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Delicious and easy green curry with chicken in rich coconut curry sauce. This homemade and authentic Thai green curry recipe takes 20 mins and better than restaurants!
Green Curry Recipe
What is Green Curry?
It’s called Gang Kiew Wan in Thai language, one of the best Thai recipes.
The curry is green in color, spicy, aromatic, sweet and savory at the same time.
Thai green curry is so delicious, specially when served with steaming white jasmine rice.
Looking for more Thai recipes? Check out my Choo Chee Salmon, Pad See Ew, and Thai Red Curry recipes!
Thai Green Curry
If you love Thai food, I am sure you know Thai curries, named after the color of the curry paste used to make the curry, for examples: red curry and yellow curry.
There are also Panang curry, Jungle curry, Massamam curry, etc.
The green color in this curry comes from the main ingredient in the green curry paste, which is fresh green chilies, hence the name green curry.
Here are the ingredients of the curry paste:
- Fresh green chilies
- Cilantro roots or stems (not the leaves)
- Garlic
- Shallots
- Lemongrass
- Galangal
- Coriander
- Cumin
- Shrimp paste
- Kaffir lime skin and leaves
Curry paste is traditionally made by pounding the ingredients in a stone mortar and pestle until all ingredients become a fine texture.
I usually use instant curry paste from Asian stores, for example: Maesri brand Green Curry Paste.
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken – use skinless and boneless chicken breasts or chicken thighs
- Thai eggplant. In Thailand, the curry is made with these eggplants, which come in the green color variety and purple color variety. They are small like ping pong balls; they are halved or quartered and cooked in the curry. However, they are not commercially available in the US, unless you grow the tree. As a substitute, most Thai restaurants here use bamboo shoots and my recipe tastes just like Thai restaurants.
- Coconut milk
- Fish sauce
- Fresh red chilies
- Kaffir lime leaves
- Thai basil leaves
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make Thai Green Curry Chicken
Homemade green curry recipe is so easy to make and takes about 15-20 minutes from prep to dinner table.
To cook the curry at home, first of all saute the curry paste and add the chicken.
Add the coconut milk, water, bamboo shoots, and all the seasoning ingredients.
Cook until the chicken becomes tender and the curry sauce is slightly thickened.
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full details on each ingredient.
Cooking Tips
For the best result at home, follow the cooking tips below:
- You can make very good, authentic and delicious curries using store-bought curry paste.
- The secret is to balance the flavors; the curry has to be spicy (from the curry paste), rich and creamy (from the coconut milk), savory (from the fish sauce) and sweet (from palm sugar or sugar).
- Sweet, sour, salty and spicy are the four pillars of Thai cuisine. Once you master the perfect balance, you can make just about any Thai food at home!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between the two? Other than the color, the difference is the main ingredient used in the curry paste. Red curry uses dried red chilies, hence the red color.
Malaysian curry, such as curry chicken is made with curry powder, salt, and coconut milk. There is never sugar in the ingredients list. However, Thai curries use sugar or palm sugar and fish sauce to season the curry sauce.
This recipe is only 317 calories per serving.
What To Serve With This Recipe
This meal is best served with steamed rice, preferably Thai rice. For a wholesome Thai meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
Other Thai Recipes You Might Like
Green Curry
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tbsp green curry paste, Maesri brand preferred
- 8 oz. chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 4 oz. bamboo shoot
- 5 kaffir lime leaves, lightly bruised
- 2 red chilies, cut into thick strips
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar , or palm sugar, preferred
- 1/4 cup Thai basil leaves
Instructions
- Heat a pot over medium heat and add the oil. Sauté the green curry paste until aromatic, then add the chicken and stir to combine well with the curry paste. Add the coconut milk and water, and bring to a quick boil.
- Add the bamboo shoots, kaffir lime leaves, and red chilies. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pot, and let it simmer for 10 minutes or until the curry slightly thickens.
- Add the fish sauce, sugar, and basil leaves. Stir to mix well. Turn off the heat and serve immediately with steamed rice.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’m very interested in trying this recipe! For the Kaffir Lime Leaves, do they need to be fresh or can they be dried? I’m having some trouble finding them in stores. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Fresh. Skip if you can’t find.
This recipe is fantastic!! Truly the best, most authentic tasting Thai curry I’ve made. Thank you very much for the excellent recipe! I added eggplant and some green beans because I like those in restaurant green curries.
Hi Marie, all my recipes are great. Please try more!
OMG! Thank you so much for this recipe. It tastes better than a restaurant (if not, just as good). I made a little modification to the recipe. I put in 1 cup of coconut milk and added about 1/4 of water. I also used chicken thigh fillets as I read somewhere that it brings out the green curry flavour better than breast chicken. It will definitely be my go to from now on.
Awesome, please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
This was fantastic. I doubled the recipe as I had four people to feed. Did not need the Chili pepper with the spice from the green curry paste. Added sliced red & green pepper, a cup of snap peas, 1.5 cups of chopped fresh spinach and .5 cup chopped broccoli. Instructions should say to remove the kafir lime leaves before serving. Thank you for this gem.
Awesome!
I’ve made this several times and it always comes out great! When you say red chilis, should it be red bell peppers or a red thai chili. I always use a red bell pepper because I can’t find thai chilis.
Red chilies, not red Thai chilies. It’s too spicy. Red bell pepper is fine, too.
Could I substitute the chicken for tilapia? If so, would i cook the tilapia first then add it into the curry?
Yes you can. No, use raw tilapia and cook in curry.
Hi Bee,
What can I substitute for fresh Thai Basil? Is dried Thai basil or regular basil ok? Also, can you recommend a brand of palm sugar?
Thank you!
Regular basil is fine. NO dry basil. There is no brand to recommend, any palm sugar is fine.
Wow, it looks really delicious !
I’ll try it !
Thanks!! Please do.
I made this tonight and the chicken was tender, but the curry was really thin and watery. I wouldn’t add *any* water at all if I made it again. Also, I didn’t realize until I double-checked the photos that when the recipe says “red chilies” it means what most people in the US call “red bell peppers” — take note.
PFC, the green curry is not watery. Did you watch the video on the page? There is no way it’s watery and thin. If it’s watery and thin for you, you must not have followed the recipe measurement correctly. Also I used red chilies, not red bell peppers. You can use red bell peppers though, but the recipe called for red chilies.
Hello! I was scrolling through the comments and in the older comments you responded to a similar question saying that the red chili is a red bell pepper. Can you please clarify?
Red bell pepper or red chili, either is fine. It doesn’t affect the taste. It just adds color.