When It's Okay to Use Canned
I do not like canned pineapple. Generally I find them flavourless. So when I want pineapple, I will usually spend the time to cut up a whole one. However, I ended up with canned pineapple out of panic (see video intro for the story!), so I had to come up with a way to use it in a way that will still be delicious.
Then it occurred to me that a pineapple curry is the best place for it, because the flavour of the curry is so strong that the pineapple does not need to be perfect for it to end up as a delicious dish!
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Ingredients
Here are all the ingredients you'll need to make this recipe. For amounts, check out the full recipe card below.
- Pineapple chunks, packed in juice NOT in syrup (or about 1¾ cups fresh pineapple)
- Red curry paste (or to taste)
- Coconut milk
- Water or unsalted chicken stock
- Dried shrimp (optional), finely chopped or ground into a fluff in a coffee grinder
- Makrut lime leaves (kaffir lime)
- Fish sauce
- Chopped palm sugar (or brown or white sugar)
- Cooking tamarind (what is tamarind and how to make it?)
- Red bell pepper, julienned
- Shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Jasmine rice for serving
How to Make Thai Pineapple Curry with Shrimp
Here are all the steps to make this recipe. If this is your first time, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success.
- Drain pineapple from the juice and place the chunks in a mixing bowl. (You can discard the juice or mix it with some soda water for a sparkling treat!)
- Take 2-3 pieces of pineapple at a time in your hand and squeeze the juice out of them. Do not drain this juice; just leave it in the bowl. Do this for all the pineapple pieces; you want the pineapple to give up the juice so they can absorb the curry sauce.
- In a medium pot, bring ½ cup coconut milk to a boil over medium heat, then add red curry paste and stir to mix with the coconut milk. Reduce the heat to medium low and keep cooking, stirring frequently, until the paste is very thick and you may start to see coconut oil separating out of the paste.
- Once the oil has started to appear, keep stirring the paste for a few more minutes, deglazing with a little bit of coconut milk if it's sticking too much to the bottom of the pot.
- Add the rest of the coconut milk, pineapple and the juice you squeezed out, dried shrimp, and ½ cup of water or stock.
- Tear up makrut lime leaves into big chunks, twisting as you tear to bruise the leaves and allow the aromatic oils to come out, and add them to the pot. Simmer on medium low heat for at least 5 minutes to allow flavours to mingle.
- Add fish sauce, sugar, and tamarind to taste; how much you need will depend on the flavour of the pineapple, so add less and then taste and adjust as needed. You want the curry sauce to have just a little bit of sweetness and tartness to match the pineapple.
- Add bell peppers and cook for 1 minute.
- Add shrimp and cook for 1 minute or just until fully cooked, then remove from heat.
- Taste and adjust final seasoning (pro tip: you can never taste too many times when you cook!) and serve with jasmine rice. Enjoy!
The Most Important Step: Squeeze the Pineapple!
The one step that might be surprising, but is SO important, is for you to squeeze the pineapple pieces (whether you use fresh or canned). This is a key step that will "de-saturate" the pineapple pieces from their juice, making room for curry sauce to penetrate and mingle so that it doesn't feel like you're eating a curry and then suddenly interrupted by a bite of pineapple! This is key to creating a "cohesive" flavour in the dish. I believe one reason that many people dislike pineapple in savoury dishes is because it doesn't feel like the sweet-tart pineapple belongs in the otherwise savoury food.
More Easy Thai Curry Recipes
This is a curry I consider weeknight-friendly because it's so fast and easy, with very minimal chopping since the pineapple comes pre-cut. And if you're into "quick" also check out how to make panang curry because that is another really quick and easy curry, with no pesky vegetables to chop, and it's incredibly delicious!
If you're an Instant Pot user, try this Instant Pot Massaman Curry that makes a weeknight meal out of something that would normally take many hours!
For something unusual? Into food mashups? You've got to try these epic red curry tacos. The flavours coming from them is INCREDIBLE, and you can even make it without going to the Asian grocery store!
Recipe Card
Print
Thai Pineapple Curry with Shrimp
- Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 can pineapple chunks, packed in juice NOT in syrup (or about 1¾ cups fresh pineapple)
- 4-5 tablespoon red curry paste (or to taste)
- 1½ cups coconut milk
- ½ cup water or unsalted chicken stock
- 2 Tbsp dried shrimp (optional), finely chopped or ground into a fluff in a coffee grinder
- 7-8 makrut lime leaves (kaffir lime)
- 1-2 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2-3 teaspoon chopped palm sugar (or brown or white sugar)
- About 1 Tbsp cooking tamarind (what is tamarind and how to make it?)
- Half a red bell pepper, julienned
- 350g medium sized shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Jasmine rice for serving
Instructions
- Drain pineapple from the juice and place the chunks in a mixing bowl. (You can discard the juice or mix it with some soda water for a sparkling treat!)
- Take 2-3 pieces of pineapple at a time in your hand and squeeze the juice out of them. Do not drain this juice; just leave it in the bowl. Do this for all the pineapple pieces; you want the pineapple to give up the juice so they can absorb the curry sauce.
- In a medium pot, bring ½ cup coconut milk to a boil over medium heat, then add red curry paste and stir to mix with the coconut milk. Reduce the heat to medium low and keep cooking, stirring frequently, until the paste is very thick and you may start to see coconut oil separating out of the paste. Once the oil has started to appear, keep stirring the paste for a few more minutes, deglazing with a little bit of coconut milk if it's sticking too much to the bottom of the pot.
- Add the rest of the coconut milk, pineapple and the juice you squeezed out, dried shrimp, and ½ cup of water or stock. Tear up makrut lime leaves into big chunks, twisting as you tear to bruise the leaves and allow the aromatic oils to come out, and add them to the pot. Simmer on medium low heat for at least 5 minutes to allow flavours to mingle.
- Add fish sauce, sugar, and tamarind to taste; how much you need will depend on the flavour of the pineapple, so add less and then taste and adjust as needed. You want the curry sauce to have just a little bit of sweetness and tartness to match the pineapple.
- Add bell peppers and cook for 1 minute.
- Add shrimp and cook for 1 minute or just until fully cooked, then remove from heat.
- Taste and adjust final seasoning (pro tip: you can never taste too many times when you cook!) and serve with jasmine rice. Enjoy!
Rick says
I was not too fond of the added dry shrimp. I wish I did't, otherwise, it came out good except for the strong dry shrimp taste
Jane says
That was a delicious curry, thank you! I eyeballed the curry ingredients a bit (the amounts for curry paste, fish sauce, palm sugar and tamarind) and didn't use the dried shrimp (I have some but it's been in my fridge for two or three years and I've only used it once and think I should throw it out??? I'm just not at all familiar with the ingredient and how long it should last). I used everything else and also added some chopped green cabbage, a couple of thin cut brussels sprouts and a couple of slices of fennel because I needed to use them up and thought they would go (random I know) and it was absolutely delicious.
Northerner says
This recipe is amazing! It was much more than I was hoping for. I watched the curry paste taste test and followed the recommendations. For this I followed the recipe except used fried tofu instead of shrimp. I live in a city with about 350,000 people, very ethnically diverse, with many Thai restaurants. This was so incredibly spicy I struggled to get through. In future I’ll probably use 1-2 Tbsp of red curry paste rather than 5. The balance of flavors is really great, I’m just struggled with the heat. Overall a wonderful recipe, but I’d suggest adjusting the heat to your preference.
Gary says
Gathered ingredients for this from my local Asian Grocery Store. Used canned coconut milk and canned red curry paste, so the flavors were not as intense as I was expecting. Regardless of my ingredients, I really enjoyed the dish. The recipe was simple to prepare and very good. I will make this again for friends and family.
sheila says
My partner used to order this regularly from our local Thai restaurant, but this recipe is far better. Such a great balance of flavors, and simple to make. I've made it with shrimp, but I've also made a tofu version with vegan fish sauce as a vegetarian alternative. I've enjoyed both equally. Thanks for sharing this recipe!!!
Alyssa says
This was FANTASTIC!! I made this spur of the moment so I didn’t have dried shrimp on hand, but I had everything else. There was not a morsel leftover. Best. Curry. Ever.
Lorraine says
My best restaurant dupe of pineapple red curry that I have EVER made! I substituted the protein using chicken thighs instead of shrimp. I used Mae Ploy brand curry paste ( based on your past video ranking store bought pastes) and full fat coconut milk. I Did not have palm sugar so substitute with brown sugar. I shared it on my Instagram but it’s set to private so you can’t see it.
Martha Haary says
Thank you for this recipe and your work in general! I love your first book and will order the new one.
I cooked this recipe yesterday and the family was quite in favour of it. However, I have one question: I was able to balance the taste between the sweetness of the palm sugar and the tamarind sourness. The aroma of the kaffir leaves was easily noticable and the pressed pineapple pieces were fine.
However, one thing was missing and I don't know how to add it: I think there should have been a more pronouced umami taste. I tried to add more fish sauce as a umami source, but this lead to a case of "too much of a good thing", the fish sauce taste was too dominant. What can I do to get more umami without imbalancing everything?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Hi Martha! Did you use the dried shrimp? Those would add umami. Also, use chicken stock instead of water. Adding fish sauce is fine but it'll also make it saltier, which there may not be any room for. If those two things don't do it for you, bouillon powder or good old MSG will do the trick.
Martha Haary says
Yes, I found the dried shrimp in our Asia market and used it. Maybe not enough... adding more fish sauce is just a little "too fishy", if you get my drift. It's smell and taste shouldn't be too pronounced... Next time I try to add a little MSG (or corned vegetable buillon). Thank you for your suggestion.
A real problem for me trying out a new recipe is to have no knowledge "how it should taste". I love thai food and we have a few good thai restaurants in my vincinity (SW Germany). However, these offer mostly mainstream "street food" type like Pad Thai, red and green curry etc. To get a good Tom Kai Gai is not easy... I'd love to explore the far greater range of "real" thai food.
Richard says
I live in Thailand, so ingredients are easy. I've made this a few times by taste, no recipe. However I found this recipe to use as a guide as I was cooking for Thai people and thought my own version might not be right. I used cherry tomatoes (whole) additionally and substituted roast duck for the shrimp. It's pretty much the same ingredients I'd been using anyway but the cooking order was very different. I've always used tamarind pulp (deveined) in boiling water and mash it with a potato masher. Anyway, it wasn't noticeably different to my own version. Good enough for Thais. They took the leftovers home 😁
MSmith says
What is your recommended canned curry paste?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Maeploy, maesri, Aroy-D are all good
Austin says
BEST RECIPE EVER!!!!
Alison says
I don’t have tamarind paste; but I have the pad thai sauce I made using tamarind pulp, palm sugar & fish sauce. Can I use a few dollops of that instead of adding the sugar, fish sauce and tamarind separately?
Jes says
Made with fresh pineapple. Delicious!
Ian says
Delicious simple curry! Great for weeknights.
KP says
My 2nd try with making Thai food at home: winner! We won't discuss the 1st one. I was nervous about the pineapple but it did take on the sauce flavors (as promised) and the dish wasn't too sweet as I feared it might be. I brought it to a potluck and received loads of kudos.
The video, the recipe, the ingredient info, the great attitude, the clear descriptions, the asides about intermediate steps in instructions (esp. pad Thai sauce) all make cooking with HTK into a fun and successful experience. Thanks!
PS Since making this dish I've tried the BEST Pad Thai and the Quick Cucumber Pickle. They were successful, too. Next: Pork Satay and more of those delicious cucumbers!
Julianna says
This recipe quickly became our favorite for weeknight meals! We live far from the ocean, so instead of shrimp we added baked tofu which soaked up the sauce and tasted great!
Bonnie says
Delicious! I used fresh pineapple, and fortunately, had all of the ingredients. I’ll be making this again.
David Nichols says
Great curry and an excellent balance of flavors. I love what tamarind does for this dish, a perfect note of sourness to offset the pineapple.
Mike says
This is wonderful, did not have kafir lime leaves so I grated in some.lime and did use some basil also used fresh pineapple thank you
Kyle Finck says
Can this be made in advance or does it need to be served right away?
Bonnie says
I made this tonight. Preparing the curry ahead would work, but don’t add the shrimp. Add them to the reheated curry when you’re ready to eat. I had leftovers and took the shrimp that wouldn’t be eaten out of the hot curry so they wouldn’t overcook. I’ll do the same when I reheat - adding the shrimp at the very end.
Angie says
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
We made this for dinner and it was a hit!!!
We used twice the amount of the shrimps & substituted red bell peppers with cherry tomatoes.
We polished everything off. 😁👍
Aïcha says
I Madde it with fresh pineaple and it was very nice, everyone likes it!
Michael says
Very tasty, it became one of our favourite curries. Once I substituted the shrims with oister mushrooms (and added a a bit more dry shrimps), worked very well. Thank you.
Peter says
Very good!
Jan says
I have made this pineapple shrimp curry but hubby doesn’t like shrimp so I make it with sliced chicken breast and shrimp. He gets the chicken and I get the shrimp. Delicious for both of us. Thank you.