Coconut Curry Chicken Soup
The recipe for this coconut curry chicken started from a Sunday night fridge clean out. I had leftover chicken that I thought I was going to do one thing with but then a day or two passed and it never happened. The time was now to use it up before it spoiled.
After a long cold evening sitting at the baseball field (yes, on a Sunday and yes, baseball in the fall) which was the culmination of actually spending most of the weekend standing on the sidelines of a lacrosse tournament in the rain; a warm, comforting meal felt necessary and immediate.
I eyed the cooked chicken and scrounged around to see what else caught my eye. The last of a bag of fresh broccoli, half a container of mostly fresh spinach, and way, way in the back, a brand new, never opened bottle of red curry paste. Now we were talking.
A little bit of chopping and stirring and suddenly the kitchen started to smell really good. I threw some rice in the rice cooker to add to the soup at the end and in just a little while, we had a pot of soup that felt a little bit like the book from my childhood, Stone Soup; fragrant, delicious, and full of little surprises.
I’ve made this recipe a few times now and it just keeps getting better and better. In my humble opinion, it's almost more delicious on the second day because the flavors have time to develop. Also, the soup is incredibly forgiving when it comes to the ingredient list. Don’t have broccoli? No big deal, skip it. Prefer zucchini, sweet potato and red bell pepper? Use that instead.
This is a great recipe to meal prep for easy weekday lunches. Keep the soup and rice in separate containers. Heat them in the microwave, and combine once everything is nice and warm. After a few weeks of heavily indulging in leftover Halloween candy, not to mention the holiday season just around the corner, with its butter and sugar laden treats, having an easy meal full of good-for-you ingredients ready and on hand feels like just what I need these days. Give this yummy soup recipe a try and let me know if your family loves it as much as mine does. Recipe serves 6.
Coconut Curry Chicken Soup
4 cooked skinless chicken thighs OR 2 cooked rotisserie chicken breasts diced or shredded
1 large yellow onion diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic minced
2 heaping tablespoons red curry paste
1 tablespoon brown sugar
32-ounce organic low-sodium chicken stock
15-ounce can coconut milk
3 cups red potatoes diced
3 cups broccoli florets cut into bite-size pieces
3 cups loosely packed baby spinach leaves
2 cups cooked rice
1 jalapeno thinly sliced
1 bunch cilantro washed and leaves trimmed
Kosher salt and black pepper
Start by chopping or shredding the cooked chicken into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
In a large dutch oven or heavy pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until the onion is translucent and fragrant. Add the red curry paste, brown sugar, 3 to 4 jalapeño slices and minced garlic to the pot and give a good stir to combine. Cook an additional 2 minutes.
Add the diced chicken, potatoes and broccoli to the pot, stirring to combine the ingredients. Pour in the chicken stock and coconut milk, reducing the heat to a simmer. Allow the soup to simmer on low for about 20 minutes while the potatoes soften. Continue to stir occasionally.
While the soup cooks on the stove, prepare two cups of rice according to package instructions. Once the rice is finished, scoop the prepared rice into a bowl and set aside.
Returning to the soup, taste a potato to make sure its tender and cooked through. If the potatoes are ready, stir in the fresh baby spinach. Taste the broth and season with a pinch of Kosher salt and black pepper if needed. Turn the heat off to the pot, and stir for a minute or two while the spinach wilts slightly.
To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and top with a scoop of rice. Garnish with cilantro leaves, the remaining slices of fresh jalapeño and a pinch of black pepper.