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Thai

Tom Yum Prawn Soup

A bright Thai prawn soup with lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime leaves, mushrooms and a hot-sour finish.

Published and reviewed by Kitchgrow on 7 September 2026Updated

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Tom Yum Prawn Soup

30 mintotal

Prep 12 min · Cook 18 min

Serves
2
Difficulty
Easy
Spice
Medium
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Ingredients

Quantities are for 2 servings.

You'll need: Stovetop.

Twenty-five minutes. The aromatics need a proper simmer to give up their flavour; the prawns take barely two.

Method

  1. Bring the measured water to a steady boil in a saucepan.

  2. Add lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime leaves and bird's eye chiles. Simmer until the broth smells aromatic.

  3. Add the mushrooms and simmer until they soften but still hold their shape.

  4. Add the prawns and cook just until they turn pink, curl slightly and become opaque.

  5. Season with fish sauce and palm sugar, then turn off the heat before stirring in the key lime juice.

  6. Remove large aromatics if preferred, finish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

How to tell it's done

The broth should be clear and aromatic, the mushrooms juicy, and the prawns just firm.

Getting it right

Tip

Do not boil the soup hard after adding prawns; gentle cooking keeps them tender.

What to serve it with

Serve as a light main with jasmine rice or as a soup course before a Thai rice meal.

Common mistakes

The soup tastes flat and soapy.
Bruise the lemongrass and tear the lime leaves before they go in, and simmer them long enough to perfume the broth. Whole aromatics dropped into water release almost nothing.
The sourness disappears.
Lime juice goes in off the heat, at the end. Boiled lime juice turns dull and slightly bitter, and no amount added afterwards recovers the brightness.

Substitutions

  • Use Tiger Prawns instead of Prawns if preferred; adjust cooking only until opaque.
  • Use Button Mushrooms if Mushroom is unavailable, keeping the pieces thick enough to stay juicy.
  • Use Lemon instead of Key Lime Juice only when lime-style juice is unavailable; add it off heat to keep the soup bright.
  • Reduce Bird's Eye Chiles for a milder soup without changing the core broth.

Storing and reheating

Best the day it is made. The broth keeps two days in the fridge and is worth straining and storing without the prawns, which toughen on reheating — poach fresh ones into the reheated broth instead.