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Thai Tom Yum Goong Soup
Tom yum goong is so iconic, and here’s how I make this beauty from scratch! Let’s get cooking…
If there’s one thing I miss about Thailand (apart from the sun), is gulping down a big bowl of tom yum soup with juicy king prawns inside.
It’s very popular, and for good reason… It’s sweet, sour and spicy all at the same time, and the flavours are just so good. And what’s even better? You can literally make it in just 30 minutes.
I like to make this dish with a variety of prawns (shelled and deshelled), fresh veggies and a range of aromatics like garlic and ginger. But if you don’t fancy making tom yum goong (aka prawns), you can take the prawns out and swap it with whatever meats that you like (just don’t tell me because prawns are the best).
Recipe Ingredients
Below are the few ingredients I used to make this recipe:
- Aromatics: I use ginger, red onion, garlic and lemongrass for the base flavour. Most authentic Thai recipes include galangal, but I’ve stuck with ginger as galangal isn’t widely available in the UK.
- Prawns: I used a mixture of king prawns, tiger prawns and shelled prawns. When I had this dish in Thailand, they left the shells only on the tails, but I’ve added fully shelled prawns for extra flavour.
- Coconut Milk: If you want a creamy tom yum soup add coconut milk. If you don’t like the flavour of coconut milk, then you can use evaporated milk instead.
- Vegetables: The veggies I added were tomatoes and mushrooms.
- Lime Leaves & Juice: Don’t skip this!! Lime juice and lime leaves help add sourness which contrast the sweet and spicy flavours.
- Tamarind Paste: Adds sourness, I love this addition. But if you don’t have it it’s okay to leave it out.
- Thai Chilli Paste: I like to use Maepranom Thai Chili Paste, it’s my favourite for a most authentic flavour profile that’s slightly sweet and spicy.
- Fish Sauce: Adds a nice fishy and salty flavour.
How To Make Prawn Tom Yum Soup
Here’s a summary of how I make homemade tom yum goong soup. You can get the full recipe instructions on the recipe card below:
To make this soup, I add diced garlic, ginger, onions and lemongrass to a pan heated on a medium-high heat and stir for 2 to 3 minutes.
Then I pour my homemade prawn broth to the pan and mix everything together before adding the vegetables, red chillies and lime leaves. To make the prawn broth, I boil prawn shells/head in water for 5 minutes, then gently crush them to release their flavour before straining the mixture through a sieve.
Tamarind paste and coconut milk is added to the soup, and I mix everything together before mixing in Thai chilli paste and fish sauce.
Last but not least, I add the prawns and lime juice to the pan and leave the mixture to simmer for 3 to 5 minutes or until the prawns have cooked through.
How To Serve
I like to serve this soup with a side of basmati or jasmine rice, this is my go-to combo! But if I’m feeling fancy, I like to add an extra portion of green beans or some sort of green veggie stir-fry too.
You can of course swap rice with noodles instead or you can simply eat the soup on its own. In that case, you might want to add more veggies to the soup to make it more filling.
My Top Tips
Only 200ml of coconut milk is needed for this recipe, so to avoid waste, I like to pour the rest into boiling rice whilst it’s cooking to give it a delicious coconut flavour.
Shelled prawns (with the heads on) gives you the ultimate prawn flavour! I think they’re a must when making the prawn broth and for the soup too. If I don’t have the time to make the broth in advance, I use chicken broth instead.
How To Store
I keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 to 3 days. If you want, you can make a batch of prawn broth and keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months. This way, you can simply defrost the broth whenever you want to make tom yum soup.
More Thai Recipes
- Thai Green Curry
- Sweet Chilli Salmon (Thai Inspired)
Tom Yum Prawn Soup
Ingredients
- 1 litre Prawn Broth See Notes
- 200 ml Coconut Milk
- 400 g Whole Prawns (Frozen or Fresh with head/shell)
- 1 tbsp Garlic (Diced)
- 1 tbsp Ginger (Diced)
- 200 g Mushrooms (Whole)
- 4 Tomatoes (Sliced Into Quarters)
- 2 Lemongrass (Broken Into Halves)
- 3 Birdseye Chillies (Diced or Whole)
- 1 Onion (Diced)
- 5 Lime Leaves
- 1 Juice Of Lime
- 1 tbsp Fish Sauce
- 2 tbsp Thai Chilli Paste
- 1 tbsp Tamarind Paste
Instructions
- Heat a pan on a medium to high heat and add a tablespoon of oil.
- Add diced garlic, ginger, onions and lemongrass to the pan and stir for 2 to 3 minutes.1 tbsp Garlic, 1 tbsp Ginger, 1 Onion, 2 Lemongrass
- Pour prawn broth (or chicken broth) to the pan and mix everything together before adding the tomatoes, mushrooms, red chillies and lime leaves.1 litre Prawn Broth, 200 g Mushrooms, 4 Tomatoes, 3 Birdseye Chillies, 5 Lime Leaves
- Add tamarind paste and Thai chilli paste and mix it into the soup. Then add coconut milk and fish sauce then stir again.200 ml Coconut Milk, 2 tbsp Thai Chilli Paste, 1 tbsp Tamarind Paste, 1 tbsp Fish Sauce
- Add the prawns and lime juice to the pan and leave the mixture to simmer for 3 to 5 minutes or until the prawns have cooked through.400 g Whole Prawns, 1 Juice Of Lime
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Music in video from Uppbeat, License code: 08VBCZFHCZBZDBBY
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