Chicken Khao Soi - Yellow Coconut Curry Soup

Chicken Khao Soi - A deliciously sweet and spicy Yellow Coconut Curry Soup made with homemade Thai yellow curry paste. Loaded with white meat chicken and rice (zucchini) noodles.. This flavorful soup is my low-carb take on traditional Khao Soi - a Northern Thai Yellow Curry Soup. Gluten free, dairy free, soy free, and super easy to put together.

Today's recipe is special for two more reasons: 1) It is first recipe of CDH in year 2018. 2) I'm happy to maintain my resolution and share no-carb and high-protein version of traditional Khao Soi. 

Honestly, Thai yellow curry has not got as much attention world-wide as Red Curry and Green Curry. But in one line I can tell you, if you like coconut curry and like Madras curry powder? This delightful soup will make you very happy. For me highlights of this soup are: silky aromatic yellow coconut curry broth and zucchini noodles.

Khao Soi or Khao Soy is very popular street soup in North Thailand. The Khao Soi name means "cut rice" in Thai. Different version of this soup uses different preparation of noodles. Some serve this soup with fried noodles, some with egg noodles or some with wide rice noodles. My take on Khao Soi is very similar to traditional but still slightly different... In simple words, I kept this soup low in oil, carbs, and shell-fish free. 

Let me share more details of my version of Chicken Khao Soi Soup:

1) Carb free Zucchini Noodles:  Like I mentioned, traditional Khao Soi soup has toppings of fried (and/or regular boiled) egg noodles. Almost like crunchy element of tortilla in Chicken Tortilla Soup. When I decided to make this soup for South Beach Diet Plan... I decided to skip rice/wheat noodles completely. Instead, added spirialized zucchini noodles to give it slurp-worthy texture without carb-guilt. 

2) Simple Fresh Toppings:  Traditional soup has various other toppings: bean sprouts, sliced red onion, fried pork, fermented mustard greens, cilantro, lime wedges etc. I kept it simple with fresh Thai basil, red onion, leaves of cilantro, and lime wedges. Splash of lime is makes this soup delightful.

3) Soy/Shellfish Free Soup: Traditional Soup is flavored with shrimp paste. Shrimp paste is mostly added to yellow curry paste (khao soi paste). I kept my yellow curry paste shrimp/soy free. If not in paste, shrimp sauce can be added to curry broth.

So, if not shrimp, how do I keep Khao Soi Soup flavorful?

Good question! I'm glad you asked.

I cook fresh chicken with the broth until it is fork tender. That's it! Just like my Made-from-scratch Chicken Noodle Soup..Fresh chicken gives plenty of meaty chicken flavor to the soup. Makes it so aromatic and robust that fish flavor is not needed.

Please note that shrimp sauce also work as seasoning which means salt needs to be adjusted (to taste) to bring-out the flavor of coconut and curry.

Chicken Khao Soi is really Asian Chicken Noodle Soup with yellow coconut curry base broth. It is as good to sip for a cold January night (with snow and flue season) as it is to include in South Beach Diet Plan. It's low-carb veggie zucchini noodles, lean white meat chicken and low-fat coconut curry broth makes it fit, filling, and healthy soup.

Freeze or Make-Ahead:

This Khao Soi recipe yields 4 generous servings. Like I always say, for diet plan you can portion it (anyway you prefer), depending up-on point-system you using. Soup also freeze well. You can freeze soup without zucchini noodles. Zucchini tastes best when added fresh spiralized to hot coconut curry broth. Hot broth cooks zucchini perfectly al-dente. It tastes amazing with some bite as if chewing on regular egg noodles. LOVE IT!

So for carb-free diet plan days are going great. As promised, I'm adding this recipe in South Beach Diet Collection. Don't forget to pin. Are you watching Instagram for behind-the-scene stories of my carb-free days? Don't forget to share with me if you following along.

I hope you will enjoy Khao Soi as much as we did. I still have a batch of Khao Soi Paste in refrigerator. This soup will be on menu soon again.

Wish you delicious and healthy January of 2018!

-Savita x