This 30-minute Thai green curry recipe is a delicious weeknight dinner! Store-bought curry paste, fresh ginger, and lime juice fill it with bold flavor.
This Thai green curry recipe is a restaurant-worthy weeknight dinner! It’s fresh, flavorful, and bright, yet it still comes together in 30 minutes thanks to an easy pantry shortcut: store-bought green curry paste.
Made with aromatic ingredients like green chilies, lemongrass, and makrut lime leaves, the curry paste is packed with bold flavor. Simmered in coconut milk with fresh ginger and lime juice, it creates a curry sauce that’s rich, fragrant, and a little bit sweet. I can’t say it’s better than my go-to Thai restaurant (sometimes, nothing but takeout will do), but it comes pretty darn close.
You could use any protein or vegetables you like in this green curry recipe. I call for my favorites—eggplant, bell peppers, and snow peas, plus creamy cubes of tofu. Just add a side of rice for an easy, delicious dinner!
Thai Green Curry Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this green curry recipe:
- Green curry paste, of course! Store-bought green curry paste is typically made with ingredients like green chilies, lemongrass, galangal, makrut or kaffir lime leaves, and herbs. It fills this homemade green curry with bold, aromatic flavor. Find it in Asian grocery stores or the Asian section of your supermarket.
- Full-fat coconut milk and water – They create the sauce’s rich, creamy base.
- Coconut oil РFor saut̩ing the eggplant.
- Eggplant, bell peppers, and snow peas – The main vegetables in this Thai green curry recipe. I like Chinese or Japanese eggplant here. It’s firmer and meatier than Italian eggplant, yet easier to find than Thai eggplant, at least in the stores near me. Feel free to use whatever type you like best or is most accessible to you!
- Fresno chiles or Thai chiles – For heat. Skip them if you’re sensitive to spice.
- Fresh ginger and lime juice – They deepen the curry paste’s bright, refreshing flavor.
- Extra-firm tofu – My protein of choice. Feel free to prepare it however you’d like. You can add plain cubed tofu to the curry, or use baked tofu or fried tofu. (I like to buy pre-cooked fried tofu at my grocery store to save myself a step.)
- And fresh herbs – Garnish the curry with cilantro and fresh basil leaves (or better yet, Thai basil) to take it over the top.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Want to try other veggies in this recipe? Zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, and/or green beans would be great! Drained canned bamboo shoots are delicious too. Add them along with or instead of the red bell pepper and snow peas.
Working with Green Curry Paste
Store-bought curry pastes vary in pungency and flavor. It’s very important to season to taste in this recipe because the overall balance will depend on the brand of curry paste you use.
I call for optional sugar in case you need some sweetness to offset a salty, savory paste. I also call for optional tamari in case you need extra salty, savory depth. One thing to note:Â An authentic Thai green curry recipe would include fish sauce, not tamari, for umami flavor, but I omit it to keep this recipe vegetarian!
I’ve made Thai curries with a variety of different brands of curry paste, and my personal favorite is Mekhala. It’s vegan and gluten-free, and it has a bold, fresh flavor with a nice amount of spice. If you use a different brand, check the label to make sure it’s vegetarian if that’s a concern for you. Some contain shrimp paste.
If you’d like to try making homemade green curry paste from scratch, check out my cookbook Love & Lemons: Simple Feel Good Food. I share a recipe on page 149!
How to Make Thai Green Curry
This Thai green curry recipe comes together in 4 simple steps:
1. Start by cooking the eggplant. Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the eggplant. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, or until softened. Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Next, fry the curry paste and ginger with a little of the coconut milk, cooking until the mixture dries out and becomes fragrant. This step takes the raw edge off the curry paste and ginger and develops their flavors.
3. Simmer the curry. Add the remaining coconut milk, water, bell pepper, snow peas, eggplant, and half the Thai chiles to the skillet. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the snow peas are tender.
4. Season and serve. Remove the curry from the heat and add the lime juice. Season to taste with the sugar and/or tamari. Top with fresh herbs and chiles and serve with cooked jasmine rice!
Storage Tips
I love this green curry leftover. The flavors become even more complex after a night in the fridge!
- To store in the refrigerator: Let cool to room temperature, then seal in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
- To freeze: Yep, this curry freezes well! Let cool to room temp, then seal in an airtight container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- To reheat: Reheat in the microwave or over low heat on the stovetop.
More Curry Recipes to Try
If you love this Thai green curry, try one of these easy curry recipes next:
Thai Green Curry
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 medium Chinese or Japanese eggplants, cut into ½-inch-thick half-moons
- Sea salt
- 1 (13.5-ounce) can full-fat coconut milk
- ¼ cup Thai green curry paste
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger matchsticks
- 1 cup water
- 7 ounces extra-firm tofu, cubed (raw, baked, or fried—I like to use store-bought fried tofu)
- 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and sliced
- 4 ounces snow peas
- 2 Fresno chiles or 4 Thai chiles, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 teaspoon sugar, optional
- Tamari, to taste, optional
- Thai basil or fresh cilantro, for garnish
- Cooked rice, for serving
Instructions
- Heat the coconut oil in a medium skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the eggplant and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, or until softened. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Return the pan to medium heat and add ¼ cup of the coconut milk, the curry paste, and ginger. Sizzle for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the curry paste mostly dries out. Add the remaining coconut milk and the water and stir to combine.
- Add the tofu, red pepper, snow peas, sautéed eggplant, and half the chiles and stir to combine. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the snow peas are tender.
- Remove from the heat and add the lime juice. Season to taste, adding the sugar and tamari, if desired.
- Garnish with the remaining chiles and herbs and serve with rice.
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Very good recipe. I usually cook with red curry paste so trying green was a nice change. I’m not a huge fan of eggplant, but they are excellent in this recipe. Fried my own tofu first. No snow peas but very much enjoyed this dish.
I love thai food, especially curry, and this absolutely hit the spot. I will definitely be making this again, but maybe with a few more chili peppers.
Simple, quick and tasty! I boiled my tofu in heavily salted water for 10 mins beforehand to help soak up the curry..next time, I’d love to try to make this with homemade curry paste. Needed to add more salt than tamari alone, so I’d probably add a salting step earlier in the process to ensure the veggies are properly seasoned although I’m sure the depth of flavor will continue to develop as it sits in the fridge.
So glad you enjoyed it, Lee!
I made this recipe pretty much exactly as it called for minus half of the chili peppers. It was delicious! I haven’t ever really liked eggplant before, but the Chinese eggplant in this recipe was so good! My brother in law ate a good amount of it, and when I told him afterward that it was tofu, he was surprised it wasn’t chicken! I couldn’t find any pre-roasted tofu, so I pan-fried mine in coconut oil before adding it. Even though I only used half the peppers, mine ended up being pretty spicy—spicier than I normally prefer. However, this is probably due to the curry paste I used. I used Mae Ploy since it seemed like a good brand from my online search—and it was, but just a little spicier than I’ll probably go for next time. Overall, great recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Emily!
Wonderful! Lots of delicious flavors and textures that enhance each other perfectly. And the colors are beautiful too. It smells heavenly. And it’s gluten free and dairy free. I will be adding this to my rotation. And my family likes it too.
I’m so glad you loved it, Phoebe!
I am really enjoying the Cooking Club, and made this recipe as part of the September ’26 entry. I tweaked the recipe: used zucchini instead of eggplant (because that is what was growing in my garden), green beans instead of snow peas (just preference), and did not add the thai chiles (heat preference). I briefly sauteed the zuchhini with the curry paste before adding the coconut milk/water/red pepper/green beans (oh and I blanched the green beans before adding). This was just okay, the veggies were a little undercooked and bland. I would change the recipe by sauteeing all the vegetables in olive oil for a couple of minutes and seasoning with salt and pepper, then adding the paste/ginger/small amt of coconut milk, and coating the vegetables and continue sauteeing for a couple of minutes, then adding the rest of the coconut milk with broth instead of water. I think that would help with the seasoning and depth of flavor.
I love green curry and have attempted many different recipes but still haven’t found the perfect one. This was easy to pull together on a week night and my hungry family gobbled it up but this isn’t the green curry recipe I’ll make again & again.
I made this for the September cooking club. I used regular eggplant and think I needed to spend more time frying them or just baking them before adding to the curry. I tried using pattypan squash and it wasn’t my favorite vegetable for this dish. Also definitely use full fat coconut milk – I tried light since that was what we had and it is not the same!
This dish is a knockout with great flavor and a blend of textures. I made a few changes because my regular grocer didn’t have several key ingredients. I am used to substituting, so that was not an issue. I also added a chicken breast to increase the protein. I braised or sautéed the chicken, eggplant, and tofu separately before adding them to the sauce. Everything turned out great.
So glad you enjoyed it!
This curry was delicious! I made it with half chicken and half tofu for my family who came over that can’t handle dinner without meat. I should have added more curry paste because it was a little lacking on flavor, but I was trying to make it kid friendly. Over all it was easy to make and filling. I served it with white rice and apple crisp for dessert. Thanks for the recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it, Harley!
Very flavourful. Easy to make.
I’m so glad you loved it, Trish!
Two months in a row now i’ve made the recipe of the month a week early without knowing it! This tasted good, I think I needed more green curry in mine, the eggplant was delicious. I tried getting a pre-flavored already baked tofu and it was just ok, I think i’ll stick with air frying tofu myself for a crispy version.
Oh ha, what are the chances! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe. Different curry pastes can definitely vary, so don’t hesitate to add more next time.
Excited to make this for Sept!
Green Curry always brings such a perfect balance of spice and creaminess. This article described it wonderfully
This was absolutely delicious. This is going to be our go-to green curry dish
Made this, it was a big hit, nice depth of flavor. Added cooked chicken breast, zucchini, peas, and green beans.
So glad you loved it, Suzanne!