Make authentic Thai Chicken Curry in 30 minutes with simple ingredients from any grocery store.
Thai Coconut Chicken Curry
Authentic but basic Thai chicken curry in 25 minutes. I have eaten a fair share of curries at Canadian restaurants and I can assure you don’t have to leave the house to enjoy a good curry served over the most perfect Instant Pot brown rice.
This silky smooth Thai coconut chicken curry with warm spices and a bit of a kick is so simple to make at home. And healthy with a taste of most indulgent comfort food!
All my 3 boys raved about it for days!
Ingredients You Can Find Anywhere:
I promise no specialty Asian stores but you can if you like to keep busy.:)
- Chicken breasts or thighs
- Canned coconut milk
- Curry paste
- Tomato paste (forgot to photograph)
- Ginger and garlic
- Salt and pepper
Best Coconut Milk for Thai Coconut Chicken Curry:
Not all canned coconut milk is the same. Trust me! The biggest challenge is not smooth with small lumps coconut milk.
Make the best Thai chicken curry with coconut milk that is:
- Full fat and not low fat (diluted with water) coconut milk. Healthy fats are good for us (Harvard University).
- Not from cheap brands found in Asian section (sorry!). They contain a lot of preservatives and chemicals.
- Smooth creamy consistency without small lumps.
- In BPA free cans and organic are a bonus.
- From brands that I tried and like are 365, Thai kitchen, Trader Joe’s and Compliments.
Tip: It is normal to see cream on top and liquid on a bottom when you open the can during colder months. Add everything to the pan and coconut milk will melt.
Kaffir Lime Leaves Substitution:
Kaffir lime leaves are a specialty item from Asian supermarket. They add citrus flavor and sweetness. But you don’t need them and can easily replace with fresh basil at the end.
And even if you don’t have basil, you can still make this OMG good Thai red chicken curry.
And I skipped fresh lemongrass on purpose. To see if curry turns out tasty. And it did! If I never have it on hand, neither do you. But you can add it with garlic and ginger, if you are familiar how to bruise and chop it. It is a nice bonus.
How Much and Which Curry Paste?
For any Thai cooking, I usually use curry paste in a small glass jar. Not powder. And usually it ends up being Thai kitchen brand. You can find it in any grocery store. Even little grocery store on my island carries it.:)
A million $ question. How much?
- Very mild curry – 1 tbsp.
- Mild-medium curry aka kid friendly but still with a kick – 2 tbsp (I usually add this much).
- Spicy curry – 4 tbsp.
Tip: Substitute with yellow or green curry paste if that’s what you have on hand. No need to drive to the store.
How to Make Thai Chicken Curry
- Saute garlic and ginger for 30 seconds stirring constantly. It burns fast.
- Add cubed chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Doesn’t have to be cooked through.
- Add coconut milk, curry paste, tomato paste, maple syrup, kaffir lime leaves (if using), salt and pepper and cook uncovered for 15 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh basil or cilantro, a bit of lime juice and serve over brown rice.
OMG, just look at this 25 minute Thai coconut chicken curry! Who needs takeout?!
Leftover Tomato Paste?
You want to transfer leftover tomato paste to a glass jar. Sitting in a metal jar acidic tomatoes will oxidize. Refrigerate for up to 10 days and add to borscht or butter chicken. In addition to a 6 oz can that recipes call for. It’s OK to add a bit more.:)
More Curry Recipes to Try:
- Chicken curry with coconut milk bulked up with lots of cauliflower for a 30 minute dinner!
- Thai shrimp curry with butternut squash – another mind blowing quick dinner with tons of veggies.
- Eggplant vindaloo curry – vegan and meatless curry even carnivores will enjoy.
- Instant Pot butter chicken approved as “authentic” by many-many readers!
Thai Chicken Curry
Make authentic Thai Chicken Curry in 30 minutes with simple ingredients from any grocery store.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1.5” cubes
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 inch ginger knob, minced
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 14 oz can coconut milk, full fat
- 2 tbsp red curry paste
- 3 oz tomato paste, low sodium
- 2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
- 5 kaffir lime leaves or basil leaves
- 1/2 tsp salt + more
- Ground black pepper, to taste
- Cilantro and lime, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat large deep skillet or wok on medium heat and swirl oil to coat. Add garlic and ginger and saute for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. It burns fast.
- Add chicken sprinkled with a pinch of salt, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Doesn’t have to be cooked through.
- Add coconut milk, curry paste, tomato paste, maple syrup, kaffir lime leaves (if using), salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered for 15 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh basil or cilantro, a bit of lime juice and serve over brown rice.
Storage Instructions: Refrigerate in an airtight container for 2-3 days or freeze leftovers for up to 3 months.
Notes
If you don’t use kaffir lime leaves, add fresh basil leaves at the end.
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating in the comments.
I havent tried this yet but I had a question what is the liquid you add before the spices and after the chicken is added? I might just not see it anywhere is it just water? or chicken broth?
Coconut milk
This is my second recipe I have tried and both turned out amazing ! Her recipes are so simple and quick to prepare. I will probably make a new dish for the next 3 days 😊 do you have any crockpot recipes ?
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Many of my recipes can be cooked in a crockpot. Here are two recipes that are specific for a crockpot! Enjoy
https://ifoodreal.com/crockpot-chicken-spaghetti/
https://ifoodreal.com/crock-pot-butter-chicken/
Is it spicy?
No, very mild – my Canadian kids eat it.
Don’t know if I already rated this recipe but I make it so often, it deserves lots of love!! My non-curry loving family adores this and I usually make at least a double batch! I have never made it with basil and I am not sure how basil compares to the Keffir Lime leaves because they seem like very different flavors….. But, it is easy to stock up on the lime leaves and have them always ready – I found them in a little baggie frozen at my local Asian store and they keep for a long time in the freezer. Ditto shopping for the thai curry paste at Asian store and Amazon has it too. I have made a bunch of Olena’s recipes and not one has disappointed me – one of the only cooking blogs I actually follow!!! Thanks! Angi
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Thank you for the positive feedback Angi. Made my day!
Hello…is there a substitute for the maple syrup/honey, maybe some sugar? Thanks
Maple syrup and honey are healthier sweeteners, but yes you could use sugar.
I made this recipe tonight for dinner and it was such a huge success! Kids loved it and left me zero leftovers for lunch. I used cauliflower rice instead of brown rice, otherwise everything else was the same. Thank you:)
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Anne! That’s the best when the kids love the dinner you make! Great idea to serve it with cauliflower rice. Yum!
Delicious! Love the flavor and it was super easy.
I’d love to sneak some veggies in next time. Any advice?
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You can add lots of different kinds of vegetables like red bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash or even sweet potato. I would just recommend slicing the veggies so they are all roughly the same size (and on the smaller side). Throw in a handful of spinach even!
This is now family favourite! Absolutely loved it! Thank you!
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I’m so happy your family loved the recipe. Thanks for sharing that with me!
Super easy to make and tastes even better!
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Haha, awesome. Happy to hear, Joshua!
Another excellent and quick recipe!
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So happy to hear, Kim!
It was not full fat coconut milk. So im thinking thats the reason. But it was still amazing
I loved this recipe. It tasted sooo good. The only thing was it didn’t seem to thicken up very much so I used about a Tablespoon of corn starch.
That is so amazing to hear! Glad you enjoyed my recipe, Nancy! I wonder if it’s the brand of coconut milk or you cooked it covered…
This is fantastic and so quick and easy! 5 stars all the way???
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That is so amazing to hear, Stacy! Glad you enjoyed my recipe!
I made this tonight for the family. It was beyond delicious! Not a drop left over! Thumbs up all around. Thanks for yet another fantastic recipe!!
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You are very welcome, Theresa!!!
I love Thai food!!! And I agree with Judy – chickpeas can go instead of part of the meat, tried it many times in different curries :). Thanks, Olena, this one is the keeper! 🙂
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You are very welcome.:)
OMG this was so good!! I only had one chicken breast in the freezer so I added a can of chick peas and it was delicious! This recipe could easily be vegan by just using chick peas and no chicken. Flavours are amazing!
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Totally! Awesome!!! Happy to hear, Judy.
Oh man I love this. Delicious curry and easy to make. Thank you.
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Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the recipe, Pat!
Thanks to you and this recipe I’ll try making a curry recipe. I don’t like coconut but I just googled substitute for that after seeing your recipe and all I need is yogurt. All I have to get is the curry paste. Can’t wait to try something new.
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Yay! Yes you can as long as you don’t cook it so it doesn’t curdle.
Excellent! Can’t wait to try it! :)….
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Another family favorite!
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YES!
WOW! The recipe was easy, and the food was great. I didn’t know if I would like curry. This is now a new favorite recipe. I’m so happy I discovered this website.
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Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the recipe, Shannon!
Who knew you could have delicious thai food on the table so quickly? This recipe was so easy and the food so good. Plenty of sauce to flavor the brown rice I served it with. I am excited to have some of the leftovers for lunch and even had some to freeze for my future self. Win-win!
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Awe, you are so welcome! So happy to hear you are enjoying my recipes!
Delicious
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I made this recipe for my family last night…WE LOVED IT! I doubled the batch so we would have leftovers for lunch but I ended up Turing the leftovers into soup for dinner tonight. This has been a huge hit – Thank you. Will definitely make again.
** for soup, I sautéed onion, celery, fennel, carrots in olive oil. Diced potato, turnip, rutabaga (I know sounds weird but worked); then added 4 C chicken broth. Cooked the veg in simmering broth then added left over Thai Chicken Curry. Added a knob of ginger, 1 t of curry paste to bump of flavor and left over brown rice. So good!
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So happy to hear, Jill! You are smarter than me because you doubled the recipe. We had no leftovers. And your soup sounds amazing and something I would totally do!
Olena, I love all your recipes. Thankyou! And this one was super quick and delicious… Definitely making it again.
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Yay! So happy to hear you loved my Ukrainian Thai chicken curry, Simone! SO do you mean you have an Instant Pot too? LOL Cause I post a lot of those recipes. I’m still obsessed with mine years later.
Simply delicious flavour.
So quick and easy to prepare?
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Wow, speedy Wendy! So happy you enjoyed my Ukrainian Thai chicken curry. 🙂