Thai Red Curry Turkey Meatballs that are effortless to make but incredibly delicious with lots of bold Thai flavors. Even the Turkey Meatballs are Thai flavored swimming in a creamy, finger licking, red curry sauce!
Thai Red Curry Turkey Meatballs
This dish is super simple to make and most of the time you’re just waiting for the meatballs to bake! This creamy Thai red curry sauce is done in just 15 minutes so dinner couldn’t get any easier.
You will need a few special ingredients here, like a good red curry paste, lemongrass paste or lemongrass stalks and some Kaffir lime leaves. I buy them all on amazon but you can also find them at your local Asian grocery store, or sometimes even regular grocery stores will carry these items.
What You Need For Thai Red Curry Turkey Meatballs
- Ground Turkey – Ground turkey or ground chicken is great for a nice light meatball, but you can also use beef or pork.
- Red Curry – You want to make sure you use a good red curry paste. My favorite brand is Maesri but if you can’t find it, use any other red curry paste you can find. This recipe will be great regardless.
- Coconut Milk – Just 1 can is all we need for a perfectly creamy, coconut-y curry.
- Chicken Broth – I prefer to use a low-sodium chicken broth to control the sodium content but use whatever you have.
- Breadcrumbs – Any plain breadcrumbs will work, but I used Panko breadcrumbs.
- Kaffir Lime Leaves – Kaffir lime leaves are a member of the citrus family and they give off a lime-lemon aroma and flavor. You can use fresh ones or dried leaves. I used dried leaves because I just buy them from amazon and this way I always have them in my pantry whenever I need some.
- Lemongrass Paste – You can use this paste or simply use lemongrass stalks. Either will work.
- Fish Sauce – I know a lot of people don’t like fish sauce, especially the smell, so if you want you can use soy sauce or tamari instead.
- Egg – One egg is used in our meatballs as the binder.
- Peanut Oil – You can substitute it with vegetable or canola oil.
- Green Onions and Cilantro – I use these in both the meatballs for lots of great flavor and also as garnish.
How To Make Thai Red Curry Turkey Meatballs
- Prep the oven and baking sheet: Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Make the meatballs: In a medium bowl mix all the ingredients for the meatballs together well. Form the meatballs into small 1 inch balls, you should get about 20 to 25 meatballs. Place meatballs on prepared baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes or until done.
- Cook the aromatics: Heat the oil in a large skillet or braiser over medium-high heat. Add the curry paste, lemongrass paste, garlic and ginger and cook for 2 minutes, while stirring.
- Finish the red curry sauce: Add the chicken broth and stir until the paste dissolves. Stir in the coconut milk, then add the kaffir lime leaves and sugar. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust with salt and pepper as needed.
- Add meatballs to sauce: Add the meatballs to the red curry and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Garnish and serve: Garnish with chopped cilantro or more green onions and serve over rice or noodles.
FAQs
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.
No! That’s the great thing about this sauce, you can make it with chicken breast or thighs, even shrimp. For an easy 20 minute Thai Red Chicken Curry, try my recipe here.
If you’ve never had it, you’re in for a treat. Thai red curry is a coconut based sauce, that is spicy, savory, a bit sweet with a great umami flavor. If you give it a try, you’ll instantly become a fan.
Red curry sauce looks like it split because of the oil, so it doesn’t look completely smooth, but don’t worry, that’s how it’s supposed to look.
Tips
- Use more or less curry paste, depending on how spicy you like your food. I used 4 tablespoons in the sauce, for less spicy start with a couple tablespoons and increase it from there.
- Lemongrass paste is much more convenient to use, but you can also use fresh lemongrass stalks.
- If you don’t want to make this dish with meatballs, you can also just use chicken breast or chicken thighs.
Leftovers
Curry should be safely sealed in an airtight container and refrigerated for 3 days. If you want this curry to last, my advice is to freeze it. Ensure that it is fully cooled before sealing and use a shallow container to ensure even freezing. Stir well while reheating.
How to serve
- Any kind of rice you like. I like to make some fluffy jasmine rice to spoon this delicious mixture over or coconut rice.
- Naan Bread
- A light, simple salad like this Cucumber Salad
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Thai Red Curry Turkey Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 4 green onions chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon red curry paste
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper or to taste
Red Curry Sauce
- 3 tablespoons peanut oil
- 4 tablespoons red curry paste
- 2 teaspoons lemongrass paste or 2 stalks of lemongrass
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger finely grated
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 14 ounce coconut milk (1 can)
- 5 kaffir lime leaves fresh or dried
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Instructions
- Prep the oven and baking sheet:Â Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Make the meatballs:Â In a medium bowl mix all the ingredients for the meatballs together well. Form the meatballs into small 1 inch balls, you should get about 20 to 25 meatballs. Place meatballs on prepared baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes or until done.
- Cook the aromatics: Heat the oil in a large skillet or braiser over medium-high heat. Add the curry paste, lemongrass paste, garlic and ginger and cook for 2 minutes, while stirring.
- Finish the red curry sauce: Add the chicken broth and stir until the paste dissolves. Stir in the coconut milk, then add the kaffir lime leaves and sugar. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust with salt and pepper as needed.
- Add meatballs to sauce: Add the meatballs to the red curry and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the kaffir lime leaves.
- Garnish and serve: Garnish with chopped cilantro or more green onions and serve over rice or noodles.
Video
Recipe Notes
- Use more or less curry paste, depending on how spicy you like your food. I used 4 tablespoons in the sauce, for less spicy start with a couple tablespoons and increase it from there.
- Lemongrass paste is much more convenient to use, but you can also use fresh lemongrass stalks.
- If you don’t want to make this dish with meatballs, you can also just use chicken breast or chicken thighs.
- Curry should be safely sealed in an airtight container and refrigerated for 3 days. If you want this curry to last, my advice is to freeze it. Ensure that it is fully cooled before sealing and use a shallow container to ensure even freezing. Stir well while reheating.
I’m drooling over this dish but I went to 3 Asian markets and couldn’t find lemongrass paste, just lemongrass. There’s no mention on how to handle it, just that it’s more convenient to use the paste. Do I chop it up ? Leave it as a stalk and remove it before serving? Never worked with it before so would love some help, thanks so much!
You want to bruise it first by lightly pounding it with a meat mallet, and yes you would remove it before serving. Also you should be able to find the lemongrass paste on amazon.
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it! I haven’t heard of kaffir lime leaves. Would I find that in the spice section?
I usually find them in Asian stores, or I buy the dried ones on amazon and they’re just as good. Here’s a link (affiliate): https://amzn.to/3CEoN3T
This recipe looks amazing!! I was trying to save it to my YUM account but it will not save correctly. I tried using your widget on the side of the page, and using the yummly widget I have on my toolbar. Please help, I would really like to use this recipe.
I’m sorry but we have nothing to do with yummly, you’ll have to contact them for support. 🙂