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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SO delicious. I added steamed broccoli and peppers at the end. My husband can’t stand fish sauce and can detect tiny amounts, so I subbed a tablespoon of soy sauce for umami, plus some extra salt. Red curry is my favorite Thai dish and this was awesome, even without the fish sauce–and better than takeout in some ways because the chicken wasn’t dry. My almost 2-year-old loved the sauce–she used the broccoli to sop it up, sucked it all off, and re-dipped it. Repeat x20. I have convinced myself that maybe she got a few molecules of broccoli in there 🙂
Wow!!! Made sauce following recipe exactly and so delicious.
I did go crazy with extra vegetables though. Handful of mushrooms, some green beans a red bell pepper and one zucchini!! I sauteed these ahead of time and then added to the sauce when chicken was about done!!! There was still lots of sauce to add to rice when we ate it for dinner. This was my first time making any type of curry and so happy to have found this recipe!!!
I made this red Thai curry chicken for my husband the other night and he loved it! I added chopped red peppers with the onions and steamed broccoli at the end, and it was amazing. Such an easy recipe and it gave us leftovers for the next day that tasted just as good. Poaching the chicken in the sauce made it super tender. Definitely a repeat recipe!
Hello Jenn,
Thank you so much for writing such easy-making but delicious recipe! I love this recipe so much. I cooked for myself for the first time and cooked it for a group of 20 people today. I used 2 cans of coconut milk, almost 5 pounds of chicken breast and almost 1/2 cup red curry paste (this is a really flexible amount). They tasted so nice and I served it with fried rice in place of white rice. Everyone in my group loved it!
Thank you again!
Hope you have a good day
Xia from Columbus, OH
I’m not normally a curry fan, but it’s recipe looked so tantalizing that I had to make it. Everything turned out perfectly. It’s a perfect blend of umami, tangy and slightly peppery flavor that makes it really hard to stop at just one serving. Though I am a huge fan of fish and seafood flavors, I will say the fish-sauce taste was quite prominent and if you’re sensitive to that, perhaps use slightly less of it to start, and adjust to taste. Also, I do like more heat and added more got peppers, and the other flavors still came through beautifully. A truly simple and delicious recipe.
Can you add vegetables to this curry dish?
Definitely, but I suggest steaming them separately and adding them at the very end, so they don’t soak up all the delicious curry sauce. Hope you enjoy!
Fantastic!!
I liked the suggestion to simmer the chicken in the coconut milk, but this recipe was waaaaaaaaaay too sweet for my taste, even after I added tons more lime juice and fish sauce 🙁
Same for me! Wayyyy too sweet. All I tasted was the brown sugar! I tried to counter with lime juice, but couldn’t get it right. Next time less than half the recommended amount!
Made this with extra firm tofu and it was fantastic!
A-MAAAA-ZING flavor. Made as directed. Per the directions on the bottom, … made the sauce in advance…when ready to eat, I just reheated it and cooked the chicken for 5-6 minutes.
Hi Jenn, Greetings from Canada !
Great recipe. What is the difference between red and green Thai curry paste?
Thank You.
Hi Yvonne, I’ve provided a link that outlines the differences. One thing to keep in mind is that often times green curry paste is a bit spicier than the red variety. Hope you enjoy the chicken if you make it!