
This Thai red curry recipe is so good. Try this!
Looking for a delicious Thai red curry recipe? Look no further. You’ve found it.
I learned to make this recipe in Thailand and it truly is the best I’ve had.
Many people assume that because of its red colour, Thai red curries are the hottest. This isn’t necessarily the case. Green curries are usually the spiciest because of all the fresh green bird’s eye chillies used.
This recipe does have a kick to it but it isn’t really spicy. You could of course add more red bird’s eye chillies to turn that zing into a zap.
Thai red curries are Thai restaurant favourites. The red colour is from the red curry paste and the colour will vary depending on how many red spur chillies you use in the paste.
You can use shop bought red curry paste but add less to begin with as commercial pastes are often a lot spicier and saltier than homemade.
One eye-catching way of adding colour to the curry is to drizzle it with red chilli oil (see page xx) but this is optional.
A word about this Thai red curry recipe…
For best results, be sure to try my homemade Thai red curry paste. It packs a punch but it is full of other, not so spicy ingredients that really give it a delicious depth of flavour.
You can add the main ingredient/s of choice. I have used chicken but feel free to use chicken, duck, prawns, tofu… Whatever sounds good to you, use that.
I have mentioned a selection of vegetables that I used in my recipe. There too you are free to use whatever you want.
A good Thai red curry recipe will always include at least three different vegetables in the mix.

Fry the curry paste for about 40 seconds to cook off the rawness.

Add the chicken pieces.

Stir the chicken and curry paste to combine and brown the chicken for a couple of minutes.

Add the coconut milk and stock.

Stir in the sugar and tamarind. Then add the remaining sauce ingredients.

Stir in the veggies to finish off. Taste and check for seasoning and serve.
If you like this Thai red curry recipe, you might like to try some of these too…
Thai green curry
Thai green curry paste
Thai red curry paste
Thai grilled chicken – gai yang
Khao soi – Thai chicken soup with noodles
Coconut curry chicken
Thai Red Curry Recipe with Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp coconut oil or rapeseed (canola) oil
- 450g (1lb) chicken thighs, skinless and cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 batch homemade red curry paste or two tbsp shop bought paste
- 250ml (1 cup) Thai chicken stock
- 400ml (1¾ cups) thick coconut milk/cream
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp palm sugar
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp tamarind concentrate
- About 225g (½lb) vegetables like baby corn, bamboo shoots, baby aubergine, broccoli, red bell pepper, baby plum tomatoes, green beans
- Coriander (cilantro) to garnish
- 1 tsp chilli oil, to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the oil over medium high heat in a large frying pan or wok. When visibly hot, add the red curry paste and fry for about 30 seconds in the oil.
- Stir in the chicken and fry for a couple minutes or until the chicken is about 50% cooked through. Stir in the stock and coconut milk and simmer for five minutes to thicken the sauce a little.
- Now add the veggies, fish sauce, tamarind concentrate and sugar and simmer for about three minutes to cook the vegetables through.
- Cook the sauce down until you are happy with the consistency. It should be quite thin. Be careful not to overcook the vegetables.
- Garnish with coriander and drizzle with chilli oil to serve.