This simple Thai Curry Sauce is extremely versatile. Serve it with rice, noodles, meat, veggies, or as a base for soups, marinades, and more.
Red Thai Curry Sauce
Simple ingredients, extremely versatile, and so addicting – that’s this Red Thai Curry Sauce.
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After five years, I’ll never get over this recipe. We made again and savor every drop. Thank you for this “never altered” and long running family staple.
This Curry Sauce Is A Staple In My House
This mind-blowing sauce was inspired by a recent take-out adventure to one of my favorite Thai restaurants in St. Paul –> called Pad Thai, located on Grand Avenue.
They have this dish called Pra Ram Long Song that I first met and fell in love with when I was in college. Ever since then, it has become one of those dishes where I can’t NOT order it. Even though I want to branch out and try something new which I know in my head will also be delicious, I cannot pull myself away from this mesmerizing dish. I think it might be magical food hypnosis spell or something.
After many attempts, I have created this Thai Red Curry Sauce that is making me so happy on so many levels. It is literally the best-tasting and most simple Thai recipe that I’ve ever made. And bonus: you can put it on anything. Chicken, rice, vegetables, noodles, soups, stir frys, and I am going to go there: salads.
I now have this recipe memorized. Until death do us part.
Watch How To Make This Red Curry Sauce
Ingredients You Need
This is a fairly short (but delicious) ingredient list.
- Coconut milk
- Peanut butter
- Red curry paste (Thai Kitchen is my go-to – affiliate link)
- Fish sauce
- Lime juice
- Brown sugar
- Garlic
- Peanuts
All of this comes together to make a creamy, salty, sweet, peanutty, tangy, delicious curry sauce.
How To Make A Curry Sauce
My favorite part about this recipe? IT’S SO EASY. Almost as easy as buying a jar from the store.
Here’s what you’re doing to do with those ingredients above:
- Combine everything besides the peanuts in a pot and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add the crushed peanuts and simmer a little more to your desired consistency (see photos below for timing).
- Done. Serve and enjoy!
By adjusting the consistency of the sauce it can become a creamy curry sauce, a marinade, a soup base, a stir fry sauce, or even a dressing. Just simmer until it’s perfect for you!
What To Serve With This Curry Sauce
This sauce is the base for anything you’d like to add to it. I love to use the formula below, but you can make your own, too!
- Rice or rice noodles
- Proteins (chicken, shrimp, or tofu are best – I like to sauté it in a separate pan, and then add the sauce and let it simmer together to finish cooking)
- Veggies (broccoli, snap peas, or spinach are my favorites!)
- Herbs for finishing (cilantro and scallions are very yum here)
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use curry powder instead of curry paste?
I wouldn’t recommend it for this recipe. It has a different flavor profile, and will create a slightly different texture.
Could I use green or yellow curry paste?
Yes! Yellow curry paste would be better than green, since green has a more herbaceous flavor profile and might not play as well with the peanut butter.
How can I add protein to this?
Chicken, shrimp, or tofu work great here. I would sauté it in a separate pan until browned, and then pour in the finished sauce and let it simmer together for 5-10 minutes until fully cooked and combined.
How can I add veggies to this?
There are a few options here. You could sauté in a pan until cooked, and then combine it with the sauce. OR you could roast the veggies, and then just add it to your dinner bowl with your rice/noodles and sauce.
I’m allergic to peanuts. How can I make this peanut-free?
Omit the peanut butter and crushed peanuts. It’ll be slightly less creamy, but still works! If you want it sweeter (since peanut butter contains sugar), just increase the brown sugar by 1-2 teaspoons.
Can I freeze curry sauce?
Yes! This works great to freeze and then pull out to simmer on the stove when you’re ready to eat. It should keep for up to 3 months in the freezer.
How can I make this sauce vegetarian/vegan?
Swap out the fish sauce for soy sauce.
What brand of red curry paste do you recommend?
I typically use Thai Kitchen for something I can get easily at the store, but Mae-Ploy is another good (spicier!) one as well. (affiliate links)
Can I use full-fat coconut milk?
Yes! It will be a little thicker though, so you may need to thin it out more depending on your desired consistency.
Red Thai Curry Sauce
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This simple Thai Curry Sauce is extremely versatile. Serve it with rice, noodles, meat, veggies, or as a base for soups, marinades, and more.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 can light coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce (see notes)
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/3 cup crushed peanuts
- up to 1/2 cup water or broth
- extra crushed peanuts and scallions for topping
Instructions
- Pour the coconut milk into a small saucepan over high heat. When the coconut milk reaches a gentle simmer, add the peanut butter, curry paste, fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, and garlic. Whisk and keep on high heat for 15 minutes or until the sauce has reduced and thickened.
- Add the peanuts and simmer for another 5-10 minutes. When the sauce coats the back of a spoon, add small amounts of broth or water and whisk to adjust consistency depending on how you will use it and how thick you want it. If the sauce separates, just whisk vigorously to smooth it out again.
- Serve over rice, noodles, chicken, fish, vegetables, or any other way that sounds good to you! Top with crushed peanuts and scallions.
Notes
More time simmering = thicker, creamier, more flavorful sauce. If you want a thinner sauce, I would simmer for less time and plan to add a bit of additional liquid. I’ve noticed that when I add the crushed peanuts, the consistency really thickens quite a bit, so you could omit the peanut butter and/or peanuts to also adjust to your desired consistency.
Last note: I know the fish sauce might take some convincing, but it is fairly easy to find at any grocery store and REALLY WORTH IT. Don’t worry – it does not make the sauce taste like fish; it just makes it saltier and adds lots of deep flavor. Don’t leave it out!
Except if you are vegetarian or vegan, then you can try swapping in soy sauce, miso, and/or hoison for the fish sauce.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Sauce
- Cuisine: Thai
Keywords: red thai curry sauce, thai curry sauce, red curry sauce
Three Top-Rated Curry Recipes
Filed Under: All Recipes Dairy-Free Dinner Gluten-Free Lime Main Dishes Quick and Easy Sauces Vegan Vegetarian Winter
January 27, 2014
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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The sauce looks absolutely delicious. Thai Red Curry caught my attention for two reasons – 1) I love Thai food and 2) I learnt to make the Thai Red Curry from scratch in one of my cooking classed in Thailand – in a small restaurant in the Fishermen’s village actually. Once it’s made, it’s fairly easy to refrigerate it and re-use it many times… https://ishitaunblogged.com/2013/04/19/baan-ma-yhing-restaurant-in-the-fishermens-village-cooking-freshly-caught-baramundi-in-thai-red-curry/
How cool! I can’t wait to see your post about it!!
I made the red thai. Curry past tonight and it was utterly delicious. I added it to jumbo shrimp, matchstick slices of red pepper carrots ,fresh pea pods
and some onions which I sautéed with a drop of oil and fresh garlic. At the last minute I added a ladle of the sauce to the fry pan and mixed it in. I served it with jasmine rice and some thinly sliced red hot chilies with some toasted coconut flakes which I happened to have in the refrigerator. Thank you for a wonderful recipe. I will use this with everything
Great comments, thanks Alane!
This was a wonderful recipe. The curry had excellent flavor. My wife doesn’t like curry but she liked this. The only problem was it wasn’t spicy enough for my family. We like spicy. The only red curry paste I can find in my local stores is Taste of Thai brand and this was my third recipe trying it. I think that brand is just too mild. I used a whole jar (8 TBSP) in a double batch of your recipe and felt it was just mild. We added red pepper flakes and sriracha sauce to spice it up. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Thanks for the feedback! Sounds like you made a delicious spicy curry. 🙂
@likeitspicy try frying the paste with some peppers & oil in a saucepan before adding coconut milk and the other ingredients. It’s the way that I was taught to make curry and really brings out taste and spice and you end up using less paste/powder
Great suggestion, Idia! Thanks!
Try the red curry paste in any Chinese stores which comes by ” Weichan” – my spelling could be wrong as I do not have any cans left of Red curry paste. It is spicy and I use actually 1/2 of the can if I am cooking for four. It comes in a size of Tuna can at the grocery store…..
Add some thai chili’s… fresh or preserved in some vinegar or oil. That will give you thai spicy!! That red chili sauce … not the Siracha but the probably Chinese red chili sauce in a jar has a good tangy kick but Thai chili the best. I like heat but I don’t like biting into a Thai chili not even de-seceded or minced but at Thai places.. I ask for the spice rack or the Thai chili condiment and I use the liquid of the chili onlt.
Because this curry is more liquid… probably need caution with amount used since liquid increases heat!!! Yikes although the coconut milk can help thst. Personally, I add a little heat while cooking but also a fresh bit on my serving.
Delish!!! It’s winter here DownUnder & we’re eating this with chicken weekly coz we love it!! Thanks for sharing! 👍🏼🥰😍
Glad you enjoyed the sauce!
I have never left a comment on any blog, let alone a recipe blog. Until now. This sauce is so so good! I followed the recipe exactly (used soy though, sorry!) and cooked it til it was thick so it would really stick to the noodles. I can eat this sauce with a spoon. I remade it again tonight and doubled the recipe so I can have it again tomorrow. I stir fry veggies, boil rice noodles, and then smother them in this sauce. Top with crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, and spring onions. Yum! I think next time I might add a green chili to add some heat. Cannot wait!
The meal you put together sounds amazing! Glad you like the recipe, Holly!
Lindsay, you are hilarious. I think my favorite title is “Just try to control yourself.” Because that sounds just about right–this sauce looks amaziiiiing. Like I want to make it and drink it. Is that weird? Nope! I think you’ll understand. 🙂 Pinning!
Understand completely.
curry in a hurry =) … either way this looks super yummy and not too difficult to make! definitely must try!
This looks great! And maybe I’ll try to convince myself to try Pad Thai the next time I’m in the Twin Cities visiting my parents…though it will be difficult to pass up a visit to Cafe Latte!
Oh but they’re so close! Thai food for dinner, Cafe Latte for dessert! 🙂
What kind of curry paste do you use? Even here in Maine I can get many kinds (at least 8, off the top of my head)at a local Asian market.
Ah, on rereading, I see that the title of this post is Red Thai Curry Sauce, so it must be red curry paste you’re using in the recipe. I was confused because the only mention of Red was in the post title, and the only part of the title that stuck with me was Thai Curry Sauce.
Yep, red!
I don’t really have the motivation right now to make my own curry paste. What brand do you recommend? 🙂
We have often used Thai Kitchen red curry paste, and that works great!
By the way, you posts don’t seem to format properly on Firefox. I’ve compared several of your posts against several browsers (on Windows) and they look nice except on Firefox where it’s a bit screwy. Any suggestions?
Hi Drew! Always helpful to get feedback like that. I use Firefox all the time and don’t notice a problem – can you email me a screen shot of what you’re seeing? That would be super helpful. lindsay at pinchofyum.com. Thanks!
Sure. Uh, how do you want me to send it, it’s a rather large file?
Just a screen shot of the page? It should be email-able as an attachment.
Yes, but to what address do I email it? Sorry to be a pain.
lindsay at pinchofyum.com – no worries, you’re the one helping me out. 🙂
I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but I’ve never eaten Thai food! Is this really spicy? I can’t eat really spicy food, but this looks so good! Maybe I could use less curry paste?
Nope! not really spicy. But definitely has spice. I don’t really know how to explain it but I would qualify it as mild+ unless you use extremely hot curry paste. Watch the curry paste and then taste as you go would be my best advice! 🙂
This looks awesome. My favorite Thai place makes a dish that looks a lot like this. Definitely going to try it. Really love your pictures too. Thank for sharing!
The sauce to end all sauces?! YES please!
Um, wow. Wowy, wow. That sauce looks utterly amazing. How about another alternative title: “Try not to bathe in it?”
lol! yes. you win.
Sooo, I’m going to need you to send some of this on over. I can deal if it’s a little messy.
1) peanut butter? I need it
2) I’m going to pour this over ev-er-y-thing
3) love the versatility!
I am a huge fan of red curry paste – love how versatile your sauce is!
This looks delicious. I’ve never been able to make thai curry without the paste and I’m starting to think that it is nearly impossible! 🙂 Does anyone know how to make thai curry, truly from scratch?
http://liveitinerantly.com
I just saw this fun post from a great blog on how to make your own curry paste! 🙂 https://thewanderlustkitchen.com/easy-homemade-red-curry-paste/
Thanks for sharing, Lindsay! 🙂
Well whatever you call it, it looks fabulous! I’m the only fan of curry in this house (dorks) but I’m thinking a big jar of this in the fridge all for me isn’t such a bad idea! 😉
Your alternate title ideas made me laugh out loud, especially “how to crave vegetables all the time.” And hooray for Minnesotans who love Thai food! I’ll be making this one!
represent!
This plate looks devine! I LOVE peanut butter sauces! Thank you for another delicious recipe!
This looks yummy and warm….. maybe I’ll make it tomorrow (since I have no excuse not to!). My favorite Thai restaurant in the area is Ruam Mit Thai, downtown St. Paul near the Children’s Museum. Not a fancy restaurant, but DELICIOUS!
Oh good call! I loooove that place. We like the massaman curry there.
It sounds like you might put some local Thai places out of business as we’ll all be able to make this delicious sauce at home! I hope to try it soon but have to get the fish sauce. Your added encouragement might push me over the edge of to-buy-or-not-to-buy the next time I see it. Until now I’ve though “ugh” but know it is in many dishes I like at restaurants. maybe it is time to try it at home!
Get it for sure! you won’t regret it. It totally gives it that restaurant-like delish factor.
You are officially my hero du jour! I love thai food, and the simple ingredients and easy prep of this sauce are just totally fantastic! Can’t wait to try it! Pinning for sure!
P.S. Two-hour delay here today, and they already cancelled school for tomorrow hours ago! From the frost-bitten windows of Minnesota … to the frozen wasteland of Ohio … this is JUST what we need to warm us right up! 😀
Yes yes! Enjoy!
It looks very delicious:)
That looks amazing!!! I’m in South Australia, where the weather today is well over 100, and schools are closed due to the heat and bush fire risk! So we will gladly take some of your cold!!!
Will have to save this for a cooler day – we are on a no cook policy in our house at the moment to keep it cool!! Your thai chopped chicken salad and the rainbow salad are on the menu this week!!! Love them both!
Thanks Alex! I totally get it and I wish I could bottle up some of this frosty cold and send it your way! Stay cool!
OMG – I made this last night! AMAZING!!!! definately adding this to the keep list!!!!
Glad you liked it Alex! I LOVE IT TOO! SO MUCH THAT I’M YELLING.
I love Thai food so much! I’m definitely making the sauce. Thanks for the helpful photos! Also snow days for a teacher = best thing ever.
I’ve never really dabbled in thai cuisine but this sounds delicious! Great job 🙂
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
Lindsay, another wonderful recipe! I will be making this for dinner tonight…although it is 100 degrees here in Melbourne, and in the middle of another heat wave, I will put that air con on and enjoy every mouthful!!!
The term Air Con reminds me of the Philippines. 🙂 Enjoy!
Coconut for life? YES!
Curry makes the world go round? Yes!!
Seriously, I love, love, love Thai curry. I always have at least two jars of the Thai red curry paste on hand. always! It os on of my favorite ingredients. This sauce is beyond amazing and not to mention gorgeous!