Authentic Thai Red Curry Recipe, (Kaeng Ped Gai) แกงเผ็ดไก่

Authentic Thai red curry recipe with chicken is not only delicious but quick to put together. The curry is extra creamy with a bold flavor of spicy, sweet, and salty from the coconut milk, red curry paste, brown sugar, fish sauce, and the kaffir lime leaves make this Thai recipe an instant favorite! 

If you love to cook Thai food, curries, and coconut and want more authentic Thai recipes in your life, you need to check these SUPER EASY AND DELICIOUS CURRY RECIPES. Like this Easy Thai yellow curry chicken recipe, Easy green curry recipe, Easy red curry green beans with shrimp, (Pad Prik King). These are all coconut soup-based curries with many different levels of spiciness that you can put together in a very short amount of time.   

Why this Recipe Works

• You can use any cut of chicken meat for this curry. Chicken thighs, drumsticks, or tenderloins work great for this recipe.  You can also use beef or pork
• This chicken curry recipe uses store-bought Thai curry paste, Mae Ploy Brand, a very popular brand, making this curry a very quick dish to put together. 
• Using both coconut cream and coconut milk helps buffer the spiciness of the red curry paste. And the extra creaminess is just irresistible!
• The use of bamboo shoots, which have an earthy and slight crunch taste,  adds to the authenticity of this coconut cream-based curry recipe.

Key Ingredients

Below is the ingredient list in the photos and also some of the unique Asian ingredients that you’ll need to make an authentic Thai red curry recipe.

• Kaffir lime leaves. The Kaffir lime rinds and leaves have a very distinctive fragrance and flavors that often sets Thai cuisine apart from other dishes. Look for them in the freezer section of your Asian markets.
• Bamboo Shoots. You can find canned bamboo shoots at your Asian markets. They come as strips, slices, or whole, just be sure to slice the whole bamboo into bite-size pieces before cooking. You will also need to drain and soak the bamboo in the cans before cooking to remove the metallic flavor from the tin can. 
• Coconut milk and cream. For this recipe, I used both canned and boxed coconut milk and cream. The cream is for the added creaminess and richness of an Authentic Thai curry. Delicious! When picking up coconut milk be sure to grab the full fat and unsweetened coconut milk and cream. See the image above for reference. 
• Red curry paste. A pantry staple, my top 3 go-to Thai brands of curry pastes are Pae Ploy, Aroy D, and Mae Sri. 
• Thai Basil. Thai basil has a bold fragrance with a tint of cinnamon-like fragrance. Look for deep green-colored basil leaves with dark purple stems. They are often sold in the refrigerated section of most Asian grocery stores. 

Step-By-Step Instructions

Below are the step-by-step photos of how to make the most delicious and authentic Thai red curry chicken.

• Open the can of bamboo, rinse out the liquid in a colander, rinse in warm water and place the bamboo slices in a saucepan filled with water and bring to a boil on medium heat for 10 minutes. Discard the brine and drain the bamboo slices and set them aside for a minute.
• Heat the coconut cream in a soup pot on medium-high heat until the coconut cream starts to separate. *(See recipe notes about the separation of the coconut milk.)
• Turn the heat down to medium then add the curry paste and garlic. break up the curry paste, stir and cook until the sauce is thickened and creamy.
• Add chicken, bamboo slices, stir well together. 
• Add coconut milk and stir well together. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. 
• Add brown sugar, kaffir lime leaves and stir together, cook for 2 more minutes.  
• Turn the heat off and add the basil leaves, stir and let the curry cool off for 5 minutes. You can add fish sauce here if you need a more salty taste to your curry, purely optional. You can also add extra chilis if you want more spiciness. Diced up some Thai fresh chilis and sprinkle on top of your bowl and you're set.

That's it! Serve this amazing authentic Thai red curry with jasmine rice and garnish with more basil leaves.

Coconut Milk Separation

This is a cooking technique that will help you get the most creamy, rich coconut flavor in your curry. Let's do a quick lesson on how coconut milk is made to help us understand a bit more about this method. Coconut milk is made by mixing coconut flesh with water to create coconut milk that we use in our cooking. Coconut has a lot of naturally fatty oils in it, think creamy rich coconut milk. Since oil and water don't mix well, some manufacturers add chemicals, emulsifiers, to stabilize the mixing of water and coconut fats. So when cooking coconut milk that has emulsifiers added to it, the fat will not separate from the water causing your coconut milk to not "break" or "crack" or "separate" from each other. Think of emulsifiers as a ring that "binds" the two ingredients together. (: BUT this is not a good thing for our authentic curries though. We want the two to separate so we get the rich and creamy flavor of the coconut milk that is extracted through the breaking up of the two ingredients. The signature taste and look of authentic Thai curries that we want more of!

If your coconut milk will not separate no matter how long you cook it, it means your coconut milk has emulsifiers added to it. All is not lost though. If this happens, there are 3 things you can do.

1. Continue as is and your curry will still be creamy and delicious.
2. Add a tablespoon of coconut oil to your curry paste while it's still cooking on the stove, it will help add a little extra richness to the curry.
3. Pick a different brand of coconut milk for your next round of curry making.  

Recipe Notes

• Fresh bamboo shoots are hard to find; canned bamboo shoots are a good substitute. *See note below on canned bamboo shoots before cooking. 
• If you are new to Thai cooking, I highly recommend using curry pastes to start out and experiment with different brands. Later on, I will share my homemade curry paste recipes. 
• If you can't find Thai basil, you can use Italian basil, the more common basil found in most Western grocery stores. It's better to have some type of basil than nothing at all. I'm not too stickler about this especially when Thai basil isn't as readily available during the winter months. 

Other Easy Curry Recipes You'll Love

• Red Thai curry with chicken and kabocha squash
• Beef Massaman curry recipe
• Easy Thai yellow curry chicken recipe,
• Easy green curry recipe,
• Easy red curry green beans with shrimp, (Pad Prik King)

FAQs

• What Spices and Herbs are in Thai Red Curry Paste?

Thai Red curry paste is a blend of dried Thai red peppers, galangal, lemongrass, shrimp paste, garlic, shallot, kaffir lime leaves and rind, and salt. The ingredients are pounded and seasoned together in a mortar and pestle or food processor to form a curry paste to use to make curry dishes. 

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Authentic Thai Red Curry Recipe, (Kaeng Ped Gai) แกงเผ็ดไก่

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★★★★★

5 from 5 reviews

• Author: Suwanee
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 5
• Diet: Gluten Free

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Description

Authentic Thai red curry recipe with chicken is not only delicious but quick to put together. The curry is extra creamy with a bold flavor of spicy, sweet, and salty from the coconut milk, red curry paste, brown sugar, fish sauce, and the kaffir lime leaves make this Thai recipe an instant favorite! 

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 can bamboo slices (20 oz can)
• 1 cup coconut cream
• ⅓ cup red curry paste (adjustable as needed for spiciness preference.)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb chicken, cut into bite-sized, 1-2 inches thick
• 1 can coconut milk (13.5 oz)
• 2 ½ Tbsp brown sugar
• 4 kaffir lime leaves, very thinly sliced
• 1 cup Thai basil, separate the leaves
• Fish sauce- optional

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Instructions

• Open the can of bamboo, rinse out the liquid in a colander, rinse in warm water and place the bamboo slices in a saucepan filled with water and bring to a boil on medium heat for 10 minutes. Discard the brine and drain the bamboo slices and set them aside for a minute.
• Heat the coconut cream in a soup pot on medium-high heat until the coconut cream starts to separate. *(See section about the separation of the coconut milk.)
• Turn the heat down to medium then add the curry paste and garlic. break up the curry paste, stir and cook until the sauce is thickened and creamy.
• Add chicken, bamboo slices, stir well together. 
• Add coconut milk and stir well together. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. 
• Add brown sugar, kaffir lime leaves and stir together, cook for 2 more minutes.  
• Turn the heat off and add the basil leaves, stir and let the curry cool off for 5 minutes. You can add fish sauce here if you need a more salty taste to your curry, purely optional. You can also add extra chilis if you want more spiciness. Diced up some Thai fresh chilis and sprinkle on top of your bowl and you're set.

Notes

• It’s important that you boil the canned bamboo shoot slices first to remove the metallic taste from the can.
• You can also use beef, pork, shrimp, or firm tofu for the protein in place of chicken.
• Kaffir lime leaves are crucial for the flavor profile. It’s hard for me to recommend a substitute, as there’s nothing out there close to this flavor. If possible, find kaffir lime leaves in Asian markets either in the refrigerated or in the freezer section. 
• If unable to find Thai basil, Italian sweet basil is not a bad substitute.

• Prep Time: 15
• Cook Time: 20
• Category: Curry
• Method: Stove Top
• Cuisine: Thai

Keywords: authentic thai red curry recipe, Red curry paste, Red curry recipe, Red chicken curry