This bold + cozy Red Curry Dumpling Soup offers a weeknight-easy twist using store-bought dumplings in a creamy coconut broth with red curry paste for an effortless restaurant quality meal, ready in just 30-minutes!
This Thai inspired dish is a fusion of Chinese dumplings with Thai flavored broth, combined to pack a punch of flavors that I lean on during busy nights, school activities or just when you're feeling plain exhausted.
A Quick Glance At This Red Curry Dumpling Soup Recipe
- ✅Done in: 30 minutes
- 🛒Ingredients: 14, plus garnish as desired
- 🍽️Serves: 4 servings
- 💪Difficulty: Easy
- 👩🍳Cook Method: Stovetop
- ⏰Make Ahead Friendly: Yes, though you'll want to store the dumplings separately so they don't soak up broth and fall apart.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Using store-bought dumplings + red curry paste is a huge payoff!
- Coconut milk and red curry paste provide depth of flavor in a flash. This flavor bomb is used in Green Curry Shrimp too.
- This soup recipe is flexible enough for fridge cleanout nights - adding whatever fresh veggies you have on hand
Jump to:
Recipe Ingredients
- Dumplings: Pork dumplings can be found in the freezer aisle at your local grocer.
- Chicken Stock: Use homemade or my favorite, Knorr Liquid Stock Concentrate.
- Coconut Milk: Be sure to buy unsweetened canned coconut milk, not cream of coconut or the type of coconut milk you see in the fridge near the almond milk and oat milk.
- Fish Sauce: Fish sauce brings great depth of flavor and umami taste when added to recipes. Over the years it's become a favorite ingredient of mine - also used in this quick Chicken Larb dinner.
- Mushrooms: Shiitake mushrooms add an umami flavor, providing an earthy, savory taste while offering a meaty texture.
- Bok Choy: Traditional in Asian cooking bok choy or baby bok choy can be found at most local grocers. The taste is similar to a cross between cabbage and spinach with a watery crunch and hint of mustard green or turnip greens.
- Red Curry Paste: Use store-bought red curry paste for tons of flavor without all the work. Maesri Red Curry Paste is my favorite to date.
- Lemongrass and Ginger: Another time-hack for this soup recipe is using ginger paste and lemongrass paste, something I use for Pork Banh Mi too. Both located in the refrigerated section of the produce aisle.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions & Variations
- When making Red Curry Dumpling Soup with frozen dumplings, use any type of dumplings you like, whether pork, chicken, or vegetable or even substitute noodles! Rice noodles, Chinese Egg Noodles or Ramen Noodles work well.
- Shrimp stock or vegetable stock can be used in place of chicken stock but be aware that the red curry paste likely contains fish.
- Add Thai red chiles, fresno peppers or serrano peppers for additional heat.
- Many fresh veggies can be subbed in such as fresh spinach, fresh broccoli, button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, cremini mushrooms or maitake mushrooms. Red bell pepper or green bell pepper are a popular option as well.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
How To Make Thai Red Curry Soup
Step 1: Heat large skillet until very hot, add oil and allow to become hot then add mushrooms and leave them undisturbed to caramelize. Once mushrooms brown, turn heat down and allow to cool a bit before stirring in all pastes.
Step 2: Whisk in coconut milk, chicken stock, fish sauce, brown sugar and salt, making sure to scrape up all browned bits.
Step 3: Once boiling, add bok choy to wilt. Add dumplings and cook per package directions.
Step 4: Serve soup in bowls and allow everyone to add toppings as desired.
Expert Cooking Tips
- If making Thai Red Curry Dumpling Soup recipe ahead of time, leave dumplings separate. This prevents over cooking/soaking and mushy dumplings.
- After cooking mushrooms, it's important to turn the heat down and allow the pan to cool slightly to not burn the curry paste, ginger paste and lemongrass paste when added however, still important to allow the curry paste to cook a bit in the pan with oil to deepen the flavor.
- Make chili oil ahead and store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Use it on multiple recipes throughout the week such as Garlic Chili Noodles, Braised Pork Shoulder, and Asian Air Fryer Salmon.
- Feel free to make broth up to 3 days ahead of time, leaving the dumplings out. When ready to eat, reheat soup broth in a pot. Once boiling, add dumplings and cook according to package directions then serve.
Red Curry Soup Recipe FAQs
Soup is great for storing and reheating, as you can do so on the stove or in the microwave. I do suggest you store any leftover dumplings separately or they will soak up the broth and fall apart. Another options is to make the soup completely but not add dumplings, cool and store. Then when reheating, you can add the dumplings to cook before serving.
I love to chop fresh herbs such as basil, mint, or cilantro. A squeeze of fresh lime, peanuts, bean sprouts, green onion or sesame seeds are great too. When I know I'll be making several Thai-inspired dishes, I make a jar of Garlic Chili Oil to store in the fridge. This adds a great touch of heat to the bowl.
Any store bought red curry pastes will work but I do have a favorite.
Maesri Red Curry Paste has a stronger, spicier, more authentic flavor in my opinion. If you're not able to find it at a grocer near you, it's available on Amazon.
I have also used Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste, and it results in a milder, less spicy and potentially less authentic flavor. It still makes a great broth that works well in this recipe.
More Asian Inspired Recipes You'll Love
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📖Recipe
Red Curry Dumpling Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 oz shiitake mushrooms sliced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoon ginger paste
- 1 teaspoon lemongrass paste
- 3 tablespoon red curry paste Maesri
- 4 cups chicken stock I use Knorr Liquid Stock Concentrate
- 2 cans coconut milk
- 2 tablespoon fish sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1½ teaspoon kosher salt Diamond Crystal
- 2 cups bok choy
- 20 pork dumplings
- 1 zest of one lime
Garnish
- ½ cup cilantro
- ½ cup basil
- ¼ cup mint
- ¼ cup green onions sliced thin
- 4 lime wedges
- 2 thai red chiles sliced thinly
- ¼ cup garlic chili oil garlic chili oil
Instructions
- Heat a soup pot over medium heat then add oil and allow to become very hot. Add mushrooms to pan and allow to cook, undisturbed for 2 minutes. Stir and allow to sit again, adding more oil if the pan appears dry
- Turn the heat down to low then add garlic, ginger paste, lemongrass paste and red curry paste while stirring for 10-20 seconds. Immediately add chicken broth, coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar and salt to pot while stirring and turn the heat back up to medium-high
- Once broth boils, add bok choy and allow to come back to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Add dumplings and lime zest then allow to cook as long as listed on dumpling package
- Serve soup in bowls, garnishing with cilantro, basil, mint, green onion and Thai red chiles or garlic chili oil if desired
Zach
I loved this recipe because it was so easy to just throw in some frozen dumplings and let them cook in the pot. The coconut milk made the soup really creamy and tasty, and it only took a few minutes to make a huge bowl of comfort food.
Krista Stechman
So happy to hear you loved it! I hope it makes it to your regular weeknight menu rotation!
Krista
I can’t say enough about this dish, it’s quick, easy + has so much flavor! Lots of little shortcuts but still restaurant quality taste. We use this recipe frequently during busy weeknights.