Tom Yum Goong

Published Feb 17, 2021•Updated Aug 19, 2024

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The flavor of Tom Yum Goong is incredibly complex, and the ingredients require a bit of explanation, but the soup itself is super simple to make. The secret is in the aromatics that go into the stock – shallots, lemongrass, galangal, and lime leaves.

Perhaps one of my favorite things about eating in Thailand was that you never had to choose just one dish. Thai food is almost always served family style and no table is complete without several dishes. A great line-up would be a curry, a stir-fried vegetable, a big plate of steamed Jasmine rice, and a soup. And if I were to be choosing the soup to go with a meal at any point in the five years I lived in Thailand, it would always be Tom Yum Goong.

I learned how to make Tom Yum Goong at a cooking class at Blue Elephant Cooking School in Bangkok over 10 years ago and have made it the same way since. Here’s how!

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Ingredients

Shallots, Lemongrass, Galangal, Makrut / Lime Leaves, Bird’s Eye Chilis – These are the aromatics that create the flavorful stock for Tom Yum Goong. See below for more details on these unique ingredients.
Shrimp – Use about 3 medium to large shrimp per serving. You can buy peeled and deveined shrimp to make a simple version of the soup. However, if you have some time, you will get the most flavor in the soup if you peel the shrimp yourself and make a stock out of the shells.
Stock – Use shrimp stock for the most authentic flavor, but chicken or vegetable stock work just fine.
Nam Prik Pao – Buy this sweet, smoky, spicy Thai chili paste from an Asian grocery store or make your own with this recipe.
Oyster Mushrooms – These are classic, but any type of mushrooms will work.
Fish Sauce, Fresh Lime Juice – Use these to add flavor to the stock. I prefer Red Boat Fish Sauce which has fewer additives and a very clean flavor.
Coconut Milk – The photos in this post are of Tom Yum Goong without coconut milk, but you can also make a creamier version by adding some coconut milk to the broth.

overhead image of aromatics for tom yum goong in a blue dutch oven

How to Make Stock for Tom Yum Goong

The key to a flavorful Tom Yum Goong is a stock made with a specific combination of aromatics – Shallots, Lemongrass, Galangal, Makrut / Lime Leaves, and Bird’s Eye Chilis. While shallots and lemongrass may be available at many grocery stores, you’ll likely need to seek out galangal, makrut lime leaves, and the tiny spicy Bird’s Eye Chilis at an Asian / international grocery store. To get a truly authentic flavor, don’t use ginger in place of galangal. Galangal has a more subtle floral flavor than ginger, although they look similar.

Before getting started, smash the shallots, lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves, and Bird’s Eye Chilis gently with a rolling pin or meat tenderizer. You want them to stay mostly intact (you won’t want small pieces of these in your finished soup), but smashing them helps them to release more flavor into the stock as it cooks. (Tip: to minimize mess, you can put these in a small plastic bag before smashing them.)
Saute aromatics for a few minutes over medium heat to get them started cooking, 2 to 3 minutes.
Pour stock over aromatics and simmer for 5 minutes to flavor the stock.

Should I Leave the Aromatics in the Soup?

When you eat Tom Yam Goong in Thailand, it is almost always served with the aromatics in the bowls. You can’t eat large pieces of lemongrass, galangal, or lime leaves, but the purpose of serving them in the soup is to add fragrance to the soup. You’ll smell all of those aromatics as you sip the soup, but you have to eat around them.

overhead image of aromatic ingredients for Tom Yum Goong in a clear ziptop bag

overhead image of frozen ingredients for Tom Yum Goong

Freeze Lemongrass, Galangal, Lime Leaves, and Bird’s Eye Chilis

Even though the aromatics in this soup may require a trip to a specialty store, the great news is that they all can be frozen almost indefinitely. At a minimum, I keep lemongrass, lime leaves, and Bird’s Eye Chilis in my freezer all the time. And honestly, I’ll use them for up to a year or more straight out of the freezer. If you love Tom Yum Goong, you can proportion the aromatics into freezer bags so you have everything you need to make the soup.

Many Asian grocery stores also sell Tom Yum Goong packs ready to go. These were popular at our grocery store in Bangkok too!

Is Tom Yum Goong Served with Rice?

This spicy shrimp soup doesn’t have to be served with rice, but it often is. A great way to eat these two dishes together is to scoop up a spoonful of rice and then dip it in the soup to add shrimp, mushrooms, and flavorful broth.