Thai-Style Chicken Soup

I am obsessed with Thai flavours at the moment and this soup ticks all the right Thai food boxes. I got dried lemongrass leaves from my mom so I have been adding it to all my food lately. This soup is a variation of my traditional chicken soup, so, if you don't like Thai food, you can easily substitute the flavours with others flavours like more traditional herbs, basil, rosemary etc.

Ingredients:

  • 6 chicken pieces (thighs/breasts) - remove the skin and set aside for other recipes
  • chicken stock (1 bullion cube and boiling water is fine, but I often use frozen stock from other meals)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • thyme
  • chilli flakes
  • lemongrass
  • 3 slices of fresh ginger (or 1 tsp. of ginger powder)
  • mushrooms (I used a mixture of white button mushrooms and shimeji)
  • bok choy
  • 2 eggs
  • cilantro (optional)
  • Thai spices (I use a premix called Thai 7 spice - sugar/starch filler free)
  • salt & pepper

Click here for the printable Thai-Style Chicken Soup recipe

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F

In a large pot, add the skinless chicken, lemongrass, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, ginger pieces (or 1 tsp. of powder), salt, pepper and chicken stock. Fill the pot to 2/3 of the way to the top with extra boiling water. The spices in my Thai Spice are: sea salt, garlic, chili, ginger, basil, coriander leaves, lemongrass, black pepper, parsley, galangal and lime leaves.

Note: lemongrass stalks are usually used in cooking. Nom Nom Paleo describes how to prepare it correctly before cooking. It would be preferable to use the stalks in this recipe, but I only have dried leaves. I tied them into small bundles with string to prevent any leaves from staying behind when I remove them. Cooking it in the stock will extract the lemongrass flavour. If you can't get fresh or dried lemongrass, you should be able to find lemongrass paste. This stuff is amazing, so I would highly recommend trying it.

Put the sealed pot in the oven for 1.5 to 2 hours. This can also be done over a longer time period in a slow cooker. Once done, remove the chicken pieces from the soup and set aside to cool.

Note: I am not a patient person, so I don't like waiting for chicken to cool at room temperature. To speed up this process I put the chicken in a tupperware container in the freezer. It takes about 15 minutes to cool enough to be able to handle the chicken.

Place your soup pot on the stove top on medium heat. Remove all the "bits" (thyme sticks, ginger pieces etc.) - their purpose was for flavour. You don't want lemongrass leaves in your soup. If you feel that the soup needs longer with the lemongrass, keep it in until the end but don't forget to remove it.

Bring the soup to the boil. Slice the mushrooms and add them into the pot. Separate your bok choy leaves, slice the harder ends into small pieces and put everything into the pot. Add chilli flakes to taste.

Taste and add extra salt, pepper or spices as needed.

While the vegetables are cooking, debone and shred the cooled chicken into small pieces. Add into the soup.

Once the vegetables are cooked (it takes about 10 minutes), whisk the eggs in a small bowl. While the soup is boiling, pour the egg into the pot in a slow, steady stream while stirring quickly. Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve.

Tags: Dinner Eggs Ginger Recipe Thai Lemongrass Chicken Stock

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