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.
This was too good for words! Ever since my Grandpa took the whole family out for Thai food, I’ve loved it. This is the first really authentic Thai recipe I’ve tried though. I promised my sister there would be leftovers she could eat when she got home from school, but my Mum and I polished it all off. Oh well…. I guess I’ll have to make it again!
Haha! This comment made me smile. I hope she wasn’t too disappointed!
can you tell me how hot the curry paste is? i want to know what to expect in terms of how spicy this dish will be with 2 tablespoons paste in it. thanks.
Hi Dawn, I use Thai Kitchen brand curry paste and would call this curry moderately spicy. It’s kind of hard to say since spiciness is so subjective.
thanks. :)
I made this recipe last night! I added shallots and mushrooms to the pepper and carrot mix! Omg it was amazing! I also used fish sauce instead of the rice sauce. I added habanero and red peppers. I topped it with fresh basil and roasted peanuts!! I also added curried chicken and fresh squeezed lime juice on top. Omg so much color. So much flavor!! So much texture! It was delicious! This was also super easy and CHEAP to make!! I will me making this regularly now. Thank you! Anyone seeing this recipe ought to try it!
Thanks so much! Your version sounds great, too. Glad it made your wallet happy, too!
Is it possible to freeze the leftover sauce? :) i like to meal prep and am wondering whether I can make some extra to store it.
(Already tried this.. its wonderful! Tried another 3 curry recipes before this and they all turned out awful. This one is just right <3 well done!)
Naomi, so glad you loved this curry! Yes, I think you can successfully freeze leftover sauce. Generally, non-dairy soups freeze well, so I think this one would as well.
How can you make the curry past? Just buying is a bit boring.
Thanks for the suggestion, Bernhard! I’ve added it to my recipe request list.
I’m a little late to this party but I am finally planning on making this sometime this week. Do you think it would freeze well? Being single, it’s a lot of food and I don’t want to eat this four days in a row no matter how good it is. I would love to freeze a couple of portions for dinner another time.
Hi Sandra, I hear you! I’m in the same boat over here. I think this one would freeze well. Generally speaking, non-dairy soups freeze well, and I’d put this one in that category.
Can’t wait to make this – thinking about adding tofu for some extra protein…when should I add it? With the bell pepper and carrots or with the liquid?
Thanks!
Whoops! See your note now…sorry!
Hey I made this yesterday, I added yellow squash. It was tight. But I want to make it again and add potato. I think that’d be tight. Would I need to semi-cook the potato before adding it? Thanks for these recipes
Hi Ian, I’m sorry I missed your question earlier. Potato sounds like a tasty addition. If you cut it into really small cubes (like 1/4″ or around there), you could maybe add it with the onion or other veggies and not have to cook it beforehand. I’m just not entirely sure since I haven’t tried!
Just made this dish, and it is delicious! I used green beans instead of kale, and added chicken before the carrots and peppers. I also supplemented the red curry paste with a curry spice blend from a local shop! Next time I’d like to try it with sweet potato, or eggplant in it too. Thanks Cookie & Kate!
Hello!
My Friend made this for me and I have been craving ever since!
I am currently doing weight watchers though so it can be tough to eat at times. Do you happen to have the nutritional info. or a way to lighten this up?
Thanks!
Allyson
Hi Allyson, so glad you enjoyed the curry! Please thank your friend for sharing my recipe with you. :) I’m sorry, I don’t have nutrition info yet, but I’m working on a solution. It’s actually quite complicated to provide accurate info, and I have a library of 500 recipes here. This recipe turns out best with full-fat coconut milk, which is inherently high in calories/fat, although they say that we burn off coconut-based calories instead of storing them as fat. My only idea would be to use light coconut milk and maybe mix in a bit of cornstarch to thicken it up… I really don’t know that that would turn out well, though. Sorry!
As always, soooo good!!! This dish is full of flavor- we loved it. We had a bunch of raw veggies on hand and this was a fabulous way to use and enjoy them! We had red bell pepper, some broccoli, a handful of fresh green beans, mushrooms, and carrots! And I (as per usual) added some cumin, coriander, and turmeric for extra flavor (I have no idea if that is a faux-pas or not, I just love adding those to any curry.. err.. almost anything ). I was also short on coconut milk but had read that you can make your own with coconut flakes and water. It seemed to work.. have you ever done this/heard of it/recommend/don’t recommend?
Kate.. your blog is the first place I turn to for recipes. I am never disappointed and neither is my meat-loving hubby.. he even requested I make your roasted cauliflower lentil tacos for his family who was visiting last weekend.. Yay! Can’t thank you enough for all the goodness.
I already ordered your cookbook for myself and an old roommate for her birthday, because we always used to cook your recipes together! Cheers!
Laura, so glad you’re enjoying my recipes! Thank you so much for pre-ordering my book. That means a ton! Have a wonderful day.
Delicious! We have a terrific local Thai restaurant. They add pineapple chunks to their red curry, so I added it to your recipe and it adds a great pop of yet another flavor. I use the light coconut milk as my husband finds the regular is too rich for his taste. Great recipe.
Pineapple sounds *amazing* in this! I’d love some sweet tanginess.
I love this dish! I’ve made it several times now – it’s become a favorite at my house. I always double the recipe so we have leftovers!
Yes! This one packs great for lunch, too.
Made this for a Friend… now making it for the family tonight! Everyone loved it!
Oh, awesome, Heather! So glad this dish was a hit.
I made this curry dish tonight, and oh my gosh! Fantastic! It was bursting with flavor. Even my kids liked it! My friends and I like to go to a Thai restaurant close by, and we always order the curry because we love it so much. This one tasted almost identical to the restaurants curry, so I’m excited I can make this at home and get my curry cravings satisfied. Thanks Kate! I have been loving your recipes.
Hey, Sharon! I love that this tastes just like your favorite restaurant dish, that’s really cool. Happy you’re enjoying the blog, too!
Dinner was a joy this night! I was looking for a recipe for my leftover veggies and coconut milk and came across this recipe. Really brilliant and now in my list! ❤❤❤
So glad you found my blog, Diana!
Add some fresh lemon grass for an extra zing
Great tip.
I love curry and this was very good. I added crispy baked tofu to up the protein content. I will make this again but will add cauliflower and/or broccoli along with the other veggies.
Thanks, Susan! And agreed–this is great with tofu.
Making this for a Curry Challenge Cookoff. Great flavor. Made it to T with baked tofu. Loved the sauce, which was amazing. Will try it with pan fried tofu, which I like better.
Oh, awesome, Susan!! Let me know how the cook-off goes!
This is a fantastic dish! I don’t always follow the recipe 100% but I always refer back to it. I use this recipe when I need to use up random vegetables from the fridge – I usually end up omitting bell peppers (just because they are expensive where I am ) and I tend to pack it full of carrots and kale, and usually adding cauliflour, zucchini or spinach. Either way, its a fantastic dish that makes great leftovers and reheats well for lunch at work. Thank you!!!
This is great, Marie! I’m glad to hear that this works with whatever you have on hand. I appreciate it!
Made this for dinner tonight and we LOVED it, everyone from age 2 to age 26! It’s so fresh, flavourful, and pure feeling, if that makes sense. :) This one will definitely be one we revisit often! Thanks Kate!
This was my first time making Thai curry and I will definitely be making this recipe again! I used one bell pepper instead of two and added carrots, mushrooms, brocolli, and a small can of drained bamboo shoots. Delicious!
Awesome!
I just made your thai red curry dish with brown rice, it is delicious. My daughter likes red curry dishes I will have to take her some.
Thank you for the recipe!!
Excellent!
:) Thanks!
I made this for my mom for her birthday. I skipped the kale and threw in chicken. I like spicy food but mom’s quite sensitive to spice so I ended up adding a few tablespoons of natural peanut butter as it simmered. That calmed it just enough for us both to enjoy it! Great recipe!
Oh, I’m so glad you could make it to your mom’s liking, Sam! Thanks for commenting.
This was fantastic! I made this curry the other day and it was a hit. I added about 1-2 Tbsp of fish sauce, fresh lemongrass, and extra sriracha to the sauce. I will definitely be making this again!
Yum! That sounds great for our fish-friendly readers. Thanks, Hope.
this looks delicious. would it be possible to use an unrefined sugar such as honey or maple syrup in place of the sugar?
I think that would work just fine, Elizabeth! Just be mindful of the substitution ratio– honey and maple syrup are sweeter than sugar, so you’ll need less of it.
Hey! Tried this recipe and it was really good! Replaced the kale with spinach and the rice oil with avocado oil!
I think i didn’t put enough coco milk and paste, because there was not enough sauce, but other than that, will do it again and add tofuuuu!
Sounds like this went off without a hitch, save for some minor adjustments. I hope next time it works out even better, Caroline!
What can I sub for coconut milk. I am allergic to coconuts.
Hi Adya, coconut milk is traditional in curries so I’m not quite sure what to suggest. You could try almond milk but that will be much lighter/more watery. You could try mixing in a bit of cornstarch to thicken it up. Half-and-half or cream would offer a similar viscosity/fat content to the coconut milk.
Made this tonight and all I can say is YUM!!! My whole family really enjoyed this and I will definitely be making this again.I used red pepper, onion, zucchini, and mushroom.
Thanks for the great recipe.
That sounds delicious, Judy! Thanks.
We made this recipe one time as a sort of “let’s experiment with a bunch of different curry recipes” type of idea. We stopped making recipes after coming across this one, its sooo delicious and flavorful and SO COLORFUL, I love it! Thank you for providing me with an amazing recipe to make as-is and to tweak in my own ways. You have changed the lives of the people under my roof!
That’s too kind, Amber! I’m so happy it has had such an impact. Thank you so much for reading.
This was AWESOME! I didn’t know that I love Thai curry. This is definitely going into my favorites. I followed your directions to the letter, and was very pleasantly rewarded.
I’m so glad you could discover your love for curry with this, Terry! Thanks.
I have made this recipe many times and have shared it with a lot of my Thai-food loving friends. This is a favourite for us! I add more curry paste and a few boneless skinless chicken breasts. Can’t wait to try your green curry recipe!
Thank you, Jiveney! I hope you try the green version–I think you’ll like it.
I was skeptical that it would be as good as my red thai curry delivery order, but you’re right–this recipe is even better! I’m confident it would be flawless exactly as written, but I made a few modifications based on what I had around:
-homemade veg stock instead of water in both curry & rice
-substituted baby bok choy for kale: added the white stems right before the curry paste & the green leaves with the coconut milk
-added baked tofu at same time as the coconut milk, as you suggested. I froze & thawed it (I often do to decrease moisture, increase flavor retention, and make it keep for longer), brushed with olive oil & soy sauce, & baked for 30 minutes.
-“optional” garnishes seemed essential to me, especially cilantro :)
Thank you for sharing another beautiful recipe. I’m already looking forward to leftovers tomorrow!
Sounds delicious, Kayla! I’m glad your version worked out well.
I substituted the carrot and kale for baby corn and mangetout as that’s what I had in my fridge. Delicious! Just what I needed on a very cold day here in Scotland. Thank you for the recipe.
Sounds delicious, Angie. :) Sending warmth your way!
Delicious! Added about 3/4 can of chickpeas for protein and we had it over brown rice.
Yum!
I’ve made this three times now–requested by my vegetarian son. One was for a friend who is sick and she also loved it. We add more veggies like broccoli and green beans and sometimes a couple of potatoes–just to get in as many as we can. And, I add cashews and chick peas to add protein, but otherwise, I generally follow the recipe. I do tend to add more of the red curry sauce from the jar and amp up the spice some, but it is now a staple for us. Everyone loves it, including the meat eaters. Thanks so much!
Sounds super tasty and nutritious, Caroline! Thanks.
Thank you for sharing so many great recipes, this curry has become one of my favorites! It is so good that my family made it 3 times within one month (your spring green curry is a close second favorite that we made twice). I come to your website frequently as I love how you test everything so thoroughly before posting, which is I’m sure why I end up with great results each time (I’ve been making your recipes for several years now, sorry for not posting sooner!). I can’t wait for your cookbook to come out and have already pre-ordered my copy and 1 more as a gift.
This is all so kind of you, Ashley. I’m glad you finally commented! I love hearing from readers. And I can’t wait for you to see the book! The release is right around the corner. :)
Great dish and very easy to make!!!! Flavorful Thank You!!
Thanks, Adrienne!
This is an amazing recipe! First curry recipe we really enjoyed. Will definitely make it again.
I’m so glad, Tiffany! Thank you.
A wonderful, versatile dish. Thank-you for the recipe. I’ve used it many times, so I finally decided to say thank-you = )
Thanks, Greg! So happy you enjoy it so much.
Love this recipe. I made my own curry paste too – it’s really easy!
Awesome!
Delicious! Added sweet potatoes, and it was really good. I cut back a bit on the red curry paste for spice for my 3.5 year old- she ate it up! Looking for ways to add more protein without tofu… Thanks!
Thanks, Michelle!
Hi Kate,
Thank you so h for the recipe!
I followed it and it was so delicious!
I’d like to add meat this time.
Could you tell me please how to add the beef?
What type of beef would you recommend? Should it be ground beef?
How to cook it and at what point should it be combined with the recipe?
Thank you so much!
Almost forgot, this recipe earned 5 stars!
Hi, Sol. I’m a vegetarian, so I have not tried to cook this with meat. You can look in the comments here and see if someone else has, though, and take their tips into consideration!
Thank you Kate!
I’d like to add some mushrooms (champignon) and broccoli, could you advise please how to cook them together with the rest of the vegetables on the pan? At what stage they should be added?
Thank you!
It was fantastic! Thank you!
:)
Made this tonight!! Great recipe, thank you :)
Thanks, Jordi!
Awesome recipe!
Thanks, Jana!
Tried this out today and it turned out pretty well! I think this will be my go-to dish now .. so easy to make and so flavorful :)
Thank you!
Thank you, Soumya!
Thai Kitchen red curry paste does contain fish sauce. I just made a curry and used this product which I love. Perhaps they also make a vegetarian one, but I’ve only seen the one with fish sauce which is a key flavor component (umami). If you’re vegan you could try coconut aminos instead of tamari which will have some umami for sure but also salt.
Hi Jacqueline, I just triple-checked the ingredients list and there are no fish products in there. Coconut aminos might be interesting to try.
Shrimp paste is used to make the curry. The Real Thai Curry packets I buy come with green dot and do not mention shrimp paste in the list of ingredients.
My daughter made this for me .. first time I’ve EVER tried curry and I loved it ! I’ve made it myself and came out almost as good as my daughters lol
I have family coming for dinner and decided to make this BUT like most good stir frys it has soy sauce which red flags the allergy list and living in a small rural area ( VERY SMALL backwoody’s) the substitutions for soy I’ve found are beyond my reach here. I try to keep my salt intake low but in this pinch can I just use extra salt to replace soy ?
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated and THANK YOU for this wonderful recipe we do LUV it !
Jo W
Hi Jo! I used soy sauce to replace the standard fish sauce found in traditional Thai curries. I would usually recommend coconut aminos or Bragg’s aminos in its place, but it sounds like you won’t be able to find those. I’d just omit it and add salt to taste! Bet it’ll still be very tasty that way.