About the Recipe
It started with a bowl of Golden Curry Soup at Café Zupas that I absolutely could not get out of my head. The combination of red potatoes, sweet potatoes, and wild rice in a warm, golden curry broth was unlike anything I had tried before — and when I couldn't find the recipe anywhere, I decided to figure it out myself and put a little of my own spin on it along the way.
The result? A deeply flavorful, velvety soup that layers warm spices — yellow curry, cumin, turmeric, and a hint of ginger — with tender cubed chicken, hearty potatoes, and a wild rice blend that gives it wonderful texture. A can of coconut milk rounds everything out into a rich, slightly sweet broth that is warm and comforting without being heavy.
What makes this soup so special is that combination of ingredients you wouldn't necessarily expect together. Sweet potato and red potato in the same bowl. Wild rice swimming alongside coconut milk and curry. It sounds a little unexpected — and it tastes completely extraordinary.
My husband, who is my most trusted taste tester, summed it up best after his first bowl: he said it was so good he wished he could replace his full stomach with an empty one just to keep eating it. I think that about covers it.
Serve it with some crusty bread for dipping and consider making a double batch — because leftovers of this one are just as good the next day.
Ingredients
1 lb. chicken breasts or thighs, cubed
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 small or half a large yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 - 3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbs. ginger paste (or granulated ginger)
2 Tbs. yellow curry powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground turmeric
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced (about 1 -1½ cups)
2 cups cubed red potatoes
6 cups chicken broth
1 can full fat coconut milk
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper
EVOO (Extra-Virgin Olive Oil)
Wild rice blend mix (such as Rice A Roni Long Grain & Wild Rice)
Garnishes: Chopped salted cashews, chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the cubed chicken and season with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Brown the chicken until cooked through, then remove from the pot and set aside in a bowl. Give the pot a quick wipe out.
Reduce the heat to medium and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onions, carrots, and celery, season with salt and pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes until softened and fragrant. Add the garlic and ginger paste and cook for one minute. Then add the curry powder, cumin, and turmeric — let those spices toast for about a minute to really wake up their flavor. Your kitchen is going to smell incredible at this point.
Pour in the chicken broth, scraping the bottom of the pot to pull up all those toasted flavors. Add the cooked chicken, red pepper, sweet potato, and red potatoes. Bring everything to a boil.
Once boiling, stir in the coconut milk and red pepper flakes. Taste the broth and adjust with salt and pepper as needed.
Reduce the heat to medium and let the soup simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, until the potatoes are tender and the broth has deepened in flavor.
While the soup simmers, prepare your wild rice blend according to the package instructions.
Ladle the soup into bowls and top each serving with 1-2 tablespoons of wild rice. Finish with crushed cashews or freshly chopped cilantro if desired!
Notes
Adjust the level of spice to your liking - I would describe this soup as "comfortably spiced," but if you want a milder flavor, you can decrease the curry powder and skip the red pepper flakes. To increase the heat, you can include 1/2 tsp. of cayenne pepper along with the other spices.
Add a splash of lime - Enhance the finished soup with a splash of lime or lemon for a citrusy kick.
