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Thai Red Curry with

Chicken
BY: Nagi PUBLISHED: 19 Feb '18 UPDATED: 5 Aug '23

602 Comments

RECIPE V VIDEO V DOZER V

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:

1 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!

2 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
Author: Nagi Prep: 5 mins Cook: 20 mins
Total: 25 mins Mains Thai
4.96 from 247 votes

Servings 4
Tap or hover to scale

Print

Recipe VIDEO above. A Thai Red Curry with

Chicken is one of the world's most popular curries!
Make this with store bought curry paste (we give it a
freshness boost) OR homemade red curry paste
(the fresh flavour can't be beaten!).

SPICE Level: Mild to hot BUT if using store bought

paste, depends on what brand you use (Note 5).

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
1 Heat oil in a large heavy based skillet over
medium high heat.
2 Add curry paste and Extras (if using jar paste)
and cook for about 2 minutes so it “dries out”
(See video)
3 Add chicken broth and stir to dissolve paste.
Simmer rapidly for 3 minutes or until liquid
reduces by half.
4 Add coconut milk, lime leaves, sugar and fish
sauce. Stir, then add chicken.
5 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.
6 Do a taste test. Add more fish sauce (or even
shrimp paste) to add more saltiness, sugar for
sweetness.
7 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.
8 Remove from heat. Stir through a handful of
Thai basil leaves.
9 Serve over jasmine rice, garnished with fresh
red chilli slices and fresh coriander/cilantro
leaves, if desired.

Recipe Notes:
1. Curry paste – if using store bought, try to
get Maesri brand if you can, it’s the best (small
can, very cheap). Sold at major grocery stores
(Woolies, Coles) or Asian stores. Otherwise,
use your favourite.

Use 5 tbsp if you are unsure about spiciness,

or 6 tbsp (or the whole can!) if you are sure you
can handle it!

Note: curry paste in jars has a more

concentrated flavour than fresh homemade
paste so you need less. The video shows
homemade paste.

2. Extras – these are to freshen up store

bought curry paste. Not required if using
homemade.

3. Lemongrass paste – convenience tubes of

cold pressed lemongrass paste, the next best
thing to peeling / finely chopping fresh
lemongrass! Can sub with 2 tsp finely minced
fresh lemongrass.

4. Kaffir Lime Leaves are the leaves of a kaffir

lime tree. It’s used to add earthy citrus flavours
into Asian food. Sold at large grocery stores
and Asian stores. Dried is an ok substitute
(same amount), but I really urge you to try to
find fresh if you can because it adds that
“something-something” that really makes this
“restaurant quality”.

5. Chicken – Thigh is best for this recipe

because it’s nice and juicy. But breast and
tenderloin is fine too.

6. Thai Basil looks like normal basil but has

pointier leaves and a purplish tinge. It tastes
like basil + aniseed. Not the end of the world if
you can’t find it – ordinary basil will be an
adequate substituted but only use a small
handful.

7. General 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:
Calories: 530cal (27%)

Keywords: Red curry, Thai red curry

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I ADORE THAI CURRIES

See?

Thai Green Curry Thai Yellow Curry Pan

dea

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!

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Hi, I'm Nagi!

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