Creamy, silky and incredibly tasty Thai Red Curry Shrimp will be your new go-to dish. It takes just 15 minutes to put together and tastes even better than takeout!
I love Thai curries but am often disappointed when ordering them at restaurants as they tend to be too watery and soupy. I love my Thai curries thick, creamy and full of flavor so I prefer to make them myself. It's super simple and takes just minutes to put together so there's no reason not to!
It has been over a year since I shared my Green Curry with Chicken recipe so I thought I would follow up with a Thai Red Curry Shrimp recipe.
You can keep the majority of these ingredients stocked in your kitchen at all times so Thai Red Curry Shrimp can be one of your go-to meals on any day at any time.
There are a few ingredients that you'll need to prepare before we toss everything into the wok (or pan). First, cut one small onion into rings, then mince 3 cloves of garlic. Next, we're going to cut 2 - 3 kaffir lime leaves and 1 fresh red chili into thin strips (cut off the stems of the lime leaves first as they tend to be fibrous...see image below). Set the red chili and half of the lime leaf strips aside as they will be used for the garnish.
Heat up 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in a wok or a large pan and saute the onion and garlic over medium-high heat.
As soon as the onions start to turn translucent, add 2 tablespoons of Thai red curry paste (homemade or store-bought. Using a good Thai Red Curry Paste really makes all the difference for a great curry. Tip: You can freeze the leftover curry paste so one container should last quite a while.
Stir-fry the curry paste for a few seconds.
Add 1 ½ cups of coconut milk and stir well. Allow it to simmer but stir occasionally to keep it from burning. After only about a minute, the curry will start to thicken up.
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As soon as all of the ingredients are well combined and it starts to thicken just a little, add the shrimp. You're probably wondering why we're adding the shrimp now when the curry is almost done instead of in the beginning. Shrimp cooks very quickly. If we add the shrimp too early in the process, it will overcook and turn very rubbery. By adding the shrimp just at the right time, it will keep the texture of the shrimp bouncy and crunchy.
Keep stirring the shrimp to allow it to cook in the curry. Bring the curry to a boil and keep stirring. The shrimp will start to curl and firm up as they cook. When all of the shrimp are cooked, add in the kaffir lime leaves (remember, save half of the lime leaves for the garnish), 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of fish sauce. Give it a good stir to combine all of those ingredients, then transfer to a serving bowl.
Garnish with the rest of the lime leaf strips and red chili strips. Serve with steamed rice or your favorite pasta!
Enjoy!
Easy Thai Red Curry Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 small onion cut into rings
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
- 1 ½ cups coconut milk
- 10 large shrimp peeled, deveined, tail-on
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 2 - 3 kaffir lime leaves cut into thin strips
- 1 fresh red chili cut into thin strips
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a wok or large pan.
- Saute onion and garlic over medium heat.
- As soon as the onion starts to turn translucent, add red curry paste. Saute the paste for a few seconds.
- Add coconut milk and stir well. Allow the curry to simmer but stir occasionally to keep it from burning. It will start to thicken up quickly.
- As soon as the ingredients are well combined, add the shrimp.
- Keep stirring and allow the shrimp to cook in the curry sauce. Allow it to boil gently. The shrimp will start to curl up as they cook.
- When all of the shrimp are cooked, add sugar, fish sauce and half of the kaffir lime leaves.
- Give it a good stir, then transfer to a serving bowl.
- Garnish with the rest of the lime leaf strips and red chili strips.
- Serve with steamed rice or with your favorite pasta.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
This recipe was adapted from Jim Thompsons', Spicy Red Shrimp Curry recipe in his book, "At The Table of Jim Thompson
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Leigh says
Delicious! This was a great recipe to use with my favorite store bought Red curry paste.
Char says
Hi Leigh! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave this comment. I'm so glad that you enjoyed this recipe! May I ask which brand is your favorite store-bought curry paste? I'm always looking to try good brands!