Recipes For Thai Green Chicken Curry

Thai Green Curry in 30 minutes made by freshening up store bought curry paste OR with a homemade green curry paste!Whichever way you go, the one essential step to make a really great green curry is to fry off the curry paste.

Make this withchicken or even entirely meat free. With a sauce this good, you can put anything in it – and it will taste amazing!

Along with Pad Thai, Chicken Satay and Thai Red Curry, green curry is the gold standard by which we rate Thai restaurants.

Ultimate Thai Green Style Chicken Curry Recipe

It’s the curry we sweat and swear our way through, guzzling down water and wiping our brows when we confidently tell the waiter “give it to us the way it should be – extra spicy!!”

Luckily, when we make it at home, we can dial back the spiciness substantially. 😂 Whether made with curry paste in a jar ORhomemade green curry paste!

“This can be a quick 30 minute Thai Green Curry made with store bought curry paste – OR go all out with ahomemadecurry paste!”

Easy Thai Green Chicken Curry

With the fresh aromatic ingredients used in South East Asian curries, I’ll always be an advocate of making the curry pastes from scratch because it’s not possible to capture that flavour in jars. But it’s just not viable to do that every time I have a hankering for curry.

So I’ll reach for curry paste in a jar. I think thebest green curry paste is Maesri(which also happens to be the cheapest at around $1.20). It’s sold at Woolies, Coles (I’m in Australia) and Asian grocery stores. (here it is on AmazonUS).

Maesri yields the closest result to homemade green curry paste. I find the other brands to be too sweet with less green curry flavour – and strangely, they are spicier!

Thai Green Curry Chicken (20 Minute)

It’s inevitable using any curry paste out of a jar rather than making it from scratch that the curry will be lacking a certain freshness.

Because “quick and easy” is the go here, I usually don’t even use fresh lemongrass, I use lemongrass paste. It works a treat!

The most popular version of green curry is Chicken, so that’s the base version I’m sharing today. While there’s no set rules about what goes in a Thai Green Chicken Curry, the most common combination seems to be chicken, eggplant and snow peas which is what I’ve gone with.

Thai Green Curry Recipe

But it’s very easy to switch it out for another protein of choice, or to make it meat free so I’ve included directions in the recipe.

In addition to the curry paste (and pimping it up, if using jar paste), there’s actually not that many ingredients in Thai Green Curry.

The colour mostly comes from large green chillies which aren’t that spicy, they are mostly for colour and flavour. The curry paste also has small Thai chillies which provide the fiery heat that green curry is known for.

Thai Green Roasted Chicken Thighs

The making part is very straightforward which is why if you use curry paste from a jar, green curry is something you can have any night of the week.

The essential step here is tofry off the curry paste, whether using store bought or homemade. This is the equivalent to sautéing garlic until golden, a step used in virtually all my savoury recipes.

Here’s a comparison of the two. Flavour wise, it’s inevitable there is a difference but the curry in a jar version is stillvery, very good. Certainly better than many local Thai restaurants which are often far too sweet, weak, or watery.

Ken Hom's Ultimate Green Chicken Curry

Serve green curry with jasmine rice for a true Thai restaurant experience. And don’t forget some ice cold beer to temper the heat!

Recipe video above. This is how to make a really great QUICK green curry by pimping up curry in a jar, OR using a homemade green curry paste! Don’t skip frying off the curry paste, this makes all the difference. See Spiciness info in Note 1 (remember, Green Curry is supposed to be spicy!)

* Because store bought curry paste is more seasoned than homemade, if using curry from a jar then use less of these, as directed in steps 4 and 5.

Fragrant Thai Green Chicken Curry

1.Curry Paste – I use a whole can of Maesri green curry paste (114g/4 oz) which I think is the best (by a long shot) and also happens to be the cheapest (~$1.20). Sold at Woolies, Coles, Harris and Asian grocery stores (in Australia) and here it is on AmazonUS.

Other brands are fine to use too but the ones I have tried, the flavour isn’t as good and they were too sweet.

Green curry IS spicy so if using a jar paste, it’s hard to reduce spiciness without affecting flavour, but you can (usually) reduce down to 4 tbsp and still have decent green curry flavour (every brand differs!).

Green Chicken Curry

Homemade green curry paste – the volume of curry paste is considerably greater (curry in a jar is concentrated). See the curry paste recipe for adjusting spiciness – can reduce to barely spicy without losing flavour at all.

2. Extras – these are to pimp up store bought curry in a jar and make it taste fresher. Only use if using curry paste from a jar or can.

3. Lemongrass paste – convenience tubes of cold pressed lemongrass paste, the next best thing to peeling / finely chopping fresh lemongrass! Can sub with 2 tsp finely minced fresh lemongrass.

Thai Green Chicken Curry Medium Heat

4. Coconut milk – if you use low fat, you will lose coconut flavour because the flavour is in the fat! Also, Ayam is the best brand in Australia – the creamiest and purest. Other brands don’t have the same creamy mouth feel. You can also use coconut cream if you want a richer, thicker sauce (green curry is normally a thinner sauce, see video).

5. Kaffir Lime Leaves – find them in major supermarkets in Australia and Asian grocery stores. They freeze super well for months and months. Adds earthy citrus flavour (not sour). Best sub is to use a lemongrass – smash open the white part (where all the flavour is) then use in place of kaffir lime leaves. Last resort is to peel some strips of lime skin (green part only, avoid white part) and pop that in (I’d use the peel of 1 whole lime. Make them big enough so you can pick them out later.

6. Chicken – thigh is best because it’ll stay juicywith the prescribed simmering time. If using breast, let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes before adding it.

Green Thai Chicken Curry With Asian Greens Recipe

7. Japanese eggplants – shaped like a cucumber. Excellent sponge to such up curry sauce. Slice into rounds or slight diagonal.Subwith small eggplants, ideally want skin on each piece which holds it together because it gets very soft. Non eggplant sub: zucchini/courgettes

8. Thai basil leaves – tastes like normal basil with a more pronounced aniseed flavour. Sold at major supermarkets in Australia and Asian grocery stores. Last resort, sub with normal basil.

9. Crispy Fried Asian Shallots – sold at large supermarkets in Australia and Asian grocery stores (MUCH cheaper!). Common garnish at Asian restaurants. Deep fried sliced shallots, crispy and salty. Terrific texture and flavour finish for everything Asian from soups to noodles, stir fries, curries, salads. I use extensively even in non Asian dishes.

Fragrant Green Chicken Curry Recipe

10.Other ingredients: Use any proteins / vegetables you want as long as they are suited to being simmered and the cook time.The sauce needs to be simmered for 13 – 15 min to get the right flavour and thickness. Some suggestions: * Vegetarian – Asian eggplant, green beans, zucchini (pictured in post). Other vegetables that go great: broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, carrots, sweet or normal potato, pumpkin, mushrooms (cook to soft, great sponge!) * Prawns / shrimp or fish pieces instead of chicken – add towards end, 3 to 5 min cook time * Beef or pork – Use a quick cooking cut, cut into strips or cubes. I sear beef and pork first before adding into curry sauces, the flavour is better. Use any quick cooking cut, sprinkle with salt and pepper, sear to brown outside but leave inside uncooked. Then add into sauce just to finish cooking through.

Calories: 352 cal (18%) Carbohydrates: 16 g (5%) Protein: 7 g (14%) Fat: 31 g (48%) Saturated Fat: 25 g (156%) Sodium: 54 mg (2%) Potassium: 659 mg (19%) Fiber: 5 g (21%) Sugar: 7 g (8%) Vitamin A: 4915 IU (98%) Vitamin C: 28 mg (34%) Calcium: 89 mg (9%) Iron: 5.3 mg (29%)

He high tailed it out of the house pretty quickly when I started frying off the curry paste – he can’t handle the heat!! (Neither can I – I

The Best Thai Green Chicken Curry Recipe

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!This post contains helpful tips, step-by-step photos and FAQs to help you achieve the best possible results. The full recipe card (including ingredient quantities and method) can be found at the bottom of the post. You can click the jump to recipe button to skip these tips and head straight to the full recipe, or keep scrolling to read more.

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