Chinese Herbs Soup Series - Coconut Chicken Soup
Love coconut and want to try it in a savory dish?
This Coconut Chicken Soup is nourishing, aromatic, and naturally sweet.
It’s the second recipe in our Chinese Herb Soup Series—comfort food with a herbal twist!
Pin It Now and Cook It Later!
Chinese Herbs Soup Series - Coconut Chicken Soup
This coconut chicken soup is one of my favourite soups. Unlike the four-herb pork rib soup, which is common in Taiwan, I first tried this coconut chicken soup here in Sydney! I absolutely love the diverse food cultures in this city. At the Chinese herbal soup restaurant I went to, I remember spotting coconut chicken soup on the menu and thinking, How can coconut possibly go with Chinese herbal soup? But so many people were ordering it—and it even sold out quickly! I decided to give it a go, and it completely changed my view of what coconut can do in cooking, hahahahaha.
The soup tasted amazing. It had a gentle sweetness from the coconut water, and the chewy texture of the cordyceps added a whole new layer to the experience. I miss that coconut chicken soup so much, but the restaurant is quite far from where I live, and it’s also on the pricier side. As a foodie who loves trying things out in the kitchen, I decided to recreate it at home! I tried many times and finally settled on this recipe as the best version. It brings together the chewiness of cordyceps, the rich aroma from fresh coconut meat, the natural sweetness of coconut water and goji berries, and the soft, creamy texture of fresh yam—which soaks up all that delicious soup!
Health benefits (the links are the reference of the information)
Tangshen: It is a common and affordable ingredient for Chinese herbal soup. We believe it can tonify our ‘qi’ in our body and can boost the function of our lungs and spleen.
Milkvetch Root (Mandarin: Huangqi; Latin: Astragalus): It is a common and affordable ingredient in different Chinese herbal soups. We believe it can tonify our ‘qi’ and can boost our immu system and kidney function.
Cordyceps militaris (Mandarin: Chong Cao Hua) is a type of fungus with a chewy taste. It is affordable and can be commonly found in Asian supermarkets and Chinese medicine shops. It is NOT Cordyceps sinensis (also called Caterpillar fungus), which is very expensive. It can boost the immu and respiratory systems.
(Chinese) Yam (Mandarin: Shan Yao): They are common in both fresh and dried form. I use fresh coconut for this coconut chicken soup. You can find fresh ones in the vegetable shop or Asian supermarket from time to time. If you cannot find a fresh one, a dried one also works well, and you can easily find them in the Asian supermarket or Chinese medicine shop. It supports the spleen and stomach and benefits the lungs and kidneys.
Goji berry (babury wolfberry fruit): Gogi berry is one of the most widely used ingredients in Taiwanese foods, including soup, dishes, and desserts. You will see them a lot in the recipes on Bubble Foodex! They are famous for being rich in antioxidants and supporting our eye health.
Please remember: While Chinese herbs are beneficial for health, they are similar to herbal teas or traditional foods common in both Western and Eastern cultures. They should not be used as medicines. If you have any health concerns, it's important to consult a doctor.
Difficulty: Simple
Time: 15 mintues for preparationa & 1 hour for stewing
Serve: 4 -5
Ingredients
Fresh coconut: 1 (alternative: coconut water 250ml)
Fresh Chinese yam: 350g (alternative: 30-40g dried yam)
Chicken breast or thigh: 270-300g (1 chicken breast)
Ginger: 6g (around 3-4 slices)
Gogi berries: 15g
Tangshen: 15g
Milkvetch Root (also called Astragalus): 10g
Cordyceps militaris: 30g
Oyster mushroom: 280g - 300g (can be replaced with the same amount of chicken breast/thigh)
Cooking wine: 30ml (2 tbsp)
Water: 1.2L
Salt (optional): according to personal preference
Tips for Selecting Ingredients and Where to Buy Them
Fresh coconut/pure coconut water: In Australia, you can get it in Coles, Woolworths, Asian supermarkets, and vegetable shops. I prefer to buy coconuts at Coles or Woolworths because they always store them in the fridge and can keep the coconut fresh. If you use pure coconut water instead, make sure you get 100% pure coconut water without any artificial flavour. Otherwise, the flavour of the soup will be bad.
Goji berries: Goji berries are a popular ingredient in Taiwanese food recipes. Goji berries are very affordable, and you can easily find them in Asian supermarkets, Chinese medicine shops, the healthy food sections at Coles and Woolworths, and some healthy food shops. When you buy gogi berries, choose the ones that are not broken.
Tangshen, Milkvetch Root, Cordyceps militaris: These are common Chinese herbs and not expensive. You can find them at Asian supermarkets or Chinese medicine shops. Personally, I prefer going to Chinese medicine shops, as the quality is often even better.
Oyster mushroom: If you cannot find oyster mushroom at your local shop, you can change them into the xxx and xxx because they have very light flavour and will not affect the overall aroma and flavour of the soup. Don’t use cup mushroom or shiitake mushroom, the aroma won’t match with the soup. If you cannot find any alternative, use the same amount of chicken because most recipes only use chicken. I like more fibre in the soup, so I developed this recipe by adding oyster mushroom without a strong aroma.
Quick Steps Snapshot for the Coconut Chicken Soup
🥣 Prep Ingredients:
Open the fresh coconut, strain the coconut water, and scoop out and slice the coconut meat.
Soak chicken breast in 5% salt water for 2+ hours or overnight to make it juicy (skip if using chicken thighs).
Dice chicken breast into 2cm cubes.
Peel and cut fresh yams into 3cm x 1cm strips (skip if using dried yams).
Roll cut oyster mushrooms into 2cm pieces to match the chicken size.
🔥 Start Cooking:
Add all ingredients except for coconut meat, goji berries, and , bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 40 minutes.
Add cordyceps militaris, coconut meat, and goji berries, then simmer for another 20 minutes.
Taste and adjust salt if needed.
🍜 Serve & Store:
Enjoy as-is or with glass noodles for extra satisfaction.
Leftovers taste even better the next day!
Detailed Step-by-Step Guidance
A. Prepare ingredients
1. Open the fresh coconut (I tried so many times and found this is the most efficient way!) and scoop out the coconut meat.
Use a knife to trace a circle on the top of the coconut. There’s no need to apply too much force—we’re just making a clear guide line to follow later. Don’t make the circle too small, or the opening will be too narrow and it’ll be tricky to scoop out the coconut meat later on.
Key step: Use the inner tip of the knife to tap on one point until you break through and feel the coconut water start to come out. Then, follow the line you just traced, and tap the point next to the hole in the same way. Only the first hole will take more strength and time—once you’ve got that, the rest is much easier!
Be careful—once there’s a hole, the coconut water might splash out, so don’t hit it too hard after that.
It’s normal if the coconut shell cracks a bit or if some fibres fly off the surface—this method actually helps greatly reduce how much coconut fibre ends up flying around the kitchen.
To avoid getting bits of hard shell in your soup, pour the coconut water through a strainer before adding it to the pot.
Use a spoon to scoop out the coconut meat. Remove any bits of the inner shell that come off with the meat, as they affect the texture. If the pieces are too big, cut the coconut meat into thinner strips.
2. Make juicy chicken breast by soaking them in 5% salt water for more than 2 hours or overnight. Dice chicken breast/chicken thigh into 2cm pieces on each side
The key to making chicken breast tender and juicy is to soak it in 5% salt water (we have introduced more details about this in the Japanese Chicken Curry Recipe).
If you do not like chicken breast, you can change it to chicken thighs.
3. Peel the yam and and cut it into the 3cm strip with 1cm thickness. Skip this step if you use dried yams.
Fresh yam juice is slippery. Be careful with your hands when you peel it.
4. Roll cut oyster mushroom with around 2cm on each side
Just make sure the size of each piece is similar to that of the chicken breast/thigh.
B. Start cooking
1. Add all the ingredients to the pot except the coconut meat, goji berries and cordyceps militaris. Bring it to a boil with a high flame, and boil it with a small flame for 40 minutes.
We add coconut meat later to keep a bit of the crunchy texture. If you like the soft texture, you can add it to the pot in this step.
🔥 Watch out for the stove before turning it down to a low flame — the soup can easily overflow at this stage. That happened to me heaps of times while I was testing the recipe 😅😂
Tip: Remove the foam with a small mesh strainer to ensure the soup is clear afterwards (optional).
2. Add cordyceps militaris, coconut meat and goji berries. Stew it for 20 minutes on a small flame.
We want to preserve the chewy cordyceps militaris, the crunchy coconut, and make sure the goji berries don’t get too soft. This gives the soup a wonderful mix of textures.
3. Seasoning: taste it and add salt according to personal preference (optional)
If you soak the chicken breast in 5% salt water to make it juicy, you normally do not need to add salt.
Ready to serve!
You can enjoy it right away on its own, or you can also add glass noodles to it. Actually, glass noodles can match with a lot of soups because it is so good at absorbing the flavour of different dishes 😋
Get leftover soup? No worries! In fact, this coconut chicken soup can taste even better overnight because it develops a deeper flavour. If you use fresh yam, it will absorb more flavour of the soup and taste sooooo good 😍
Chinese Herbs Soup Series - Coconut Chicken Soup