
Vegan Tom Kha Kai Soup
In the Netherlands, it is the National week without meat from the 9th until the 15th of March and I thought this was a great opportunity to share some low FODMAP vegan recipes with you.
The first recipe that I am going to share with you is this low FODMAP vegan Tom Kha Kai soup and later this week, I have a delicious recipe for vegan pasta stroganoff for you!
The ingredients of the vegan Tom Kha Kai soup
Tom Kha Kai soup is a Thai soup. The name literally means chicken galanga soup. Galanga root is also called laos or Thai ginger.
The main ingredients of this soup usually are:
- Coconut milk: it is important to know that canned coconut milk is high in sorbitol in servings of 120 ml or higher. Therefore, I advise to not use more than 100 ml of coconut milk per serving in a dish.
- Chicken: because I wanted to make a vegan Tom Kha Kai soup, I replaced the chicken by oyster mushrooms (you could also use canned mushrooms or a mix of both. Both are low FODMAP).
If you want to replace the chicken with a vegetarian meat replacement, you could use the “pieces” by Quorn. Those are low FODMAP and vegetarian, but not vegan. If you do want to use meat in this recipe, you can add chicken. - Galanga: galanga is a plant that is related to ginger. It is also named laos or Thai ginger. In my supermarket, I couldn’t find any fresh galanga and unfortunately, I didn’t have time to go to the Asian supermarket.
Therefore, I replaced the galanga in this recipe for normal ginger. That is also very tasty! - Lemon grass (sereh): my supermarket did have fresh lemon grass luckily. It gives a nice light tangy flavor to the dish.
Next to these main ingredients, often a Spanish pepper and cilantro is added to the soup. If you don’t like cilantro, you can leave it out. I personally love it, so I always add it to Asian dishes, the more the better!
The soup is flavored with fish sauce, lime juice and a little bit of brown sugar. The combination of ingredients makes a super flavorful soup. Creamy, lightly tangy and with some spice!


Vegan Tom Kha Kai Soup
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Servings: 4 1x
Description
A low FODMAP vegan Tom Kha Kai soup! A delicious simple soup from coconut milk, galanga (or ginger), oyster mushrooms and lemon grass. Gluten-free, lactose-free and dairy-free.
Ingredients
- 1 liter (4 cups) low FODMAP stock
- 1 can (400 ml / 13.5 oz) coconut milk
- 2 cm (0.8 inch) fresh galanga or ginger
- 1 red chili pepper
- 1 stalk lemon grass (sereh)
- 2 stalks spring onion, the green part only
- 150 g (5.3 oz) oyster mushrooms (or a mix of oyster mushrooms and canned mushrooms)
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- Optional: fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Cut the lemon grass into 3 pieces. Deseed the chili pepper and cut into rings. Cut the green part of the spring onion in rings too. Peel the ginger and cut into slices.
- Bring the stock together with the coconut milk to a boil. Add the lemon grass, ginger and chili pepper and leave to boil for a few minutes.
- Clean the oyster mushrooms and cut into pieces. Add them together with the spring onion to the soup and leave to boil for 5 minutes with the lid on the pan.
- Add the soy sauce, lime juice and brown sugar stir and leave to boil for another two minutes. Taste the soup. Do you find the soup too sour? Then add some extra sugar. Not salt enough? Add some extra soy sauce. Too spicy? Add some extra water or coconut milk.
- Turn off the heat and remove the pieces of lemon grass and ginger from the soup. Divide the soup over 4 bowls and serve with fresh cilantro to taste.
- If you want to make a meal soup of this Tom Kha Kai soup, you can also add some rice noodles. Prepare according to the instructions on the package and divide over the bowls.
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Category: Soup
- Method: Boiling
- Cuisine: Thai
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 portie (1/4)
- Calories: 202
- Fat: 18
- Carbohydrates: 8
- Fiber: 1
- Protein: 2

Will you let me know if you have made this recipe? I would love it if you would let me know what you think about the recipe by leaving a comment and a rating below. You can also share your creations with me by tagging me on Instagram @karlijnskitchen or by using the hashtag #karlijnskitchen.
6 Comments
I’ve made this using tofu instead of the mushrooms and it was a hit! My partner really loved it and I was equally happy, as it’s the first time I’ve had a Tom kha Kai soup that tastes so good! Thank you 🙂
You’re welcome 🙂 I am glad to hear you enjoyed it!
This was great! I added rice noodles and tempeh (cooked seperately and added after).
Thanks for sharing!
This is simple and amazing!
The only “issue” is the coconut milk separates after putting the soy sauce in, so it doesn’t look as nice as it tastes. Still a 5-star rating because the taste is just amazing! (Bonus star if you add low-FODMAP vegan fish sauce, it’s out of this world!).
Super easy and tasty soup.
Tossed in a bit of diced tofu for fun.
Next time will also add a t of vegan fish source as suggested above.
Thank you for sharing!
I’m in love with your soup recipes. I’ve made three so far and each one has been fabulous! I feel like I just went to my favorite Thai restaurant eating this soup. I did add some chopped carrots and celery to this recipe which worked out great. Thanks!