Thai Yellow Chicken Curry with Potatoes! Chicken, golden potatoes, onion, coconut cream, and an absolutely incredible homemade yellow curry paste sauce.
Thai Yellow Chicken Curry with Potatoes
Major rich delicious takeout vibes but you made it your very own self and it is absolutely craveable.
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**applause** I have never left a comment for a recipe before, but good GOLLY Ms. Molly this deserves the highest of fives. Make the paste. Just do it.
Jessica
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Super creamy and lush, thanks to the coconut cream, level the spice just where you want it and then let your Thai-inspired yellow curry dreams come true. Impeccably savory with a teensy bit of sweet, scooped over a bed of steamy rice. Yes, yes please right now.
Okay, so, there is a tiny 45-minute detour TOTALLY WORTH TAKING here, to make your own yellow curry paste first. Please trust us. Don’t run away! Because here is the thing, it will freeze beautifully and then be ready for you for the next, like, five times you want to make this super easy creamy, silky bowl of yellow chicken curry comfort. And you’re going to want to make it. Like, a lot.
In This Post: Everything For Yellow Chicken Curry
- VIDEO for how to make Yellow Curry
- Ingredients you’ll need
- How to make this curry
- All about homemade curry paste
- Frequently Asked Questions
Prefer To Watch Instead Of Read?
Ingredients You’ll Need
You can find everything needed to whip up your very own homemade batch golden yellow curry paste here [link]. After that, the ingredient list is beautifully short! Like, aaaalmost 5-ingredient short.
- curry paste
- boneless skinless chicken breasts (chicken thighs can also work)
- golden potatoes
- onion
- coconut cream
- fish sauce & brown sugar (optional but SO good!) and rice & cilantro for serving! (We just made this all one point so you could see we were *so close* to 5-ingredients)
How To Make This Yellow Curry
Once you’re in curry paste business, this lil’ treasure is so so easy to make. Like, weeknight dinner easy. Yes please, here for it.
- Sauté. Grab a skillet or a large pot and get your onions going first over medium heat until nice and fragrant. Then, toss in your chicken and curry paste and let that do it’s thing. Finally, toss the potatoes in there.
- Simmer. Pour that luscious coconut cream in there with a bit of water and let it simmer away until the chicken and potatoes are cooked.
- Stir. Add in a little splish splash of fish sauce and a sprinkle of brown sugar to really make it sing.
- Serve. On a pile of steamy rice. Fall in love forever.
About Homemade Curry Paste
We don’t know about you, but sometimes that yellow curry paste is hard to find in our go-to stores. Green, red, yep yep…but that beautiful golden deliciousness, where art thou?! Well, homemade yellow curry paste it is then. It takes a little time to come together, but it’s a big batch and then that is on hand for the next time your yellow curry craving strikes. Like, maybe tomorrow for breakfast? (Seriously, don’t knock it until you try it. We’ve been known to scrape a pan or two of cold curry in the morning as, like, a pre-breakfast. Worth it, every time.)
You’ll roast up some aromatics first, like a whole bunch of garlic, some ginger and some shallot. You’ll rehydrate some Thai chilis, you decide on the spice level. And then it’s just blend up and store in a jar and ta-da, curry paste at the ready!
How To Add Extra Veggies
If you want a little nutritious boost to add to this powerhouse, you have options!
- Add some frozen veggies right to the pan with the chicken, potatoes, and sauce – like frozen peas or carrots.
- Roast or sauté some veggies on the side – like fresh green beans or broccoli.
- Serve it alongside a side salad like this one!
We love that this recipe is also pretty flexible. The chicken/potato combo is such a delicious win but you could absolutely sub tofu or throw in any other veg you might have hanging out in the fridge. And if you only have coconut milk on hand, that can totally work, you’ll just adjust the liquid amounts accordingly to get the right consistency. But if you are ready to swim in a sea of lush, rich, unbelievably smooth creaminess – then coconut cream it simply must be! You will not regret it.
Such a beautiful bit of rich, creamy, surprisingly easy, takeout-vibe comfort food which we can get behind any day of the week. Yum.
Thai Yellow Chicken Curry: Frequently Asked Questions
How spicy is yellow curry?
What I love about this recipe is that if you make the homemade curry paste, you have control over how spicy it is. All you’ll need to do is reduce the number of whole dried Thai chili peppers in the paste (maybe doing 5 vs. 20).
What’s the difference between yellow, red, and green curry?
Traditionally, it all came down to the chilies – yellow curry made with yellow chilies, red curry made with red chilies, and green curry made with green chilies. Over time they each have changed to be even further apart (like adding lemongrass and kaffir leaf to green curry, or turmeric to yellow curry), but traditionally, the difference was in the chilies!
Can I use coconut milk instead of coconut cream?
Coconut milk would work fine in this recipe, if you just adjust the amount of water based on the consistency you want for the sauce. But if you can find it, coconut cream will make this REALLY delicious.
What other protein options would work well here?
This beef curry recipe is similar and beef would be great! For a vegetarian-friendly option, you could use tofu or chickpeas.
How could I add more vegetables to this?
Adding some frozen peas directly to the pan with the chicken would be delicious, or sautéing some green beans to serve on the side.
Can I make this vegetarian or vegan?
Absolutely! Tofu would be a great substitute in place of the chicken. If you’re going for vegan, omit the fish sauce as well.
Source notes: Kaeng Kari is the yellow curry dish commonly found in Thai restaurants outside of Thailand. It usually incorporates the use of yellow curry powder (“kari” referencing “curry powder”), which came to Thailand via the spice route. It is the result of British military presence bringing the Indian powder spices like turmeric and, according to Wiki, the “Anglo-Indian invention, curry powder.” It’s usually milder and less oily than traditional Thai curries. The bones of this recipe came from The Saveur New Classics Cookbook*. The recipe in the book was created and contributed by chef Andy Ricker, who owns the Thai restaurant PokPok in Portland. This version has some adjustments to taste and for some more readily available ingredients for the paste! You can do so many things with this curry paste / method – like the chicken and potatoes that you see here, but the beef version is also super delicious!
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Thai Yellow Chicken Curry with Potatoes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Thai Yellow Chicken Curry with Potatoes! Chicken, golden potatoes, onion, coconut cream, and an absolutely incredible homemade yellow curry paste sauce.
Ingredients
Units
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- 1 tablespoon oil
- half a yellow onion, sliced thinly
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/3 cup yellow curry paste
- 10 baby golden yukon potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
- one 14-ounce can coconut cream (it’s like coconut milk, but even more luscious)
- 1/2 – 1 cup water
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce (optional)
- 1–2 tablespoons brown sugar (optional)
- 2 tablespoons cilantro for serving
- 2 cups rice, uncooked
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium low heat. Add the onions and saute for a few minutes until the onions are fragrant and softened. Add the chicken and curry paste; saute for 3-5 minutes. Add the potatoes and stir to coat with the curry paste.
- Add the coconut cream and 1/2 cup water to the pot – simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the chicken and potatoes are fully cooked, adding more water depending on the consistency you want for the sauce. While the chicken and potatoes cook, cook rice according to package directions.
- Stir in the fish sauce and brown sugar to really take it up a notch. Seriously – so good. Serve over rice.
Equipment
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Notes
The nutrition label does not include the rice.
Need some tips on how to thinly slice that onion? Check out this guide on how to cut an onion.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Sauté
- Cuisine: Thai-Inspired
Keywords: yellow curry recipe, yellow curry chicken, chicken curry, thai yellow curry
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Filed Under: All Recipes Dairy-Free Dinner Gluten-Free Main Dishes Meat and Chicken Most Popular Quick and Easy Rice Spring
January 25, 2022
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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I have been making this for a few years now and it seems to get better each time. We have it about two to three times a month and I ALWAYS have the curry paste ready 24/7! Seriously Devine!!!
This was a big hit! I confess that I did not make the yellow curry paste from scratch (this time) because I had quite a bit of store-bought in my frig. I’ll definitely make it from scratch next time. I omitted the chicken and added carrots and peas to make it vegetarian. It was delicious and got rave reviews in our house. It will be on the regular recipe rotation from now on. 👍🏻
I’m really not sure why this recipe says to add water. I added water and another can of coconut milk and it came out like a soup. I would skip the water bc it definitely doesn’t feel like traditional yellow curry. Feeling like I wasted a good meal
If you had read the comments in the article with this recipe, it says ‘Coconut milk would work fine in this recipe, if you just adjust the amount of water based on the consistency you want for the sauce’. Then you wouldn’t have ended up with soup and you wouldn’t wonder why the recipe calls for water, which is more for the cream, not the milk.
This is a staple in our house. We absolutely LOVE this recipe . I’ve made it so many times. When you make the curry paste ahead of time and freeze it , that makes cooking this so easy to just pull it out and add 1/3 cup when making curry. This is restaurant quality in my opinion.
Thank you for the recipe ! I have many more of your recipes we make as well on a regular basis.
Thai Yellow Chicken Curry with Potatoes sounds absolutely delicious! Yellow curry is known for its aromatic and flavorful profile, and the combination of tender chicken, golden potatoes, onion, and coconut cream sounds like a delightful combination.
Can you freeze leftovers of the yellow curry recipe
For the paste? You sure can!
Such a simple recipe that results in a rich and delicious meal. I did use leftover roasted potatoes and forgot to add the water. As a test, I sprinkled in a small amount of dried pineapple pieces while the curry simmered- maybe 1.5T. Yum!
This is soooo good. I was never a big fan of curries before trying this. It’s my new favorite dinner. I’ve made it with both red and green curry paste as well. They are all delicious!
Thank you so much for helping me become a fan!
This has become my go to easy dinner for nights when we have multiple activities going on. I use chicken broth instead of water and add a bunch of fresh spinach and frozen peas at the end. SO good!
Are the potatoes supposed to be cooked beforehand? Mine weren’t cooked through after 30 mins in the pot
Hi, Will! You’ll cook the potatoes as part of the recipe, so no need to cook anything beforehand. If you’re finding the potatoes weren’t cooked through though, one thing you could try for next time is either cooking them for a bit longer of cutting the potatoes into smaller pieces. Hope this helps!
I’ve been making this, and the yellow curry paste for a couple years now. We LOVE it. I make triple batches of the Yellow Curry paste and freeze just to have on hand for quick evening dinners.
How odd. I was able to open it… here is the link: https://pinchofyum.com/easy-homemade-yellow-curry-paste
Hi, considered making this tonight but the link to yellow curry paste isn’t there. It literally says “homemade batch golden yellow curry paste here [link]” in the instructions above.
It is linked. If you don’t see the link it may be an issue with the browser you’re using. Googling “pinch of yum yellow curry paste” also gets you there.
This was comforting, easy, and delicious! Great recipe 🙂
Wow, delicious and simple! I’ve made it twice already this week because the construction-working men in my family LOVE it. What’s not to like when its delicious and easy?!! I’ve actually not even used potatoes yet. I’ve subbed pumpkin from our garden. Today I made it with a bunch of other vegetables as well as the pumpkin. Fantastic either way.
Thank you so much for such a great recipe!
I am a food lover and I love this post. could you please share something like that ( shorturl.at/zBIM8 ) but more simple and traditional?
Yummmmmmm I make it often. Family fave <3
You really should specify UNSWEETENED CREAM OF COCONUT because I just ruined dinner and wasted a lot of money and time when I didn’t feel like cooking to begin with. And now I have to come up with something else for three kids to eats Thanks a lot.
what an idiot lol
Idiot….smh….you sound like mom of the year….
Something tells me you blame others for your own mistakes often.
Wow, “cream of coconut” is something entirely different than “coconut cream”. It’s not her fault you can’t read directions. I pray for your children.
wow, that’s not her fault. i hope you don’t teach your kids to speak to other people like that. ESPECIALLY when they are providing you a service. FOR FREE.
lol dummy
Such a great recipe & super easy for how d-elicious the dish tastes! Thank you!
-Sherman Watson
San Francisco
Thank you for this useful recipe! Apart from being quite appetizing, curry has been found to be beneficial for individual’s long-term health. If eaten regularly, one can significantly benefit from curry’s minerals and vitamins Turmeric, a primary ingredient in curry, has contributed to several health-dish benefits. You can find more facts about carry here: https://ivypanda.com/essays/curry-essay/
After some minor tweaks, it tastes just like my mom’s curry! I used 2 cans of unsweetened coconut MILK instead, 1 can Masaman curry paste, and a couple Kaffir lime leaves. For those who think its too sweet, do the brown sugar sparingly. I think I used a couple tsp and it was perfect. Taste as you go. If its too sweet without the sugar, then you’re not using unsweetened coconut milk. Read your labels carefully, its easy to overlook.
I want to use the recipe to make the yellow curry but every time I click on the link, it brings me to Amazon.
Are you looking for the curry paste recipe? Here it is! https://pinchofyum.com/easy-homemade-yellow-curry-paste
It was tasty, but I shouldn’t have added any brown sugar because it was too sweet. I did use unsweetened coconut cream.
I made this today and it was the best recipe, my hubby was living his plate👍🏽
This is a pretty good recipe – we make it often! I do modify a few things though – I always sauté the onions with the chicken because otherwise they get too soft and stringy for my liking. I also throw in any left over veggies that we haven’t used from the week to reduce waste. We love it with carrot and red bell pepper! The curry paste is time consuming but it does make multiple batches and I do like that aspect.