Thai Red Curry with Vegetables
This Thai red curry recipe is so easy to make at home! It's much tastier than takeout and healthier, too. This recipe is vegetarian, vegan and gluten free!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
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You know dinner was good when you want to eat it for breakfast. Speaking of, it’s 10 am and I’m writing with a happy belly.
This Thai red curry made a fantastic meal last night and perhaps an even better breakfast this morning. It’s warm, comforting, and perfect for cool days. It’s a little rich, too, but so full of vegetables that it doesn’t feel too indulgent.
I’ve been meaning to try a red Thai curry based on my green curry for a while now, and I’m so glad I finally did. It’s the best curry I’ve ever had, restaurant versions included! Yeah, I said it.
Bonus? You should be able to find everything you need for this simple curry at a well-stocked grocery store.
Watch How to Make Thai Red Curry
Thai Red Curry Tips
- The secret to making amazing Thai curries is to use plenty of aromatics, like onion, ginger and garlic.
- Choose full-fat coconut milk for its richness (you won’t regret it!).
- Stirring in just a little bit of rice vinegar and sugar adds tons of complexity.
- Readily available store-bought Thai red curry paste adds characteristic Thai flavor and, bonus, the Thai Kitchen brand is vegetarian. You can make your own if you’re so inclined, though.
- Feel free to change up the vegetables, as long as you slice them so they’re all pretty small and about the same size. You could try broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, diced butternut or sweet potato (which will probably require a longer cooking time), sliced zucchini and/or yellow squash.
Please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments. I love to hear from you.
If you enjoy this hearty dinner recipe, be sure to check out my cookbook for more!
Thai Red Curry with Vegetables
This Thai red curry recipe is so easy to make at home! It’s much tastier than takeout and healthier, too. Feel free to change up the vegetables (you’ll need about 3 cups total) and skip the kale if you want a more traditional Thai curry. This recipe is vegetarian, vegan and gluten free for all to enjoy. Recipe yields 4 servings.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups brown jasmine rice or long-grain brown rice, rinsed
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 small white onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- Pinch of salt, more to taste
- 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger (about a 1-inch nub of ginger)
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin 2-inch long strips
- 1 yellow, orange or green bell pepper, sliced into thin 2-inch long strips
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal into ¼-inch thick rounds (about 1 cup)
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste*
- 1 can (14 ounces) regular coconut milk**
- ½ cup water
- 1 ½ cups packed thinly sliced kale (tough ribs removed first), preferably the Tuscan/lacinato/dinosaur variety
- 1 ½ teaspoons coconut sugar or turbinado (raw) sugar or brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce***
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar or fresh lime juice
- Garnishes/sides: handful of chopped fresh basil or cilantro, optional red pepper flakes, optional sriracha or chili garlic sauce
Instructions
- To cook the rice, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the rinsed rice and continue boiling for 30 minutes, reducing heat as necessary to prevent overflow. Remove from heat, drain the rice and return the rice to pot. Cover and let the rice rest for 10 minutes or longer, until you’re ready to serve. Just before serving, season the rice to taste with salt and fluff it with a fork.
- To make the curry, warm a large skillet with deep sides over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add the oil. Add the onion and a sprinkle of salt and cook, stirring often, until the onion has softened and is turning translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds, while stirring continuously.
- Add the bell peppers and carrots. Cook until the bell peppers are fork-tender, 3 to 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the curry paste and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes.
- Add the coconut milk, water, kale and sugar, and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the peppers, carrots and kale have softened to your liking, about 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the pot from the heat and season with tamari and rice vinegar. Add salt (I added ¼ teaspoon for optimal flavor), to taste. If the curry needs a little more punch, add ½ teaspoon more tamari, or for more acidity, add ½ teaspoon more rice vinegar. Divide rice and curry into bowls and garnish with chopped cilantro and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, if you’d like. If you love spicy curries, serve with sriracha or chili garlic sauce on the side.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my Thai green curry recipe.
*Red Thai curry paste: Look for it in the Asian section of the grocery store. I like Thai Kitchen brand, which is vegetarian. Not all brands are (they can contain fish sauce and/or shrimp paste).
**Coconut milk: For rich and creamy curry, you need to use regular (not light/reduced fat) coconut milk that contains guar gum. My favorite is Native Forest Classic. The varieties without guar gum (which are becoming more widely available) aren’t nearly as creamy, even though their fat content is the same.
***Make it gluten free: Be sure to use gluten-free tamari instead of regular soy sauce.
If you want to add tofu: I’d suggest baking it first and adding it with the coconut milk in step 4. If you add raw tofu, it will soak up too much of the liquid, and baking it greatly improves the texture, anyway.
Update 8/10/2016: I tweaked this recipe a tiny bit to make it richer and more flavorful (decreased water from ¾ cup to ½ cup, and increased tamari to 1 tablespoon and vinegar to 2 teaspoons). I also updated the post with better photos!
If you love this recipe: Be sure to check out my other Thai-inspired recipes here! Don’t miss the Thai pineapple fried rice.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This was excellent. I added snow peas and baked crispy tofu, but I made the remainder of the recipe as you wrote it. I’ll be making this again for company next weekend.
this recipe sounds amazing and I love all the recipes I’ve tried from your site. Is there a way to make it without the red curry paste? I can’t handle spicy food and when I’ve cooked with that paste in the past it has been too spicy for me and my kids.
Hi Z, I find that brands do vary on how spicy they are and you can decrease how much you use. I do recommend using some otherwise it will be lacking in flavor.
This curry was so cozy and warming! Really hits the spot of what I needed! I can’t tell you how GOOD this was and I definitely recommend this delicious curry recipe!
This was so easy, and delicious! I didn’t use carrots, but other than that I made it exactly as you wrote it. Will definitely keep this in my dinner rotation!
That’s great to hear, TP!
Very tasty! I made the recipe as written, with the exception of a change to the red curry amount. I used the Thai Kitchen brand red curry, and used the entire 4 oz jar. For me, the curry flavors were too weak and the heat too mild if only 2 tablespoons were used.
Great to hear, PGN! Thank you for your review.
The curry ended up really watery and bland.. had to add loads of seasoning and spice
I’m sorry to hear that, Gavin. Which curry brand did you use?
Hi Kate,
Thank you for this recipe, I’m made it at least 20 times and it never gets old and never disappoints!!
Also love your Thai Spiced Rice Bowls recipe – the broth is so moreish :)
It was so good and I am making this this weekend for my whole family!I loved the great taste and it was so flavorful and wanted more of it but it was gone before I could go for a second dish. Thank you for this and I am sure that I will be making more of it and with different kinds of fresh veggies from my garden will be great as well.
This is on weekly rotation at my house. So easy and delicious! I buy frozen Asian vegetables from Costco along with microwaveable brown rice and the meal comes together in no time and is far more affordable and healthier than takeout.
Great to hear, Ann! Thank you for your review.
So good! I make this all the time.
Question: can I sub the kale for bok choy?
Sure, if you prefer. Let me know what you think!
Question, Can you make this recipe a day ahead?
Sure! I prefer to store the curry and rice separately.
I made this recipe as is. Wish I had skipped the water. The sauce isn’t as thick or rich as I’d like. May also add more paste next time to enhance the flavor.
Excellent!
Adding a couple spoons of fish sauce, half a spoon of miso paste, and a pinch of cinnamon took it from delicious to wow :)
I’ve never left a comment on a recipe before but this was so tasty and nourishing I have to! Absolutely delicious and so easy to prepare!
Can I use spinach instead of kale?
Sure, I know others have and didn’t mind the results.
Can I use another type f spinach instead f kale?
Sure, if you prefer. Thank you for your review!
could you sub low fat coconut milk too? Also, great recipe!!!
You could try it. I prefer this best as written.
I added chick peas and peas for added protein and I may have used a little more curry paste that 2 Tbsp but my husband and I loved it!
Thank you for sharing, Liz!
I love this recipe and I add fresh ahi or mahi-mahi. I’m thinking about adding fresh corn from the cob next time. So good! Thank you!
Recipe is perfect! There’s one doubt – if using button mushrooms, when do I add them to the recipe since they need to cook for a while and release a lot of water?
Yes, mushrooms need to be cooked down. Let me know what you think!