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Easy Coconut Curry Chicken Soup

By Jess Searcy, Publisher Macaroni Kid South Birmingham February 15, 2018

Easy coconut curry chicken soup is a delicious, healthy, and complete meal. Bonus points for being Whole30 and Paleo compliant. This is, easily, my favorite new recipe, since my husband and I decided to tackle Whole30 for the month of January.

Ingredients

  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1 onion
  • 1 inch fresh ginger
  • 1 pound sugar snap peas
  • 1 bag fingerling or other small, thin-skinned potatoes
  • 5 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, plus more to taste
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 pinch cayenne pepper, optional
  • 1 teaspoon red chili flakes, optional
  • 1 quart chicken stock
  • 30 ounces unsweetened coconut milk (I just used two cans)
  • 2 cups shredded, cooked chicken (we added more, almost all of our leftover chicken)
  • 1/2 lemon
  • 1/4 cup cilantro

Directions

1. Mince the garlic and chop the onions and potatoes. Peel and grate the ginger. Wash and trim the sugar snap peas.

2. In a heavy-bottomed pot, add coconut oil, onions, garlic, ginger, and salt and cook on medium heat until soft and fragrant. Take off heat while you do the next steps.

3. Cover potatoes with water until just covered and boil until mostly cooked through (about 10 minutes). Drain and set aside.

4. Steam snap peas in a pot with a shallow layer of water. Remove from heat when bright green, then run under cool water. Set aside.

5. Go back to onion mixture. As it begins to soften, add all of the dried spices and cook while stirring for 3 minutes.

6. Add chicken stock and coconut milk to curry mixture. Allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes.

7. Add chicken and potatoes to the curry, heat through.

8. Juice the lemon. Chop cilantro.

9. Turn off stove heat; add lemon juice and steamed snap peas.

10. Serve in bowls with cilantro garnish. Add salt to taste.

Tip: Make a whole chicken in a slow cooker (put the chicken in, cover halfway with water, and cook on low 5-6 hours) the day before and you will have enough chicken for dinner one night, plus chicken AND homemade stock for this recipe the next day. I actually took my chicken bones and followed a homemade bone broth recipe to really get the most out of my chicken. But you don't have to get that into it.

This looks and tastes super fancy, like it's from a restaurant. But it was really very easy to put together. It's a great winter comfort food!