Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup

Happy new year, fam! I hope 2021 is treating you well so far, and you’re hopeful and optimistic for a great year ahead. Knock on wood, but I feel like good things are coming for us in 2021. 🙏🏼

Like many people, Ben and I have made goals pertaining to our health including eating less meat, more fresh food, and continuing to exercise regularly. Let me tell you – it is SO much easier sticking to a healthy routine when you’ve got someone to do it with. If you don’t live with a like-minded buddy, partner up with a friend or family member to help cheer each other on. A girlfriend and I started keeping each other accountable on the exercise front last summer and it made a HUGE difference as to whether or not I laced up and hit the trail, or hopped on our exercise bike, versus brushing it off for another day.

Now, as I shared, 2020 was the year of comfort food here on IGE. Times were tumultuous and stressful and sometimes Cheeseburger Quesadillas help…if only for a little while. That said, I firmly believe our tastebuds are trainable. If we serve them salt, they crave salt. If we serve them sugar, they crave sugar. (I am living proof of that. After going through a Go Sugar Free course (now defunct) many years ago, this former sugar addict still rarely craves sugary foods/dessert!) If we serve them healthy food that TASTES GOOD, they’ll crave healthy food!

When I say “healthy food that tastes good”, I’m not talking about plain chicken breasts, baked white fish, nor boring salads. I’m talking vibrant, flavor packed meals like Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup. This healthy, vegetable packed soup makes eating healthy actually enjoyable – I licked my bowl clean!

Coconut milk, garlic, ginger, red curry paste, lime juice, and fresh cilantro pack each spoonful of Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup with flavor. It is so mouthwatering! Yes – a mouthwatering soup!! Plus it’s full of spinach and mushrooms so each bowl is incredibly wholesome. I scoop my coconut shrimp soup over cooked white rice, but you could just as easily serve it over steamed cauliflower rice to up the veggie ante.

YUM!

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If you’re looking for more healthy recipes to kick off the new year, I just launched a free, 5 Day Clean Eating Guide email course which contains tons of healthy IGE recipes. You can sign up for that here >

In the meantime, fire up the stove and let’s get this soup simmering!

How to Make This Recipe:

Start by sauting chopped shallots or onion with pressed or minced garlic and ginger in a large soup pot until fragrant. Some of the ginger will want to stick to the bottom of the pot, and that’s ok. We’ll scrape it up in a bit!

Next add a huge thwack of red curry paste then saute until fragrant, another minute or so. I prefer Thai Kitchen brand for both the red curry paste and the fish sauce which we’ll add next. As written, this soup comes in at a “medium” spice level, though different brands of red curry paste have different heat levels. You can always add more at the end if the soup isn’t as spicy as you like it.

Now, slowly add chicken broth while scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot, followed by coconut milk, gluten free tamari, the aforementioned fish sauce, coconut sugar, dried basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Turn the heat up to bring the soup to a bubble, then turn the heat down and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After simmering, turn the heat up to high to bring the soup to a rolling boil then add peeled and deveined shrimp, thinly sliced mushrooms, and roughly chopped baby spinach. Cook until the shrimp are cooked through and the mushrooms are crisp tender, 3-5 minutes.

Last step is to squeeze in the juice from half a lime. The lime completely awakens the flavors in this soup – there is a night and day difference!

Scoop the soup over bowls of cooked rice then top with tons of chopped cilantro and extra lime wedges, if you please. I know you will adore, adore, adore this fantastic and flavor-packed soup recipe – enjoy!