Thai Zoodle Soup with Chicken
The last thing to enter this pot is coconut milk, folded in once the heat is off. It reads like a finishing touch for richness. It happens to be doing a quieter job too.
Before that, a whole chicken breast poaches in a tomato and red curry broth until it pulls apart with two forks. Onion, carrot, and bell pepper soften in the same pot. The zucchini never touches the heat at all, spiralized raw into the bowl so the hot soup can pour over it at the table.
Here is what makes that coconut milk interesting: it lands in a pot already holding carrot, pepper, and tomato, three sources of the fat-soluble pigments the body absorbs more of when the right fat and protein show up alongside them. 28g of protein, 10g of fiber, and 463 calories, in twenty minutes.
The last thing to enter this pot is coconut milk, folded in once the heat is off. It reads like a finishing touch for richness. It happens to be doing a quieter job too.
Before that, a whole chicken breast poaches in a tomato and red curry broth until it pulls apart with two forks. Onion, carrot, and bell pepper soften in the same pot. The zucchini never touches the heat at all, spiralized raw into the bowl so the hot soup can pour over it at the table.
Here is what makes that coconut milk interesting: it lands in a pot already holding carrot, pepper, and tomato, three sources of the fat-soluble pigments the body absorbs more of when the right fat and protein show up alongside them. 28g of protein, 10g of fiber, and 463 calories, in twenty minutes.
Ingredients
- onion 0.5
- garlic 1 clove
- carrot 1
- bell pepper 1
- olive oil 1 tablespoon
- water 1.25 cup
- diced tomatoes 4 ounces
- red curry paste 0.5 tablespoon
- chicken breast 3 ounces
- zucchini 1
- coconut milk 1.5 fluid ounces
Method
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Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic. Wash the carrot and slice it. Dice the bell pepper.
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Heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the carrot and bell pepper and cook for a minute. Add the boiled water, diced tomatoes, and curry paste to the pot.
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Place the whole chicken breast in the pot and let it cook in the soup for about 15 minutes.
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Meanwhile, use a spiralizer to make zucchini noodles and place them in a deep plate or bowl.
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Remove the chicken from the pot with a fork and shred it using two forks. Add the chicken back to the soup along with the coconut milk. Stir, heat for a minute, then turn off the heat.
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Pour the soup over the zucchini noodles in the bowl and serve immediately. Season with pepper and salt to taste.
Fold the coconut milk into the pot while the carrot, pepper, and tomato are still in it (Step 5), rather than drizzling it over the finished bowl. When one study pitted 14 different liquids against each other, coconut milk was among just four that measurably increased how much fat-soluble pigment released from vegetables, up to 42% more than water, and researchers traced most of that boost to coconut's protein rather than its fat.
The surprise in that research was not that a creamy liquid helped — it was which one. Soy milk actually reduced pigment release, and almond and oat milk did nothing measurable. Coconut milk stood apart because its protein keeps the mixture emulsified as it digests, and that stable emulsion is what carries fat-soluble pigment toward absorption.
Neelissen et al. 2023 · DOIWhy This Works
Behind this recipe
Can I use light coconut milk instead of full-fat?
You can, and the vegetables here still meet fat from the olive oil they cook in. Worth knowing: in the research on coconut milk and vegetable pigment, most of the effect came from coconut's protein, not its fat, and light coconut milk keeps much of that protein while cutting the fat and calories. The trade-off is a thinner, less rich broth.
Read the full evidence reviewDo the zucchini noodles actually cook if I pour the soup over them raw?
The hot broth softens them slightly, leaving them somewhere between raw and al dente. If you like them softer, let the bowl sit for a minute or two before eating, or drop the spiralized zucchini into the pot for the final minute of Step 5.
Is 28 grams of protein enough for one meal?
It clears the old '30 grams per meal' ceiling people often worry about, and that ceiling is exactly what the research on per-meal protein questions. Most of this bowl's protein comes from the 3 ounces of poached chicken breast, with small amounts from the vegetables.
Read the full evidence review
