Pad Prik Khing Red Curry Green Beans with Shrimp

This easy Pad Prik Khing red curry green beans with shrimp 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 green bean stir fry 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.

Some traditional 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

• It's perfect for a quick lunchtime meal! It's my first choice dish when I want a dry curry.
• My Pad Prik Khing Recipe uses shrimp for a quick and easy Thai meal (shrimp cooks faster than other types of protein like chicken, beef, or pork).
• 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 a vegetarian version by adding semi-sweet and crunchy vegetables like zucchini, bell peppers, snow peas, carrots, and green beans.
• The recipe uses pre-made Prik King curry paste, making this recipe so quick and easy to whip together in less than 30 minutes!
• You'll likely not see this dish in most Thai restaurants, as it's an underrated dish. Try this at home, and it will be one of your favorite Thai dishes in no time.

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.

Ingredient Notes for making Phat Phrik Khing

• Long green beans. They are also called snake beans. Use almost all types of green beans as substitutes for this recipe. I’ve used purple string beans, long beans, wax beans, and French green beans. Use any available green beans you have.
• Prik King curry paste. My recipe calls for a pre-made curry paste. My go-to brand is Maesri Prik King Curry Paste.  You can purchase the paste here.

• Thai fish sauce. Squid or red boat brands are great with this recipe.
• Coconut cream or coconut milk. You can use either or. 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 cream is my twist on this classic dish, and I’ve loved it for many years. 
• Sugar. Substitute white, brown, coconut, or palm sugar.
• Red chili. In the authentic Pad Prik King recipe, the Thai chilies are sliced into thin strips and used for added color or garnishing. Use red bell peppers for a less spicy taste.
• Kaffir lime leaves. (Makrut 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 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. See the image below for a visual reference. 

Edit** Check out my new homemade prik khing curry paste here! Making your curry paste will elevate your curry even more!

How To Make Red Curry Green Beans with Shrimp

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!

Step 1. Fry garlic with oil in a large skillet, a wok, or a frying pan on medium-high heat until the garlic is lightly golden brown (30 seconds or so).
Step 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. Turn the heat down to medium if your stove top gets hot quickly.

Step 3. Add the coconut cream and mix it well with the paste. 

Step 4. Let the sauce cook until thickens, occasionally stirring, for about 2-3 minutes.

Step 5. Add the shrimp into the sauce and stir until well coated with the sauce.

Step 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 with more fish sauce or sugar.

Step 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. Add a little bit of water if the curry gets too dry.

Step 8. Taste it last time, and add more fish sauce or sugar as needed. Serve warm with jasmine rice. ENJOY!

Kitchen Notes for Pad Prik Khing Curry

• Prik King curry paste. 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 recipe. We will be using a curry paste from Maesri. You can purchase the prik khing curry paste here. It comes in a pack of 4.
• For curry paste substitutes, use a red Thai curry paste like Maesri and Mae Ploy brands. You'll need to add extra sugar, like a tablespoon of brown sugar and minced kaffir lime leaves or lime zest, for the extra flavors.
• 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. (:

FAQs

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 peel, 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 substitute. I also love using them for my Thai papaya salad, and my Basil and green beans stir fry (Pad Kra Pao). 

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
• Kaffir lime leaves and substitute

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Pad Prik Khing red curry green beans with shrimp

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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 Pad Prik Khing red curry green beans with shrimp 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!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

1 tablespoon oil (coconut, grapeseed, avocado, vegetable, or canola).

3 cloves garlic, minced

1-4 ounces can Prik Khing curry paste

1 cup coconut cream (or 1.25 cup coconut milk)

1 pound raw large shrimp, tail on is fine

5-6 kaffir lime leaves, finely julienned

2 ½ tablespoon brown sugar or palm sugar

1 ½ teaspoons Thai fish sauce

2 cups green beans cut into 1 ½-inch piece

Garnishing options. Thai red chilis sliced long and thin and seeds removed or thinly sliced kaffir lime leaves.

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Instructions

1. Fry garlic with oil in a large skillet, a wok, or a frying pan 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. Turn the heat down to medium if your stove top gets hot quickly
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 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. Add a little bit of water if the curry gets too dry.
8. Taste it last time, and add more fish sauce or sugar as needed. Serve warm with jasmine rice. ENJOY!

Notes

• Prik King curry paste. 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 recipe. We will be using a curry paste from Maesri. You can purchase the prik khing curry paste here. It comes in a pack of 4.
• For curry paste substitutes, use a red Thai curry paste like Maesri and Mae Ploy brands. You'll need to add extra sugar, like a tablespoon of brown sugar and minced kaffir lime leaves or lime zest, for the extra flavors.
• 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. (:

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• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 10
• Category: Curries, shrimp recipe
• 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