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If you love green curry, then you’ve gotta try this spicy Thai green curry soup option. Loaded with plant-based protein, vegan and easily gluten-free, this healthy soup is ready in less than 40 minutes.
Searching for dinner ideas a few weeks ago, I stumbled across this green curry lentil soup recipe from Bon Appétit and knew I had to try it. While their version was delicious, I tweaked it a bit to fit my nutrition and spice preference.
The result is spicy, comforting Thai vegan green curry soup that’s perfect for busy weeknights.
This recipe is adapted from the BA one, with more green curry paste for extra flavor and spice, kale for a heartier wilted green, and plenty of Thai basil stirred in at the end and vegan.
After making this a few times, I’ve learned that it’s also a very forgiving soup for what you have on hand. Regular or sweet potatoes can be subbed for thee butternut squash, more or less curry paste can be used depending on your preference or you can sub in yellow or red curry paste instead of green if preferred.
Yes, you can use a vegetable peeler to peel ginger. With its knobby, uneven surface however, peeling fresh ginger with a vegetable peeler can be a tough task. Use a spoon instead!
Grab a metal spoon, then run the concave side of the end of the spoon down the ginger knob, gently scraping off the skin. Hold the ginger fairly tight and close to the spoon to get the maximum amount of pressure. Ta-da! Easy peeling of the skin, then finely chop or mince.
I use a microplane grater for grating both garlic and ginger as I find it finely chops both ingredients so they melt into the soup and is easier than trying to finely mince with a knife.
Start by heating the oil in a large soup pan or pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for 3-5 minutes, until just softened. Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook another 2 minutes, stirring often, taking care not to burn the garlic.
Next, add in the curry paste and cook another 3 minutes, until paste starts to darken a little. Stir in the pepper, butternut squash, carrots, salt, lentils and broth then increase the heat to medium high to bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes, or until lentils are cooked through and tender.
Add in the coconut milk, kale and lime juice and cook another 5 minutes until kale is just wilted. Stir in the Thai basil then season to taste, adding more salt, black pepper, lime juice as desired. Serve with additional lime wedges and enjoy!
This spicy green curry lentil soup is also fantastic over rice!
As so much of the flavor from this soup comes from which type of curry paste you buy, I highly recommend using one that you love. Two plant-based curry options are Maesri and Mekhala, both of which I highly recommend. Curry powder is not the same as curry paste and not recommended as a swap.
I call for a full 4 ounces of curry paste, which is about 1 jar of whatever paste you find but note that the spice levels of curry paste can vary drastically. Therefore, if you don’t like spicy food then I’d recommend starting with roughly half the amount and adding from there.
You can always add more paste to increase flavor and spice, but it’s hard to take away spice once it’s added.
I hope you enjoy this Thai Green Curry Soup recipe as much as we do. If you try it, make sure to come back, leave a comment and rate it. Your feedback helps others and seeing you make my recipes makes my day!
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If you love green curry, then you’ve gotta try this healthy Thai green curry soup option. Loaded with plant-based protein, vegan and easily gluten-free, this healthy soup is ready in less than 40 minutes.
I call for a full 4 ounces of curry paste, which is about 1 jar of whatever paste you use. Note that the spice levels of curry paste can vary drastically. Therefore, if you don’t like spicy food then I’d recommend starting with roughly half the amount and adding from there.
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(3 comments) leave a comment
Delicious. I just made a second batch to take to work for lunch this week.
★★★★★
I made this tonight and whoa baby was it spicy! I should’ve listened to your warning and started with slightly less curry. I think I’ll serve leftovers over rice to reduce the heat a little. Still delicious!
★★★★
What curry paste did you use? I find that they can vary widely in terms of spice and it would be helpful for other readers to know in case they want a more mild spice.