Jamie Oliver’s Thai hot and sour chicken soup simmers diced chicken thighs, oyster mushrooms and ginger in Thai red curry paste and coconut milk, drops in egg noodles, sugar snaps and edamame, then finishes with crunchy peanut and sesame chilli oil and a squeeze of lime. It serves four, takes 20 minutes, and comes in at 614 kcal a bowl.
The recipe is from Jamie’s 20-Minute Meals (2012). This is a full, substantial one-pot soup-noodle supper rather than a clear broth starter: the noodles cook directly in the coconut broth, the chicken and mushrooms are chunky, and the edamame and sugar snaps add crunch. It’s closer to a Thai-inspired laksa than a delicate tom yum.
The crunchy peanut and sesame chilli oil at the end is what lifts it. Half gets stirred through the broth for deep, nutty heat, and the rest is drizzled over each bowl so it sits on the surface in glossy pools, giving every spoonful a different hit depending on where you dip. Without it, the soup is gentle and coconutty; with it, it has real backbone.
Jamie Oliver Thai Hot & Sour Chicken Soup
Course: Soups, Dinner, LunchCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy4
servings10
minutes10
minutes614
kcal20
minutesJamie Oliver’s 20-minute noodle soup from Jamie’s 20-Minute Meals: chicken thighs, mushrooms and egg noodles in a coconut and Thai red curry broth, finished with sugar snaps, edamame and crunchy chilli oil. One pot, four bowls. Serves four.
Ingredients
4cm piece of ginger
600g free-range skinless boneless chicken thighs
300g oyster mushrooms
4 heaped tablespoons Thai red curry paste
1 x 400ml tin of light coconut milk
4 nests of free-range egg noodles (250g total)
180g sugar snap peas
160g frozen edamame beans
4 heaped teaspoons crunchy peanut and sesame chilli oil
1 lime
Directions
- Start the base:Put a large shallow casserole on high heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Peel, chop and add the ginger. Dice the chicken into 3cm chunks, season with salt and pepper and add to the pan with the mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes until golden, stirring regularly. Boil the kettle.
- Build the broth:Stir in the curry paste. Pour in the coconut milk and 1 litre of boiling water, then submerge the noodles and simmer on medium heat for 6 minutes, adding the sugar snaps and frozen edamame for the last 3 minutes.
- Finish:Stir in half the crunchy peanut and sesame chilli oil and season. Divide between warm bowls, drizzle over the remaining chilli oil and serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.
FAQs
What Thai red curry paste should I use?
Oliver uses 4 heaped tablespoons, so the paste is the dominant flavour. A good-quality shop-bought paste like Mae Ploy, Mekhala or Lobo gives the most authentic Thai flavour: lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime, shrimp paste and dried chillies ground together. Supermarket own-brand pastes work but can taste blander, so you may need an extra spoonful.
Check the label if you’re cooking for someone with allergies: most Thai red curry pastes contain shrimp paste and aren’t suitable for vegans or those with shellfish allergies. A good yellow or green paste also works here, shifting the flavour rather than breaking the recipe.
What is crunchy peanut and sesame chilli oil?
It’s a condiment oil loaded with crushed peanuts, sesame seeds and chilli flakes, sold in jars in the world-food aisle or online. Lao Gan Ma (the Chinese brand with the woman on the label) is the most widely available and the one Oliver likely means. It’s crunchy, nutty, spicy and intensely savoury.
Half goes into the broth for depth, and half drizzles over the top for texture and heat. If you can’t find it, mix 2 teaspoons of crunchy peanut butter with 2 teaspoons of chilli oil and a scatter of toasted sesame seeds, which approximates the effect. It’s not identical, but it covers the same flavour ground.
Can I use chicken breast instead of thighs?
You can, but thighs are the right call here. They stay juicier in the simmering broth because they carry more fat than breast, and they don’t go chalky or dry the way breast can in a quick-cook soup. Oliver specifies skinless boneless thighs, which dice easily and cook through in the 5 minutes of initial frying plus the 6 minutes of simmering.
If you do use breast, dice it smaller so it cooks through quickly, and don’t overcook the broth stage, since lean breast goes from done to dry in a minute. For a completely different take on quick Oliver chicken, his sticky orange chicken uses breasts but protects them with the poach-then-fry method.
Can I make it vegetarian or vegan?
Swap the chicken for 400g of firm tofu, pressed and diced, and use a vegetarian Thai curry paste (one without shrimp paste). The edamame and noodles already give protein and substance, and the tofu fries golden in the same way the chicken does.
For vegan, also swap the egg noodles for rice noodles, and check the chilli oil isn’t made with shrimp. The coconut milk is already plant-based (Oliver uses the light version). His tomato and feta lentils and pea paneer curry are the vegetarian options from the same book if you’d rather avoid the swaps entirely.
Why light coconut milk?
It keeps the broth soupy rather than thick. Full-fat coconut milk would make this richer and more laksa-like, which isn’t wrong but changes the character from a hot-and-sour soup to a heavier curry broth. Light coconut milk gives enough creaminess to carry the curry paste and chilli oil without weighing down a bowl you’re meant to drink as well as eat.
It also keeps the calories more moderate: at 614 per serving this is already a substantial supper, and full-fat coconut milk would push it past 750. If you prefer the richer version, go for it, but expect a thicker bowl and adjust the water accordingly.
What else can I add or change?
The base method is a template. Swap the sugar snaps for tenderstem broccoli, the edamame for sweetcorn, the mushrooms for pak choi, or add a handful of beansprouts and shredded spring onions at the end for freshness. Oliver builds all his 20-minute soups this way: a flavour base, a protein, a starch and vegetables added by cooking time.
A tablespoon of fish sauce stirred in at the end adds authentic Thai seasoning depth, and a splash of rice vinegar sharpens the “sour” in the title. Fresh Thai basil or shredded mint over the top is the traditional fresh-herb finish, if you have either. It’s the same one-pot, adapt-to-your-fridge spirit behind his pressure cooker bolognese and bean soup.
