Thai Red Curry with Vegetables
This Thai red curry recipe is so easy to make at home! It's much tastier than takeout and healthier, too. This recipe is vegetarian, vegan and gluten free!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
You know dinner was good when you want to eat it for breakfast. Speaking of, it’s 10 am and I’m writing with a happy belly.
This Thai red curry made a fantastic meal last night and perhaps an even better breakfast this morning. It’s warm, comforting, and perfect for cool days. It’s a little rich, too, but so full of vegetables that it doesn’t feel too indulgent.
I’ve been meaning to try a red Thai curry based on my green curry for a while now, and I’m so glad I finally did. It’s the best curry I’ve ever had, restaurant versions included! Yeah, I said it.
Bonus? You should be able to find everything you need for this simple curry at a well-stocked grocery store.
Watch How to Make Thai Red Curry
Thai Red Curry Tips
- The secret to making amazing Thai curries is to use plenty of aromatics, like onion, ginger and garlic.
- Choose full-fat coconut milk for its richness (you won’t regret it!).
- Stirring in just a little bit of rice vinegar and sugar adds tons of complexity.
- Readily available store-bought Thai red curry paste adds characteristic Thai flavor and, bonus, the Thai Kitchen brand is vegetarian. You can make your own if you’re so inclined, though.
- Feel free to change up the vegetables, as long as you slice them so they’re all pretty small and about the same size. You could try broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, diced butternut or sweet potato (which will probably require a longer cooking time), sliced zucchini and/or yellow squash.
Please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments. I love to hear from you.
If you enjoy this hearty dinner recipe, be sure to check out my cookbook for more!
Thai Red Curry with Vegetables
This Thai red curry recipe is so easy to make at home! It’s much tastier than takeout and healthier, too. Feel free to change up the vegetables (you’ll need about 3 cups total) and skip the kale if you want a more traditional Thai curry. This recipe is vegetarian, vegan and gluten free for all to enjoy. Recipe yields 4 servings.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups brown jasmine rice or long-grain brown rice, rinsed
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 small white onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- Pinch of salt, more to taste
- 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger (about a 1-inch nub of ginger)
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin 2-inch long strips
- 1 yellow, orange or green bell pepper, sliced into thin 2-inch long strips
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal into ¼-inch thick rounds (about 1 cup)
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste*
- 1 can (14 ounces) regular coconut milk**
- ½ cup water
- 1 ½ cups packed thinly sliced kale (tough ribs removed first), preferably the Tuscan/lacinato/dinosaur variety
- 1 ½ teaspoons coconut sugar or turbinado (raw) sugar or brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce***
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar or fresh lime juice
- Garnishes/sides: handful of chopped fresh basil or cilantro, optional red pepper flakes, optional sriracha or chili garlic sauce
Instructions
- To cook the rice, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the rinsed rice and continue boiling for 30 minutes, reducing heat as necessary to prevent overflow. Remove from heat, drain the rice and return the rice to pot. Cover and let the rice rest for 10 minutes or longer, until you’re ready to serve. Just before serving, season the rice to taste with salt and fluff it with a fork.
- To make the curry, warm a large skillet with deep sides over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add the oil. Add the onion and a sprinkle of salt and cook, stirring often, until the onion has softened and is turning translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds, while stirring continuously.
- Add the bell peppers and carrots. Cook until the bell peppers are fork-tender, 3 to 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the curry paste and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes.
- Add the coconut milk, water, kale and sugar, and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the peppers, carrots and kale have softened to your liking, about 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the pot from the heat and season with tamari and rice vinegar. Add salt (I added ¼ teaspoon for optimal flavor), to taste. If the curry needs a little more punch, add ½ teaspoon more tamari, or for more acidity, add ½ teaspoon more rice vinegar. Divide rice and curry into bowls and garnish with chopped cilantro and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, if you’d like. If you love spicy curries, serve with sriracha or chili garlic sauce on the side.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my Thai green curry recipe.
*Red Thai curry paste: Look for it in the Asian section of the grocery store. I like Thai Kitchen brand, which is vegetarian. Not all brands are (they can contain fish sauce and/or shrimp paste).
**Coconut milk: For rich and creamy curry, you need to use regular (not light/reduced fat) coconut milk that contains guar gum. My favorite is Native Forest Classic. The varieties without guar gum (which are becoming more widely available) aren’t nearly as creamy, even though their fat content is the same.
***Make it gluten free: Be sure to use gluten-free tamari instead of regular soy sauce.
If you want to add tofu: I’d suggest baking it first and adding it with the coconut milk in step 4. If you add raw tofu, it will soak up too much of the liquid, and baking it greatly improves the texture, anyway.
Update 8/10/2016: I tweaked this recipe a tiny bit to make it richer and more flavorful (decreased water from ¾ cup to ½ cup, and increased tamari to 1 tablespoon and vinegar to 2 teaspoons). I also updated the post with better photos!
If you love this recipe: Be sure to check out my other Thai-inspired recipes here! Don’t miss the Thai pineapple fried rice.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
My husband and I both loved this! I took your suggestion of modifying the veggies if needed as we had so much that needed to be eaten. We used sweet potato, broccoli, peppers, onion, asparagus and mushrooms. I also added chickpeas for some extra protein and added chicken to my husband’s (I’m vegetarian and he isn’t). Again, we both loved this and can’t wait to try it again!
3 Stars. Doubled the spices and still tasted bland. Missed the fish sauce, my bad for not reading to the end.
Will try again with modifications. It was too bland for us. We drizzled sriracha on it.
Just delicious!! Made it along with the crispy baked tofu. Great combination. Definitely a keeper. Lime juice really made it sing.
My issue or rather question is this: earlier attempts were tasty, creamy and smooth on completion, unless served immediately, the creaminess went away leaving a very liquid and watery sauce. I subsequently reduced the water and added a tin of coconut cream in addition to the coconut milk. Again I achieved a thick creamy sauce which, upon warming up 90 minutes l later, became a watery sauce yet again.
How do I rectify this?
Your recipes look delicious! I am making your red curry with veggies tonight. I went to Amazon to look at your cookbook and ended up buying it! Can’t wait to receive and make some more of your healthy meals.
Amazing! I had some snap peas on hand so added those instead of kale. I love this addition and will definitely add it in the future!
Wonderful food, thank you ! so tasty !
Can this be prepped for a week of lunches? Meaning does it reheat well?
Yes, i have reheated and it is as tasty as ever.
I normally love your recipes but even with doubling the Ginger and Garlic and curry paste, find this quite bland.
Im going to remake it with more lime juice and fish sauce and hope it can be improved.
Kate – Can you make this in an insta-pot for after work simplicity? If so, how?
Love your recipes!
-a fellow KC lover
Hi Susie, I don’t use my insta pot often so I haven’t tested for this recipe. It’s bulky and annoying to clean, and I think they’re better suited for meat recipes that typically require long cooking times. Moisture doesn’t evaporate out of an Instant Pot like it does in a cooking pot, so I find that the flavors aren’t as developed.
all looks good but really need to stress that olive oil does not belong anywhere in thai cooking.
This is so delicious and seasoned perfectly. Instead of the second bell pepper and kale I used broccoli and a par boiled Yukon gold potato. And threw in some chickpeas for protein. I like making curry this way, with the paste. You can add more for more heat or less for milder.
Easy to make without having to go to specialty stores! I was looking for more flavor and spice.
I have made this recipe twice and it is fabulous. I get requests for it. It’s easy to make and it’s better the next day. I make many of Kates recipes and they are all I have tried absolutely great!
Smells delicious! I made it with sugar snap peas, thin beans and beef cubes (goulash) added to the original recipe.
Very saucy, will add less water next or a little Corn Starch.
Perfect and best curry I’ve ever made !
Thank you, so glad you enjoyed it!
I enjoyed making this receipe. I added a lots of fresh garlic and young Thai ginger. I added zucchini, carrots, red and yellow peppers. I pan fried tofu with lil sesame oil, soya sauce for umami. I added with the coconut milk. I like it creamy so I added a can of coconut milk and the Thai red curry I bought. I ended up using the whole bottle which was 100gm. I made lil extra as an attempt to meal prep. the did not have tamari so I added soy sauce. Thanks for the tip to add some vinegar. I understand the complexity it adds. It warm and rich and quite simple to make!
Hi,
I love your book! Can you please tell me of a good substitute for coconut milk?
Hello, you could try almond or soy milk. The texture will be similar though the flavor will be different.
This is one of my family’s favourite meals – I don’t know how many times I’ve made it at this point! I add chicken every time though because we’re a meat-loving fam ;)
I’m seeing comments about fish sauce but I don’t see fish sauce in the recipe. Am I missing something?
I didnt see fish sauce in her recipe, I guess add it to taste if you like it. I may purchase a bottle and see if it complements her recipe.
This was excellent! Didn’t feel like making rice, so I made it with brown rice pad Thai noodles, which I stirred into the whole dish before serving. I also added chunks of cod and shrimp. The three of us thought it was delicious.
This recipe is delicious.
We are having friends for lunch in a few days.
Could I make this recipe the night before and just reheat for lunch?
I do not like Kale so I use spinach instead.
Thank you
Hi Jill, yes the leftovers will reheat well.
I made this recipe last night and it was delish. I used cauliflower, bell peppers, zucchini, onions, carrots and tofu. I cooked the tofu first in an air fryer and then sprinkled on top. I put in a ton of veggies and did 3 tblsp of the curry paste … yikes. DH and I loved it but mother-in-law had to douse it in yogurt.
People found this bland? In comparison to what, LOL? It was delicious. My sole reason for looking this up was I had a jar on hand of the same red curry paste that was recommended to use. I loved this recipe. Brown Texmati rice soaked up all the delicious curry coconut sauce. I did add the tofu – was going to just throw it in so I’m glad I saw your recipe for baking it first. I skipped the sugar, not sure why it’s there. We used kale and it tasted and looked great with the rest of the veg’s (needs a green!) My coconut milk had no guar gum, it was fine. Also, used powdered ginger as my gingerroot had gone bad, that didn’t seem to matter. So good. Thank you!
LOVELY
My husband and I love this recipe thank you
Would Thai Basil work well in this recipe?
Hi Ingrid, yes, that would complement the flavors well.