Vibrant Thai Tom Yum Soup (Print Page)

Bold Thai soup with lemongrass, lime, chiles, and shrimp. Balanced sour, spicy, and savory notes in 35 minutes.

# What You Need:

→ Broth Base

01 - 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
02 - 2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and smashed
03 - 4 kaffir lime leaves, torn
04 - 3 slices galangal or ginger
05 - 2 Thai bird's eye chiles, sliced

→ Vegetables and Aromatics

06 - 7 oz mushrooms, sliced
07 - 2 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
08 - 1 small onion, sliced
09 - 3 cloves garlic, smashed

→ Protein

10 - 10 oz shrimp, peeled and deveined or tofu for vegetarian option

→ Seasonings and Finish

11 - 3 tablespoons fish sauce or soy sauce for vegetarian
12 - 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
13 - 1 teaspoon sugar
14 - 1 teaspoon chili paste optional
15 - Fresh cilantro leaves for garnish
16 - 2 green onions, sliced
17 - Lime wedges for serving

# Directions:

01 - In a medium pot, bring the stock to a gentle boil. Add lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, chiles, garlic, and onion. Simmer for 10 minutes to allow flavors to infuse.
02 - Add mushrooms and tomatoes to the pot. Cook for 5 minutes until mushrooms are tender.
03 - Add shrimp or tofu and simmer just until shrimp turn pink and are cooked through, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
04 - Stir in fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and chili paste if using. Taste and adjust seasoning for salt, sourness, and heat as desired.
05 - Remove from heat. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with cilantro and green onions. Serve with lime wedges.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • It comes together in under 40 minutes, which means you can satisfy a craving without planning days ahead.
  • The flavor hits every note at once—it's the soup that teaches your palate what balance actually tastes like.
  • One bowl feels restaurant-quality but costs a fraction of delivery, and somehow tastes better when you've made it yourself.
02 -
  • If you remove the aromatics before serving, the soup looks cleaner, but leaving them in lets people adjust their intensity as they eat—I prefer to fish out the bigger pieces and leave the rest.
  • Fresh lime juice added at the very end tastes completely different from lime juice that's been sitting in hot broth for minutes—timing matters more than you'd think here.
03 -
  • If you can't find fresh lemongrass, frozen works better than dried, and one stalk will do in a pinch, though you'll lose some of that bright, grassy note.
  • Buying pre-peeled shrimp costs more but saves you time, and when the rest of the soup comes together so quickly, that convenience trade-off feels worth it.
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