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.
Your curry is yellow. I made the recipe with some twist of my own. I used non refined mustard oil. I used Tofu, Yellow Zucchini, Aubergine, Mushrooms, Red and Yellow Bell Peppers. I used a mix of Kokum, Soy Sauce, Vinegar to flavor Tofu and curry. To make it more red, used powdered Deggi Mirch. The result was awesome.
The name of the recipe derives from the Thai red curry paste I use, not as much from the color of the actual dish. Your version sounds excellent, Rohit!
This recipe was so delicious, everyone at the table loved it! I loved it so much i snuck spoonfuls all night and had it for breakfast.
Now I’m back to make it again!!
Thank you!
That’s when you know it’s good! Thanks, Shea.
Wow, thank you for this amazing recipe! Added some of your crispy baked tofu and it was delicious !
Yum! That sounds excellent, Elena. Thanks.
I added 2 habaneros and extra ginger and garlic to make it spicier. It turned out great.
Yum!
I agree with you. This is one of the best curries I’ve EVER had, restaurant included. As for your tofu tip, baking it takes too long for me. Part of the appeal of this recipe is the speed. However, place the tofu in a flat bowl and “press it” under some paper towel and a cast iron pan, and voila! Tofu that doesn’t get soggy and is a fantastic addition to this recipe. Also, I tend to skip the 1/2 cup water when I’m using coconut milk… Thanks for sharing this! It’s a regular recipe in our house now…
I’m so glad you enjoy it, C! Your version sounds delicious.
Really good flavors. Added some chicken breast and 1/2’d the curry paste because I’m a wimp but well worth it. Now in the rotation…oh and straight up props for saying 3 chopped carrots = 1 measured cup. small onion =?
Small onion is about 1 cup chopped. So glad you enjoyed it!
Made this tonight, and yea, it was pretty amazing! I served it with some salmon (which got a spoonful of the curry poured on top) and a bed of riced cauliflower. I have given the riced cauliflower attempts before and it didn’t work well with those dishes, but wow, with this curry, it is perfect. All the bold flavors of the curry took over the cauliflower, which gave me just the right amount of ricey textures and none of the ricey carbs! Bravo on the recipe!
I’m so glad this worked out for you, Ryan! That riced cauliflower is delicious in this dish.
Made this tonight after bookmarking it for 1 month…. wish I did it sooner! ITS AMAZING. STOP READING. COOK IT NOW
Too kind of you, Sarah! Thank you. :)
Really great! Thank you. I made it just as the recipe called for and it turned out beautifully. I can’t wait to add some different veggies (butternut squash, cauliflower, etc). I’ll have to check out the other recipes you have on the site.
Yes, have fun experimenting! Have you seen my green curry recipe? It’s super popular, and I think you’d like it!
I saw it and I think I will try making it tonight. Cheers
This recipe was phenomenal!! My husband, my co-workers absolutely loved it… can’t say enough about it. I could eat it every week – in fact have made it 2x in 2 weeks! Now on the lookout for a recipe as good ;-)
This was delicious! It’s a recipe that I’ll be using again and again. Thank you!!!
Love hearing this, Shannon!
This was delicious! I’ve recently started eating vegan due to being lactose-intolerant and (now) an aversion to meat. My entire family ate this happily – including a carnivore brother! I omitted the sugar, added a few basil leaves, and probably added an atrocious amount of cilantro on top.
I love hearing this, Emma! I’m so glad this could help you navigate your dietary needs.
This was sooo yummy and easy, thank you! And I live in Thailand haha. I included pumpkin and kaffir lime leaves, delish!!
Oh, those additions sound delicious, Sam!
Does anyone have any advice on freezing for this meal?
Hi MP, this should be a good candidate for freezing. I’d just divide it into individual portions, freeze and reheat in the microwave.
Very easy and delicious! Had to sub spinach for the kale and used lite coconut milk so I didn’t add water. Served with chicken over brown rice. Yum!!
Delicious! Thanks, Julie.
Awesome recipe, made it tonight for dinner and it was a hit. It can be as spicy or as mild as you want and is extremely versatile!
Thank you, Alexis! I like that you can vary the heat level, too.
I’ve made this recipe multiple times, and it always works perfectly with whatever vegetables I’m looking to use up in the fridge. Hands down my favourite thai curry recipe, ever! Thank you!!!!
Perfect! Thank you, Olivia!
This curry is delicious! I will definitely make this again. I used sweet potato, zucchini, red pepper and mushrooms. YUM!
Yum is right! I’m so glad you liked this, Linda.
Very yummy. Made it impromptu today when I got home from a horse show and was craving Thai food. Here in the country there are no vegan restaurants, so when I have a craving, I better have a well stocked pantry and icebox!
I’m glad this worked for you, Judith!
I am a picky eater (aka don’t like coconut, rice or tofu), but on a whim I decided to make this curry and added tofu. I must say my mind and palate was absolutely blown!!! Thank you for creating such an exceptional recipe to share!
Hooray! I’m so glad this was pleasantly surprising.
hello,
this looks delicious, I’m making it tomorrow. Do you have nutritional facts on your recipes? I’d like to add it to my fitness pal so I can track my nutrition.
Thank you, I’ll be checking out more of your recipes!
Hi, Collett! Unfortunately, I don’t have nutritional info available for my recipes just yet. I’m looking for a solution, and will update about it once I find one. In the meantime, here’s a nutrition calculator that might come in handy.
Spot on. I didn’t put in the tamari or rice wine vinegar as to be honest it already tasted beautiful and I had two fussy people to cater for. Husband loved it and so did the 3 year old (amazing that both cleaned their plates.)
Happy to hear this was a hit, Robyn!
This recipe was great! I’m new to your blog and I see myself becoming a regular after this delicious curry :)
I’m so glad you found my blog, Onyinye! Let me know which other recipes you try.
I added between 1/3 and 1/2 cup red lentils to add protein just before boiling and simmering the mixture. They were barely noticeable and the curry was delicious. Next time I will use the lentils again as thickener with light coconut milk, as while I appreciate the creamy texture I find full-fat very heavy.
I’ll have to try that lentil technique, Hayley. Thanks for sharing!
Epic! It makes a very mild curry, but still super tasty. I used less sugar, lime (definitely do this over vinegar), reduced the carrot/added sliced mushrooms and broccoli, and added finely diced baby red chillis with the onion and garlic.
Thanks for the recipe, this will definitely be going into rotation!
Thanks, J!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was wonderful. I’ll make it again. It is time intensive. I’m a slow cook so it took me nearly an hour to prep everything. I substituted some of the veg, used cubed zucchini and sliced mushrooms, and added some pressed, stir-fried (and seasoned) tofu.
That sounds delicious, Carol! And this is a good recipe to turn a podcast on or good audiobook while prepping, for sure. :) It’s worth it, though!
Oh my goodness! I just finished making this and it is sooooo delicious! I’ve been looking for a good curry recipe and this is definitely an excellent one. I also made coconut rice to go with it. Please make it, you won’t regret it.
I’m so glad you found this recipe, Julie! Thanks for commenting.
Came across this recipe after googling Thai red curry. So glad I tried your recipe out. Tasted so good! I’m a bit picky with Thai curry because I’ve had some really good ones at a Thai restaurant in town, but wow, I was surprised. I did add some Thai chili peppers because I love a spicy kick to my curry. Absolutely loved how it turned out! Will definitely check out your other recipes. Thank you! :)
Well, I’m so glad this passed your picky tastebuds, Jessica!
This recipe is AMAZING!!! I make it at least every other week – my husband and I absolutely LOVE it!!! Thank you Cookie & Kate!
Thank you, Sarah! This is a good one, for sure. :)
Very good vegan recipe- but it didn’t need the sugar, it was sweet enough with coconut milk and carrots. Next time I may add garbanzo beans for protein. thanks!!Lyn
Thanks, Lyn!
Made it tonight, delicious! Will make again.
Great! Thanks, Laura.
I want more liquid in my curry- more sauce to soak into the rice. How do I accomplish with out losing the great flavor I have already created
Easy to follow recipe. I used frozen veges and coconut cream.
Thanks for sharing.
Perfect! Thanks, Arlene.
I just made this for my lunch and it was so amazing! I didn’t have rice vinegar or tamari so I opted for your suggestions, and I forgot to get ginger at the store so I didn’t make any substitutions for that, but it is still so good! The whole time it was cooking and I could smell the curry, I kept chanting, “I’m a chef! I’m a chef!” I became vegan about a month and a half ago so I’m always looking for new delicious recipes that prove vegan food is delicious. Thanks so much! :)
Haha! You *are* a chef, Abbigail. I’m so glad you love it. All the best with your continued veganism!
Delicious! My husband, who cannot live without meat, loved it too!
I am in the middle of making this recipe and have baked some tofu but you didn’t say if the tofu replaces some of the veggies? I am not sure if there will be enough liquid. Hmmm.
Hi, Lynne! The tofu isn’t supposed to replace any of the veggies, no.
Dear Kate,
I am a novice cook and was very intimated to try this dish out. But because courage is having fear and doing it anyway, I gave this a shot (and honestly I didn’t want to cook the same old things again and again).
It tastes so good and it wasn’t even that hard to cook. It feels so nice to cook food that tastes really really really good! Thank you for your recipe and your beautiful website. It’s a gift from above.
I’m so glad you conquered your fears, Alex!
Do you have the nutritional information for this recipe?
Unfortunately, I don’t have nutritional info available for my recipes just yet. I’m looking for a solution, and will update about it once I find one. In the meantime, here’s a nutrition calculator that might come in handy.
Tried it! Love the recipe. I added potatoes. I think next time I will probably do half the amount of rice vinegar. It seemed to have a really strong taste!
Feel free to adjust it to your tastes, Chasiti!
That was the first curry i’ve ever made and it turned out beautiful and delicious! Thanks so much!
Hooray! Here’s to many more curry dishes in your future, Kristen. :)
No lie, best curry I’ve yet made, amazing considering it’s simplicity. The baked tofu addition was perfect, good texture. I still haven’t figured out how to get that authentic taste….maybe a combination of galangal, lemon grass, lime juice, and palm sugar?
Thanks, Tim! I always encourage experimentation. Let me know what you try out!
excellent! I added baked tofu. Thank you for your website.
Yum! You’re welcome, Lise.
This was absolutely delicious!!! Made exactly as written, thank you so much. Your recipes always turn out well but this one was a step above. Excited for the leftovers for lunch tomorrow…
I have made this several times and it is absolutely delicious. Thank you!!
This is now one of my go-to dishes! I have tweeked the spices and flavor to make it spicer for my husband, and I use whatever veggies I have in the fridge! It is always amazing no matter what I put in. I have even added Tempe or crispy baked tofu. Thank you for this recipe!!!
This one is super easy to customize, and I love that about it. I’m so glad the two of you enjoy it, Nicole!
Super yummy! Next time I may substitute one of the peppers for broccoli, though. I marinated and baked some tofu and just threw it on top after I plated the rice + curry, too. Looking forward to trying your green curry!
Sounds delicious, Kay!
Oh, wow, Kate! This was *amazing*!!!
I followed your recipe with the exception of kale. I like kale in salads (a frequent lunch), but I can’t do cooked greens. Yes, my sister-in-law likes to say I would fail as a southerner :D
Anyhoo…this was fantastic! I cooked the veggies on the lower side of the time frames because I prefer my veggies on the crisp side. Next time I’ll add more veggies like cauliflower and green beans.
I did add some chicken breasts to it for my husband, but it’s not needed.
This wasn’t just an excellent vegetarian recipe, it’s an excellent recipe. Period. SO GOOD.
::off to find my next one to cook::
PS: Your Cookie is so adorable! I’m a big dog lover, too. My husband and friends laugh because if I see any dog when we’re out and about I *have* to say hi. hahaha
I’m so glad you loved this, Jules! And Cookie says hello. I always have to make a new friend when I see a pup while I’m out and about, too! No shame. :)
Thanks soooo much for this recipe! My wife and I liked this so, that we could eat this at least three nights a week! So easy, once you have the ingredients, which we will make a priority to have on hand!
Thanks for all the great recipes!
I’m very interested in trying this recipe, but am allergic to soy. Can you please suggest a substitute for the tamari/soy sauce or could it be omitted with other adjustments? We love Thai food and our attempts to make it at home have been big failures so I’d love to find a good Thai dish to make at home.
yes you can omit it. i did and it’s fine.
Thanks for the helpful information!
Hi Elizabeth! You could omit the tamari/soy sauce. The dish won’t be as flavorful and you’ll need to add more salt. Another option would be to substitute coconut aminos, to taste. Those are fairly similar in flavor and soy-free. Hope that helps!
Thank you for the suggestions! I saw the coconut aminos at Trader Joe’s, but haven’t tried them yet.
Yummy!!! I loved it. I wouldn’t put the water in though, but the rest is super good!!