This Thai shrimp curry recipe is loaded with flavor, made with spicy curry paste, creamy coconut milk and succulent shrimp. Easy to make! Serve it with rice or noodles. It's a perfect weeknight meal.
Thai Shrimp Curry Recipe
Who's in the mood for curry? I am! Pretty much always. As much as I love curry all year long, there is something special about it when the weather here starts to cool and a warming bowl of curry is in order.
There are so many different types of curry and I'd accept every single one of them, but today I'm serving up a tasty bowl of Thai Shrimp Curry, and you're going to love it.
Here we have succulent shrimp that's been peeled and deveined, the marinated in fish sauce and a bit of salt and pepper.
The curry is a mixture of creamy coconut milk that simmers with a spicy homemade yellow curry paste, diced tomatoes and seasonings. It's quick and easy to cook, as the sauce simmers only a short while to develop flavor, and the shrimp are tucked into the coconut curry sauce for only a few minutes to cook through.
Simple as this dish will be for you, you'll find it is HUGE on flavor and brings just the right amount of spiciness that you crave.
Let's talk about how to make Thai shrimp curry, shall we?
Ingredients Need for this Thai Shrimp Curry Recipe
- FOR THE SHRIMP
- 1.5 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
- FOR THE CURRY
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 5 tablespoons yellow curry paste (see my homemade yellow curry paste recipe)
- 2 cups diced tomatoes (or use a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes)
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce + more to finish
- 1 tablespoon palm sugar + more to taste (brown sugar is a good substitute)
- FOR SERVING: Fresh chopped cilantro or parsley, spicy chili flakes, cooked jasmine rice
Thai Shrimp Curry Recipe Steps
First, toss the shrimp with the fish sauce and a bit of salt and pepper. Set aside to marinate for 10 minutes, covered. Start the curry while the shrimp is marinating.
For the curry, heat the coconut milk in a large pan over medium heat about 10 minutes. The coconut oil should start to separate from the white creamy portion. (If this does not occur, simply proceed with the recipe).
Add the curry paste and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring, to cook the paste and thicken up the sauce.
Add the diced tomatoes, fish sauce and palm sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes to let the flavors develop.
Add the shrimp and accumulated marinade and cook 2-3 minutes, or until the shrimp is cooked through.
Taste and adjust with fish sauce and palm sugar to your tastes.
Serve over white rice and garnish with chopped herbs and chili flakes, if desired. Lime wedges are great here, too. It's nice with a squeeze of fresh lime juice.
Yellow Curry Paste
You can find different curry pastes in specialty stores, and even some pretty good ones in your typical grocery stores, or you can order them online. However, I enjoy making curry paste at home. This allows you to control the flavor and ingredients you're putting into the curry paste.
For example, if you like more of a garlicky curry paste, you can easily double or triple the amount of garlic a recipe calls for. It is easy to customize to your own personal desires.
See my homemade yellow curry paste recipe here. It uses a lot of ingredients, but it is well worth it.
Want to order online? Buy Yellow Curry Paste from Amazon (affiliate link, my friends).
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Make it with Chicken. I've made this with shrimp, but chicken is a great substitute. You can directly sub in the chicken for the shrimp, though it would benefit from a longer marinade, and will need to simmer longer in the coconut curry sauce until it is fully cooked through.
- Seasonings. You'll get a lot of flavor from the yellow curry paste, but if you're looking to spice it up even more, add in a teaspoon or more of curry powder or this spicy vindaloo curry powder. You can also easily sprinkle in some spicy chili powder, like cayenne or even ghost pepper flakes. Yes!
- Chili Peppers. I've relied on the curry paste for the spiciness I'm looking for, but aside from extra curry powder, you can sear up some spicy chili peppers in a bit of oil first, set them aside, then tuck them into the dish to simmer when you add the coconut milk. That will bring you a bit of extra spicy heat, depending on your chili peppers of choice.
- Additional Ingredients. Other flavors you might consider including are fresh ginger, brown sugar (instead of palm sugar), mild red peppers (red bell peppers), snow peas, or chicken broth for thinning.
That's it my friends! That's how I make my homemade Thai Shrimp Curry. It's super easy to make, isn't it? I hope you enjoy it! Spice it up as much as you'd like! I know you want to, my crazy chilihead friends!
Storage Information
Store any leftover curry in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in a sealed container. You can reheat it in a pot on the stove top or gently in the microwave.
You can also freeze curry for 3 months or longer in freezer containers.
Recommended Cookbook
If you enjoy Thai cooking, I recommend this cookbook - Hot Thai Kitchen: Demystifying Thai Cuisine with Authentic Recipes to Make at Home, by Pailin Chongchitnant. It's a great resource with lots of traditional Thai recipes. Very instructive! (Affilliate link, my friends!)
Try Some of My Other Popular Curry Recipes
Got any questions? Ask away! I’m happy to help. If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you’ll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I’ll be sure to share! Thanks! — Mike H.
Thai Shrimp Curry Recipe
Ingredients
FOR THE SHRIMP
- 1.5 pounds shrimp peeled and deveined
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
FOR THE CURRY
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 5 tablespoons yellow curry paste see my yellow curry paste recipe
- 2 cups diced tomatoes or use a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce + more to finish
- 1 tablespoon palm sugar + more to taste
FOR SERVING: Fresh chopped cilantro or parsley, spicy chili flakes, cooked jasmine rice
Instructions
- Toss the shrimp with the fish sauce and a bit of salt and pepper. Set aside to marinate for 10 minutes, covered. Start the curry while the shrimp is marinating.
- For the curry, heat the coconut milk in a large pan over medium heat about 10 minutes. The coconut oil should start to separate from the white creamy portion. (If this does not occur, simply proceed with the recipe).
- Add the curry paste and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring, to cook the paste and thicken up the sauce.
- Add the diced tomatoes, fish sauce and palm sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes to let the flavors develop.
- Add the shrimp and accumulated marinade and cook 2-3 minutes, or until the shrimp is cooked through.
- Taste and adjust with fish sauce and palm sugar to your tastes.
- Serve over white rice and garnish with chopped herbs and chili flakes, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Bridget says
Made this tonight and got rave reviews! I only used half the curry paste and it was just right. It had a good bite but didn’t set my tongue on fire. I will definitely make again and may add some veggies next time.
Mike Hultquist says
Boom! Glad you enjoyed it, Bridget! Nice! Thanks for sharing. =)
Ed Moder says
Since Connie cut the grass yesterday, I made dinner. I made this all by myself. Connie made a few comments from the living room and answered a few questions, but never came into the kitchen. UNTIL This morning when I got up and found out that she had to clean up my mess on the stove. So I didn't finish the job. We had coconut milk and jasmine rice but I had to use green curry paste since we didn't have any yellow. Plus I put 12 ounces of scallops with 16 ounces of shrimp.
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We really liked this dish. Five stars for sure!
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Mike Hultquist says
Excellent! Glad you enjoyed it, Ed! All that cooking practice is coming into great use. =)
Ed Moder says
I definitely put too much salt in this, so when eating leftovers, I suggested to Connie that we dilute it with something and she decided to use heavy cream. Also, we had an egg that was broken so I suggested she add that too. Of course one egg is nothing so she used 3.
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WOW! It was awesome! Thanks for the recipe even if we doctored it.
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Mike Hultquist says
Nice! Great way to dilute the salt, Ed. I'm sure the cream worked nicely with the coconut milk, and eggs? Why not? They're always welcomed in stir fries. Great doctoring. Glad you enjoyed it. =)
Kathy says
What is the brand of the fish sauce you use?
Mike Hultquist says
I usually pick up different brands when I visit my local Asian market. Right now I'm using "Healthy Boy Brand".
Cindy McKusker says
Made this last night for the first time, but it won’t be the last! Followed your recipe with the addition of some red pepper flakes and parsley. Delicious - thanks for sharing!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Nice! Glad you enjoyed it, Cindy!
High Yield Analyst says
Hey Kathy ... good observation about fish sauce ... 🙂 ... they all smell a little stinky to me too! ... 🙂 ... However, after cooking many, many Thai recipes they seem to work out well in most Thai finished menu items ... give fish sauce a good try and if you still don't like the overall flavor, then eliminate ... that is our luxury in being the chef of our own kitchen! ... 🙂 ... good luck!
Kathy says
Thanks on your opinion on the fish sauce. I guess I’ll try a couple of brands to see the difference in smell and overall menus results.
Jazz says
Super yummy!! I played around with amounts a bit, just for convenience, but it was still delish!
Since shrimp I buy comes in 2 lb bags, I increased the amount of shrimp in the recipe from 1.5 pounds to 2 pounds.
I used 2 cans (10 oz each) of Rotel for the tomatoes, and replaced 2 C coconut milk with 1 can (14 oz) of coconut cream plus 1 can (13.5 oz) of coconut milk.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Perfect, Jazz! I love it!
Kathy says
Could you suggest a good fish sauce? They all smell really fishy. I need to know of a quality one. Thank you
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Kathy, I usually can get the Thai Kitchen Fish Sauce from my local grocer, but there are some highly rated fish sauces at Amazon.