Green Thai Chicken Coconut Curry
on Mar 04, 2013, Updated Aug 22, 2024
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Thai food is such a delight. It is intense in flavor and tastes exotic in the best way. Green Thai Chicken Coconut Curry is sweet, creamy, spicy to taste and has the most fragrant sauce. It’s a recipe that you’ve got to try. If you love curry like I do, try my pumpkin chicken curry , or my vegetable curry !
Green Thai Chicken Curry is of our favorite dishes and we eat it at least once a month. It takes a few oddball ingredients, but I don’t mind finding and buying them because I know I’ll use them over and over again, even if they are just for this dish. The cilantro, lime, and fish sauce aren’t optional garnishes, they really make the dish and it wouldn’t taste nearly as good without them.
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love this Recipe:
- Very delicious flavorful recipe!
- Can be made to your liking of spiciness
- Makes amazing leftovers
- Stores well in the fridge or freezer!
The recipe is very flexible and I have some suggestions if you are curious about substituting veggies or anything else. Curry is one of those things that only improve with time. The longer it can cook the better. It’s always phenomenal the second day, so plan on left overs.
Curry pastes varies from brand to brand. Ask around for suggestions of friends, hit up the local Asian market, and when you find a good one stick with it! I recommend Thai Kitchen Green Curry Paste. It tends to be little bit spicier than others but you can pick it up from Walmart or Target today.
Ingredients:
- Oil – essential to any curry.
- Green curry paste– the base of the flavor. Can be spicy so use as much or as little as you want.
- Onion and garlic– adds a bitter and robust dimension of flavor
- Chicken breast
- Ginger – a kick of flavor
- Coconut milk– adds a creaminess and helps bring the flavors together
- Fish sauce– like stated above, this is not an optional ingredient. It makes the dish taste so flavorful.
- Soy sauce– a little saltiness
- Sugar– just a little sweetness to balance the spice
- Potatoes– these will soften and absorb so much flavor
- Carrots– color and crunch
- Peas– a delicious addition
- Cilantro– another non optional ingredient.
- Limes– lime juice marries all the flavors together
- Rice– you choose what kind
See recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Recipe Instructions
- Heat the oil and green curry paste over medium heat in a large pot.
- Add the onions and garlic and cook for an additional 5 minutes
- Add the raw chicken and cook until the chicken is cooked through.
- Stir in the ginger, coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar.
- Add the potatoes and carrots. Allow the the curry to gently simmer, uncovered, until the mixture thickens and the vegetables are cooked through, 45 minutes to an hour. Add the peas 5 minutes before serving.
- Serve on top of hot rice and then sprinkle with chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice.
Frequently Asked Questions:
The spiciness comes from the curry paste, so if you don’t like it hot start with less. If you like a little heat add a bit more. We like a medium heat and I’ll normally do about 3 tablespoons of curry paste.
Red curry is traditionally hotter and gets it’s color from using a lot of chilies. Green curry tends to be less spicy, more subtle and sweet and obviously green in color from the ingredients that are in it.
I highly recommend serving it over rice. The rice is so delicious with the sauce and completes the meal. You could also put Thai green curry chicken over rice noodles or a salad but rice is always my go-to.
More Stovetop Pot Meals to Consider:
Soups, Stews & Chowders
White Chicken Chili
Soups, Stews & Chowders
Slow Cooker Veggie Beef Soup
15-Minute Recipes
Cornbread Waffles with Chili – 15 Minute Dinner Idea
Soups, Stews & Chowders
Texas Chili Recipe
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Green Thai Chicken Coconut Curry
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup oil, (oil, peanut, coconut)
- 2-5 Tablespoons green curry paste
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 pounds chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
- 2 cans coconut milk
- 3 Tablespoons fish sauce
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 4 potatoes, cubed
- 4 carrots, sliced
- 1/2 cup peas, fresh or frozen
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
- 2 limes cut into wedges
- hot cooked rice
Instructions
- In a large soup pot or dutch oven heat the oil and green curry paste over medium heat. Stir to combine and cook for 3-5 minutes. You are giving the oil and curry paste a chance to marry and this is an important step.
- Add the onions and garlic and cook for an additional 5 minutes over medium heat. If the mixture seems to be sticking to the bottom of the pan just add a little more oil as needed. A little sticking is ok, but you don’t want to burn it.
- Add the raw chicken and cook until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
- Add the ginger, coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Stir to combine.
- Add the potatoes and carrots. Allow the the curry to gently simmer, uncovered, until the mixture thickens and the vegetables are cooked through, 45 minutes to an hour.
- Add the peas 5 minutes before serving.
- To serve, dish the hot curry on top of hot rice and then sprinkle with chopped cilantro, fresh lime juice, and if it needs more salt, additional fish sauce on top.
Notes
- The cilantro, lime, and fish sauce aren’t optional garnishes, they really make the dish and it wouldn’t taste nearly as good without them.
- Curry is one of those things that only improve with time. The longer it can cook the better. It’s always phenomenal the second day, so plan on left overs.
- Potatoes are a great base, but feel free to add just about anything else you have on hand. Sometimes I don’t add chicken either… just skip that step and add lots more veggies.
- Curry pastes varies from brand to brand. Ask around for suggestions of friends, hit up the local Asian market, and when you find a good one stick with it!
- The spiciness in this dish comes from the curry paste, so if you don’t like it hot start with less. If you like a little heat add a bit more. We like a medium heat and I’ll normally do about 3 tablespoons of curry paste. It has a kick but isn’t so hot my kids won’t eat it, it would be way too hot for my Mother-in-law though…
I made this last night and it was great!! I’ve made other recipes before that do not compare to restuarants, but this one was awesome! Thank you, thank you. My go-to green curry recipe now. 🙂
Thank you! Good for you for making it in the summer… Husband has been begging for it and it’s just too hot for me to want it. LOL. He’ll be happy when I’m in the mood again because we LOVE this recipe too!
Just wondering what brand of curry you have been using?
I’ve been using Mae Ploy Green Curry Paste for a few years now. It’s the only kind I can get unless I want to drive over 2 hours to another curry paste carrying store 🙂 It’s pretty normal! I like it just fine. There was another brand that my friend’s sister used to send us from Seattle and it was amazing. I’ll ask her what it was 🙂
Your curry looks so good! I love green thai chicken curry, but I’ve never tried making it myself, think I’m going to have to now!
Okay everyone, I made this tonight and it is AMAZING! I followed the recipe almost exactly, using chicken thighs instead of breast (all I had) and subbing snow peas for regular peas. I used the minimum 2 Tbsp of curry paste and it wasn’t hardly spicy at all, which was good for my kids. I’m telling you guys, this recipe is EXCELLENT! Don’t let the fish sauce’s smell scare you. It all comes together for a taste explosion. Thanks, Melissa!
Melissa, I had it on my menu for last night to go w/ taco salad . . . and completely forgot. I was so bummed. But we have mexican food every week so i’ll bump it to next week. This mom brain of mine. I also forgot the lasagna noodles and that was for lasagna for the elders! Whoops!
Green curry is my favorite food ever! I made this last night, it was soooo good! Thanks!
This looks delicious! I pinned it for later! 🙂
I would love for you to join my Link Up!
https://www.pluckys-secondthought.com/pluckys-link-up-and-blogiversary-celebration-giveaway/
Thanks for the invite! I don’t have a party page though and always feel like I can’t link up… what do people without a page normally do?! Thanks! M.
would you recommend olive oil or vegetable oil? I usually use vegetable when i do stir fry. i don’t have peanut or coconut . . .
Either or! I’ve used olive oil before and I’m sure vegetable oil would work great too. Did you ever make the mexican rice in the rice cooker?!
Don’t you love going back and redoing pictures? Look how far your photography has come! And that bowl….. want it so bad.
I actually thought of you when I made this. I leave out the chicken a lot and it is so good. Do vegetarian husbands eat curry paste and fish sauce?! That bowl is so fun and like $3 at Ikea 🙂 I can mail you one if you need it…
There’s something about Lime and Cilantro together that make me willing to try anything!