Ingredients
- 2 onions, chopped fine
- 3 Tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 1 tsp canola oil
- 4 cups chicken broth*
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce, plus extra for seasoning
- Salt and pepper
- 2 (12-ounce) bone-in split chicken breasts, skin removed, trimmed of all visible fat
- 2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 8 ounces snow peas, strings removed, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 8 ounces white mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
- 1 (13.5 oz) can light coconut milk
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 Tbsp lime juice, plus extra for seasoning
Instructions
- Microwave onions, curry paste, and oil in bowl, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, about 5 minutes; transfer to slow cooker. Stir in broth, fish sauce, and 1/2 tsp salt. Nestle chicken into slow cooker, cover and cook until chicken is tender, 3 to 5 hours on low.
- Transfer chicken to carving board, let cool slightly, then shred into bite-size pieces using 2 forks; discard bones.
- Microwave bell peppers, snow peas, and mushrooms with 1 Tbsp water in covered bowl, stirring occasionally, until tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Drain vegetables, then stir into soup.
- Microwave coconut milk in bowl until hot, about 2 minutes. Stir into soup along with shredded chicken and let sit until heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in cilantro and lime juice and season with salt, pepper, extra fish sauce, and extra lime juice to taste. Serve.
Notes
Slow Cooker Size: 4-7 quart
Why this recipe works: Since the star of this aromatic Thai soup is the broth, we set out to make it rich and flavorful. After some initial testing, we decided to skip over homemade Thai curry paste, which was a time-consuming a ingredient-intensive endeavor, and reached for the store-bought variety. Using a generous amount of curry paste and blooming it with onions and oil in the microwave worked to deepen the base flavors. For our protein, we added chicken and infused it with rich flavor by poaching the breasts on low in the broth before shredding the meat. To round out our Thai-style soup, we included bell peppers, snow peas, and mushrooms. Quickly steaming the vegetables in the microwave with a small amount of water and adding them to the soup just before serving ensured that they remained fresh and crisp. Stirring in light coconut milk at the end preserved the soup’s clean, fresh taste and added
richness without excess fat.
*To reduce sodium level to 780 mg, use unsalted broth.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 2/3 cup
- Calories: 190
- Sodium: 1030mg
- Fat: 5g
- Saturated Fat: 2.5g
- Carbohydrates: 15g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 22g
- Cholesterol: 45mg