Last updated on March 27th, 2019 at 01:56 pm
This Thai Red Chicken Curry is incredibly delicious, so easy to make with bite size chicken pieces, snow peas and simmered in a red curry and coconut milk sauce. Thai cooking in under 30 minutes and all in one pot!
My love for Thai food knows no bounds. It’s a love affair that started over 20 years ago and have never looked back since. My biggest challenge has always been to make it myself at home, but I’ve discovered a few years ago that Thai food really isn’t very complicated.
I especially love all coconut curries and with a few ingredients you can have quality Thai restaurant meals right in your home, made by you nonetheless.
Thai Red Chicken Curry Ingredients
There are a few ingredients you’ll need to ensure you get the most flavor out of this curry; coconut milk, Thai red curry paste, kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass. I can find them all at my local grocery store, but I’ve provided you with links on the ingredients to get the products on amazon if you cannot find any of these items. I also find the kaffir lime leaves at the farmer’s market.
What Are Kaffir Lime Leaves
Kaffir lime leaves are a member of the citrus family and they give off a lime-lemon aroma and flavor. They really are an indispensable part of Thai cooking, as well as Indonesian cooking.
There’s a little Indonesian kiosk at my local farmer’s market and I eat there almost every chance I get. Their food is so nicely fragrant and delicious. One day I asked them what gives off that nice lemony flavor and they told me all about these Kaffir lime leaves. They’re amazing, however, if you cannot find them anywhere just go ahead and skip them in the recipe. The lemongrass stalks also have a citrus flavor and again they are often used in curries.
How to Make Thai Red Chicken Curry
This dish is so great, you literally only need about 20 minutes to make and you will be so happy you made this.
Start by cooking the chicken first with the garlic and ginger first in a large skillet. Once the chicken is cooked, all you have to do is add the rest of the ingredients to the pot. Simply simmer for another 10 minutes and you’re ready to eat.
The flavors are out of this world, a creamy sauce which packs some heat from the curry paste, the more curry paste the better, it’s really not that spicy. I used 4 tbsp in this recipe and it flavored the dish nicely giving it just a bit of a spicy kick.
For 20 minutes of total time you cannot beat this dish, delicious Thai flavors, not to mention your house will smell incredible.
Looking for More Thai Dishes? Try These:
- Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Easy Thai Steak Salad
- Skinny Thai Chicken Meatballs with Peanut Sauce
- Pad Thai Zoodles
- Spicy Thai Chicken and Veggie Noodles
- Thai Meatball Lettuce Wraps
- Pad Thai
Thai Red Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger root peeled and finely grated
- 1 lb chicken breasts boneless and skinless and cut into bite size pieces, about 3
- 13.5 oz coconut milk (1 can)
- 2 to 4 tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 3/4 cup chicken broth low sodium
- 5 oz snow peas roughly chopped
- 4 leaves kaffir lime
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 stalks lemongrass bruised *
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp fresh cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a Dutch Oven or a large wok or skillet until hot. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for about 30 seconds over high heat, until it gets aromatic.
- Turn the heat down to medium-high and add the chicken pieces to the pot and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink.
- Stir in the coconut milk, curry paste, chicken broth, snow peas, kaffir lime leaves, sugar and lemon grass. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Remove the kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass from the pot. Remove from heat and garnish with fresh cilantro.
- Serve immediately over cooked rice.
Watch How To Make It
Notes
- *To bruise the lemongrass, use a meat mallet or the back of a knife to lightly crush it. This will ensure you get the most flavor into your curry.
- You can leave the kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass stalks in the dish, and just push them to the side of your plate when eating, since they are too tough to eat.
- You can store remaining kaffir lime leaves in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks. You can also freeze them in a sealed ziploc bag or airtight container.
- Nutritional information does not include cooked rice.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Joseph says
June 10, 2019 at 2:10 pmThis was delicious. Instead of snow peas, I made it like my local Thai restaurant does: with red bell peppers, onions, and pineapple chunks. The pineapples gives you some sweet juicy relief from the heat.
Greg says
June 9, 2019 at 7:41 pmSuper good; we added more paste for more kick. Also added julienne carrots, red peppers, and a bit of Thai basil. Also added some fairly coarse julienne jicama for a great texture addition.
Mitzi Cikra says
June 9, 2019 at 7:13 pmWe have made this twice now. Delicious! Great ratios! I can not easily get lemongrass so I use the paste in a tube. I also started with some onion. We love heat so dropped in some rings of fresh red chiles near the end. I hold the snap peas (in the bag, not frozen) until about two minutes before it’s done. Lovely recipe. Thanks for sharing! Definitely in the rotation now as a favorite!
Carol Goss says
April 10, 2019 at 8:18 pmMy new favorite flavor right now. I made a soup featuring red curry and now I am
obsessed. This looks right up my taste bud’s alley.
Nicole Beaulieu says
April 11, 2019 at 10:28 amYou need to try this! It’s amazing. Happy cooking to you 🙂
Annemarie says
March 18, 2019 at 7:32 amGetting ready to make that dish. If the lemongrass is tough how can I soften it to bring out more flavor?
Nicole Beaulieu says
March 18, 2019 at 12:21 pmIf you check out the video you can see how we bruised our lemongrass! We used a meat mallet.
Melissa says
February 24, 2019 at 5:20 pmReally enjoyed this recipe. The secret to the full flavour is definitely the kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass, as soon as I saw them listed in the ingredients I knew it would be good. I added onion to mine prior to cooking the garlic and ginger.
Squeaky Bear says
February 18, 2019 at 7:28 amThis was easy and delicious, especially with the lemongrass! I did not use enough curry paste though, next time I will add much more. In other similar recipes I have, you are supposed to saute the curry paste first, to bring out more flavour. Maybe I will try that next time!
What really made me decide to make this recipe above the others I was looking at was that I have the same Le Creuset saucepan. 🙂
Joanna Cismaru says
February 18, 2019 at 11:02 amHa! I love my Le Creusets! Glad you liked the recipe!
Jane says
February 13, 2019 at 6:51 pmI made this tonight, the flavor Wes really good, but it was marginally too spicy for my husband and me. I used 2 tbsp of red curry and will dail it down to 1-1 1/2 tbsp next time. Couldn’t get snap peas and used zucchini instead, it worked. Will make this again!
Nicole Beaulieu says
February 14, 2019 at 3:21 pmEvery brand of curry paste is different, you can find brands that are milder if you’d like to get more flavor!
Connie Downing says
February 12, 2019 at 12:58 pmMade this for lunch today – absolutely delicious. I love Thai food, and have several Thai cookbooks. I do make some ‘authentic’ dishes, but I am more about the taste than anything. Once again, hubs loved it, and we had NO leftovers.
This was super easy to make, and the heat was just right. I used a good brand of red curry paste, and used a full 2 tablespoons. Nice heat but not overpowering.
Colleen says
February 11, 2019 at 4:30 pmI will be excited to try this. My husband and I spent one winter in Thailand (Chiang Mai) a few years ago and we still talk about how good the authentic Thai food was..(actually just this morning we were talking about it..lol) ! I even took a cooking class while there! Thanks for sharing this. We have a chinese grocery store not too far away from us, and they sell “everything Asian”, and I have bought kaffir lime leaves there before, as well as lemon grass, Thai basil, etc. Anyways..thanks for sharing this!
Nicole Beaulieu says
February 13, 2019 at 10:30 amThe lemongrass and lime leaves really are the secret ingredients for authentic Thai taste! We hope this recipe stacks up to your experience in Chiang Mai 🙂
Brenda says
February 11, 2019 at 12:34 pmJoanna, I can’t wait to try and make the Thai Red Chicken Curry. Would you confirm if the coconut milk is unsweetened or sweet? Thanks.
Joanna Cismaru says
February 11, 2019 at 1:22 pmIt’s unsweetened! You’ll love it!
Simon says
December 5, 2018 at 6:31 pmExcellent recipe!
First time making this recipe. It was great! Grated fresh curcuma with the ginger. Added broccoli, carrots and 1/2 onion in the late simmering stage to make it a more complete meal.
Will certainly do again!
Joanna Cismaru says
December 5, 2018 at 8:11 pmGlad to hear it!
Viviana says
November 17, 2018 at 9:11 amThe recipe is fantástico I love red curry and Bristol Chicken
Ariane says
September 28, 2018 at 10:38 pmThis was my first time making Thai Red Curry, and it was awesome! I couldn’t find fresh lemongrass but I found a lemongrass paste – used 1 tbsp of this which seemed to work well. I also added onions with the garlic and ginger, red pepper and mushrooms (which I added shortly before the chicken was done cooking), and pan-fried tofu (cooked in a separate pan, then added at the end). I also used chicken thighs. I think full-fat coconut milk and 4 tbsp of the red curry paste really makes it. Wasn’t watery for me at all. I added Sriracha to taste at the end; love it spicy 🙂 Will never need to look for another Thai Red Curry recipe again, thank you!
Joanna Cismaru says
September 29, 2018 at 10:31 amMy pleasure, Ariane! Glad you liked it!
Amy says
September 25, 2018 at 10:37 amSpicing this up for my preference and adding some bell pepper for more veggies, but neither of this change this this recipe alone is fabulous! Thank you!
Malin Pizarro says
September 15, 2018 at 12:21 pmThank you for a great recipe! All family loved it (children:11 & 14). Added chili and some veggies. Great, great, great!
Marie says
August 27, 2018 at 12:56 pmThis was wonderful! I use extra veggies to because I had bought two pints of cut up red and green peppers and red onions and I put that in there.
Jackie Thurber says
September 22, 2018 at 7:55 amI want to use red and green peppers and onions too. When did you put them in?
Catrina says
August 21, 2018 at 5:01 amMy first time cooking Thai at home, and it turned out amazing! Great recipe – thank you Jo! We wanted extra veggies in it, so I threw in some zucchini, broccoli, and mushrooms in addition to snow peas. Will for sure be making this again.
Halo says
August 1, 2018 at 8:02 pmI think it was suppose to be 3 quarters chicken broth, not 3 to 4 cups of chicken broth. Was able to manage with extra sugar and curry paste.
Nicole Beaulieu says
August 2, 2018 at 10:29 amHi there, I just checked the recipe and it does say 3/4 cup chicken broth. That means 3 quarters (as a fraction), not 3 or 4.
Anna says
July 6, 2018 at 9:24 pmThe curry tasted awesome! The only suggestion I can make is to use Honey instead of sugar.my fiancée lived it! (I did go heavy on the curry paste and it came out a little to spicy for my taste, but he absolutely loved it!!!!)
Thank you!!!!!