Thai Green Curry
Thai Green Curry – delicious and easy green curry with chicken. Making green curry is so easy and takes only 20 min, and much cheaper than eating out.
Originally published in 2008, updated with new photos and recipe.
If you are a Thai food lover, I am sure you love the different types of Thai curry, named after the color of the curry: red, yellow, and green. And then there are Panang curry, Jungle curry, Massamam curry, etc. One of my favorite Thai curries is green curry, spicy, aromatic, sweet and savory at the same time. Green curry is such a great delight, specially when served with steaming white rice.
Green curry is made with green curry paste. The main ingredient of green curry paste is cilantro root or cilantro stems (not the leaves) and fresh green chilies, hence the name green curry. While you can always make Thai curry paste from scratch, I am all about buying instant curry paste from Asian stores. You can make very good, authentic and absolutely delicious green curry using store-bought curry paste. The key is to balance the flavors of the curry—it has to be spicy, rich and creamy (from the coconut milk), savory (from the fish sauce) and sweet (from palm sugar or sugar). They are the pillars of Thai recipes, and once you master the perfect balance, you can make just about any Thai recipes at home!
So here is my chicken green curry. The traditional recipe calls for green apple eggplant or Thai eggplant, which is a variety of eggplant which is small and round in shape, used in Thai cooking. They are sometimes available at Asian stores but not often. I opted out and used canned bamboo shoots, which are widely used as a replacement in Thai restaurants in the US.
This green curry recipe is extremely easy to make and takes about 15-20 minutes from prep to dinner table. Anyone can make it at home, as long as you gather the ingredients. Try it and you will be surprised just how easy it is.
Happy cooking!
Based on 37 Review(s)
I love green curry, it’s one of the best thai curry. Thanks for posting here. :)
Looks great! Green curry is my favourite because of the strong kaffir lime leaf flavor.
I always order green curry at Thai restaurants and I didn’t know that the recipe is quite easy. Thanks for recommending the brands of the green curry paste and also for the bamboo shoots. I love bamboo shoots in Green curry but some brands are not good.
what a good sharing, I love green curry so much. Yum Yum
We usually eat yellow curry but green curry is quite nice because of the herby, fresher flavors :) Thanks for the recipe, Bee and Thip!
I also love the Mae Ploy curry pastes, and always have both red and green in my pantry.
I found Mae Ploy to be entirely too salty. My dinner was ruined.
Add more sugar or water to dilute if it’s too salty.
Lovely stuff. A wonderful looking curry, and brilliantly simple photography. I want a bowl of it!
There are many different Thai curries but I find them all taste the same, very sweet. I usually enjoy them the first few scoops with rice, but soon after that, it becomes too sweet and too rich with the rice. If I have to choose, I will say green curry is not as sweet and more aromatic.
It looks very yummmy!
My Taste Heaven
Your welcome, My Taste Heaven.
Lydia, green and red are my must have too. :)
Thanks, Matt.
Anonymous, you’re right. Most curries that people serve here are very sweet. May be they try to cut down the spiciness by adding a lot of plam sugar into the curries.
Thank you, Penang and Marc.
I like yellow curry too, Mark.
count me in as a green curry lover! :-) looks delicious!
Hi there,
If I don’t have palm sugar, can I substitute with plain white sugar? Would that still be 1 tablespoon?
Thanks! :)
Jasmine
I hope that you got an answer to this before now. The measurement would be the same and use light brown sugar.
I just tried this for lunch today. It is amazing. I don’t chop the kaffir leaves because I like to pull them out before serving, but it was tasty indeed. I didn’t have the peppers that make yours look so pretty, but it was delicious none the less. Thanks for posting!!!
hi..im a fan of ur blog..
accidentally found it n fell in love wif it straigh away!love ur captures n recipes..i tried this particular recipe n it turns out great!2 thumbs up!
Has anyone ever tried the green curry in the can? Also, can you still have the same flavor, by cutting the cocnut milk in half?
Should double up the fish sauce. It taste better. Normally I put equally to the sugar.
That sounds a bit too sweet for me.
You never said when to add the pepper!
It is sliced and added as an optional garnish
I am just wondering if water is not required in this recipe since it is not mentioned.
hi i like thai food very much & i can make thai food as well
green curry was delicias
When did u put the mini peppers in? Everything else was mentioned except that, so when I made it, I put it in with the bamboo.
At the recommendation of a Thai restaurant I frequent and love, I found the Mae Ploy green curry paste at a local Asian market. But, to my dismay, I couldn’t duplicate the green curry I love. Thanks for sharing this recipe and helping me realize the key ingredients I need to make a delicious curry.
Like Janice, I had tired the Mae Ploy green thai curry paste before, but never managed to get it right – the extra ingredients make all the difference. I also used the tip from the Cashew Chicken recipe and marinated the chicken for 15 mins in baking soda, then coated the pieces in corn flour before adding to the sauce to cook and wow – what a difference, d-e-licious!
Hi Anon – that’s great that you have success. For curry, you don’t have to coat the chicken with corn starch because it will thicken the curry. You can still use baking soda though. :)
Hi, I have a few questions about this curry…
1) I was wondering where I would find kaffir lime leaves in a store? I found everything (even palm sugar!) at the local Cobb International Farmers Market which carries a lot of Asian goods.
2)I couldnt find the Buddha band of bamboo shoots though either, so is there another brand of shoots that is good to look for next time I am there? We bought ‘Chaokoh’ brand. They had a lot of variety so its possible I may have overlooked it.
Oh! And another question. What is a good brand of fish sauce? (The variety this store had was overwhelming!) We ended up buying ‘Pufina Patis’ a product from the Philippines. I chose it because the fish extract wasnt JUST anchovy, but a mix of scads, herring, sardines, and mackerel. Should I have gone with a Thai fish sauce?
Thank you for the recipe. But just one question; When do we add in the mini peppers?
Seriously I am drooling seeing all ur Thai and chinese cuisines.. love love love ur space.
I just bought green curry paste today. I’m so excited to try this recipe. This looks so good.
Any suggestions on how to find green curry paste or scratch together my own? – also would big leave basil work?
Can I use dried kaffir lime leaves instead of fresh? Also, what if I can’t get a hold of thai basil? Can I use sweet basil instead?
Thanks.
Excellent I used a good brand of Coconut MILK always remember to slice the chicken breast against the grain to show as much surface area you can cut thick or thin and this makes the chicken so tender and juicy, I also simmered on a low heat the Ma Ploy paste, oil and half the coconut milk for about 15 mins stirring often it really brought out the flavour. No need to ad extra salt because of the fish sauce, excellent just dont over cook the vegies, I used Zuccini, Eggplant, green beans and bamboo shoots
I don’t use coconut milk often. If I’m using a portion of a can, am I able to freeze the rest for later use? I’m assuming refrigeration would only be for a short amount of time?
Great recipe! Thanks,Bee!
I’m wondering if red curry paste (instead of the green curry paste) would also work to make red curry? Thank you!
Yes, same recipe.
I love Thai food! I have tried red, green, and yellow. I have tried to make my own but it just never taste the same as the restaurant. Anyways, my question is i bought the palm sugar but its like a brick not crystal like like normal sugar. So how do i use it?
Use it like a sugar. You can use it to make this Thai green curry instead of using sugar.
I know but its like a brick. I cant just put the whole brick in the recipe, that would be too much sugar. I tried melting it down but then i have to throw the remainder out. So is there another form of palm sugar besides in a huge chunk?
True…do you have a mortar and pestle, you can pound it and make it into smaller pieces.
I use a grater to break the palm sugar blacks to useable size.
Your green curry recipe and photos are making me very HUNGRY and i just ate! lol
LOL, thanks for loving my green curry!
Chicken Curries are one of my favorite and this one is now on my list to try out !
Thanks for sharing such a nice recipe.
Recipie seems to b great. But can you explain how you make green curry paste instead of readily made ones
Hey this recipe looks awesome. My one question is do we cook the chicken before adding it to the curry.. or does it cook with the curry? Thanks!
Chicken cook with the curry.
Ignoring the silly comment from people who say ‘ It looks lovely’ … but have never even bothered to cook it !!
And to answer the question which seems not to have been answered !
The peppers (best to have both read and green) are added as a garnish
I really love this recipe…I did tweak it a little, I used chicken broth instead of water. I also added sliced green, red, & yellow bell peppers. I can’t seem to find kaffir lime leaves anywhere…is there a substitute for them? I know it’d be even better with them! Thanks for an awesome recipe!
No substitute just skip. :)
I would like to make this recipe with some green curry powder my daughter brought back from Thailand. Should I mix some of the powder with boiling water?
Hmmm I don’t think it works that way…you can try it out but I don’t think the result will be the same!
Is it possible to make green curry with powder instead of paste? If so, how does it change?
Tasted really good! I couldn’t find kaffir lime leaves anywhere so I used 2 tsp of lime zest. As well I added 2 stalks of lemon grass and about 4 mushrooms, and 3 carrots to add in for veggies. I also used Thai green chilis instead of the red ones which made the curry nice and spicy! I will definitely cook this again!
That’s great that you liked this recipe.
I made this last night, adapting it slightly–I was short on chicken and so I filled out the recipe with some extra veggies; and I didn’t have the lime leaves, so I added fresh basil. This one will be a keeper! I was scraping up the last bits from the pan and eating them with the serving spoon while cleaning up from dinner…Delicious!
That’s great Susan! I am so happy you liked my Thai green curry recipe.
Hi,
I am Lynn and I am taking WORDPRESS class at Portland Community College (Portland, Oregon) USA and I would like to use some of your recipes and pictures for my website. I would like to know is it possible? My website will be a collection of asian spicy recipes Thank you very much
Please link back directly to this recipe and credit the source.
Cooking for a large crowd. Can I make the day ahead? Does it reheat ok? Want to do everything beforehand so I can enjoy my own party.
Yes a day ahead is fine and actually make it better. Just don’t overcook the first day so the next day it will be nice when you reheat. :)
What’s the recipe to blend to make d green paste cos I don’t like to use d ready packet..
You don’t eat the lime leaves. If it’s too salty, add more water.
Far, far, far too hot to eat and I like it spicy. So hot that I worry about the recipe – is there a typo? First time using the Mae Ploy brand curry paste. I will try again but will reduce the curry paste to 1/3 of what is currently in the recipe.
Hi, where can I find mae ploy green curry? Couldn’t find it at Jaya Grocer. Im in Kl btw, thanks
Hi Grace, I am not sure.
This is my favorite curry recipe of all time! I love your website so much. I typically cook at least one recipe a week from this site. Thanks so much for sharing! ^_^
Hi Morgan, thanks so much for being so supportive. :)
Hi there
I love this recipe but the only problem is the curry always turns out so watery and I always follow the directions exactly. Any tips on making it thicker?
Cook it longer to reduce the curry sauce.
Hi I am from Pakistan I would like to tell you that my food would taste much better if I had freshgreen Thai curry paste available,,,,the ones I get r old and don’t taste that good ,,,,today I am going to make the paste myself ,,,,fingers crossed,,,will get back to u,,,,
Sure please let me know how it goes.
I have made this recipe many times, with red or green curry paste. Sometimes with a little less of the paste for those who can’t handle it spicy! :-) It always turns out perfectly, thank you for this simple, delicious recipe – you have made many happy tummies among my family & friends! <3
Hi Jessica, thanks for trying my recipe. :)
I just tried this recipe and I loved it. I didn’t have time to chop up my own veggies so I used frozen ones and dumped them in there after boiling the coconut milk+water. It made the dish a little more watery and I had to cook it longer than I’d like for it to thicken up a little bit. Do you have any recommendations for cooking with frozen veggies?
TY! I love your blog!
Hi Christine, you can thaw the frozen veggies and discard the extra water content before using them for this recipe. Thanks for your sweet comment!
Finally!!! A green curry recipe that is easy to make and tastes almost exactly like my favorite restaurant’s. I did add small eggplant and bell pepper – use some chicken stock instead of water. Fantastic!
Hi Tara, good ideas using egg plant and bell pepper and the chicken stock. Thanks for trying this Thai Green Curry recipe. :)