Thai Red Curry – everything we know and love about Thai food! Big, bold Thai flavours, beautifully fragrant, the creamy red curry sauce is so good you can put anything in it and it will be amazing!
Make the easy 30 minute red curry recipe using my trick to pimp up store bought curry paste. Or go all out and make a Thai Red Curry Paste from scratch! Complete your Thai banquet with Thai Satay Skewers or Thai Fish Cakes to start.
Thai Red Curry recipe
We’d all love to be able to have a Thai Red Curry any night of the week made with homemade red curry paste. Freshly made, like the best Thai restaurants do every day. But it’s simply not viable.
So today, I’m sharing a recipe for how to make Thai Red Curry two ways:
30 Minute quick version using curry paste in a jar – sharing my secret for how to make an AMAZING curry using curry paste in a jar!
From scratch, using a homemade red curry paste
The BEST Thai Red Curry Paste – Maesri
The best Thai Red Curry Paste by a long shot is a brand called Maesri. This is also the brand I use for Thai Green Curry. Other brands tend to have less authentic flavour and are (usually) too sweet.
Sold in small cans for around $1.30 (it’s the cheapest!), it’s available in large grocery stores (Coles, Woolies, Harris), Asian grocery stores and here is the cheapest one on Amazon US.
Don’t worry if you can’t find it. This recipe is still great even with mainstream curry pastes.
How to make jar curry paste better
Store bought curry paste in a jar lacks the freshness of freshly made curry paste. So if you just dump it into coconut milk, you’re going to be sorely disappointing.
So here is how to make curry paste in a jar taste way (way, way!) better:
Sauté the paste in oil with garlic, ginger and fresh lemongrass or lemongrass paste
Adding the fresh aromatics does wonders for improving the flavour!
What does a Thai Red Curry Taste like??
Thai Red Curry, like most Asian curries, has a great depth of flavour. The sauce flavour is complex, it has many layers from all the ingredients in the paste that is then simmered with broth and coconut milk. It’s sweet and savoury, and it is quite rich.
The use of shrimp paste and fish sauce in the curry paste (jar or homemade) provides the saltiness as well as the umami *. However, this red curry recipe does not have a strong fishy or fermented shrimp flavour like some “hardcore” Thai restaurants. Most non-Thai nationals find those versions too fishy for their palette.
While one may assume Thai Red Curry is fiery hot, if from the colour alone, in actual fact it is not! It is actually quite mild, and generally most restaurants tend to stick with the mild level of spiciness though you will find some restaurants that dial up the heat considerably.
* Food-nerd word for savouriness, now officially considered to be the 5th taste in food along with sweet, salt, bitter and sour.
We love Thai Red Curry for the flavour, the creamy sauce, and how can one not love the colour!!
Complete your Thai meal with a starter of Thai Fish Cakes or Satay Skewers with Peanut Sauce, and a fresh Asian Slaw on the side. And while you can totally serve the red curry with plain steamed Jasmine rice, you could take it to the next level with Thai Fried Rice or Coconut Rice! – Nagi x
PS If you’re wondering if the sauce is supposed to look sort of split – yes it is. The oil is actually supposed to separate. I’ve included some general commentary in the recipe notes, for those that are interested. 🙂
Thai red curry
Watch how to make it
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Thai Red Curry with Chicken
Ingredients
Red Curry Paste – choose ONE:
- 5 – 6 tbsp Thai Red Curry Paste (store bought, Maesri best) (Note 1)
- 1 quantity homemade Thai Red Curry Paste
Extras – only for jar curry paste (Note 2)
- 2 large garlic cloves , minced
- 2 tsp fresh ginger , finely grated
- 1 tbsp lemongrass paste or finely chopped fresh (Note 3)
Thai Red Curry
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil (or canola or peanut)
- 1 cup (250 ml) chicken broth/stock , low sodium
- 400 ml / 14 oz coconut milk (full fat!)
- 6 kaffir lime leaves (Note 4)
- 1 tbsp sugar (white, brown or palm)
- 2 tsp fish sauce , plus more to taste
- 350g / 12 oz chicken thighs (boneless and skinless), cut into 0.75 / 1/3″ thick slices (Note 5)
- 150g / 5 oz pumpkin or butternut squash, cut into 1.5cm / 3/5" cubes (~1 heaped cup)
- 120g / 4oz green beans , trimmed and cut into 5cm/2″ pieces
- 12 Thai basil leaves (Note 6)
Garnishes (optional) & serving:
- Fresh red chilli slices (small chilli – spicy, large = less spicy)
- Fresh coriander / cilantro leaves
- Steamed jasmine rice
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large heavy based skillet over medium high heat.
- Add curry paste and Extras (if using jar paste) and cook for about 2 minutes so it “dries out” (See video)
- Add chicken broth and stir to dissolve paste. Simmer rapidly for 3 minutes or until liquid reduces by half.
- Add coconut milk, lime leaves, sugar and fish sauce. Stir, then add chicken.
- Spread chicken out, bring to simmer, then turn heat down to medium. Simmer for about 8- 10 minutes or until Sauce reduces, the chicken is cooked and the sauce is almost at the thickness you want.
- Do a taste test. Add more fish sauce (or even shrimp paste) to add more saltiness, sugar for sweetness.
- Add pumpkin and beans, stir. Cook for 3 minutes or until pumpkin is just cooked through and Sauce is thickened – see video for Sauce thickness.
- Remove from heat. Stir through a handful of Thai basil leaves.
- Serve over jasmine rice, garnished with fresh red chilli slices and fresh coriander/cilantro leaves, if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Spiciness: Thai Red Curry is not supposed to be crazy spicy but it has a nice tingle to it.
Sauce thickness varies drastically between restaurants – at some it is almost watery, at others it is really thick and seems to be made with coconut cream. I like mine in between – a sauce that is pourable but with a gravy like consistency. I am not a fan of very sweet Red Curry, but if you are, just add more sugar.
Consistency: Thai red curry sauce doesn’t look completely smooth, it looks a bit split because of the oil and that’s the way it is supposed to be.
Stuff in it: There are no hard and fast rules about what goes into a Thai Red Curry. You’ll find Thai eggplant in curries at very authentic Thai restaurants but to be honest, I am not a huge fan of them – they are like tiny eggplants and kind of hard (also not easy to find in shops). I’d say that the two most common vegetables I’ve noticed are pumpkin and green beans or snake beans. While pumpkin may not sound “Thai”, don’t dismiss it, it is spectacular in red curry for both the texture, the sweetness and also because it soaks up the sauce. 8. Nutrition per serving, curry only.
Nutrition Information:
I adore Thai curries
See?
Life of Dozer
It’s lucky he’s so cute because he isn’t going to win any prizes in the spelling bee…. When he bonks his head on the door frame, it sounds hollow. I swear!
The amount of store bought Maesri curry paste mentioned in the recipe is incorrect, i think. The recipe says add 5-6 tablespoons. The small can only has about 5-6 teaspoons. Please clarify. I ended up adding the whole can for half kilo meat. It was very spicy but tasty. Really loved the video, very helpful.
Delish!! We added extra green beans and butternut squash and it was divine! We also precooked the squash so it was softer. I would recommend adding the green beans into the curry earlier, at least 10 minutes. They were fairly bland compared to everything else. Overall easy and delicious!
Absolutely delicious. Is this able to be frozen?
I would love an answer to this one, too. It’s a fabulous recipe! We love it.
I freeze this one all the time!
Ok, came here after I cooked your Drunken Noodles and it was a success.. Now THIS dish… It was super simple, and tasted just like the Thai restaurant we dine at! We found the can of paste, and spruced it up as recommended. For veggies we did red bell pepper, and onion. We will be trying the green curry recipe next..
I don’t know where you’ve been all my life but I love you!! lol.
Lovely flavours. We enjoy spicy but if making for others I would use 2/3 of Maesri paste. Used about 450g chicken thighs but plenty of sauce still. Substituted sweet potato & snow peas (the veg I had) & added some Asian leafy veg. Needed to cook sweet potato longer (as others noted with pumpkin) but chicken still tender. My Thai basil & Makrut lime grow happily in pots in Canberra so good to be able to pick just what I need.
Nagi I never tire of receiving your delicious recipes & looking at how Dozer is doing, but I must commend you on attention to detail & careful instructions. Those people who say they “can’t cook” I say if you can read you can cook. You are an absolute gem.
I have been craving good Thai red curry ever since moving out of NYC and haven’t been able to find any, so decided to try it myself. I made this recipe and it came out a 9/10, almost as good as my favorite Thai spot in NYC! I could only find dried kaffir lime leaves and dried lemongrass, and had to use normal basil, and used the veggies I prefer (bamboo shoots, peppers, bean sprouts) but otherwise followed the recipe to the tee. It was absolutely incredible and I couldn’t believe I made it in my own kitchen! Will never look for another red curry recipe, this is as good as it gets! Thank you!!!
A useful trick if you have only got dried lime leaves and loose leaf lemongrass tea. Toss some in with the stock, simmer it while prepping the other stuff and sieve the solids out before using as stock. Yummy, frugal and gives it a nice “almost-fresh” flavor. Love this dish with local yellow squash (think of small zucchini but yellow) and pineapple chunks. (the “fresh” green beans in my local store would have taken an annoying amount of time to blanch) This sort of recipe also works well with pork or shrimp.
I make big batches and freeze, it works great.
Omg!! So tasty
I can’t get the Maesri brand red curry so just used Ayam and omitted the sugar. I also did this with bone in thighs. I replaced beans with zucchini as I am growing them and need to use them. . Amazing! Thank you.
Absolutely delicious! I stopped making thai curries a while back because i never got the paste:stock:coconut milk ratio right. This was perfect, especially with the additions to the the store-bought curry paste. I made it vegetarian with leftover veggies. Can’t wait to make it again!
I made this last night and it was absolutely delicious and perfect for this winter weather. I used chicken breast and followed the recipe but added potato and bell pepper (my kids love veggies) used regular basil & couldn’t find the lemon leaves I made the Slaw recipe that it recommended as a side and that was the cherry on top- it was ideal – we love our curry 🌶️🌶️🌶️ spicy
I cooked this following your instructions using jarred red curry paste (Real Thai little jar), and cooking it until it “dried” with added grated ginger, grated makrut lime peel (since that was an ingredient in jar, and I had that on hand but not lemongrass!) and a clove of garlic. Your suggestions really boosted that paste and added fresh “restaurant” flavor! I also did the broth, reduced, then coconut milk and ended up with a great sauce consistency.
I deviated by making it veggie – can of bamboo shoots, sweet potato, zucchini and some broccoli. Basil and cilantro leaves and a sliced jalapeño when it was done cooking. It was fabulous. Thank you for the video on cooking the paste first, it explained the method perfectly.
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I finally found a recipe that is restaurant worthy. Wow, simply delicious. Never tried it with pumpkin or squash. That’ll be on my list to try.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe
I love this recipe! I’ve made it several times now and it’s a family favorite!
Some modifications I’ve come to like…
1) I usually double the recipe and freeze half, or freezes quite well.
2) I use half the amount of coconut milk to make it slightly healthier, also that makes it more spicy!
3) I use butternut squash instead of pumpkin, and lots of it! Not only is it delicious, it’s easier to cut and peel than pumpkin, and it helps to thicken the sauce, without it the sauce is thin
4) I cut and bake the squash before adding to the recipe, there’s no way butternut squash will cook in 3 minutes per this recipe. No way. Not sure about pumpkin. Same with the green beans I cook them in advance.
Was absolutely delicious and I was extremely proud of having made a total restaurant dupe curry. I added most of a tin of baby corn, chopped in half on the diagonal, which I heartily endorse – they were delicious.
Wow! Adding the extras to the curry paste upfront made such a difference. Delicious recipe and soo warming for a cold winter day, like today, in Toulouse.
** I did not have fish sauce so substituted with 1.5 anchovies… it worked perfectly in case anyone else is in the same situation!
Great to use up uncooked hot pot veggies and meat. Used sweet potatoes instead of squash and leftover bite size veggies like broccoli, bok choy, eggplant as that is what I had ready, and sliced pork, but followed your method. Served with coconut rice. Topped with cilantro and scallion, a wedge of lime. Family loved it. Thanks.
I cooked this last night and it was delicious with the added ginger, lemongrass etc to the Ayam paste. It was a little spicy and I used coconut cream and sweetened it a bit more with pineapple. Everyone loved it and the chicken was perfectly cooked adding it to the sauce for 8 minutes.
This was absolutely delicious! We only had blue dragon paste available, but it certainly tasted authentic in the end. I tripled the recipe on order to batch cook and freeze (I’m disabled so cook in bulk when I have help). We added three red peppers and I cubed courgette, along with 350grams of frozen pre cubed butternut squash. We couldn’t get hold of fresh lime leaves sadly, nor Thai basil, but with normal basil and dried lime leaves it was still absolutely delicious. I think next time I’ll use breast instead of the thigh meat as the texture wasn’t really what we are used to in curries. Thanks again for a beautiful recipe.
My husband is allergic to shrimp. Can I leave the shrimp paste out of the curry paste or can you recommend a substitute?