbsp lime juice about 1 lime
- Sea salt to taste
- Cilantro for garnish
- Scallions for garnish
Instructions
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Heat the oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until fragrant, then stir in the garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and curry paste and cook for one minute.
-
Pour the broth into the pot while stirring continually, then stir in the fish sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and stir, then add the mushrooms. Cook and stir until the mushrooms are soft, about 5 minutes.
-
Add the shrimp and cook until no longer translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime zest and juice and season with salt to taste. Serve garnished with cilantro, sliced scallions and lime wedges.
Nutrition
Want More Paleo + Whole30 Soup Recipes? Try One of These!
Turkey Meatball and Zoodle Soup
Stuffed Pepper Soup in the Instant Pot
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What would you recommend, to substitute, the mushrooms? Hubby refuses to eat them. It’s a texture thing.
Do you recommend using an instant pot or slow cooker to make this?
How does coconut milk freeze? I know cows milk doesn’t freeze well
I froze my soup and then thawed it in the fridge and heated it up on the stove on a low flame. Came out great!
I freeze coconut milk all the time.
Whenever a recipe calls for less than a can, I freeze the rest.
I LOVE Thai curry. Thank you so much for posting this with the helpful hints! I can’t wait to make it!
OMG!!I will definitely make it again! My family loved it! Sooo delicious! I highly recommend it. So many healthy ingredients.
I’m curious as well what you would recommend as a substitute for the shrooms, normally I just ignore them but I’m not sure in this recipe if they’re necessary for some flavor. Thank you!
This is absolutely delicious and oh so easy! Once cooked can I freeze the soup?
Thanks!
Yes I made this recipe, I added 2 Klondike gold potatoes cut in small sizes, 1 cup broccoli, cut the amount of the red curry paste, used ground coriander instead of lemongrass, and thickened the soup with cornstarch. Delicious
Love this idea with the extra veggies!
Made this for dinner tonight. Added some snow peas and spinach, and had to omit the fish sauce because there wasn’t a Whole 30 compliant fish sauce at the store. The soup was FANTASTIC!!! Easy to make and delish!
Can use anchovy paste mixed with a tablespoon of water
This came out really good. I only used one can of coconut milk which was plenty for me. Next time I’ll add more veggies and more curry. I also served the soup over rice noodles (I know, not paleo, but yummy).
I use Asian Sweet potato noodles for this – available at any Oriental grocery store or online. Is so good.
One hint: Some stores have lemon grass already pulped, in a squeeze tube, with similar consistency to minced garlic in a tube… (no additional ingredients, so still paleo and Whole 30)
OK. This is my new favorite soup. SO GOOD!!!
How much soup does the nutritional Facts count for?? A cup, the whole thing??
Super easy to make. Delicious flavors! Thank you for sharing.
Made this tonight. It is so good! Thank you for another great recipe.
Thank you for the nice recipe, I definitely try this very soon!
I added green and red bell peppers, peas, broccoli, and carrots to this soup. I sprinkled red pepper flakes into it at the end. It’s the best soup I’ve ever made! So delicious! Thank you for this great recipe!
Love this recipe!!! This will definitely be in rotation in my whole 30 household. Thank you!!
Made this for dinner tonight. It was so good! This will be our new cold day comfort food
Wow this was so flavorful I loved it, the shrimp I got wasn’t the best and was the only downfall but I could see this being great with chicken as well so I’ll probably try that next time. 😋
This dish is creamy and delicious! I did add 2 tsp coconut sugar for that slight sweet taste Thai usually has and we ate with a little rice in it too. Highly recommend.
Very good and even better the following days.
Recommend to add cauliflower and broccoli florets along with the mushrooms. Also, a nice touch is to squeeze some fresh lemon in the bowl when ready to eat.
It is definitely one of my favorites soup and would highly recommend this recipe.
I made this tonight, it was delicious! Thank you!
Outstanding!! Made this twice, bolstered the recipe with cut up chicken thighs second time around. Also kicked it up a notch with some ground peppers from my local Asian market- BAM! This is truly on par with a main entree at your favorite Thai restaurant. YUM-OH!
Easy and delicious! Even though I didn’t have red curry paste it was still so good!
Absolutely fantastic taste etc, husband loved it first time cooking with lemon grass brilliant thank you
Delicious Thai soup, awesome flavors! The lime juice and zest at the end bring it all together… it tastes like something you’d get at a restaurant! The only thing I think I’d change is I’d upgrade the shrimp size because I think the soup could use beefing up.
We served ours over cauliflower rice. Thanks for the recipe!!
I just made this
And OMG I needed this in my life.
It’s AMAZING
I like shrimp soup a lot. would like to try its Thai version.
I love your site and have tried a lot of your recipes! This one was very good added more curry for flavor any definitely needed the cilantro!
Thai Shrimp Soup
Quick,Easy & Flavor Bomb
I immensely enjoyed this soup!
I choose to fry the shrimp in the beginning with Avocado Oil for about 2 minutes & set aside until the end to finish
Thank you Michelle for another awesome recipe
I love your recipes but for my family your serving sizes are tiny. This would feed 2 people, 3 tops and that stretching it with lots of other add ons.
This was really good! The flavoring was delicious. I substituted mushrooms for yellow bell pepper and sugar snap peas. Will make again for sure!
Delicious! Tons of flavor! My family all said “You can make this one again!”
SO GOOD! I followed the recipe exactly and this is the most delicious Thai soup I’ve ever had. My husband is a Thai food snob and he went back for seconds. Thank you for the recipe!!
So good! I added thinly sliced chicken breast along with the shrimp. Next time I will probably add serrano chilies during the cooking process instead of as a garnish to give it a little more kick 🙂
I made this for dinner yesterday, and it was wonderful! I actually had dried shiitakes instead of fresh (already had them, and I’m on a budget), and so I reconstituted them and used the mushroom broth instead of chicken or veggie broth, and it was still delicious and beautiful. I was worried about the darker broth color, but it was fine with the curry paste and coconut milk camouflaging it.
This is SO good!!! Like amazing, really. So much flavor, so light and rich at the same time. Even my 3 year old and 9 month old liked it! Will definitely make again.
This is my family’s favorite soup!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Love this, easy and so good.
Really yummy! I think it could use a few more veggies to make it more filling, but the base of the soup is really tasty.
Great soup..easy to make.
This was an amazing soup!! Love all the flavors. I will for sure be making this soup again and again. Thanks for the recipe.
This is the greatest!!!! I have never had it before. But this is for sure something I’ll be making a lot of. Thank you!
This was really delicious and is worth making. Next time I might add a little more red curry paste for a little more spice, as well as a bit more lime! Nice job.
Flavour was wonderful! I will add more veggies next time, maybe some peppers and cauliflower.
Everything I want in a recipe: Delicious, quick to make, healthy, and items I usually have on hand.
Love all the real ingredients – personally, I thought the lime was over powering. My recommendation would be to start out with zest and juice from 1/2 lime. Go from there. I ended up having to add some sugar to balance. 😳😬
Delicious! I did add some Vegeta seasoning that makes everything taste better! :)))
Making the soup for the second time!
Two thumbs 👍 up