This authentic Creamy Thai Red Curry with Chicken is a quick and easy stir-fry made with chicken, bell peppers and uses a homemade Red Curry Paste, but feel free to use store bought. Packed with flavor with a hint of heat, this curry sauce is simply irresistible.
There is something about Thai food that is so clean and robust. While this rich and delicious curry is made with Thai Red Curry Paste, coconut milk and some peanut butter, it is the simplicity with which this comes together that’s so refreshing. In other words, this may look like it’s going to take a lot of work, but it doesn’t.
I use the water from boiling potatoes in my sour dough starter.
So I boiled some potatoes so I could use the water in my new sourdough starter. You can read all about it in my previous post on making a sourdough starter from scratch, unless you use store bought, or one found online. I’d use the potatoes in my dinner, which happened to be this Creamy Thai Red Curry with Chicken.
To make this really authentic in flavor, kaffir lime leaves are perfect for their distinct aroma. The essence of lime in them is unreal. The leaves get stir fried in the curry sauce and release their citrus essential oils. You don’t eat them. Look for them in the produce section of your local grocer and in most Asian markets, it’s worth it.
The sweetness from the coconut milk, the melodic flavors rolling over your tongue from the curry paste and the creamy, nutty flavor of the peanut butter accent and bring it all together.
I make this with and without the peanut butter, so don’t feel you have to add it, but it is quite delicious. This is a house favorite and comes together in under 30 minutes. Not bad, huh?
Sliced, fresh and colorful bell peppers of red, yellow and orange are the main vegetable and kaffir lime leaves add that brightness.
I like to add fresh, chopped mint and basil in this at the end before serving. With a squeeze of some fresh lime juice over the top this gets served with steamed brown rice on the side. A perfect and healthy dinner that easily takes you to Thailand without leaving your kitchen. Enjoy!
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Creamy Thai Red Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken thigh or breast meat, sliced thin
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2/3 cup Thai Red Curry Paste
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 tbsp sugar or palm sugar
- 4 kaffir lime leaves optional (See Note 1)
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 red fresno chile or jalapeño sliced (See Note 2)
- 2 cups mixed bell pepper sliced thin strips
- 1 large potato peeled, cubed and cooked
Garnish
- 1 tbsp each chopped mint and Thai basil (See Note 3)
Instructions
- In a wok or large skillet over medium heat add the oil and curry paste. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring often.
- Add the chicken and cook for another 6 minutes.
- Add the fish sauce, peanut butter, sugar, kaffir lime leaves chile, coconut milk and stir. Bring to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add sliced bell peppers, cooked potato cubes and cook another 3 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Sauce should thicken and reduce.
- Sprinkle chopped mint and basil on top. Serve with steamed rice and sliced limes to squeeze on top.
Notes
- Thai basil and Kaffir limes leaves can be found in most Asian markets in the vegetable section. Kaffir limes leaves give off a wonderful floral, lime type aroma and flavor. A teaspoon of lime zest can be a substitute.
- The fresno chile looks like a red jalapeño pepper. For the heat a substitute can be a regular jalapeño.
- This uses fresh Thai basil, but regular basil may be substituted if you can't find.
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.
Nutrition
Quick, maybe silly question, but the basil you use is Thai basil, right? I may have missed it but I didn’t see you specifically say “Thai basil”. Ironically, I just harvested a bunch of Thai basil leaves from my garden yesterday and have them in the dehydrator for later use. After drying I store them in a double ziplock bag with a silicon gel pack (to absorb moisture) I got online. Thai basil grows very well in San Diego. Fresh from the garden, it’s amazing! Gary
Apologies for this late reply Gary. Yes, this uses fresh Thai basil, but regular basil may be substituted if you can’t find.
Im gonna try this tonight. I have 3 pounds of chicken. Do you think I should double the recipe and thats good?
I think that would easily work Julie, then if need be, you have extra to freeze for another meal. 🙂
It was SOOO good! My husband had seconds…my sister said it was a 10! Tomorrow Im gonna do your prosciutto mozzarella chicken. Thanks for the recipes!
Kevin, I like the recipe. I’m doing Keto so I will probably omit the potatoes and sub stevia for the palm sugar. I like the addition of the kaffir leaves. I’ll be making this with Shrimp and report back. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome, keep me posted Mike!
Made this last week and my family thought it was one of the best meals ever. Thank you for sharing it!
Oh my, love to read comments like that! Thanks so much Lynda. 🙂
I made this recipe; it was excellent. Loved the peanut butter and kaffir lime leaf and it all came together quickly. Served it with coconut rice. (Make extra, it freezes well.) This one sparks joy, going in the keeper file. 😁
Thanks for the kind words Susan, makes me smile.
Made this last night and was disappointed. It was bland and FAR, FAR too salty and lacked something in terms of flavours. Ended up adding loads more peanut butter to try and lime juice to get some flavours into it.
not sure what happened !
Sorry to read that Sue! I make my own Thai red curry paste and actually it’s an adaption from Sujet Saenkham’s Spice I Am who has one of the most popular Thai restaurants in Sidney. Not sure what happened either!
Would I be able to add an onion in or do you think it would alter the flavor too much? What type of onion would you recommend? Thanks.
Sure, I just kept it to the peppers. I would probably add a shallot first, but then a yellow onion would be my second choice. Thanks Sam. 🙂
This was fantastic and so quick to make! Thanks a bunch.
Excellent! So happy you enjoyed this one Alex. Cheers! 🙂
I’m not a huge fan of curry, but I do like the combo of curry, coconut milk, and peanut butter – it’s so balanced, rich and irresistibly creamy like this dish you’ve got here. Looks good, Kevin. Give me a spoon now please:)
This is indeed a rich and subtly flavored dish Ben. One needs a spoon instead of a fork to make sure you get all that delicious curry sauce!
This sound so flavoursome and delicious and I even have kaffir lime leaves in my kitchen drawer. What a lovely coincidence 😉
OK, if you have kaffir leaves you MUST give this a shot this weekend Miriam. It’s destiny! 🙂
We’ve been on a curry kick lately and you’re so right, kaffir lime leaves are worth the effort to find. As always this dish of yours looks utterly delicious – putting it on the menu for the week ahead.
Have a wonderful 4th, my friend!
Thanks Marissa. The kaffir leaves have such a heady, floral note – just wonderful. Enjoy!
Oh my gawd!!!! Kevin, hold on while I wipe the drool off my keyboard. This is absolutely outstanding! Thai cuisine is one of my very favorites, the flavors are just SO incredible! And this dish… oh this dish just has it all! Oh and kudos to you for having kept starter dough alive. I have tried 3 different times and I inevitably forget to feed it – this is the same reason why I kill every plant that enters my home 😉
Ha! This one is creamy and dreamy. Can’t beat that! Starters do take effort, for sure, and plants. 🙂
Hope Otis is doing better and hiking outdoors in your guys’ Fourth of July weekend plans. Cheers Kathleen!