Order These Comforting Thai Soups Today (2024)

We’ve all been told that chicken soup is good for the soul. This is definitely something I can get behind; the strands of chewy pasta noodles, softened carrot coins and celery crescents, and shredded chicken in a light broth has always felt healing to me.

That being said, I don’t always turn to plain chicken soup for comfort. I drink fiery tom yum, which clears my nasal passages, or I slurp thick spoonfuls of soup called joke, laced with sliced ginger, or I sip on kaeng jud, a soup with a light broth that could give chicken noodle a run for its money.

Thai soups in particular travel well and are perfect for take-out (as are Thai salads). The ones I’ve listed here don’t contain noodles, so you aren’t left with soggy cords that fall apart and sink to the bottom of your styrofoam container in a tangled wad. Garnishes -- like cilantro, green onions, and fried garlic -- are typically delivered in separate bags to ensure freshness in flavor and texture. And did I mention Thai soups are one of the easiest dishes to revive? Toss your soup in a microwave-safe bowl or heat it up on the stove for a dish that’s as good as new.

Although soup is a universal love language, in Thai it’s especially inviting. Here are 11 Thai soups you should know about and try, whether you’re in need of a toasty hug in liquid form, a coconut milk-based dessert, or take-out inspiration.

Savory Soups

Tom Yum
Tom yum is probably the most popular and famous Thai soup out there, and for good reason. The soup is served piping hot and the forward flavors are sour and spicy, thanks to generous squeezes of lime and strips of fiery Thai chiles. Upon second sip, tom yum is fragrant and surprisingly complex, due to the inclusion of lemongrass, makrut lime leaves, galangal (somewhat similar to ginger), and fish sauce. Tom yum can be made with shrimp, chicken, tofu, or no protein at all, and is typically served with straw mushrooms and sprinkles of cilantro. In Thai, “tom” translates into “boiled” and “yum” refers to the traditional sour, salty, and spicy flavor of an array of Thai dishes. There’s even an entire subcategory of Thai salads called yums.

Tom Kha
Tom kha has a similar flavor profile to tom yum -- spicy, sour, and salty -- but is a lot creamier, thanks to the addition of coconut milk. It’s typically made with chicken and an array of mushrooms and is milder in heat compared to tom yum. As mentioned previously, tom refers to the boiling temperature of the soup whereas kha translates to “galangal,” the tropical rhizome that gives tom kha its unique flavor. Sip tom kha on its own or spoon the broth over bowls of jasmine rice.

Gaeng Jud
Although gaeng jud legitimately translates to “plain soup,” this clear broth soup can be filled with hearty vegetables, white pepper, and glass noodles, and seems plain only compared to the vibrant flavors of tom yum. Gaeng jud is different wherever you order it; some versions have floating garlicky pork meatballs while others include sliced carrots and fuzzy Asian squash or soft squares of tofu. However it’s prepared, gaeng jud tastes light and comforting and is a welcomed opportunity to get in your daily dose of veggies.

Gaeng Som
Popular in Southern Thailand, gaeng som is a curry-based soup that is well known for its mouth-puckering sour qualities. The soup begins as a curry paste made with Thai chiles, shrimp pastes, and pounded shallot, and is then mixed with tamarind, which provides the soup with its signature sour flavor. Typically, gaeng som is loaded with produce native to Southern Thailand, but I’ve seen variations with cauliflower and green beans. The curry-like soup is usually served with fish and steamed white rice.

Gaeng Liang
Gaeng liang kind of reminds me of gaeng jud in the sense that it is a brothy soup filled with vegetables. The main difference, however, boils down to flavor (pun kind of intended). Gaeng liang is filled with a funky fermented shrimp paste called kapi, as well as dried shrimp and fish sauce. Gaeng liang is a lot more on the savory side than any other flavor, but it also possesses the refreshing fragrance of Thai basil and jolts of heat from Thai chiles.

Khao Tom
If you combine the warm broth of gaeng jud with loose grains of rice, you’ll basically get khao tom. Khao tom, which means boiled rice, is a soupier rice porridge that can have an array of proteins: flaky steamed white fish, ground pork, shredded chicken, and preserved eggs are all common variations. Khao tom is typically topped with cilantro and sliced green onions, fried garlic, and a dash of white pepper. It’s the perfect soup for when you want light flavor but still want to be satiated by the end of it.

Joke
Joke, sometimes written as “juk” or “jok,” is like khao tom’s cousin. More porridge than soup, joke consists of boiled-down rice filled with spicy slivers of ginger. Joke isn’t only a Thai thing; versions of this thick rice soup can be found throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia, but the pairings may be different across countries. In Thailand, it’s common to have joke served with bright cilantro leaves, white pepper, bouncy pork meatballs, fried shallots and garlic, and perhaps a soft poached egg. It’s a breakfast and sick day go-to in my home.

Dessert Soups

Bua Loy
If you’re a fan of the springy texture of mochi and rice cakes, this might be the Thai dessert for you. Bua loy means floating lotus, and though these round rice balls don’t physically resemble the pristine beauty of a water lily, the flavor just might. The chewy spheres floating in a coconut milk and palm sugar-based soup are made from rice flour and are traditionally dyed in shades of yellow, green, purple, and blue. The result is a colorful dessert that is as fun to look at as it is to eat.

Gaeng Buad
Gaeng buad refers to an entire family of Thai dessert soup. This sweet coconut-based soup is one of the simplest of this entire list and only requires four ingredients: coconut milk, salt, palm sugar, and your choice of fruit or vegetable. Traditionally, gaeng buad can be made with Thai bananas, taro, pumpkin, squash, or sweet yams. The soup only calls for only one of the selected fruits or squashes -- to ensure everything is cooked evenly and the flavor stays consistent -- and results in floating, softened cubes of fruit or squash in a honeyed coconut milk broth.

Ruam Mit
Ruam mit is the only soup on this list that is always served cold. No two bowls of ruam mit -- which means “mix together” -- are ever the same because the ingredients can vary. For the most part, expect cornstarch-coated water chestnuts dyed pink, sweet corn, slivers of jackfruit, pandan jelly, and palm seeds in a palm sugar and pandan-sweetened coconut milk broth, served over ice.

Thao suan
Thao suan is part soup, part porridge, and part pudding. It’s hard to categorize because its texture can arguably fit into all three, but for the purpose of this article we’ll call it a soup. It also happens to be one of my absolute favorite Thai desserts. Thao suan is made from soaked and swollen mung beans that float in a gelatinous, syrupy soup that’s thickened with either potato or tapioca starch. In Thailand, thao suan is typically topped with a splash of salty and sweet coconut milk, though other countries serve the sweet soup with fried crullers.

Kat Thompson is a staff writer at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter@katthompsonn.