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.
Hi Kate, does the calorie info you’ve posted include the rice or is it just for the curry? Either way, I’m looking forward to making it!
Yes! It does include the rice. Let me know what you think!
Although I used a whole packet of my favorite spicy red curry paste and 1/4 sliced jalapeño, this sauce did not meet my expectations in the flavor department. So sad as I was craving red curry all day today and now I’m having to settle. Not sure what was missing for me, I don’t usually like extreme heat and the ingredients seemed appropriate. Maybe the ratios were off just a bit. I’m going to try your Pineapple Fried Rice recipe, though, as that is another favorite Thai dish of mine.
I’m sorry this didn’t meet your expectations, Anne! I do know the curry paste is key so it could be different based on the brand you used. Let me know what you think of the fried rice!
Hi! Just wanted to leave a comment because this has become my go-to curry recipe, and I’ve made a lot of curries! I think the differentiator is the lime juice. Thanks for a great, versatile recipe!
I love it! Thanks for your review, Kim.
I love this! Tastes great with peanuts or tofu added too!
Sounds like a great combination! I appreciate the review.
Absolutely wonderful! Didn’t change a thing!
I was so excited to make this. It was good but I think it could have been more flavorful. I didn’t have fresh ginger, so I used powder instead, which could have been the cause. I also used a yellow onion instead of a white onion. These could have been some of the reasons why it wasn’t as flavorful as I wanted. I will try to tweak on my own and see what happens.
I’m sorry you weren’t completely happy with it! Thank you for trying it, though. The curry paste you use is for sure key with this recipe.
I added grapes and pineapple instead of sugar and celery instead of onions as I don’t eat them and celery is much healthier. Didn’t add water as used wrong coconut milk. Totally delicious. Will be making again.
Thanks for sharing, Julia!
OMG I love this recipe so much, I use it for meal-prep almost every week. It is so easy to do and so chock full of vegetables. I love it because you can add in whatever veggies you have in the house. Favorite recipe ever!
I’m glad you love it, Katie!
Disappointed at first but fortunately realized I’d gotten distracted & left out the soy, sugar and vinegar, oops– and yes! THAT’s what she wrote, folks. Yum! What a great way to start off a healthy new year. This ended up being a hodgepodge of veggies I needed to use up– green beans, 1 yellow squash, half a red pepper, carrots, white and green onions, spinach– united happily in a red curry sauce and yes I will probably eat this for breakfast. Thanks for another great recipe!
Oh No! I’m glad you were able to make it work. Thanks for sharing, Mari.
I love this recipe! I’ve made it at least a dozen times with various different vegetables (depending on what is in the fridge). I highly recommended trying it!
Thank you, Brooke!!
I added 2.5 times the stated amount of curry paste, 1.5 times the ginger, 2 times the garlic, 1 tsp garam masala, no sugar, 2 tsp vegetable stock paste instead of salt, and only a splash of tamari.. And it tasted wonderful!
I’m glad you were able to adjust it to your liking! Thanks, Heidi.
As someone with a mom from Thailand, who grew up eating Thai food, I have a few suggestions:
Add 1 TBSP finely chopped lemongrass
Add 1 to 2 TBPS fish sauce
Double garlic
Use at least 1 TSP salt
Double sugar
Basil is a must
Thanks for the suggestions, Chris!
When I cook it, it tastes good but I don’t get the orange colour that you do. What should I do? Why is this happening?
Hi Drishtie, the orange color comes from the curry paste. You might have more colorful results if you try a different curry paste brand.
I love this recipe and make it all the time. I was wondering if you had a recommendation to make it into even more of a “true soup” by adding chicken or veggie broth and cooking the rice in the “soup” itself? Thanks for your help!
I don’t know about a true soup as curry is just a different type of ‘soup’ style from a different region. I like to keep recipes as authentic as possible, so I would be hesitant about adding anything different. But, if you want more liquid, you could always double the base and should achieve more of what you are looking for!
Thanks Kate,
I had most of the ingredients, and am one to use whatever is on hand, which was yellow onion, green onion, ginger, garlic, kabocha squash, light coconut milk and the thai kitchen red curry paste. I sprinkled SpiceTribe.Co’s delicious Thai inspired “longtail sunset blend” over the squash and onion and roasted them off first. What a good addition. I also had some frozen braised beef I defrosted and slipped in. Really good!
Thank you for sharing, Janice!
Wow. This recipe is phenomenal. I made it for a holiday potluck at work and it got gobbled up! I had so many people (many meat eaters) ask for the recipe. Easy and delicious. I moved it to a crockpot at step 4, turned out great. The only thing I would do differently is wait to add the kale a little closer to serving time.
Thanks for sharing, Paula!
This recipe is delicious and easy to make! Do you know of any substitutes for the 14 ounces of coconut milk? Thank you for all the cooking inspiration! :-)
The coconut milk really gives the true curry texture and flavor. I wouldn’t suggest substituting here. If you really need to, maybe try a heavy cream or higher precent of milk fat? Although, the flavor would change.
This has become a staple in my house. My kids love it and we often serve it to guests. Easily one of my favorite meals!
Wonderful, April! Thank you for sharing.
This dish was so delicious! I made it for my family and it was a big hit! I doubled the recipe…everyone had seconds and there was nothing left! Even my 97 year old grandparents loved it…and they usually eat the same old thing every day for dinner. I was so surprised that they ate it and went back for more. Everyone asked for the recipe and I will make this again and again for sure! Thank you!
Wonderful, Nanci! 97?! That’s amazing. I’m glad this was a hit with the entire family.
I just made this and it was a huge hit! I didn’t add the water and instead of salt I added a little chicken bouillon. A little to spicy for my kids but my husband and I LOVED it!!! Thank you!
Thanks for sharing, Annie!
I was so excited to make this, especially because of all the positive reviews. But I’ve got to say, it doesn’t taste anything like authentic red curry. It tastes like nothing. Im trying everything to doctor it and not getting anywhere. Perhaps if it sits long enough the flavors will intensify, or if I get hungry enough!
I’m sorry to hear you don’t love it, Amy! The curry past plays a big part. What brand did you try?
I’m sorry you weren’t happy with it, Amy! If you don’t mind sharing, what kind of red curry did you use? I know it makes all the difference.
This is probably sacrilege but I used half-n-half because that’s all I had and it turned out really tasty! I wasted all my coconut milk on a different recipe (slow cooker)… it curdled and never came together. Dang! But this came out great and next time I’ll try it with coconut milk. Thanks for saving our dinner!
You’re welcome, Oralea!
Oh my goodness, this was delicious. It tasted restaurant quality and reminded me of vegan red curry at a restaurant where I used to live. Now that we’ve moved, all the Thai places use fish sauce. I had been craving this — and had no idea I could make it myself! Thank you for making my day with another terrific recipe.
I’m glad this fit the bill for your favorite, Jennifer! I appreciate the feedback and review.
We’ve been fully vegan for a good 7 months. I’m so glad I found this recipe. My husband is addicted to Amy’s Thai Red Curry—which is fabulous, but gets expensive! I had pretty much all of the ingredients in my house, except for the curry paste. Glad I was able to find Thai Kitchen, as all of the other premade pastes have fish sauce &/or shrimp paste. Who knew red curry was so easy?! Delicious, Kate, thank you:*
Welcome, Jeli! I’m happy you found it too. I’m glad you loved it! This one is easy, but yet so delicious.
Well worth the time to slice and dice! Colorful and very tastey. Next time I will definitely try the lime juice as I think it’d give the dish a zing I would love.
Happy you found it worth the time, Maggie! I appreciate the review.
Tastes like restaurant curry! Awesome and so easy to make! I added broccoli and bamboo shoots and they blended perfectly! Will def make again soon!
Wonderful to hear, Lauren!
We come back to this recipe often! So delicious! Thank you for sharing it!
You’re welcome, Lindsay!
It’s easy to make and delicious!
I’m happy to hear that, Dana!
This is an excellent coconut red curry and so simple , I kept tasting to be sure it was as good as when I took the first taste ..thankyou I will certainly be adding this recipe to my favorite cook book
Thanks for sharing, Irene!
This is an amazing recipe! I love all your recipes. Kate. I will make this again and again. I doubled the recipe and my boyfriend and I have eaten it for the last three nights. He said that he enjoyed it more take-out Thai. I added a whole diced jalapeño with seeds and Siracha too (we like it spicy). I used the ‘Thai’ brand curry paste. Im vegetarian but my boyfriend is a meat eater. I added cubed chicken thighs to his half. Thank you for this deliciousness!
That does sound spicy! Thanks for sharing, Sarah.
This recipe is awesome! My new favourite recipe that I will make again and again. I doubled the recipe, added an entire diced jalapeño, and siracha (I like spice). I’m vegetarian and my boyfriend is a meat eater, so I added some chicken thighs to his half. Love all your recipes Kate! Thank you for this deliciousness!
Hooray! I’m so glad you liked it.
Seriously, the best curry I’ve had. Also, my husband lived in Thailand for a year and he said it was up there with some of the curry dishes he had in Thailand. This was amazing!
That’s great to hear, Emily! Thanks for sharing and for your review.
I made this last nite. It was delicious! I added shrimp at the end but otherwise, made it exactly as written. Definitely a keeper. Thank you!
This is one of my go to recipes! So easy to make and I love the flavors.
Amazing!!! You’re the best vegetarian food blogger I’ve ever found this stuff is magical! Best homemade curry I’ve ever found!
Love to hear that, Lauren! Thanks for your review.
Made curry with onion, peppers, carrots, cauliflower and spinach following your great recipe. It was fantastic! Will definitely make again. Did use japonica black rice as that was what I had on hand…no down side with it at all. Thought curry would be great with mashed potatoes so will try that next time(not too weird, right?).
.
Ice
Mashed potatoes, that sounds interesting Linda. Thanks for sharing!
Hubby and I loved this recipe so much. This will be one I make for years to come. Thank you.
You’re welcome, Melissa!
This recipe is stellar and versatile! I’ve made the curry both following the recipe exactly and changing things up (usually using different vegetables), each with great success. It’s super easy too…I usually have a wonderfully cooked meal in less than an hour. Highly recommend!
Thanks for sharing, Tori! I’m glad you would recommend this one.
It’s simmering now but it’s already the most flavorful curry i have made in ages! Y’all always have the best recipes
I hope you liked it, Rachel! Thanks for the review.
Hi Kate! LOVE your recipies!!! Question – what are your thoughts on omitting the sugar? Would it make a big impact on the flavor?
Phenomenal. Thank you :)
Can I use Green curry paste?
Sorry to all the vegetarians out there, but I went down the gluten free route and added chicken! This was the best dish I have ever, ever cooked. It was superb. I switched the kale for spring greens and just used half the amount of sugar and used unrefined granulated. It was truly the most tasty dish. So glad I found the recipe thank you!
Thanks for sharing! I’m happy you made this work for you, S. James.
I made this last night for my husband who loves Thai food. We are new to vegetarianism so always researching for new recipes. It was absolutely amazing!!!! Today I realised that all the recipes I have pinned so far have all been yours . So now I have also ordered your book and subscribed. So looking forward to trying out your other recipes.
I’m excited you are pulled toward my recipes, June! Thanks for your feedback and review.
This was absolutely amazing! Definitely a new family favorite. We had left overs to. I did add a little Tumeric, Papeika and Cayanne to spice it up. I did over oil the veggies a bit to my Kiki g. My fault! But turned out fantastic. Define recommend
Great to hear, Matt! Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate your review.
LOVED this! So fragrant, deep intense flavors but not “hot” spicy, other than the chopping very easy to make. Interestingly, I thought it lost a little zip when I reheated it for a friend and I for dinner the next night. Hmmm. Still good. I think I expected that with a little sitting time the flavors would increase and sometimes happens w/other concoctions.
I’m happy you loved it, Mary!
This was really delicious and I love how pretty it is on the plate. Will definitely make it again soon.
As other people noted, would be great as is and you can also riff on it, too. I didn’t use a whole can of coconut milk because I wanted it a bit lighter, used spinach instead of kale and didn’t add water or sugar — and it was all good. I used coconut amino instead of soy sauce so might be another reason I didn’t miss the sugar… Wanted a little spice so a dash of cayenne worked well, too. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing, Meg!
Great recipe, easy to make and really good with the rice, my entire family loved it, thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome, Monica!
Made this recipe today, turned out wonderfully balanced in flavour! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Nicole!
Found the same curry paste in local supermarket in UK! So … I made this dish and it was a complete success! Thumbs up from all the family. Thanks Kate. Simply delicious. They couldn’t believe vegetarian food can taste so good!
Great to hear! Thanks for sharing, Judy. I appreciate the review.