An easy authentic recipe for Thai Green Curry with eggplant and your choice of tofu, chicken or shrimp. A fast and easy weeknight dinner that can be made in 30 minutes! Use store-bought green curry paste or make your own homemade green curry paste. Video.
This delicious and authentic recipe for Thai Green Curry is one of my favorites- keep it simple with store-bought green curry paste or for a fun authentic experience, make your own homemade green curry paste from scratch- either way, you’ll love it!
What I love about this Thai Green Curry recipe is how versatile it is. You can make it totally plant-based, loaded up with veggies and tofu, or add chicken or shrimp. The secret is the flavorful base- the green curry sauce! And today I’d walk you through how to make this super flavorful!
Thai Green Curry Video
Ingredients Notes!
- Shallot– Shallot offers much more flavor here than onion.
- Green curry paste (see notes for my favorite brand) or make your own!
- Coconut milk– use full fat for the best results. Lite coconut milk will be runny.
- Protein: extra-firm tofu, chicken breast, or shrimp
- Fish sauce ( or vegan fish sauce) adds so much flavor here!
- Eggplant: Thai eggplant or Japanese eggplant work nicely here- or sub regular globe eggplant in a pinch.
- Kaffir lime leaves – find these at Asian Market– can be fresh or frozen. I always purchase extra and store in the freezer.
- Thai basil ( or sub-regular basil- but THAI Basil Elevates)
Favorite Green Curry Paste
- My favorite store-bought brands are Maesri Green Curry Paste (in a can) and Mae Ploy Green Curry Paste – available at most Asian Markets. Maesri and Mae Ploy can be quite spicy so start off with 3-4 tablespoons, until you are familiar with their spice level. You can always add a little more in the end. These both contain shrimp paste so not vegan.
- This Mekhala brand is vegan and organic- but flavorwise, you can’t beat the Maesri.
- Or make our Homemade Thai Green Curry Paste from scratch
3 Expert Tips:
- Start with a flavorful Green Curry Paste, and make sure to stir-fry it first to release the flavors.
- Add kaffir lime leaves to the broth
- Garnish with Thai Basil leaves
How to make Thai Green Curry
Step one:
Stir Fry the curry paste: Whether you are using homemade curry paste or store-bought green curry paste, one way to bring out the flavor is to stirfry the green curry paste in a little oil first, before adding any liquid or coconut milk. This will intensify the flavor and add a delicious depth.
Here I’ve used the homemade curry paste from the previous post, which honestly takes only a few minutes to make once you have the ingredients. But it requires a trip to the Asian Market.
Which I know is not convenient for everyone, and trust me, I actually do stock store-bought green curry paste in my pantry and have no problem using it. (This is my favorite brand.)
If using store-bought curry paste- saute a shallot first, then add the paste.
Step Two
Add the broth or stock and all prepped veggies. Add the kaffir lime leaves– optional but elevates.
Thinly sliced eggplant, bell pepper, and tofu right into the curry sauce to simmer. I usually just put them in raw, like they do in Thailand. Of course, you can add other quick-cooking veggies, like snow peas, zucchini, or mushrooms etc.
Other veggies to add to Thai Green Curry
- peas or snow peas
- asparagus
- baby spinach
- green beans
- mushrooms
- zucchini or summer squash
Step three
Simmer/ steam the veggies (covered) in the broth until tender. Cutting them small ensures faster cooking time. Check after a few minutes.
Step four
Prep the tofu (or chicken or shrimp). Cut the tofu into 3/4-inch cubes- and wait to add with the coconut milk.
If substituting chicken for the tofu -slice the chicken breast into very thin small strips (1/4 inch thick) that way it will cook very quickly – and add the chicken to the broth with the veggies.
If adding shrimp, wait to add with the coconut milk.
Step five
Once the veggies are just tender add the coconut milk.
Taste and season the green curry sauce with fish sauce, salt and sugar (or honey) and a squeeze of lime. Find the balance. Remember you’ll be serving this over rice, so you’ll want this quite flavorful.
Add the tofu or shrimp and just gently simmer until tofu is warmed through and or shrimp curl up a bit and turn pink.
Don’t over boil the coconut milk or you’ll lose the lovely sweetness.
Step five
Garnish with Thai basil ( which adds the BEST flavor! ).
TIP: Thai basil is one herb I always try to plant in a pot (usually found at farmers’ markets) because you can’t always find it at the regular grocery store – it is mostly found in Asian markets.
How to serve Thai Green Curry
Serve the flavorful Thai Green Curry over rice, garnish with Thai Basil and a lime wedge. Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in the fridge.
More Thai Recipes you may like
- Authentic Green Curry Paste
- Thai Red Curry Paste
- Thai Green Curry Noodle Soup
- Thai Pineapple Curry
- 15 MINUTE THAI COCONUT CURRY NOODLE SOUP (KHAO SOI)
- Easy to Make Pad Thai w/ Chicken, Shrimp or Tofu
- Thai Fish Curry
- Tom Kha Gai (Thai Coconut Chicken Soup)
- Instant Pot Thai Curry Chicken
- 20 Delicious Easy Thai Recipes!
Thai Green Curry Recipe
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Main, vegetarian main
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Thai
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
An easy authentic recipe for Thai Green Curry with eggplant and your choice of tofu, chicken or shrimp. A fast and easy weeknight dinner that can be made in 30 minutes! Use store-bought green curry paste or make your own homemade green curry paste.
Ingredients
- 1 shallot, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons olive or peanut oil
- 2–4 Tablespoons store-bought green curry paste (see notes) or 1/2 cup homemade green curry paste
- 1 cup veggie or chicken broth
- 1 can coconut milk (full fat)
- 8 ounces extra-firm tofu, cubed ( not silken) or chicken breast (thinly sliced- see notes) or shrimp ( raw, peeled and de-veined)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce ( or vegan fish sauce)
- 1 Japanese eggplant, thinly sliced into half-moons
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 6–8 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 lime
- 1/4 cup fresh Thai Basil leaves, torn (or sub regular basil)
- additional lime wedges for garnish
Other additions or substitutions: snow peas, asparagus, green beans, zucchini, mushrooms, fresh chopped spinach leaves
Serve over rice or black rice
Instructions
- Set the rice to cook if using.
- Heat oil in a heavy bottom pot or dutch oven over medium heat, and saute the shallot. Turn your fan on, and stir-fry green curry paste for 2-3 minutes. Add the broth or stock and scrape up all those delicious browned bits. Add the kaffir lime leaves, and veggies, bring to simmer and cover. (Feel free to add chicken now if using.)
- Once veggies are just tender ( 3-5 minutes) stir in the coconut milk, salt, sugar and fish sauce.
- Add the tofu ( or shrimp) and bring to a gentle simmer, simmering uncovered until tofu is warmed through (and shrimp is cooked- pink and curled) Try to prevent this from coming to a hard boil – a gentle simmer will help preserve the coconut’s sweetness.
- Add a squeeze of lime and taste, adding more lime if needed. If you need more sweetness, add more sugar. More depth, add salt or fish sauce. Find your balance. 😉
- TIP: Remember you will be serving this over rice, which will mellow out the intensity of flavor- so I like to keep this on the slightly salty/flavorful side.
- Add the fresh basil leaves and serve with lime wedges over rice.
Notes
If using store-bought green curry – keep in mind- all brands vary in heat and salt levels. You may not need as much salt and perhaps less fish sauce- so add both to taste. Bump up the flavor with sauteed chopped shallots (saute first, then stir fry with the curry paste) and add kefir lime leaves and a few slices of galangal to the curry sauce. My favorite brands are Maesri (in a can) and Mae Ploy – available at most Asian Markets. Maesri and Mae Ploy can be quite spicy so start off with 3-4 tablespoons, until you are familiar with their spice level. You can always add a little more in the end.
If substituting chicken for the tofu, thinly slice it (1/4 inch thick slices) and add it directly to the stock or broth or feel free to poach it separately in salted water or broth for just a few minutes before adding to the curry sauce.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: -calculated without the rice
- Calories: 279
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 1648.1 mg
- Fat: 21.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 12.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Fiber: 3.6 g
- Protein: 8.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Lacked a lot of flavor just following the recipe. Need alot of tweaking at the end.
Hi Brad- if you read step 5, this is where you balance the flavors “to taste”. Yes, it does need tweaking- not all curry pastes are the same. 🙂
I have been making Thai green curry for years with another brand- but the Maesri Green Curry you recommended really elevates the flavor to a whole new level. My guests last night raved about the flavor (and I am so happy there are leftovers!) Thanks for the suggestion!
So happy you gave it a go! Yes, it’s one of the better tasting ones!
One of the best curry recipes I’ve ever made. Tastes just like take out. We like it spicy so added more green curry paste. Couldn’t find kaffir leaves at my local Asian market so we left them out. Is there any substitute? They didn’t have frozen either.
Yay Liz!!! I am so glad you liked it. You can find dried kaffir leaves on Amazon- there is really nothing that compares!
great recipe – I fried the eggplant for about 8 minutes with some honey and soy sauce then put it in with the rest of the curry closer to the end and simmered on low for an extra 10 minutes and was so very good
Yum!
Perfect green curry recipe. Just like the restaurant I go to.
Great to hear!
The flavor was great, but I found it to be very watery/runny. Any ideas what may have caused that? I used full fat coconut milk. I did add chicken, so not sure if that may have released some liquid.
Hi Ashely- sorry about that. Did you add more than one cup of broth?
I made this tonight and instead of vegetable broth I soaked dried shiitakes and used the soaking water. I cut all of the vegetables into matchsticks. This was restaurant quality!
Great to hear!
Easy and great. I appreciated the notes as the curry paste that I purchased was rather spicy, so it was best to “test” your curry paste
Perfect Peggy! Glad you enjoyed this!
This was faster than my usual thai curry recipe & just or even more delicious!! Thank you!
Great to hear JC!
This was delicious!! I can always count on Sylvia to deliver consistently creative & satisfying meals.
Thanks so much Danielle!
SO delicious and wonderfully easy to make… it’s become one of my favourite go-to meals! Freezes great too.
Awesome Nancy!
Super yummy 😋!! Served with black rice!! Delish!!
Great to hear Tracey!
I’ve tried a number of green curry recipes before and this is definitely the best! Spicy but well-balanced. And chopping the eggplant thinly helps it to cook quickly.
Thanks, Alicia! Yes, the thinner the better!
I just made it for dinner today . It turned out well . A few suggestions . If you are using Messeri only 2tsps. It is pretty spicy. . My veggies especially eggplant took a very long time to cook . Almost 20to 25 mins . Because after you add the coconut milk it takes longer . Otherwise it is a great recipe . You have to make sure the veggies are cooked well . My family loved it.
Hi Rohini- Glad this turned out well for you- perhaps try slicing the eggplant/veggies thinner the next time? They really only need 5-10 minutes to cook when sliced thin.
Definitely will try it again thinner slices
I love this recipe. I made it today and it turned out perfect. Thank you.
Excellent thanks
Made this dish several times with excellent results using regular aubergine slices cut into quarters of even smaller if using a large one.
thanks so much Tord!
Delish, easy – avoids the slight bitterness that fried eggplant can have. Used oyster sauce instead of fish sauce – still good. Would be better with some shallot as suggested.
Is a 3qt dutch oven too small for this recipe? My alternative is a 9qt which seems a little too big. Thank you!
I think it should be big enough??? I’m guessing though!
I absolutely love Thai food and always thought it was difficult and required a lot of skill. This was very easy to make and exceeded my wildest dreams. That trip to the Asian Market to get lime leaves was absolutely worth it to give it that authentic taste!
My husband loved it equally and we are putting it on our regular recipes list – also as a way to use up any left over veggies or ripe veggie garden veggies that won’t cover a full meal! Thanks so much!
Im so glad you enjoyed this!
I did a similar version it was amazing! I had a question though how much water/stock do you put in? An how long do you wait for the coconut to to reduce? I was gong to try the Sous Vide method an take from book SOUS VIDE AT HOME.. See the variation I can get.
1 cup broth.
Excellent recipe. We all loved it. But I made minor changes: — added water, tamarind for sour taste & no fish sauce.
Perfect!Thanks for sharing.
Excellent…all loved it.
Tasty, comforting easy and quick to make green curry! Warning, I used the whole can of store bought Maesri green curry and it was insane spicy. My husband couldn’t eat it. Next time 1 quarter of a 4 oz can is probably enough.
Oh dear! Sorry Flora, yes it is spicy- I should have noted. OK, I have updated the recipe, thanks for pointing this out and please tell your husband sorry.
You are so kind! I have a higher spice threshold so I’m gladly eating the leftovers. 🙂 Thank you for this easy tasty recipe. I will definitely make it again and tweak accordingly! This recipe is delish, thanks!
Thanks so much Flora!
Thank you so much this was absolutely delicious!!! I will make this dish again.