Easy Thai Green Chicken Curry with Vegetables

Thai green curry is one of those meals where you get so much flavour from a fairly short list of ingredients. You’ve got the heat from the green curry paste, creamy coconut milk, fresh lime and plenty of crunchy vegetables, and the whole thing can be on the table in around half an hour.

I’ve used chicken breast with red pepper, green beans and baby corn because they’re all easy to find in a normal supermarket and make this a really colourful dinner. You don’t need to spend half the afternoon hunting around specialist shops for ingredients you’ll use once and then discover at the back of the cupboard three years later!

This is my easy homemade version rather than something I’m claiming is an authentic Thai recipe. I’m using a ready-made Thai green curry paste because that’s realistically what I’m going to reach for when I’m making a quick dinner at home, although I’ve included some tips further down if you’d rather make your own.

Ingredients for Thai green chicken curry

For four portions you’ll need:

• 4 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 tbsp cooking oil or cooking spray
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 4 tbsp Thai green curry paste
• 400ml light coconut milk
• 100ml chicken stock
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 100g green beans, trimmed
• 100g baby corn, halved
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• Juice of 1 lime
• Fresh coriander or Thai basil, to serve

The Thai green curry paste is doing quite a lot of the work here, so use one you actually like. Different brands vary in heat and saltiness and, importantly, the ingredients can vary too.

If you’re cooking for someone with allergies or dietary requirements, check the jar rather than assuming every Thai curry paste is the same.

How to make Thai green chicken curry

Get everything chopped before you start because this isn’t one of those recipes where you’ve got half an hour to leisurely prepare the next ingredient while something simmers.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok over a medium heat, then add the onion and cook for around 4–5 minutes until it starts to soften. Add the garlic and ginger and give them another minute before stirring in the Thai green curry paste.

Let the paste cook for a minute or two. It should become really fragrant, but keep stirring so that the garlic and spices don’t catch on the bottom of the pan.

Pour in the coconut milk and chicken stock and stir everything together, then add the chicken pieces. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer and cook for around 10 minutes before adding the red pepper, green beans and baby corn.

Continue cooking until the vegetables are tender but still have some bite and, most importantly, the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Take the pan off the heat before stirring through the fish sauce and fresh lime juice. Taste it before adding anything else because the curry paste, stock and fish sauce all bring saltiness of their own.

Scatter over some fresh coriander or Thai basil before serving.

How spicy is Thai green chicken curry?

Thai green curry has a reputation for being quite spicy, but how hot yours turns out will depend heavily on the curry paste you use.

I’d much rather tell you to get to know the paste in your own fridge than promise that four tablespoons will be “medium” for everybody. One brand’s fairly gentle green curry paste can be another one’s face-melting version!

If you’re cooking this for children or anyone who doesn’t enjoy much heat, start with less paste. You can always add more flavour, whereas removing chilli heat from a finished pan is considerably more difficult.

The coconut milk helps soften the heat, while the lime at the end gives it freshness without making it hotter.

If your family generally prefers gentler curries, my mild chicken curry might be more their thing.

Do I need full-fat coconut milk?

I’ve used light coconut milk here because I like the balance it gives me between creaminess and a sauce that doesn’t feel too heavy.

You can use full-fat coconut milk if you prefer. It will give you a richer, creamier sauce, so this isn’t a case of one being “right” and the other being “wrong”.

I wouldn’t replace the coconut milk completely with fat-free yoghurt and coconut flavouring, though. At that point we’re changing one of the defining ingredients of the dish simply to make the numbers on the nutrition panel smaller, and I’d rather have a sensible portion of curry that actually tastes the way I want it to.

If you’re interested in how different curry sauces and bases work, my guide to making curry goes into that in much more detail.

Which vegetables work well in Thai green chicken curry?

I’ve gone with red pepper, green beans and baby corn because I like the combination of colour and texture, but this is an easy place to make small changes according to what’s in the fridge.

Mangetout would work nicely instead of green beans, while courgette can be useful if you’ve got one that needs using. Aubergine is another possibility, although it will need enough cooking time to become properly tender rather than remaining slightly sponge-like.

Spinach can be stirred through right at the end because it only needs enough time to wilt.

What I wouldn’t do is empty the entire vegetable drawer into the pan simply because vegetables are “healthy”. You still want it to taste like Thai green curry rather than miscellaneous fridge curry!

Can I make Thai green curry vegetarian?

I’m vegetarian, so naturally this is something I’d want to adapt if I was cooking it for myself while making chicken for Stuart or Ben.

Firm tofu is the obvious alternative to chicken, but there’s something else you need to remember: fish sauce isn’t vegetarian, and some shop-bought Thai green curry pastes contain shrimp or fish ingredients too.

So don’t just swap the chicken and assume you’re done. Check the curry paste and use a suitable vegetarian alternative to the fish sauce.

If you’d rather make something I’ve developed specifically as a meat-free curry instead of adapting a chicken recipe, have a look through my vegetarian curry recipes.

What should I serve with Thai green chicken curry?

Plain jasmine rice would be my first choice because there’s already plenty going on in the curry and the rice is brilliant for soaking up that coconut sauce.

Basmati rice is absolutely fine if that’s what you’ve got. Dinner doesn’t need cancelling because you’ve bought the wrong shaped grain of rice!

If rice is something you never feel completely confident cooking, have a look at my guide to cooking rice for the methods I use.

You could also serve a smaller amount of rice with some extra vegetables if that’s what you fancy. I wouldn’t personally bother with cauliflower rice just because it has fewer calories; if I want rice with my curry, I’d rather have some actual rice and enjoy it.

Making your own Thai green curry paste

Ready-made curry paste is absolutely fine for a quick dinner, but if you enjoy making things from scratch you can make your own green curry paste too.

Green chillies, lemongrass, garlic, ginger or galangal, coriander and lime are commonly used, although proper Thai curry pastes can contain considerably more than that.

This is one of those occasions where I’d rather point you towards a specialist Thai source if you want to make a traditional paste than pretend my quick blender version is exactly the same thing.

For an ordinary Tuesday night in my house, though, I’m perfectly happy opening a jar!

Can I make this curry ahead?

You can make the curry ahead, although I’d avoid deliberately cooking the vegetables until they’re very soft because they’ll soften further when the curry is reheated.

Once cooked, cool leftovers promptly and store them covered in the fridge. Reheat them thoroughly before eating.

The coconut sauce may look slightly different after chilling or freezing, particularly if it separates a little, but gentle reheating and a good stir should usually bring it back together.

If you’re serving the curry with rice, remember that cooked rice needs sensible handling too. Cool leftovers promptly, refrigerate them and follow food-safety guidance when reheating.

Common problems with Thai green chicken curry

If your curry tastes a bit flat, don’t automatically reach for more curry paste. Taste it first. Sometimes what it needs is the acidity from the lime or a little more salty depth rather than extra chilli.

A sauce that’s too thin can simply be simmered for a little longer, while one that’s thicker than you’d like can be loosened with a splash of stock.

Vegetables turning to mush usually means they’ve gone in too early. That’s why I let the chicken get a head start before adding the pepper, beans and baby corn.

And if it’s far hotter than expected, make a note of which curry paste you used before making it again. That’s genuinely more useful than me pretending every jar marked “Thai green curry paste” contains exactly the same level of chilli.

More curry recipes to try

If curry regularly appears on your meal plan, I’ve got plenty more options depending on what you fancy.

For chicken, try my easy chicken jalfrezi, chicken bhuna or easy chicken tikka masala. If you’re cooking without meat, my vegetarian curry recipes include chickpea, cauliflower, vegetable and Quorn curries.

You can also browse all my curry recipes in one place if you haven’t decided what sort of curry you’re in the mood for yet.

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