Tom Yum Shrimp Soup Recipe is the most famous and classic Thai hot and sour soup. It is spicy and just brimming with flavor and fragrant Thai ingredients. Easy to make and ready in minutes. A perfect starter to an Asian themed feast. Gluten Free & Dairy Free.
Finally, without further adieu I present to you my first Thai cooking class recipe courtesy of Silom Thai Cooking School – a creamy hot and sour Tom Yum shrimp soup recipe.
We’ve spent the last 2 weeks in Thailand (I really can’t believe it’s been that long already), split between Bangkok in Phuket.
In Bangkok we met up with my cousins who were on winter holidays visiting their dad (my uncle) who lives there and they were the first familiar faces we had seen since we started our trip 4 months ago.
Crazy to think that for 4 months the only person I interacted with who know me for more than a few days was Dave. Even more surprising is that we haven’t killed each other yet.
Needless to say it was awesome being around my uncle and cousins and we had a blast discovering the various uber modern over the top Bangkok malls where many Bangkok hotels are located nearby, (they’ve all been to the tourist sites already, you see).
From there on our time in Thailand has only gotten better.
On the 14th my parents flew in from Boston, right on my moms birthday, might I add. Happy happy birthday to the greatest mom ever!
So after a couple nights in Bangkok we flew over to Phuket for our family beach time getaway. With a condo on the beach and a rental car to take us everyone we need to be (including the supermarket where we take daily trips to) it has been an amazing few days.
With an apartment I have free reign over a full kitchen – a fridge, ample counter space, 4 stove burners, an oven and even a microwave, so as you can imagine I’ve been making a mess in the kitchen.
I took a cooking class in Bangkok with the Silom Thai Cooking School, (which I highly recommend) and have been recreating the recipes from class for both my parents and Dave.
And so, since this Tom Yum shrimp soup recipe is started it’s only appropriate that I share this soup first. Have you had Thai soup before? If not you must get your hands on some now. It is amazing.
All Thai food in all honestly is dream and drool worthy but soups especially.
The complexity and subletitly of all the flavors coming together is simply magical.
In Thai food I have found a common trend – many ingredients are added in the cooking process for flavor alone – they never get eaten but are simply moved aside in the finished dish. This is brilliant and it really works to bring more and more flavor to a dish.
As with all Thai dishes you really need to be careful with the spice level – they love their chili peppers over here and trust me they love their food spicy. Too spicy for most Westerners I presume.
Don’t be discouraged with the lenghty list of ingredients in this Tom Yum shrimp soup recipe. Get yourself to an Asian supermarket and go wild — once I get you started cooking Thai food you won’t be able to stop – no joke it’s really that good.
Well I must wrap up this post before I become so tempted to make this soup this instant.
I’m off to get my beauty rest before another beach/pool day but good morning to the rest of the world!
Oh and for those of you looking for a Thai island to explore – Phuket’s a pretty good one (though watch out for the masses and I mean masses of Russian tourists). Since the island is pretty big you will want to rent some sort of transport to be able to independently explore but not to worry there are cheap car hire options or even motorbike rentals to be found.
But for now, you can get your own taste of Thailand with this creamy Tom Yum shrimp soup recipe. Enjoy!
For other Asian soup recipe be sure to check out my chicken ramen!
Looking for a new soup recipe? Look no further - make Tom Yum Shrimp Soup!
- 1/2 cup shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 straw mushroom quartered
- 1 stalk lemongrass lightly smashed and cut into 3-4 pieces
- 3 kaffir lime leaves torn in half
- 10 slices ginger or galangal
- 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1/2-1 teaspoon lime juice
- 1 cup water or chicken stock
- 1/2 to mato quartered
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped
- 1-2 green onions cut into 2 inch long segments
- 1/2 tablespoon thai chili paste nam prik pow - roasted thai chili paste
- 2 tablespoons coconut milk
- 2 red bird's eye chili cut into 1/2 inch long segments
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To a pot add water or stock, lemongrass, green onions, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, mushrooms, chilies, and tomato. Bring to a boil and cook until tender (2-3 minutes).
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Add the shrimp, bring to a boil and cook until cooked through (2-3 minutes).
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Add coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, and thai chili paste. Mix, cook 1-2 minutes and remove from heat.
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Serve garnished with cilantro and sliced red chilies (optional).
Tom Yum Shrimp Soup Recipe from Silom Thai Cooking School
Dana Francis says
Wow! I have been dreaming on going for a trip to Thailand or Indonesia. I heard they have colorful food in Thailand. By the way, I am a fan of spicy food!! If you loved Thailand, visit Singapore! They have diverse food choices there, and to top that most of them are authentic as well. For cheap authentic Asian cuisine, you can never go wrong with Singapore’s hawkers.
Vicky says
OOOhh yes I had read about the Singapore hawkers! We will get there eventually but yes the food in Thailand is indeed colorful. So many different dishes with different textures and tastes and spice levels! I recently took a cooking class on Koh Lanta (an island in the South of Thailand) and the instructor was telling us how our level of spicy is the level that her 5 year old daughter can tolerate. While Westerns generally handle about 1 birds eye chili in their papaya salad the locals enjoy it with 10+ chilis! It’s insane! If you love spicy food you’ve got to get over to Thailand!
Anya @ SAS-does says
I love Tom Yum but rarely get to eat it – I am vegtarian and not a lot of places around here have a veg. version of this soup. Thank you for sharing the recipe I will dfinitely be making a veg. version of it this winter.
Vicky says
Hope you enjoy this soup when you make it! Just substitute soy sauce for the fish sauce and look out for the ingredients on the roasted thai chili paste because I think it’s usually made with dried shrimp! In the US in Asian stores I always saw jars of tom yum paste sold but never realized that it wouldn’t be all that difficult to make the soup for scratch just as long as you stock up on a few Thai staple ingredients! Best of luck!
Linda says
Have always wanted to make this.