Red Curry Green Beans with Shrimp (Pad Prik King), กุ้งผัดพริกขิง

This easy red curry green beans with shrimp or Pad Prik King is a popular Thai stir-fry dish.  It uses fresh green beans, shrimp, and premade prik khing curry paste and is topped off with fragrant kaffir lime leaves. It can be ready in 20 minutes!

This recipe is so popular that I have created a homemade Prik Khing curry paste and another delicious variation of the Thai Pad Prik Khing recipe with pork belly. They are all TASTY recipes full of flavors!

As the saying goes, you can break the rules once you know the rules. This is the case for this mouthwatering red curry green beans with shrimp, a Thai stir-fry dish. Most Pad Prik Khing recipes don’t call for coconut milk, so it's typically a drier red curry dish, but I find that it enhances the flavors and adds a richness that helps ease the spiciness from the curry paste. The added creaminess rounds out the spicy, salty, and slightly sweet flavor of Prik King very nicely!

You can use water or stock for a drier curry, and it’ll be fine. Make sure to adjust the seasoning accordingly.

Why This Recipe Works

• My Pad Prik Khing Recipe uses shrimp for a quick and easy meal (shrimp cooks faster than other types of protein). Other great protein options that pair well with the tasty Prik King are chicken, beef, pork, duck, and firm fried tofu. 
• You can also make it vegetarian by adding semi-sweet and crunchy vegetables like zucchini, bell peppers, peapods, carrots, and green beans.
• The recipe uses premade Prik King curry paste, making this recipe so quick and easy to whip together in less than 30 minutes!

What Goes Into Pad Prik Khing Recipe?

This red curry green beans recipe is incredibly fast and easy to make. Once you’ve prepped, you’ll have a delicious Thai red curry stirfry for dinner in no time! Here are the Pad Prik Khing ingredients you’ll need to make this dish. I have also included a picture of all the ingredients below for your reference.

Notes on a Few Key Ingredients 

1. For the green beans you can use almost all types of green beans for this recipe. I’ve used purple string beans, long beans, wax beans, and French green beans. Use what you have available to you. The recipe will still be tasty.  
2. Thai fish sauce. Squid or red boat brands are great with this recipe.
3. Prik Khing curry paste. I used the Mae Sri brand that comes in 4 oz containers. Highly recommend this brand for this recipe. 
4. Coconut cream or coconut milk. You can use either. The coconut cream is thicker and more rich, creamy, and sweet. You can use less sugar if choosing coconut cream for this recipe. Again, coconut milk is my twist on this classic dish, and I’ve loved it for many years. 
5. Kaffir lime leaves. I DO NOT recommend substituting or omitting this ingredient. Kaffir leaves are a specific type of lime leaves that are highly aromatic with a distinctive flavor that is commonly used in many dishes in Thai cuisine. Without it, the stir fry is flat and lacks the aromatic and unique flavor of the lime leaves. You can find the leaves in the frozen section of the Asian market. Or you can purchase online here. You can store unused pieces in your freezer for a very long time (up to a year), so you can use them for other Thai recipes.

How To Make Red Curry Green Beans with Shrimp (Pad Prik King)

Below are the step-by-step photos showing how to make my recipe. There are eight simple steps, and you will have dinner on the table in no time. Let’s get started!

1. Fry garlic with oil in a skillet or wok on medium-high heat until the garlic is lightly golden brown (30 seconds or so).
2. Add the curry paste to the skillet, break up the curry paste chunks, and mix well with the garlic. Fry for 1 minute until the paste is fragrant.
3. Add the coconut cream and mix it well with the paste. 
4. Let the sauce cook until thickens, occasionally stirring, for about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the shrimp into the sauce and stir until well coated with the sauce.
6. Add the rest of the ingredients (kaffir lime leaves, sugar, and fish sauce), mix in really well, and stir often. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Taste the sauce here and adjust it to your liking with more fish sauce or sugar.
7. Add the green beans, stir well, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Do not overcook the green beans. You want to leave a little crunch for taste.
8. Taste it last time, and add more fish sauce or sugar as needed. Serve warm with rice. ENJOY!!

FAQs And Expert Tips 

What does Prik Khing Mean in Thai?

Let’s first break down these Thai words that have been translated into English sounds. Pad = Stir fry, Prik = Chili peppers, King = Ginger. So then we have stirfry chilis peppers with ginger. But here’s a mysterious twist. Not a trace of ginger is in this classic Thai dish! The origin of the name is unknown, but the dish is legendary. Pad Prik King is then a red curry dish made with Prik King curry paste that’s made with dried chilis, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, galangal, cilantro root, kaffir lime rind, and shrimp paste, pound together to form a red paste. 

What Does Prik Khing Taste Like?

Pad Prik King is a stir fry recipe using red curry paste, so the dish has all the famous Thai flavors of spicy, salty, and sweet. This recipe is also creamy from the coconut cream, adding nice well-rounded flavors to balance the other robust flavors. Adding the kaffir lime leaves adds a unique herbaceous flavor that sets this stir-fry apart from other recipes.

What are Yardlong Beans? 

Yardlong beans are green beans used in several recipes in Thai cooking. They are long, light green color beans, about 1-2 feet long green beans. They are a bit sweeter and crispier than the regular green beans you typically see in American grocery stores. They are also called pole beans or Chinese long beans. There are wide varieties of long beans out there, but you can use any type you can find a substitute. I also love using them for my Thai papaya salad and my Basil and green beans stir fry (Pad Kra Pao). 

Kitchen Notes for Pad Prik Khing Curry

Prik King Paste for Red Curry Green Beans Recipe

My recipe calls for a pre-made curry paste. My go-to brand is Maesri Prik King Curry Paste.  It is delicious, quick, and easy, and I can usually put together a lunch or dinner with this dish within 15-20 minutes. Later down the road, I will teach you how to make your curry paste. For today though, we are aiming for a quick, easy, and yet oh-so-delicious dish, and for that, we will use a curry paste from Maesri. You can purchase the paste here. It comes in a pack of 4.

Prik Khing Curry with Coconut Milk

For my Pad Prik King Shrimp Recipe, I use coconut cream to add extra creaminess to the curry. You can use coconut milk or water if you’d like to have fewer calories. When I use water, I find it tends to dilute the flavor of the curry paste, and the dish tends to get too runny at the end. I recommend this coconut cream brand and coconut milk for use in cooking Thai food. You can purchase the coconut cream here or the coconut milk here.

Notes on the Shrimp

Here’s something new you might want to try. I’ve used shrimp with shells on it to cook this recipe. The shells fold in the creamy curry paste into the meat of the shrimp, making the shrimp even more juicy and tender. I’ve been known to suck the curry sauce from the shell of the shrimp for that extra messy but oh-so-very street-like and scrumptious sauce before peeling the shells off to get to the meat of the well-seasoned crustaceans. I’d put the New Orleans crawfish eating game to shame, especially when eating it with my Thai friends and family! You need to try it. You will need lots of napkins for your fingers. (:

Related Thai Recipes You'll Love

• Prik Khing Curry Paste. Homemade from scratch!
• Authentic Thai Red Curry Recipe.
• Authentic Thai Red Curry Paste. Another tasty homemade red curry paste!
• Red Thai Curry with Chicken and Kabocha Squash
• Easy Thai Yellow Curry Chicken
• Beef Massaman Curry Recipe
• Easy Green Curry Recipe

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Easy Red Curry Green Beans with Shrimp (Pad Prik King)

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★★★★★

5 from 7 reviews

• Author: Suwanee
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x
• Diet: Gluten Free

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Description

This easy red curry green beans with shrimp or Pad Prik King is a popular Thai stir-fry dish.  It uses fresh green beans, shrimp, premade prik khing curry paste, and the dish is topped off with fragrant kaffir lime leaves. Pad Prik Khing recipe is an easy dish that can be put together in 20 minutes! 

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

1 Tbsp oil (coconut, grapeseed, avocado, vegetable, or canola)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 4-oz can Prik Khing curry paste

1 cup coconut cream (or 1.25 cup coconut milk)

1 lb. large shrimp, tail on is fine too

5-6 kaffir lime leaves, finely julienned

2.5 Tbsp brown sugar or palm sugar

1.5 tsp Thai fish sauce

2 cups green beans cut into 1-2 inch pieces

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Instructions

1. Fry garlic with oil in a skillet or wok on medium-high heat until the garlic is lightly golden brown (30 seconds or so).
2. Add the curry paste to the skillet, break up the curry paste chunks, and mix well with the garlic. Fry for 1 minute until the paste is fragrant.
3. Add the coconut cream and mix it well with the paste. 
4. Let the sauce cook until thickens, occasionally stirring, for about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the shrimp into the sauce and stir until well coated with the sauce.
6. Add the kaffir lime leaves, sugar, and fish sauce, stir well and cook for 1-2 minutes. Carefully taste the sauce and adjust it to your liking with more fish sauce or sugar.
7. Add the green beans, or other vegetables here, stir well and cook for 2-3 minutes. Do not overcook the green beans. You want to leave a little crunch for taste.
8. Taste it last time, and add more fish sauce or sugar as needed. Serve warm with rice. ENJOY!!

Notes

• My recipe uses coconut cream, but you can use coconut milk. Just add a little extra of the coconut milk, around ¼ cup extra to help achieve the creaminess in the sauce. 
• You can omit the coconut cream/milk and use water instead for the more traditional flavor. Be sure to adjust your seasoning with salt and sugar to taste.
• You can also make it vegetarian by adding semi-sweet and crunchy vegetables like zucchini, bell peppers, peapods, carrots, and of course green beans.
• Palm sugar is commonly used in Thai cooking but it is not always available at mainstream grocery stores. You can use dark brown sugar. Keep in mind that palm sugar is less sweet so adjust your portion as needed. 

• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 10
• Category: Curries
• Method: Stir fries
• Cuisine: Thai

Keywords: Pad Prik Khing, Pad Prik khing recipe, Prik King with shrimp, Thai green beans red curry, Easy Red Curry Green Beans with Shrimp

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