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Shrimp Tomyum Noodle Soup – Ditch the packaged ramen! This quick and easy Thai Tom Yum Noodle Soup is made from scratch with bold, authentic flavors. Ready in just 15 minutes, it’s incredibly delicious and perfect for a satisfying meal.
Tom Yum Soup Noodle
Who knew Tom Yum ramen only takes 15 minutes to make from scratch?
Yep, you read that right—it’s that quick! In just 15 minutes, you can have a delicious bowl of Tom Yum Soup, or in this case, Tom Yum Noodle Soup. It’s one of my go-to lunch dishes during the week.
As a busy mom, I know how precious time is during the day. So when it comes to lunch, I always have a handful of quick and easy 15-minute recipes in my back pocket—Soba Noodle Soup, Fried Rice, and this flavorful, satisfying Tom Yum Noodles.
For this easy tom yum noodle soup recipe, I use shrimp and fresh oyster mushrooms, but you can easily mix it up! You can add a variety of seafood or protein like shrimp and squid (my personal favorite), or even chicken. It’s super versatile, and honestly, you could make this spicy Thai ramen noodles every day and never get tired of it!
Why This Recipe Takes Only 15 Minutes
A lot of people think that Tom Yum, or Thai spicy and sour shrimp soup, is too intimidating or complicated to make at home. But honestly, it’s one of the easiest Thai recipes to whip up—once you have the ingredients, of course.
If you’re diving into Thai cooking at home, there are a few essentials you should always have stocked: nam prik pao (Thai roasted chili paste), fish sauce, palm sugar, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and lime juice. As someone who’s obsessed with Thai food, these are always in my pantry or fridge. If you don’t have these ingredients yet, I highly recommend stocking up—once you do, you’ll be able to make so many different Thai dishes!
One quick tip for making fast lunches? Multitask. I’m always doing a few things at once. For this recipe, I’ll boil the noodles while prepping the rest of the ingredients. Then, by the time my soup is done cooking, the noodles are ready too.
Give this tom yum soup noodles recipe a try, and practice multitasking in the kitchen. In just 15 minutes, you’ll have a tasty, satisfying lunch ready to go! Be sure to check out my tips and tricks below to make the perfect Tomyum noodle soup every time!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Noodles – I used egg noodles for this, but you can totally swap them for whatever noodles you prefer—soba, instant noodles, or rice noodles all work great!
- Water
- Lemongrass
- Kaffir lime leaves
- Galangal
- Tomato
- Shrimp – You can easily swap in chicken, squid, or tofu if that’s what you’re craving or what you have available.
- Mushrooms – I used fresh oyster mushrooms.
- Nam prik pao – The key ingredient that brings the soup to life!
- Fish sauce
- Chili powder
- Lime juice
- Cilantro
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full details on each ingredient.
Shopping Guide: If you’re in the United States, you can find Nam Prik Pao at many Asian stores, with the “Pantai” brand being a popular choice. You can also make it from scratch using recipes from trusted sources like She Simmers.
How To Make Tomyum Noodle Soup
Cook the soba or egg noodles according to the package instructions—usually, they’ll only take about 5 minutes. Once they’re done, drain them and give them a quick rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Then, just set them aside in a bowl and we’ll come back to them in a bit!
While the noodles are cooking, bring 1 1/4 cups of water to a boil in a small pot. Once it’s boiling, toss in all your aromatics, then add the shrimp, mushrooms, and nam prik pao. Let it cook until the shrimp is nice and pink. Next, stir in the fish sauce and chili powder, then turn off the heat. Finish it off by adding the lime juice and giving everything a good stir to combine.
Once your soup is ready, pour it over the noodles and top with some fresh cilantro leaves. Serve it up hot and enjoy!
Secrets To The Best Tom Yum Soup Noodles
- Fresh lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and lime juice really bring the soup to life. They add that bright, fragrant Thai flavor that makes Tom Yum so special!
- Trust me when I say nam prik pao is a game changer! It gives the soup that smoky, savory richness that balances out the tangy lime and spice.
- Shrimp cooks super quick, so I always add it in last. As soon as it turns pink and opaque, I take it off the heat—overcooking it will make it tough!
- I love a good kick of heat, so I always add extra chili powder, but you can adjust the spice level to your taste. If you’re not into the heat, just skip it. You’ll still get all the great flavors from the nam prik pao.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you like it on the milder side, just use less chili powder or skip it completely. If you want extra heat, use Thai chilies (bird’s eye chilies). Lightly pound the Thai chilies to release the heat to the soup.
You can store the broth in an airtight container in the fridge for about 2-3 days. Just make sure to keep the noodles separate from the broth, or they’ll get mushy. When you’re ready to enjoy it, just reheat the broth and add fresh noodles!
This recipe is only 117 calories per serving.
What To Serve With Tomyum Noodle Soup
For a wholesome Thai meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
Other Recipes You Might Like
Tomyum Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 1 roll soba noodles, or egg noodles or instant noodles
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1 stalk lemongrass, white part only, pounded and bruised
- 5-6 kaffir lime leaves, bruised
- 4-5 slices fresh galangal
- 1/2 small tomato, cut into 3 to 4 wedges
- 6 medium-sized shrimp, shelled and deveined
- 6 straw mushrooms , or fresh oyster mushrooms, cut into halves
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Nam Prik Pao, Thai roasted chili paste
- 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce , or to taste
- 3 dashes chili powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
- cilantro leaves, for garnishing
Instructions
- Prepare the soba or egg noodles according to the package instructions, which usually take about 5 minutes to cook. Drain the noodles, rinse with cold water, and set them aside in a serving bowl.
- At the same time, bring 1 1/4 cups of water to a boil in a small pot. Add all the aromatics, followed by the shrimp, mushrooms, and nam prik pao. Continue boiling until the shrimp is cooked through. Add the fish sauce and chili powder, then turn off the heat and stir in the lime juice to combine.
- Pour the Tom Yum soup over the noodles and top with cilantro leaves. Serve immediately.
Notes
- For me, fresh lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and lime juice really bring the soup to life. They add that bright, fragrant flavor that makes Tom Yum so special!
- Trust me when I say nam prik pao is a game changer! It gives the soup that smoky, savory richness that balances out the tangy lime and spice. If you can find it, don’t skip it!
- Shrimp cooks super quick, so I always add it in last. As soon as it turns pink and opaque, I take it off the heat—overcooking it will make it tough!
- I love a good kick of heat, so I always add extra chili powder, but you can adjust the spice level to your taste. If you’re not into the heat, just go easy on the chili. You’ll still get all the great flavors from the nam prik pao.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Bee, these recent emails are so much better! Easier to track and follow your recipe, tips, all of it. Thank you!
Thanks HM, my email consultant is listening to readers’ feedback!
Nice recipe and impressive. You are using the chili paste and powder to give your soup the red color. And I don’t have to make this know this is a winner.
When I visit a new restaurant with Tom Yum on the menu, the first question that I ask is, Do you make your Tom Yum with a paste?” If am told yes, I will usually steer far away from this soup. This is a hard lesson I learned, as some restaurants use too much paste and make the soup oily to too oily to enjoy.
At home, as I make the soup broth, I like to take a long taste to check the balance. Often, I’ll add some paste [ Maesri – lower salt ] at the end, maybe a half teaspoon per serving to fill in flavors or bring it up to strength. This way, I keep the oil level to nothing or very low.
For those that don’t like the Tom Yum paste, check out the Maesri brand. Their Tom Yum paste is great because it has lower salt and no msg as compared with other brands.
As for noodles, I like rice noodles – anything from vermicelli to Pho and they all work fine in this soup.
Lastly, as I have a hard time getting galangal, I substitute ginger slices. While these are not direct substitutes, the ginger definitely helps the soups.
Forgive me for not actually making your recipe and commenting.
Awesome thanks for trying my recipe!
After posting my comments, I did follow your directions and make the soup.
Had to make following substitutions:
Powdered Lemongrass rather than fresh Lemongrass
ginger rather than galangal
Pho rice noodles
Chinese chili oil for Nam Prik Pao
No Kaffir leaves.
To keep the soup from becoming oily, I used scooped out more chili’s and drained off oil.
At final tasting, added a bit of sugar to help balance the flavors.
Results: Nice. Many thanks. The touch of red pepper at the end is appreciated.
Nice recipe and impressive. You are using the chili paste and powder to give your soup the red color. And I don’t have to make this know this is a winner.
When I visit a new restaurant with Tom Yum on the menu, the first question that I ask is, Do you make your Tom Yum with a paste?” If am told yes, I will usually steer far away from this soup. This is a hard lesson I learned, as some restaurants use too much paste and make the soup oily to too oily to enjoy.
At home, as I make the soup broth, I like to take a long taste to check the balance. Often, I’ll add some paste [ Maesri – lower salt ] at the end, maybe a half teaspoon per serving to fill in flavors or bring it up to strength. This way, I keep the oil level to nothing or very low.
For those that don’t like the Tom Yum paste, check out the Maesri brand. Their Tom Yum paste is great because it has lower salt and no msg as compared with other brands.
As for noodles, I like rice noodles – anything from vermicelli to Pho and they all work fine in this soup.
Lastly, as I have a hard time getting galangal, I substitute ginger slices. While these are not direct substitutes, the ginger definitely helps the soups.
Forgive me for not actually making your recipe and commenting.
Okay, after making the various adjustments due to shellfish allergies, this soup came out SOOOOOO GOOOOD. I was so proud, I jumped back and kissed myself……just like James Brown. Mmmmmmm…… Also the Soba noodles were so much lighter than wheat noodles. Must use them more often. Thanks so much for a great recipe that will be a staple in my home.
Thanks Kazy for trying this Tom Yum noodle soup recipe.
I found Korean Hot pepper paste Gochujang in my refrigerator. Will that suffice for Nam Prik Pao or not so much?
Not so much. Totally different.
Bummah. Couldn’t find this anywhere in the Asian stores around my neighborhood, 99 Ranch or San Gabriel Superstore, at least nothing I could understand as everything was written in various Asian languages. I even asked some people for help but was still unsuccessful. I googled it and found the Nam Prik Pao on-line but I discovered much to my disappointment that unfortunately one of the ingredients is shrimp and since my wife is allergic to shellfish I will have to forego this necessary ingredient and just throw in a bunch of chili peppers instead. Maybe add some garlic, shallots, sugar and tamarind paste.
Allergic to shellfish. Can you recommend a substitute?
Chicken
Finally a tom yam recipe which doesnt require the paste! thank you sooo much, been hunting for one for quite some time and yours looks super easy. Have followed several of your recipes and none of them have failed me yet. Thank you so much :)
My family eats nam prik pao like it’s ketchup. I look forward to making this soup.
Yes Nam Prik Pao is awesome I love it, too. :)