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Coconut Curry Recipe

4.97 from 141 votes

How to make a thick and creamy Thai coconut curry recipe in under 30 minutes. This healthy vegetarian dish is so easy to prepare, you’ll probably end up eating it for dinner at least once a week!

Thai Coconut Curry Recipe With Coconut Milk

The best easy coconut curry recipe

If you’re looking for a family friendly weeknight dinner that’s quick to whip up and easy to customize, this healthy coconut curry will not let you down.

The one pot curry recipe is perfect for anyone who loves Thai food. It tastes like a meal you’d order from a fancy Thai restaurant, and yet you can make the entire dish right in your own kitchen, using pantry staple ingredients.

Also try this popular Cauliflower Casserole

Easy Yellow Coconut Curry Recipe

Vegan Thai curry variations

Red Coconut Curry: Stir in the one or two tablespoons of red curry paste listed as optional in the recipe below. You can make your own homemade curry paste if you’re feeling adventurous, or I normally just use Thai Kitchen brand.

Yellow Coconut Curry: Either simply omit the optional curry paste in the recipe below, or use this mild Yellow Curry Recipe instead.

Green Coconut Curry: Stir in the optional green curry paste. Once again, you can use homemade or store-bought. I also like to add a splash of lime juice and use green vegetables as my vegetables of choice.

Spicy Coconut Curry: For a spicier version of the recipe, add twice the amount of curry paste and a little extra minced or powdered ginger.

(The difference between green and red curry is that green curry paste has fresh green chilies, while red curry paste uses dried red chilies.)

Leftover coconut milk? Make Chocolate Truffles

Homemade Vegetarian Coconut Curry Recipe

Coconut curry ingredients

The vegetables: Almost anything goes here. Try chopped broccoli or cauliflower, snow peas, bell peppers, and carrots, spinach, butternut squash or sweet potato.

The spices: The Southeast Asian curry recipe calls for minced or powdered ginger, ground turmeric, a little salt, and optional Thai basil for flavor.

Optional protein: While many people will add chicken, beef, shrimp, salmon, or another type of fish to their Thai coconut curries, I like to keep it vegetarian by throwing in some chickpeas, lentils, black beans, or baked tofu.

Coconut milk: Use full fat canned coconut milk or coconut cream for this recipe. Do not substitute the coconutmilk that comes in a carton. Using reduced fat canned coconut milk will yield a thinner sauce that won’t be as rich and creamy, but it’s still good if a lower fat option is preferred.

Other ingredients: I love to stir in a few tablespoons of peanut or almond butter for a creamy plant based peanut butter curry variation. You can also throw in a handful of cashews. Or add half a cup of chopped fresh, frozen, or canned pineapple, because one can never go wrong with the coconut pineapple combination.

You may also like these healthy Cauliflower Recipes

Can Coconut Milk Whip Cream

How to make coconut curry

Gather all of your ingredients, measure the spices, and chop the vegetables.

Combine everything in a pot or skillet. Cook over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the coconut sauce thickens and the carrots are tender.

If desired, you can add water or additional coconut milk for a thinner sauce. Or add even more coconut milk to turn it into coconut curry soup.

The curry can either be made on the stovetop in a pot or skillet or in a crockpot or slow cooker. I haven’t tried the recipe in an instant pot yet. Feel free to experiment, and be sure to report back if you do.

To make coconut curry in a crock pot: Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker or crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours or until the vegetables are soft.

The vegan coconut curry is super versatile. For example, if you want more of an Indian coconut curry than a Thai one, stir in a pinch of cumin and coriander. Vietnamese curry is thinner and often includes lemongrass and garlic.

Super Easy Coconut Curry Recipe

Serving and storage suggestions

This homemade curry is great with rice or noodles or served over baked sweet potatoes. Here’s the best way How To Cook Sweet Potatoes.

Or for a low carb and keto curry, serve it over Spaghetti Squash.

Store leftovers in an airtight covered container in the refrigerator for three to four days. Additionally, you can portion the coconut curry into individual servings and refrigerate or freeze for weekly meal prep.

Reheat refrigerated or frozen curry either on the stovetop or in the microwave.

Watch the vegetarian coconut curry recipe video, above.

How To Make The Best Easy Coconut Curry Recipe
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Coconut Curry Recipe

How to make a healthy and easy Thai coconut curry recipe for dinner in under 30 minutes.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Yield 4 servings
5 from 141 votes

Ingredients

  • 1 onion
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 2 peppers, sliced
  • 1 cup vegetables of choice, such as green beans, snow peas, chopped broccoli, or diced sweet potato
  • 1 can coconut milk (13.5oz)
  • 1 tbsp sweetener of choice
  • 1 tsp minced ginger, or 1/4 tsp powdered
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
  • optional protein of choice, such as cubed tofu or black beans
  • optional 1-2 tbsp green or red curry paste
  • optional handful Thai basil
  • optional 1/2 cup chopped pineapple
  • optional 2-4 tbsp peanut butter or handful of cashews

Instructions

  • Stovetop Recipe: Combine all ingredients in a pot or skillet. If desired, you can brown the onion in a little oil first. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the coconut sauce has thickened and the carrots are tender. Add water or milk of choice to thin down sauce as needed.
    Crock Pot Coconut Curry Recipe: Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker or crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours or until vegetables are soft.
    View Nutrition Facts

Notes

For dessert, make this homemade Coconut Ice Cream.
 

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Published on March 16, 2022

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42 Comments

Leave a comment or reviewLeave a rating
  1. Mara says

    Love the looks of it! I’m also trying to switch to a healthier lifestyle and started to mine for healthy recipes like yours. Your blog posts are super inspiring for me in this phase, thanks!

  2. Michelle says

    Wow you weren’t kidding when you said this coconut curry recipe was easy to make. I got the email this morning and made the red curry version for dinner later tonight! From sampling, I can tell you it’s delicious 🙂

  3. Emily says

    For the slow cooker version- can you put coconut milk in for that long or do you add it at the end?
    thanks!

  4. Ann Marie says

    This coconut curry was perfectly spiced and super creamy, and leftovers tasted even better the next day. So glad I found your blog!

  5. Dorothy D. Piper says

    Wow! For so many days I want to cook curry but I don’t know how to cook. Thanks for sharing!

  6. Susan says

    Made the green version for lunch today and my husband and I both thought it was delicious. I used chickpeas and a bit of lime juice and cilantro to serve. Quick and satisfying! Thank you!

  7. Kristy says

    I made this for dinner last night and we all loved it. A perfect dish that I know I will make again and again.

  8. CaseyR says

    I’m so excited to make this recipe for my family! If I double it and add chicken, would you recommend I add additional time to the crockpot, or bump the temp to high?

    • Maureen says

      I doubled it when I made it and it was still done in the allotted time in the crockpot. Delicious and I will definitely be making the recipe again.
      (I did not use chicken though so can’t advise on that.)

  9. Chefcap says

    Yum so delicious, I would love to make recipes as like you. This looks so amazing and delicious also I would love to share this blog with my friends.

  10. Amy says

    This curry is on a regular rotation at my house! I love it! Easy, quick, delicious, and very adaptable to whatever vegetable I have on hand! Five stars all the way.

  11. Joan says

    Yum! Just made this tonight. I made the vegetable curry with peppers, onions, carrots and green beans while my husband grilled chicken. I cooked the veggies in coconut oil before adding the milk and spices. I also added just a touch of tomato paste. We often

  12. Mandy says

    I made this for dinner tonight. Very easy and delicious. Definitely will be in the weekday rotation. It’s good too as you really could use almost any vegetables you like. I was thinking one nice addition to the finished bowls would be to toss a few cashews on top. Yum!

  13. Paige says

    I really enjoyed this. The sweetness of Thai Curry is what I love about it. For that reason I used a little more sweetener and I should not have. I also used coconut cream and I think coconut milk would have been better, again because it seemed really sweet and almost syrupy to me. I think I’ll try it again sometime using the correct amount of sweetener and coconut milk.

  14. Chrisy says

    How spicy are the red & green curry pastes (& relative to your yellow curry)? My family are not into super spicy foods. Thanks.

  15. Bonnie says

    5 stars
    This was really good. I put the optional Thai paste and peanut butter in it. I also cut fresh basil from outside though it wasn’t Thai basil. I used more than a cup of veggies too. So good! Thanks so much for the recipe. Kids haven’t come up yet to try it. Hope they don’t like it so I’ll have leftovers for dinner tomorrow.

  16. Debbie says

    5 stars
    I made this curry today and it is very easy to make and the flavour is amazing. I added red lentils for protein. Will definitely be making again!

  17. Jan says

    Thank you Katie, my family just love this very tasty coconut curry recipe. Easy to prepare and cook with a great result.
    Stay Safe

  18. Sue says

    5 stars
    I precooked 3 seasoned chicken breasts, sliced them up. Followed all the rest of the steps, using mostly red peppers and even asparagus. This was positively scrumptious.
    Both my husband and I agreed. Simple, quick and delicious!

  19. Sandra says

    5 stars
    We made this for dinner tonight and it was wonderful. It will now be our go to vegetarian curry recipe and I anticipate making this many more times.

  20. K. Day says

    5 stars
    Last week, I made this for the first time and it was fantastic and even better the second and third day. I used frozen vegetables (broccoli, green beans, 3 pepper & onion blend) and threw in some fresh shredded carrots that I first cooked a little bit in avocado oil (no meat). For the sauce, I used lite coconut milk (in the can), mixed all the seasonings in it (ginger, turmeric, crushed red pepper, minced garlic, black pepper, a little kosher salt, 1/2 the sugar, red curry powder and a bay leaf) and used crunchy peanut butter and a little tomato paste to thicken it up. I served it with brown rice cooked in my Instant Pot. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe that was both easy and versatile! It was exactly what I had a taste for and definitely something I will make again!

  21. Emily says

    5 stars
    Hi! I can’t find any red or green curry paste where I live. Can I use regular powdered curry? If so, how much? Thanks!

  22. Nancy Miller says

    5 stars
    Thank you for this curry recipe! Apart from being quite appetizing, curry has been found to be beneficial for individual’s long-term health. If eaten regularly, one can significantly benefit from curry’s minerals and vitamins Turmeric, a primary ingredient in curry, has contributed to several health-dish benefits.

  23. Dolores says

    5 stars
    This has become one of my favorite recipes. Just made it for the 3rd time. Love, love, love it. Quick. Delicious. thank you, Katie

  24. Constance says

    5 stars
    Loved this. I did a green curry w/ broccoli and snow peas, carrots, r pepper and cubed tofu.
    Thx for such a versatile recipe that really, truly takes only 30 minutes to prepare 🙂

  25. Susan says

    5 stars
    I really liked the recipe of Thai coconut curry but it’s very hard to find the ingredients, there are so many adds and other stuff that you scroll and scroll. It’s not easy. But thank you, I’ll try it.
    Susan

  26. Sukie Sargent says

    It used to be very easy to find and print the recipe. Now it’s not. And also, I could’t print the image of the dish.

  27. Joanne says

    5 stars
    So delicious and easy! Such a quick way to get a bunch of veggies in for dinner, I followed instructions exactly and cooked it all in one pot. Will definitely be making again and try diff. veggies whatever I have on hand 🙂 Yay Meatless Monday!

  28. Stella says

    5 stars
    I’ve recently switched to an anti-inflammatory diet and your site is wonderful! This was the first recipe I tried and it was delicious! I was a little intimidated at first because I never made curry before, but this was so easy. I love how you can use up extra veggies for this also. I used sweet potato, onions, bell peppers, carrots, shallots, and tofu. Made a big batch so I can eat on it for a few days and hopefully freeze the rest. Looking forward to trying your other recipes!

  29. Sharon Styve says

    5 stars
    I am just responding to the person that said they’re allergic to onions and garlic — you could try adding asafetida (an indian herb also called “hing”). It’s available on Amazon (or any Indian grocery store). It adds a lovely oniony/garlicy flavour, but has no relationship to them in terms of allergy issues). A little goes a long way – so ad just a bit and you can always add more.

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