Fish soup is a staple of the Lao cuisine, and many people in Laos eat fish soup pretty much every day. Lao fish soup comes is a variety of different styles. Some types of Lao fish soup are spicy like Thailand’s famous tom yam soups, other types of Lao fish soup have a plainer stock based flavour.

Amongst the most popular fish soup recipes in Laos are:
- Tom jeaw pla: A fish soup made with grilled eggplants, shallots, chillies and garlic.
- Hom hua pla: soup made with fish heads with green vegetables, tomatoes, herbs and spices.
- Tom som pla: sour fish soup made with green tomatoes, lime juice, fish sauce, ginger, chilli and lemongrass.