Thai-Style Red Chicken Curry
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This fragrant Thai chicken curry is a one-pan dish that comes together in just 30 minutes.
I love cooking Thai-style food at home because there are so many recipes that you can create with just a few staples from the Asian food aisle of your neighborhood supermarket. This red chicken curry is case in point: a one-pan dish of tender chicken simmered in a rich, red curry-infused coconut milk sauce, it comes together in just 30 minutes with minimal prep work.
In developing the recipe, the biggest challenge was determining the best way to cook the chicken. Most recipes call for sautéing the chicken first and then warming it in the finished sauce. But the problem with that method, if you’re using white meat, is that the chicken tends to dry out quickly. I found that gently poaching the chicken in the coconut sauce is not only easier but also foolproof. You’ll be so pleased with how tender the chicken turns out when cooked this way!
Table of Contents
What You’ll Need To Make Thai-Style Red Chicken Curry
Before we get to the step-by-step instructions, a few words about the ingredients:
- Red curry paste is a blend of lemongrass, galangal (Thai ginger), fresh red chilis, and fragrant spices. The spice level will vary depending on the brand of curry paste you use. The brand I use above (Thai Kitchen) makes for a mild, family-friendly dish. For more heat, you can always add a drizzle of Sriracha, some of the seeds of the jalapeño, or some crushed red pepper flakes.
- Be sure to use full-fat coconut milk. The sauce won’t have the same smooth, thick consistency with the reduced-fat variety.
- Fish sauce is a salty, savory condiment often used in East Asian cuisine. It adds a rich umami flavor to sauces, marinades, and salad dressings.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Heat the oil over medium-low heat in a large nonstick pan. Add the light scallions, garlic, and jalapeño. (The dark green scallions are used as a garnish at the end, as they are mild in flavor and pretty, too.)
Cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Do not brown.
Add the coconut milk, red curry paste, fish sauce, and brown sugar.
Bring to a gentle boil and simmer until thickened, a few minutes.
Add the chicken pieces.
Simmer, stirring occasionally to promote even cooking, until the chicken is cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes.
Stir in the lime juice, dark scallion greens, and cilantro. Taste and adjust seasoning with more lime, if necessary.
Serve with jasmine rice.
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Thai Red Curry Chicken
This fragrant Thai chicken curry is a one-pan dish that comes together in just 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 small bunch scallions, thinly sliced, light and dark green parts divided
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced (see note)
- 1 (14-oz) can coconut milk (unsweetened)
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2½ tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
- 1½ pounds chicken tenderloins, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon lime juice, from 1 lime
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Heat the oil over medium-low heat in a large nonstick pan. Add the light scallions, garlic, and jalapeño and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Do not brown.
- Add the coconut milk, red curry paste, fish sauce, and brown sugar and whisk together. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat and simmer until thickened, a few minutes. Add the chicken and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally to promote even cooking, until the chicken is cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. (Do not let the sauce boil; the idea is to cook the chicken gently so that it's tender.) Stir in the lime juice, dark scallion greens, and cilantro. Taste and adjust seasoning with more lime, if necessary. Serve with jasmine rice.
- Note: As always, take care when working with jalapeño peppers. If you touch the seeds or ribs, be sure to wash your hands well and avoid touching your eyes.
- Note: It's important to wait until you're ready to eat to cook the chicken. If you want to get a head start, prepare the sauce up until the point when the chicken is added. Take it off the heat and then poach the chicken right before serving. If the chicken sits in the hot curry sauce for too long before serving, it will overcook.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 649
- Fat: 51 g
- Saturated fat: 26 g
- Carbohydrates: 16 g
- Sugar: 10 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 35 g
- Sodium: 886 mg
- Cholesterol: 128 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Hi Jenn. I’ve made many wonderful recipes from your site. Thank you! This one, however, didn’t quite work. I used the exact ingredients, including full-fat coconut milk, followed the instructions to a T, and my sauce didn’t thicken. The flavours were delicious and the chicken was cooked perfectly but the sauce was a disappointment.
Sorry this was a bit of a miss for you! If you try it again, let it simmer a bit longer before adding the chicken – it will eventually thicken up.
SO MUCH BETTER THAN take out! Perfect amount for family of 4 and added steamed broccoli to the finished pan at the end. The sauce was tastier than what I get from our local thai place. I have kids so the jalapenos were sliced and reserved for topping my husband’s plate at the end. Thank you for a real winner that I will make again and again.
Hi Jenn, I’m constantly raving about your site to everyone, and this recipe is one of the reasons why. Our daughter lives in Thailand and we had Khao Soi on a visit. This tastes so much like it. I didn’t have red curry paste so I substituted Sambal Oelek and added extras that I found as ingredients in the red curry paste (tumeric, cumin, ginger, lemon zest – I didn’t have coriander or cardamom) and it was delicious. I also had pad Thai noodles which I used instead of rice. Thanks for making cooking fun again. 😊
Thank you for spreading the word about the blog (and so glad you like this chicken)! 🙂
THIS IS SO EASY, AND GOOD. I DIDN’T HAVE ALL THE COCONUT MILK, SO I PUT IN SOME DICED TOMATOES, AND POTATOES INSTEAD OF RICE. YUM. THANK YOU.
This was delicious! I will definitely make it again!
My first curry dish ever and it was a success! I was very cautious about the amount of jalapeno to add in, so I was adding it little by little throughout the cooking. In the end, I eventually used up 1 whole red piece, just like what’s in the recipe (looks like I might have to increase the amount of jalapeno on my next attempt as we like it more spicy.) Then I lightly fried some red bell peppers and carrots in butter separately, and added them towards the end of the curry cooking. Fortunately, I found some Thai Kitchen ingredients from a nearby grocery, so I was able to use the same brand of red curry paste and fish sauce, as shown in this recipe. I’m happy I have chosen to follow your recipe against the many others available in the internet, as I found yours quite straightforward and non-intimidating, especially to beginners like me. Thank you so much for doing what you do, and helping cooking newbies like me whip up some great-tasting dishes without the complexities.
Just a question, in your experience, how long do you think this dish would last when stored in a sealed container, inside the refrigerator or freezer? Thank you in advance for your answer.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe and found it easy to follow! This should last in the fridge for up to 3 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months. 🙂
Really tasty recipe! I used thighs and followed the instructions provided in one of the other postings where someone asked how to cook them (which is before you add the garlic and jalapeño). I cooked them along with some yellow pepper and mushrooms and placed them on a platter and then made the curry sauce. After I had the chicken and veggies back to the pan along with some broccoli I steamed the day before. Lastly, my family prefers basil so I used it instead of coriander (although I would have a liked a combo of each).
I was definitely missing some veggies on my first attempt, so I took the advice of adding steamed veggies the second time around. I reduced the amount of chicken to 300g and completed the remaining 400g with a mix of baby corn, long beans, red bell pepper, and Japanese eggplant. Jackpot!!!
Next time, I’ll be doubling the whole recipe cause we just couldn’t get enough! Oh, and please consider serving some roti alongside to mop up the curry sauce 😀
Do you think you could use honey instead of brown sugar (I can tolerate honey, but not sugar)?
Sure, Tiffany — you may need just a touch less than the 2.5 T as honey is a little sweeter than sugar. Hope you enjoy!
Hi Jen. I accidentally bought green curry paste instead of the red curry paste. Do you think the recipe will still work? If not, do you by any chance have any other recipes that use green curry paste?!
Hi Heather, it’s perfectly fine to use green curry paste as the red and green varieties are pretty interchangeable in recipes. Keep in mind that green curry paste can be a little spicier than red (but the spice level varies depending on the brand). And a recipe of mine that uses green curry paste is this one for Thai Chicken Noodle Soup. Hope that helps! 🙂