This Thai lemongrass soup is light, fragrant, and packed with flavor! It features an aromatic gingery broth filled with pan-fried tofu, juicy cherry tomatoes, and fresh cilantro. It’s both comforting and refreshing, and easy enough for a weeknight!
Lemongrass soup is one of those rare soups I love to enjoy year-round! Hot and fragrant, it's perfect for even the coldest winter days and can even give hearty soups like my Tuscan kale soup and black bean soup a run for their money. But with cherry tomatoes and a light, fragrant broth, I also like to categorize it with summery favorites like my zucchini soup.
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Do you cook with much lemongrass? It's such a treat and you totally should! It's the distinctive, citrusy flavor you'll find in dishes like Thai curries. After you make this soup and decide you love it, be sure to give my lemongrass tofu and tofu satay a try.
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Lemongrass. Use fresh lemongrass stalks for the best flavor. Lots of stores carry this in the produce aisle, but if yours doesn't, try an Asian market.
- Vegetable oil. Any high-heat oil you enjoy cooking with is fine. Try peanut oil, canola oil, or avocado oil.
- Garlic.
- Fresh ginger.
- Vegetable broth.
- Sambal oelek. This Asian chili paste can be found in the international aisle of the grocery store, or at an Asian market.
- Shiitake mushrooms.
- Cherry tomatoes.
- Tofu. I like extra-firm, but firm or super-firm also works.
- Fresh cilantro. Not a fan? Try basil instead.
- Lime juice. Freshly squeezed juice will give your soup the best flavor.
- Soy sauce. Tamari and liquid aminos are suitable substitutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yep! Substitute gluten-free tamari for the soy sauce.
You can, although the flavor may not be as good as if you'd used fresh. If you would like to substitute paste, use 2 tablespoons.
Leftover lemongrass soup will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days.
More Thai-Inspired Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Thai Lemongrass Soup
Ingredients
- 2 (4 to 6 inch) lemongrass stalks
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon sambal oelek, or to taste
- 2 cups stemmed and sliced shiitake mushrooms
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 7 ounces extra firm tofu, drained and pressed for at least 15 minutes
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilanto
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- Soy sauce or tamari, to taste
Instructions
- Bruise the lemongrass stalks by pressing on them with a large knife, until they flatten a bit. Cut each stalk into 4 sections. Set aside.
- Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger. Sauté for 1 minute. Add the broth, lemongrass, chili paste, shiitakes and cherry tomatoes. Bring everything to a low simmer and allow to cook about 12-15 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender.
- While broth simmers, cut the tofu into ½ inch cubes. Coat a medium skillet with remaining 1 teaspoon of oil and place it over medium-high heat. Arrange the tofu cubes in a single layer. Cook about 5 minutes, until lightly browned on bottoms, turn and cook another 5 minutes.
- Add the tofu to broth mixture, along with cilantro and lime juice, then give everything a stir. Season with soy sauce to taste. Remove the lemongrass pieces and discard. Ladle the into bowls and serve.
Notes
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Nutrition
Nutrition information is provided as an estimate only and may vary based on ingredients, brands, portion sizes, and preparation methods.
Delicious
What a great recipe! The aroma!!!! I ended up rehydrating mushrooms bc I didn't have any shitaake. My only complaint is I didn't double it :) I will next time. Tofu is authentic to the recipe but I'm not a huge soy fan. Quinoa worked well!!
Thank you for this recipe. I was too heavy handed with the oil (my fault). I cut the lemongrass into circles and just ate them. Trying to chase a bad cold away. I also added about 3 jalapenos.
Made this today and it was very nice. The lime gave it such a fresh taste. I followed recipe but added only 1/4 tsp curry paste and 1 clove of garlic to make it less spicy. This is a keeper. Fun to make as well.
Made this for friends as a starter. Left out the tofu, allergy to soy. It was still lovely and very special. Every one loved it. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Absolutely a big hit. Light and very flavorful. Husband and I both loved it. Added broiled chicken but tofu was probably enough. Keeping this recipe.
Had grown lemongrass in my greenhouse- harvested it then searched recipes as I learn to use it. Your recipe definately a good find. Thankyou.
Lovely soup for dreary days! I've made as-written but also with whatever is on hand so wanted to share that with anyone thinking they may try it. I used the fresh lemongrass paste in a tube, a full-size tomato chopped, broccoli and carrots, added more sambal, and garnished with mint and Italian basil. Thanks Alissa :)
How much paste did you use?
Hello! Love, love your blog – it's helped me go vegan, I've especially cooked your borscht like at least once every 2 weeks :)
For this recipe, what could you substitute instead of cherry tomatoes? And do you think this would go well with added noodles, If so which type would you go for?
Thanks!
Aww...thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying the recipes! I think red bell peppers would be a nice sub for the tomatoes, and rice noodles would go great in this soup. I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try!
You’ll be glad to know people are STILL finding this recipe and loving it. As someone who can’t look at tofu or mushrooms, I changed this up by doubling the lemongrass and adding okrra, soybeans, and right at the end, cabbage. My husband thinks soup is for babies and seniors but he ASKS me to make this one!
Thank you for sharing!!!
is there a way to make the soup less salty?
could you use tempeh in place of tofu?
thanks in advance
Jack
You could use a low sodium variety of broth, or just replace some of the broth with water. I think the recipe would be great with tempeh!
Is lemon grass Thai soup gluten free it tastes great everyone loves it.
Thank you
I'm so glad you like it! And yes, it's gluten-free if you use a gluten-free tamari. :)
Hello Alissa!
This looks delicious!! I'm gonna try to make it this week! I was just wondering, Can chicken be substituted for tofu?
Hi Joe! I'm sure that would work just fine. I hope you enjoy it!!
I just LOVE this soup and make pretty regularly! I added quite a bit more of the ginger and garlic. I added bok choy as well. I often use dried shitake mushrooms and then add the broth along with the veggie broth. And lastly, I put about about 1/2 of a smal container of the Sambal Oelek because my hubby and I are serious chili heads. I’ve brought it to work and everyone loves it!! THANK YOU Alissa!!!!
I'm so glad you're enjoying it!! And all of those customizations sound delicious - I love bok choy so I'll have to give that a try. :)
Hi Alissa - not much of a commenter, but I just made this and it was fan-freaking-tastic. A perfectly bright dinner soup for our bizarre August-in-New England weather, but I can also see it working in winter with an extra bloop of chili paste and some gorgeous warm crusty bread smeared with a cilantro-lime compound butter. Thanks for an awesome blog! xo
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!!
HI Alissa! I just now discovered this recipe (thanks to your newsletter in my email). My wife tries not to eat soy. How do you think a different type of mushroom than what is call for would work? I'm open to suggestions.
Thanks!
Hi Bob! You could absolutely use a different type of mushroom! If you can get your hands on some oyster mushrooms they'd be awesome in here, but if not, even regular white button mushrooms would work. You can leave out the tofu for your wife too, and if you'd like add some extra mushrooms and tomatoes to make up for it. :)
Hi, love, love your recipes!! Hate, hate the font you use when you send me recipes through my email. I have to go in and change to a different font and non-bold. Bold takes up too much expensive ink in the printer. Please consider changing your recipes to a non-bold font. When I'm really busy I just don't print the recipe and miss out on yummy food. Thank you.
Hi Amanda! Thank you for the feedback! I'm actually planning on updating my newsletter as soon as I can, so I'll take that into consideration when I do!
I modified this recipe some to use what I had on hand but followed your basic recipe. It was delicious! I am looking forward to making it again!
Glad you enjoyed it!!
I LIKE YOUR SITE AND . TANKS
Thank you!
That recipe is totally up my alley! I'll definitely gone try it soon! :)
Really beautiful photographs BTW!
nice post!
This is just the soup I want right now and the chilli paste in it has me more excited. Lovely
This looks perfect for my after-christmas detox!! Definitely gotta give it a go! xx Bianca
I grew lemongrass this summer, but waited until after it got killed(?) by freezing temps to harvest it. Since I've never used it before, I just took the parts that seemed like they MIGHT have some flavor left in them and threw them in a freezer bag. Any suggestions on how to make this awesome sounding soup using the frozen pieces?
Thanks,
Cath :)
I've frozen lemon grass before, so you should be okay to use it! The stalks you buy at the store are about 4 inches long and maybe a half inch in diameter, so just make sure you have about 8 inches of stalks total, unless they seem exceptionally thick or think. If you end up with a bunch of little pieces it's no big deal - you just might not be able to fish them all out of the soup at the end - but no biggie, they just tend to be a little chewy. Good luck and I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks... I'll be making it this week!
Awesome! I thought this would be a good one for some post-holiday detoxing. Enjoy! :)