Instant Pot Thai Coconut Soup is a delicious, comforting vegetarian Thai recipe which takes less than 10 minutes to cook! Includes tofu or chicken options!
Whenever we go to a Thai restaurant, I have to order the Coconut Soup; It’s magically delicious!!! So creamy, yet slightly spicy and sweet, it’s amazingly tasty and I crave it all the time. For a long time I thought the authentic Thai flavors were difficult to recreate at home, but I was wrong, it’s actually very easy when you have the right ingredients. This Instant Pot Thai Coconut soup only takes 4 minutes to cook in the instant pot (plus the time to come to pressure etc), and turns out fantastic. I like using tofu in my coconut soup, but a lot of people enjoy the soup with chicken, so I will include those instructions below as well. You are going to LOVE this comforting Instant Pot Thai Coconut Soup! If you like Thai food, you should also checkout One Pot Thai Noodles, Instant Pot Thai Lettuce Wraps and Spicy Thai Chicken Tenders!
How to make Instant Pot Thai Coconut Soup:
**scroll all the way down for printable directions, full ingredient list, and step by step video**
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- Using a 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot, heat it up using the sauté function. Add the oil, onions, and peppers and sauté . If you are going to add chicken, this is when you should do it.
- Add the sliced chicken to the pot with the onion and peppers, and sauté for about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms, and stir. Add the brown sugar, ginger, curry paste, fish sauce, lite soy sauce and stir some more.
- If you are using TOFU, add it now.
- Make sure you DRAIN (see below for directions) your tofu before putting it into the pot.
- Add the broth, close the top of the pot, seal the pressure valve, and set on manual/high for 4 minutes.
- You should remember when using the Instant Pot, that the time it takes to cook the recipe (4 mins), is not the total time of the recipe. You need to give the pot some time to ‘come to pressure’. With a soup this will take a bit of time since there is a lot of liquid, probably 10-15 minutes. Once it comes to pressure the pot will beep and the time will begin counting down.
- Once the time is up, let the pressure release naturally for 5-10 minutes, then flip the valve to release the remaining pressure (careful some liquid may spout out). Remove the top carefully.
- Add lime juice, coconut milk, and sriracha to taste. Stir everything to combine. Serve the soup and garnish with lime wedges, cilantro, or anything else desired. Enjoy!
- Using a 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot, heat it up using the sauté function. Add the oil, onions, and peppers and sauté . If you are going to add chicken, this is when you should do it.
How to drain tofu:
It’s important to drain the tofu before using it. This will allow the tofu to absorb the flavor of whatever you are cooking it with; in this case the Thai coconut flavor. Flavorless tofu is not good tofu, so make sure you don’t skip this step if using tofu.
- Using firm or extra firm tofu, remove from package and discard the water in the package. Cut the tofu block in half long ways, so you make the block thinner.
- Place 1 folded clean dish towel or paper towels down on the counter. Set tofu halves next to each other on top of the towels. Add another 1-2 towels on top of the tofu.
- Place a cutting board on top of the towels, then add a lot of weight to the top of the cutting board. I typically use a few cast iron pots or pans.
- Let it sit for at least 20 minutes, then remove the weight, towels, and cut the tofu into bite sized cubes.
If you like tofu as much as I do (delicious when cooked correctly) then checkout my popular General Tso’s Tofu and Crispy Honey Sesame Tofu recipes!
Is Instant Pot Thai Coconut Soup Healthy?
This soup is fairly healthy, however there is a decent amount of saturated fat due to the coconut milk. It contains 7 grams of saturated fat which is about 30% of your daily allowance, so as long as you are mindful of that, it’s still pretty healthy. Here is how the nutrition breaks down:
- Nutrition info for TOFU: 202 calories, 12g fat, 7g saturated fat, 14g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 7g sugar, 9g protein
- Nutrition info for CHICKEN (no tofu): 215 calories, 10g fat, 6g saturated fat, 13g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 7g sugar, 17g protein.
- Weight Watchers Points: Tofu version contains 8 weight watchers points per serving and the chicken version contains 7 points.
- The soup also contains 17% of your daily vitamin A and 62% of your daily vitamin C!
Instant Pot Thai Coconut Soup is the perfect meal, so doesn’t require any additional side dishes, but if you’d like more options, be sure to try out these delicious Instant Pot Thai Lettuce Wraps, One Pot Spicy Thai Zoodles or Spicy Thai Chicken Tenders! Serving this dish with just some steamed white rice and shelled edamame is a great option as well!
My favorite Instant Pot Recipes:
- Instant Pot Asian Pork cooks up in just minutes, and is the perfect healthy dinner! Use the juicy meat in lettuce wraps, sliders, or a salad!
- Best vegetarian instant pot recipes; From side dishes to main dishes, and a variety of cuisines, there is definitely something for everyone!
- Instant Pot Bang Bang Chicken comes together in minutes and is so delicious! The classic spicy sauce is perfect on shredded chicken which can be used in rice bowls, salads, wraps, or however you want!
- Instant Pot Loaded Mashed Potatoes are full of cheese, bacon, and green onions! Ultra creamy and delicious, these are the best loaded mashed potatoes!
- Instant Pot Hard Boiled Egg Loaf: In five minutes you can have a whole bunch of hardboiled eggs which are perfect for egg salad! No peeling or ice bath for this Instant Pot Hard Boiled Egg Loaf!
- Instant Pot Thai Lettuce Wraps (pork or chicken) can be made with pork or chicken in the instant pot or slow cooker! Juicy pork or chicken covered in an easy Thai peanut sauce makes the perfect healthy easy dinner!
- Instant Pot Roasted Red Pepper Soup: Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons is the perfect comfort food without any guilt! Make it in the Instant Pot, Slow Cooker, or on the stove top!
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Instant Pot Thai Coconut Soup is a delicious, comforting vegetarian Thai recipe which takes less than 10 minutes to cook! Includes tofu or chicken options!
- 1 TBS sesame oil
- 1 medium white onion, sliced
- 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
- 8 ounces mushrooms, wiped clean, cut in halves or 4ths if larger
- 1 TBS brown sugar
- 1 TBS fresh ginger, about an inch diced
- 2 TBS Thai red curry paste
- 1 1/2 TBS fish sauce
- 1 TBS reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 block firm or extra firm tofu, drained and cut into bite sized peices
- 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 3 TBS lime juice
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk, (found in the Asian area of the grocery store, usually in a can)
- sriracha to taste , I typically add 1 tsp
- lime wedges for garnish
- cilantro for garnish
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Heat a 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot, using the sauté function. Add oil, onions, and peppers and sauté 2-3 minutes. **If you are going to add chicken, this is when you should do it (see notes below).
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Add the mushrooms, and cook for 2 minutes. Add brown sugar, ginger, curry paste, fish sauce, lite soy sauce and stir. Add tofu then broth.
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Close the lid, seal the pressure valve, and set on manual/high for 4 minutes.
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Once the time is up, let the pressure release naturally for 5-10 minutes, then flip the valve to release the remaining pressure (careful some liquid may spout out). Remove the top carefully.
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Add lime juice, coconut milk, and sriracha to taste. Stir everything to combine.
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Serve the soup and garnish with lime wedges and cilantro. Enjoy!
Recipe Video
TIP: You should remember when using the Instant Pot, that the time it takes to cook the recipe (4 mins), is not the total time of the recipe. You need to give the pot some time to ‘come to pressure’. With a soup this will take a bit of time since there is a lot of liquid, probably 10-15 minutes. Once it comes to pressure the pot will beep and the time will begin counting down.
If using CHICKEN:
- 1lb boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced into 1/2 inch strips or bit sized cubes.
- Add the chicken at the end of step one, with the peppers and onions, and cook. Continue with recipe as written. Omit tofu.
Nutrition info for TOFU: 202 calories, 12g fat, 7g saturated fat, 14g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 7g sugar, 9g protein.
Nutrition info for CHICKEN (no tofu): 215 calories, 10g fat, 6g saturated fat, 13g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 7g sugar, 17g protein.
Stephanie says
This looks incredible! Can’t wait to try it.
Andie Thueson says
This looks amazing! I am always looking for easy and quick dinner ideas.
Jessica says
I loved this so much! Thank you!
Sabrina says
We’ve looking to add more vegetarian dinners into our weekly rotation and this was amazing!
Jen says
Thank you for adding a video to give me the confidence to nail this for dinner. It’s really helpful.
Mahy Elamin says
I made this soup for dinner and it gets 5 stars in our household! thank you for a great recipe! I will definitely be making this again.
Chrissie Baker says
My first creation in my new Instant Pot. It was a flavor explosion! My family really liked it. Thank you!!
MaryKay Wood says
This was delicious!! Thank you for the easy recipe.
Melanie Bauer says
Looks spectacular! Adding to my list of must makes, so tasty and flavorful!
Julie Blanner says
This looks very flavorful! can’t wait to make it!
Catalina says
This looks so comforting! I really need it right now!
Dee says
Bursting with flavor and very colorful, delicious!
Jade says
Is this vegan or a way to make it vegan ? thanks!!
Allyson says
I am 99% sure if you just leave the fish sauce out, it would be a vegan recipe. I think you would be fine to leave it out. Good luck!
JG says
You can also find vegan “fish sauce” on Amazon.
Angie says
I love finding great recipes like this for my Instant pot! These flavors are fantastic together!
Jasmine says
Hi! When do you add the 4 cups of broth? It doesn’t say.
Allyson says
Hi Jasmine- you add the broth after the tofu. It’s listed in step #2: “Add the mushrooms, and cook for 2 minutes. Add brown sugar, ginger, curry paste, fish sauce, lite soy sauce and stir. Add tofu then broth.” Good luck and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Danielle says
Delicious! Even my husband who hates tofu, mushrooms, and fish sauce loves this soup. Do you think it would be ok to add the coconut milk before the pressure cooking?
Allyson says
That is so awesome!!! I don’t know about adding it before, as I haven’t tried that. I would say, lets not try to fix what’s not broke, right? Going to share your comment with my Facebook page!
Patrick Cantrell says
This isn’t vegetarian due to the fish sauce.
Elizabeth says
You’re confusing vegetarian with vegan
Allen says
I’m pretty sure fish sauce is neither vegetarian nor vegan. A pescatarian would eat it though.
Allyson says
There are several vegetarian fish sauce substitutes in stores!
Cynthia Magana says
What other vegetable could I substitute the mushrooms for? Looks amazing!
Allyson says
Just leave them out if you dont like them!
Sam says
Is this keto?
Peter says
If you use the chicken should it be cooked before adding it to the soup?
Allyson says
If you add chicken I would suggest either using cooked chicken and following the directions as written, or you can use raw chicken in small bite-sized-cubes, and increase the cook time to 8 mins on high and then 5-10 min natural release after the time is up. Good luck and let me know how it turns out!
Kristy says
Hi, just wondering if you cak freeze this soup? Also can you add cooked rice to it? If so can you freezs that or maybe better to leave out and add after? Thanks!
Kristy says
Can*
Allyson says
Kristy- I don’t generally freeze soup that has tofu because the tofu becomes water dense. You can try it, as well as try adding cooked rice, but unfortunately I haven’t tried either of those things.
S gerardi says
Oh yum! This is sooo delicious! I wanted to make it more filling, so I added a bunch of rice vermicelli (cooked separately and added to each bowl). I plan to add this to my regular meal rotation! Thanks so much for a great recipe!
Allyson says
I am so happy to hear you loved it! Love the addition of the vermicelli- I may try that next time! Happy New Year!
Kristina says
I don’t EVER leave reviews anywhere but I was so surprised this only had a few reviews. We DEVOURED this soup! This was beyond amazing! We added in bok choy and I shredded up a rotisserie chicken! Do this recipe it will not disappoint!
Allyson says
Kristina, Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to come back and leave a review! I love this soup too, it’s so cozy! I am so happy your family loved it and it sounds delicious with your additions!
Bo says
Would the instructions be the same if I were cooking this in a regular cast iron pot? I assume the only difference would be the cook time?
A friend of mine made this for us in his instapot and it was delicious. I wanted to make it myself but don’t own an instapot. Thank you!
Allyson says
Yes you can easily cook this in the regular pot just increase the time until everything is cooked through! Easy peasy!
Jamie says
This recipe is delicious! I did make a change for the instruction for the chicken. I find small pieces of chicken dry out in the insta. So I added a pound of normal size chicken breast right after the broth before sealing the instant pot. Once the natural pressure was released I took out the breasts and shredded them with 2 forks then added them back in. Juicy and delicious that way. Recipe was a hit!
Allyson says
That sounds amazing!
Frank Hochman says
I HATE comments from those who have not yet tried recipes. Try the recipe, THEN make comments, otherwise they have no meanning.
Allyson says
People do get excited about trying recipes and leave comments. However, this recipe has a TON of comments from people who have also tried it…take your pick!
Angela Dunlap says
I have made this recipe a few times and love it every dang time. I do not like mushrooms but I add them anyway just large enough for them to not fall apart and easy to pick out. I love having leftovers the next day.
Christa Fournier says
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this soup!!!! I make with chicken, put into baggies and freeze for easy lunch to heat up at work. Delish!
Allyson says
So happy you love it as much as we do!