Authentic Thai Green Curry Chicken

This classic Thai green curry is my most popular recipe with over 5 million views on YouTube. It uses traditional methods that deliver bold flavours, but takes only 35 minutes to make. It's made with tender-braised chicken and Thai eggplant, but I also offer options for chicken breast and other veggies. Don't skip my simple hacks for "enhancing" store bought curry paste to amplify the curry's aroma and umami! Plus, it's gluten and dairy free!

But first, what is a green curry, anyway?

In Thai cuisine, green curry is a coconut-milk-based curry that can be made with many different proteins, but chicken is the most common. The green colour comes primarily from the use of fresh green chilies in the curry paste, which makes it unique in this regard since most other Thai curries use red chilies in the paste.

In Thai, green curry is called gaeng kiew waan แกงเขียวหวาน which literally means "sweet green curry," though it is not particularly sweet. It is thought that the "sweet" refers to the colour green, indicating a softer shade of pastel green.

It is one of the most popular, if not THE most popular curry in Thailand. It's served in just about every context from home cooking to street food to fine dining. We eat it with jasmine rice, rice noodles, and even roti. Some people even eat it with spaghetti! It is truly an integral part of Thai cuisine, and a great curry to make for a Thai food beginner.

Ingredients and Notes

Here are ingredients you'll need and important notes about them. For amounts, see the full recipe card below. And if you are DIY-minded and have time, here's my homemade green curry paste recipe.

• Green curry paste, store-bought is fine, but also see my "enhancements" below to make it even better. It is extremely important to use a good brand; I recommend Maeploy, and if not available then Aroy-D is my second pick. Do not use Thai Kitchen brand as it is very weak, or if you must, double the amount called for. See my curry paste review for details.
  If using my homemade green curry paste, you can put the entire batch of paste into this curry recipe.
• Boneless skinless chicken thighs. Chicken thighs do make the best tasting green curry, but if you must use chicken breast, the method is a little different and I've provided the details in the recipe card.
• Full fat coconut milk, I recommend Aroy-D in paper carton.
• Chicken stock, unsalted. Store bought is fine but you can also use my Thai style chicken stock recipe.
• Fish sauce
• Palm sugar, or sub granulated or light brown sugar.
• Makrut lime leaves
• Red bell pepper, julienned, or any kind of red or orange peppers. This is added just for colour.
• Thai basil
• Vegetable options: Thai eggplant, bamboo shoots, and winter melon are traditional. Cut Thai eggplants into bite-sized wedges and keep them in water if not using right away so they don't turn brown. Bamboo shoots come ready to use in a can and just need a rinse. Winter melon simply need to be peeled, seeded, and 1-inch cubed. You can sub any other veggies that are "soup-friendly" and adjust the cooking time accordingly.

Enhancing Store Bought Curry Paste: Optional But Recommended

If you use one of my recommended green curry paste brands, you'll get good results. BUT, there are a few simple things you can add to take it to the next level. Add one or all 3 things; they really do make a big difference!

1. Shrimp paste. If you only do one thing to enhance your paste, let it be this. Thai fermented shrimp paste, gapi in Thai, will add depth and umami that I promise you will love. Shrimp paste is always added to traditional Thai curry pastes, but most commercial pastes omit it in order to make it vegetarian friendly. If your brand already contains shrimp paste, I recommend you add more anyway because they don't add much of it. You can also sub Indonesian/Malaysian shrimp paste (called terasi or belacan). If you're vegetarian, add miso paste.
2. Thai basil. I add Thai basil to boost the green colour which makes the curry much prettier. The green in green curry traditionally comes from green chilies, but because brands don't want to make their product overly spicy, they add very little green chilies, leading to a rather pale green colour in the final dish. We can fix this simply by adding any dark green leaves to the paste, so I opt for Thai basil since it's already and ingredient you'll need. If you love super spicy food, you can also add green chilies such as serranos or jalapenos in addition to the basil.
3. Grachai /krachai (fingerroot). This is an aromatic rhizome that we often add to green curry, but many commercial brands leave it out. I think it makes the curry much better! Fresh or frozen is great, but they also come brined in a glass jar (pic below) which also works perfectly. Look for them at Southeast Asian grocery stores.

Step-By-Step

Here's a bird's eye view of the process, but to ensure success, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial!

1. Optional if you're enhancing the curry paste: Pound julienned Thai basil and fingerroot in a mortar and pestle into a paste.
2. Then add the shrimp paste and the green curry paste and pound to mix.
3. Bring about ¾ cup of the coconut milk to a full boil then add the curry paste and cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently.
4. Keep cooking until the coconut oil starts to separate away from the paste as you can see in the image above. *If the paste is super thick and no oil separation occurs, that's fine, you can just move on.

5. Add the chicken thigh and mix it with the curry paste, then add the coconut milk, chicken stock, half of the fish sauce and palm sugar. (For chicken breast modification, see the recipe card below).
6. Twist and bruise makrut lime leaves, tear them into chunks and discard the center stems. Add them to the curry and simmer for 10 minutes. (If using winter melon, add them at this stage as they take 10 mins to cook.)
7. Add the Thai eggplant and keep stirring, pushing them into the curry for 1 minute, then let them cook without stirring for 2 more minutes until a fork can go through with slight resistance, then turn off the heat. If using bamboo shoots, simply let them cook for 1 minute to heat through.
8. Add the red peppers and Thai basil and stir just until wilted. Taste and adjust seasoning with more fish sauce as needed, then serve with jasmine rice!

Serving Green Curry with Rice Noodles (kanom jeen gaeng kiew waan)

Aside from jasmine rice, which is the classic accompaniment. green curry is also commonly served over rice vermicelli or kanom jeen. Make sure you get the right type, what you want is VIETNAMESE rice vermicelli, which are round sticks and come in various sizes.

Any size works, but my preference is for smaller ones. You simply need to boil them in water for 7-10 minutes until tender (timing depends on the size) then fish them out and place in a bowl of cold tap water to stop cooking. Drain and separate them into serving bowls immediately while they are wet and can be easily separated. You can watch my kanom jeen namya tutorial as a guide.

You can also sub Japanese somen noodles which are made from wheat, but once cooked they have a similar enough texture. They only need 2 minutes to cook.

Storage and Reheating

Green curry will last in your fridge for up to a week and it can be reheated in the microwave. If you're using eggplant, they may overcook during reheating so try not to overheat it. If you want to make curry to freeze, see my post on how to freeze a Thai curry.