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 with chicken or even entirely meat free. With a sauce this good, you can put anything in it – and it will taste amazing!
Thai Green Curry recipe
The single most requested recipe is finally here!! We love the colour, the spiciness, and how fragrant the creamy sauce is.
Along with Pad Thai, Chicken Satay and Thai Red Curry, green curry is the gold standard by which we rate Thai restaurants.
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 OR homemade green curry paste!
“This can be a quick 30 minute Thai Green Curry made with store bought curry paste – OR go all out with a homemade curry paste!”
The BEST Green Curry Paste
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 the best 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 Amazon US).
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!
Pimping up curry in a jar
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.
So what I do is freshen it up using fresh garlic, ginger and lemongrass.
Because “quick and easy” is the go here, I usually don’t even use fresh lemongrass, I use lemongrass paste. It works a treat!
What goes in green curry
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.
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.
Coconut milk – full fat please! Fat is where the flavour is, if you use low fat coconut milk the sauce will lack flavour. You could even use coconut cream, if you want a richer version!
Chicken or vegetable broth – chicken is better (deeper flavours) but vegetable is fine if making a vegetarian version.
Chicken – Thigh is best because it stays juicy even after the requiring simmering time to thicken the sauce
Asian (Japanese) Eggplant – brilliant sponge for soaking up the sauce. The small eggplants are ideal because the eggplant is cooked until soft and the skin holds it together. Sub with small normal eggplants, or if you dislike eggplants, try zucchini!
Snow peas – for colour and freshness
Sugar – for extra sweetness
Fish sauce – may not be needed if using paste from a jar. Yes it’s stinky but it’s essential for Thai curries and once cooked, it doesn’t taste fishy at all
Kaffir Lime leaves – it provides a earthy citrus fragrance to the sauce that’s inherent to green curry. It’s readily available in Australia nowadays, but if you can’t find it, then a lemongrass stalk will be a decent substitute. Freezes great – I almost always have some in the freezer.
Finishing:
Thai Basil – essential for a true green curry experience! Tastes like Italian basil with a slightly more aniseedy flavour
Lime juice – just a squeeze, for freshness!
What makes green curry green?
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.
If you make your own green curry paste, you can skip the spicy chillies without compromising on flavour!
How to make Thai Green Curry
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 to fry 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.
Homemade vs curry in a jar
Here’s a comparison of the two. Flavour wise, it’s inevitable there is a difference but the curry in a jar version is still very, very good. Certainly better than many local Thai restaurants which are often far too sweet, weak, or watery.
The homemade curry paste version is also slightly greener – owing to the fresh chillies and coriander/cilantro blitzed into the paste.
Thai Green Curry is….
Very fragrant – from all the herbs and aromatics in the curry paste. It has a less “in your face” flavour compared to Thai Red Curry but it’s more fragrant with chilli than Thai Yellow Curry.
Creamy, sweet, and salty. But all too often, Thai takeout places make it far too sweet!
Spicy – it’s meant to be! Green Curry is spicier than most popular Thai curries, such asThai Red Curry, Yellow Curry, Massaman Curry. It’s about as spicy as Panang Curry – maybe even a wee bit spicier!
Sauce is not as thick as Thai Red Curry, it’s meant to be a thinner sauce. My theory is because if you simmer the sauce too long to make it thicker, the sauce turns dark and loses the fresh green colour. It kind of looks like spinach soup!
Completely addictive
Serve green curry with jasmine rice for a true Thai restaurant experience. And don’t forget some ice cold beer to temper the heat! – Nagi x
Make a meal out of it – try these on the side
Crunchy Asian Slaw on the side – great all rounder Asian salad that goes with all Asian foods
Asian Sesame Dressing for any fresh salad or steamed vegetables
To start – Chicken Satay Skewers or Thai Fish Cakes
Thai Green Curry
Watch how to make it
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Thai Green Curry
Ingredients
Curry – use ONE:
- 4 – 6 tbsp Thai Green Curry Paste (Maesri best) OR (Note 1)
- 1 quantity homemade green curry paste (Note 1)
Extras – for jar curry paste (Note 2):
- 2 large garlic cloves , minced
- 2 tsp fresh ginger , finely grated
- 1 tbsp lemongrass paste (Note 2)
Green Curry:
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup (250ml) chicken or vegetable broth, low sodium
- 400 g/14oz coconut milk , full fat (Note 4)
- 1 – 3 tsp fish sauce *
- 1 – 3 tsp white sugar *
- 1/8 tsp salt *
- 6 kaffir lime leaves , torn in half (Note 5)
- 350 g/12 oz chicken thigh , skinless boneless, sliced (Note 6)
- 2 Japanese eggplants, , small, 1cm / 2/5″ slices (Note 7)
- 1 1/2 cups snow peas , small, trimmed
- 16 Thai basil leaves (Note 8)
- Juice of 1/2 lime , to taste
Garnishes:
- Crispy fried Asian shallots , high recommended (Note 9)
- Thai basil or cilantro/coriander , recommended
- Green or red chillies slices , optional
- Steamed jasmine rice
Instructions
- Heat oil in a heavy based skillet or pot over medium high heat.
- Add curry paste (and garlic, ginger and lemongrass Extras, if using) and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until it mostly “dries out” – see video. Don’t breath in the fumes!!
- Add chicken broth and coconut milk, mix to dissolve paste.
- Curry in a jar seasonings: Add 1 tsp fish sauce, 1 tsp sugar, no salt.
- Homemade curry paste seasonings: Add 3 tsp fish sauce, 3 tsp sugar, 1/8 tsp salt.
- Add kaffir lime leaves. Mix then bring to simmer.
- Add chicken, stir then lower heat to medium so it’s bubbling gently. Cook 7 minutes.
- Add eggplants, cook 5 minutes until soft.
- Taste sauce. Add fish sauce or salt for more saltiness, sugar for sweetness.
- Add snow peas, cook 2 minutes until a bit softened, then stir through basil and lime juice. Sauce should have reduced but will still be a be on the thin side, not thick – that’s how it’s should be. DO NOT keep simmering – sauce will darken.
- Serve curry over jasmine rice with garnishes of choice.
Recipe Notes:
* 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. 11. Nutrition excludes rice and toppings.
Nutrition Information:
I adore Thai curries!
Proof:
And more Thai food favourites
Life of Dozer
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 always forget not to breath in the chilli fumes!!)
Absolutely delicious and ready in just 30 minutes! It’s way better than the local Thai place where we always fight over the tiny amount of chicken.
Divine! This is so delicious! I cannot believe I waited this long after learning your butter chicken recipe, which is also stellar, to try this! I did go full on and made your green curry paste also. Thank you Nagi for sharing this, you’re a superstar!
My favorite recipe of all time. Definitely use the Maesri green curry paste, available at Wegman’s in U.S. but beware the whole can is spicy! Just the way I like it.
Cooked this 2 days ago with the homemade green curry recipe using fresh cilantro, zucchini and Thai basil from our garden (threw in the cleaned cilantro roots as well, great tip and smells amazing).
Bought three packs of frozen galangal after searching all over our city’s Asian markets. I will never have to hunt it down again.
Was able to make 2 full curries with the single paste recipe: one vegetarian for me (with fried tofu and without the fish sauce/shrimp paste) and one chicken for my husband without the shrimp paste (shellfish allergy). Still incredibly flavourful so can’t wait to make two batches next time to try it full potency!
Made the Thai basil chicken for husband tonight and he loved it as well. You’re our new top recipe source now Nagi!
Weeknight Thai dream? 30 mins & you’re there!
Thai Green Curry in 30? Yes please! This recipe lets you use store-bought paste or go homemade, but one key step stays the same: FRY that paste! Add chicken, veggies, or keep it meat-free – the flavorful sauce is magic! JDI Roofing
Delicious. We had double the chicken thigh fillets which I coated in two tablespoons of cornflour as my husband doesn’t like thin curries & it turned out beautifully. Zucchini & broccolini were the veg I had on hand. So good & will definitely cook again, Nagi!
Yep – like so many others here – think this is great! – so much better than most of the takeaway versions I’ve had in recent years.
Yes – the Maesri paste is pretty spicy – but we’re onboard for that.
We had double the amount of chicken required – just used it all and slightly upped the stock and coconut milk quantities by half as much again. Had pretty much everything else to hand – except the vegetables! – and subbed zucchini and green beans – which are often in the takeaway versions anyway.
We needed a little more sugar and fish sauce – but then we’d upped the liquid quantities – so to be expected.
Really – this is so good – and so easy! – don’t think we’ll much be bothered with ordering it in again.
(Bonus: the extra chicken meant no carefully selecting pieces, being mindful of leaving enough for everyone else. Im guessing the cost of chicken means the quantity of chook in our local takeaways had become more meagre and the lack of actual chicken in some green chicken curries is kinda ridiculous! Use extra if you have it!)
PS: was talking to friend about how good this was and she said her sister did a green chicken curry about once a week. I said it must be pretty good as her sister had learnt to cook while living in Thailand years ago and her stuff is fabulous. She said it was – but that her sister can’t bothered making her own pastes much now as she found the Maesri ones were so good you could hardly tell the difference and saved sooooo much effort. Worth considering!)
delicious savory packed with flavor very satisfying
love this site
I’ve made this easily once a week since I found this recipe. It’s the absolute best Thai green curry out there! The Maesri paste is definitely the best. I had to use a different brand once as the Maesri was out of stock and it definitely wasn’t as good. I actually use coconut cream and coconut milk to help ease the heat!
Wowza – packed full of flavours. Did the Maesri curry paste but didn’t read the note on spiciness! Added 2 jars, lol. Blew my head off but still sweet/ tasty enough to be a total hit in our house. Thanks Nagi!
Oh my goodness – I used the Maesri and literally doubled the recipe so I’d have lots of leftovers. I love spicy – I have done many “Hot Ones” challenges. I couldn’t begin to finish this. I’ve never had green curry that hot in my life! Maybe I had a bad batch? I’d dilute it but I don’t think there are 2500 people in southwest Michigan who want leftover curry🤣😂😆🔥
Can this be made in advance and frozen? Or will it “split” when thawed?
Made this tonight, and OMG – so good!! I used the full recommended amount of the paste and it was perfect, I do love heat, but it was not overpowering, left a nice warm taste. Won’t need to go to local restaurant for my fave curry anymore!
This was my first time really trying to cook Green Curry and thanks to this recipie, I can’t believe I made such a tasty just-like-the-resturant curry. This is despite small mistakes on my part. Very very glad with the different options given in the recipie and the ingredient recommendations. This one truly deserves its 5/5 ratings
The lime leaf really made such a difference for me here! Normally i wouldn’t bother buying them, but i saw a pack of lime leaf at my local veg store that was reduced to 99c and thought it was fortuitous, as I normally can’t find it.
It was so fragrant and tasty. The best Thai curry I have made to date. Thanks so much Nagi!
This is delicious but the whole tin of Maesri with only 400ml of coconut cream and 250ml of stock is SO spicy (and I like spicy)
I added more coconut cream to cool it down to taste, it was still packed with flavour
I have made this recipe about a half dozen times so It’s time to give it some props! So delicious!
So easy but wonderful!
Wow! What an excellent, easy & tasty meal! Followed the recipe, just added some extra veggies which worked great – broccoli, sweet peppers, and leaf spinach. We just had rice the night before, so brown rice ramen worked great to go with.
Delicious!! But WOW is that Maesri curry paste SPICY!! Still absolutely delicious though! Be warned non-spice lovers
Hubby recons is the best green curry he’s ever had! I’d second that !