Tom Yum Goong Soup
Updated March 1, 2025
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1¼pounds head-on, shell-on jumbo shrimp (see Tip)
- 1tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
- 2lemongrass stalks, trimmed, dry outer layer removed for each
- 1(1-inch) piece galangal, thinly sliced
- 6makrut lime leaves (3 double leaves), torn
- 1 to 3Thai chiles, crushed
- ¼cup fish sauce
- ¼cup nam prik pao (Thai chile jam or Thai roasted chile paste), store-bought or homemade
- 1teaspoon sugar
- About 3 cups/7 ounces oyster mushrooms, torn into bite-size pieces
- ⅓ cup fresh lime juice (from 3 to 4 limes)
- Cilantro, for garnish
Preparation
- Step 1
Twist the heads off the shrimp, then peel and devein them, reserving heads and shells. Refrigerate the cleaned shrimp while you prepare the shrimp stock.
- Step 2
In a large pot, heat the canola oil on medium. Add the reserved shrimp heads and shells. Cook for 5 minutes, until shells are toasted and browned, stirring and mashing the heads and shells with the back of a wooden spoon to break them up.
- Step 3
Stir in 5½ cups water and scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Step 4
Meanwhile, with a meat mallet or the back of a heavy chef’s knife, hammer the lemongrass stalks to bruise and break them up slightly. Cut the stalks into 2-inch lengths.
- Step 5
With a slotted spoon, discard the heads and shells from the broth. Add the lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves and chiles. Simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes.
- Step 6
Stir in the fish sauce, nam prik pao and sugar until the nam prik pao is fully dissolved. It can be tricky to stir in the thick nam prik pao paste. To make this easier, place the paste in a heatproof bowl, then ladle in a bit of the hot broth and mix until runny. Stir that mixture into the pot. (See Tip for make-ahead info.)
- Step 7
Add the mushrooms. Simmer for 2 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender. Add the cleaned shrimp and simmer until just cooked through, 1 to 3 minutes.
- Step 8
Turn off the heat, then stir in the lime juice. To serve, you can take out the galangal, lime leaves, chiles and lemongrass, or simply tell your guests to avoid eating them and give them a small dish on the side to place them in. Garnish the soup with the cilantro.
- If you can’t access shell-on, head-on shrimp (or if you’d like to get this dish on the table in 30 minutes), you can skip Step 1 through Step 3. Bring 4 cups of unsalted chicken broth and 1¼ cups water to a boil, then proceed with the rest of the recipe. Use 1 pound of peeled, deveined extra large shrimp in Step 7.
- To make the soup ahead, complete Step 1 through Step 6. Cool completely, then freeze for up to 3 months or refrigerate for up to 2 days. Freeze cleaned shrimp. When ready to serve, thaw broth (if frozen) and shrimp in the refrigerator and then continue with Step 7 to complete the recipe.
Private Notes
Comments
Many years ago, I learned to make this, one of my favorite Thai dishes, in the kitchen of a Thai family in Bangkok. The ingredients were close enough to those in this recipe not to matter, but the prep does. The shrimp shells, along with the lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves are gently simmered for 20 minutes in 6 cups of chicken stock, then the broth is strained, making it ready for the rest of the ingredients. Much less messy and easier for guests. Sliced Chilis reserved as condiment.
A wonderful dish! However, 15 minutes of prep time? It's not the first time I've made this recipe so I was pretty efficient in the kitchen. I spent More that 15 minutes beheading, deveining, and shelling the shrimp. In the end it was totally worth the effort. But 15 minutes?
A wonderful dish! However, 15 minutes of prep time? It's not the first time I've made this recipe so I was pretty efficient in the kitchen. I spent More that 15 minutes beheading, deveining, and shelling the shrimp. In the end it was totally worth the effort. But 15 minutes?
Many years ago, I learned to make this, one of my favorite Thai dishes, in the kitchen of a Thai family in Bangkok. The ingredients were close enough to those in this recipe not to matter, but the prep does. The shrimp shells, along with the lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves are gently simmered for 20 minutes in 6 cups of chicken stock, then the broth is strained, making it ready for the rest of the ingredients. Much less messy and easier for guests. Sliced Chilis reserved as condiment.