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!
Making your curry paste will elevate your curry even more!
Make my popular and authentic Thai red curry paste using my recipe to elevate your catfish curry! For more Thai recipes with Thai red curry pastes, try Thai swimming rama with peanut sauce, authentic Thai red curry with chicken, and 5-minute satay sauce.
Jump to:
- Adding coconut cream to Pad Prik Khing
- Why This Recipe Works
- What Goes Into Pad Prik Khing Recipe?
- Ingredient Notes for making Phat Phrik Khing
- How To Make Red Curry Green Beans with Shrimp
- Kitchen Notes for Pad Prik Khing Curry
- Frequestionly Asked Questions
- Related Thai Recipes You'll Love
- Pad Prik Khing red curry green beans with shrimp
Adding coconut cream to Pad Prik Khing
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).
- Chicken, beef, pork, duck, and firm fried tofu are other great protein options that pair well with the tasty Prik King.
- 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; it will be one of your favorite Thai dishes in no time.
What Goes Into Pad Prik Khing Recipe?
This Pad Prik King with red curry and 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.
- 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. Make your own Prik Khing curry 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. Slice the Thai chilies into thin strips and use them 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) and use them for other Thai recipes. See the image below for a visual reference. Read up on Kaffir lime leaves and substitutes here.
Ingredient Notes for making Phat Phrik Khing
Prik Khing curry paste. This recipe uses store-bought Prik Khing curry paste, Maesri brand. See the image below. To make your own Prik King curry paste, use my homemade Prik King curry paste recipe here.
Long green beans. My recipe uses long green beans found at the Asian market. (See the image below of long green beans.)Use any green beans found at your regular grocery stores. I also love using them for my Thai papaya salad and Basil and green beans stir fry (Pad Kra Pao).
Kaffir lime leaves. Don't skip out on the kaffir lime leaves. (see the image below of what they look like.)They make this recipe with added unique flavors and textures. Find some at local Asian grocery stores in the produce or frozen section. Read more about Kaffir lime leaves here.
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. Make your Prik Khing curry paste using this recipe. We will be using a curry paste from Maesri. 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 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 Thai food cooking. 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! Try it! You will need lots of napkins for your fingers. (:
Frequestionly Asked Questions
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.
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.
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 in American grocery stores. They are also called pole beans or Chinese long beans.
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.
Related Thai Recipes You'll Love
- Prik Khing Curry Paste. Homemade from scratch!
- Thai pork belly with yellow curry
- Easy Thai beef panang curry recipe
- 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
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
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!
Ingredients
- 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 pieces
- Garnishing options. Thai red chilis sliced long and thin and seeds removed or thinly sliced kaffir lime leaves.
Instructions
- 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).
- 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.
- Add the coconut cream and mix it well with the paste.
- Let the sauce cook until thickens, occasionally stirring, for about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the shrimp into the sauce and stir until well coated with the sauce.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. 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 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. (:
** Thank you so much for visiting my blog! This is truly a passion for me. If you have enjoyed these recipes and appreciate the hard work I put into them, I would love it if you would share them with your friends! Your recommendation is the highest review I could hope for, and I’d appreciate it! **
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: curries, shrimp recipe
- Method: Stir fries
- Cuisine: Thai
Suwanee says
I'm so happy to hear this, Allison! It is one of the most simple dishes to make that's packed full of flavors! It's my go to for a quick easy quick lunch. Thanks for sharing and for the star rating!
Allison says
I love Pad Prik Khing when I go for Thai food. This recipe is so good, I actually prefer it to the restaurants! I’ve made it about 4 times in the past 3 months. Addicted! I found the ingredients at a local Asian market, it’s rather simple to make.
Suwanee says
Thank you Lisa, sounds like it was a hit with everyone! Thank you!
Lisa C says
Epic flavors! Clean plate club all around the table. Saddest part is we don’t have any leftovers, however it’s an easy and quick recipe that we will have again soon! Thank you!!
Suwanee says
Thank you, Joe!
Suwanee says
I do love shrimp in curry too, they take on the flavors so well.
Shayla says
Curry and shrimp is a good combo. I love the taste of the dish. Will make it again.
Joe says
Made them for dinner and it turned out so delicious!! Can’t recommend enough for this recipe.
Mark Perlioni says
This was so simple to make, yet so complex in flavor. The long beans are delicious. This was our first time using this particular curry paste and it is relatively mild when compared to Thai red curry paste (we used 3 Tbsp). Also a great way to cook shrimp as they take on the flavors very well. Absolutely will be making this again!
We love Thai cuisine and this is our one stop place to find great recipes. I really like your approach melding authenticity with progression. Thanks for the great recipes and writeups!
Alana says
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Suwanee says
Thank you Adriana! Perhaps try to find coconut milk in paper cartons instead of can too? I prefer them over the can ones if I can find them. I love that you know food so well. Such refined palate and so great!
Suwanee says
So happy it still turned out delicious. If you have to use frozen beans again, try wrapping paper towels around the beans and squeeze as much liquid out as possible without breaking the beans? Just a thought. Eating with coulifower rice sounds wonderful!
Suwanee says
Wow, Thank you so very much for these wonderful words! I'm incredible thrilled that you love the recipe so much too. I love that you tried some with chicken too. It's perfect.
Mark &Caroline Fleet says
This recipe is exquisite! We've eaten at many Thai restaurants; however, we haven't ever been successful cooking Thai food at home. Until now! This recipe rivals the best retaurant Thai food that we've eaten in Atlanta and Denver. It's that good!
We were able to find the Mae Sri Panang Curry Paste at our local Asian market along with the coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves. The curry paste is definitely the key to this recipe. We've made it twice now with shrimp and chicken. Both were excellent, and it's sooo easy.
Thank you! Thank you!
So delicious! says
We made this last night and it turned out deliciously! I used frozen green beans and frozen shrimp and didn't think about letting them thaw out first. So my dish turned out a bit more watery than yours. However, cauliflower rice soaked it all up! Thanks for this easy, flavorful, and satisfying meal.
Adriana says
Full post above.
Pss, I also think it is essential to have the coconut milk Suwanee recommends. It tasted so fresh vs. the coconut milks that have the guar gum. Beware, I have many cans of organic coconut milk that still have guar gum, the emulsifier Suwanee mentions. The taste is not the same. Maybe this is why I never loved using the canned pastes because I had these coconut milks that don’t taste like coconut milk and that are not authentic.
One last thing I must say is, this recipe tasted as good as a really good Thai restaurant meal. It felt like we were eating our favorite meal at a restaurant. Thank you again, Suwanee.
Adriana says
I got so excited to make a new Thai dish because I had the green beans on hand.... but I did not have Pad Prik Khing curry paste so subbed with Maesri green curry paste. It came amazing. I have never Pad Prik Khing curry paste.... but I definitely want to try it. I also did not have shrimp so I substituted with chicken like Suwanee recommended. I used thighs, cut in small pieces. I also have not had luck in the past with the right ratio of green curry paste to coconut milk so I started with half a can of paste and then used 2/3 of coconut milk.... on the spot as I started cooking I felt to try this. I thought we can add more if we need. I ended up liking the ratio, and not adding more. It came perfect for us. We were licking dishes and pans, and no leftovers. Ok, no more fear over making curry with recipes like this. I have never had luck with the canned pastes for some reason in the past, but this was a winner and we will be having this recipe often. Next time, we will try with shrimp and pad prik curry paste. Ps, I used lakanto, I believe it is a monk fruit sugar in this curry, for the first time because I was also cooking for my mom who has diabetes. I used just a little less than the two and a half tablespoons, I used between 2 or maybe even 2 and 1/4 teaspoons because my mom has lost her taste for sweets and she finds lakanto sweet. It still came perfect for us. And plenty sweet enough for me and I love sugar. Sweetness wise i can say it definitely worked well with monk fruit sugar. Thank you Suwanee! This was such a treat to make this beautiful recipe!
C+C says
We love the rich flavor of this dish. It was very easy to prepare too. We ate without rice, and it was excellent by itself.
C says
This was such a phenomenal flavor-packed meal to cook in such a short time! It will be in heavy rotation at our house. We had no problem finding the curry blend or other ingredients. I had never used the cans of curry blend before - such a convenient size! I used frozen shrimp and let it unthaw about 10 min before putting it in. Enjoy!
Suwanee says
I"m so glad Barbara! The kaffir lime leaves are pretty much a non-negotiable ingredient. (: Happy Cooking!
Barbara Safranek says
Everything about this was delicious - creamy, shrimpy, crunchy, FULL of flavor - totally satisfying one-dish meal combined with rice! Suwanee was right -of course - about the essential Kaffir Lime leaves - so much flavor!