Instant Pot Thai Green Curry is a creamy coconut curry with the flavors of green chilies, Thai Basil, lime, coriander, and cumin. This spicy curry will rival your favorite Thai takeout green curry, but is so quick and easy that it can be ready in less than 30 minutes. Serve it with Instant Pot Jasmine Rice for an amazing flavor combination!
This is the third Thai curry for the Instant Pot, that I’ve posted on the blog. My family loves Thai food and we used to go out to Thai restaurants all the time, but now we hardly ever do. I’m usually my own worst critic, and for me to say this is not easy: I think the Thai curries that I make at home are as good as restaurant Thai curries.
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Serve this Instant Pot Thai Green Chicken Curry with Fragrant Instant Pot Jasmine Rice. The combination is so good, you’re going to want to lick your bowl!
Tips
Maesri and Mae Ploy are my two favorite Thai curry paste brands.
Lime leaves (also known as k-lime, makrut or kaffir lime leaves) and Thai Basil are also important ingredients in this dish. Try and find them if you can, because they add a ton of flavor.
For the fish sauce, I use Red Boat brand. It’s more pricey, but very good quality.
There’s no substitute for fish sauce. It adds that depth of flavor, the umami, to the curry. But if you’re vegetarian, I’ve had readers recommend the Fysh brand of sauce. I have not tried it. You may need to add a little extra.
Palm sugar is more authentic to a Thai curry than brown sugar is. However, I frequently use brown sugar without sacrificing taste.
I frequently get questions about the coconut milk curdling after being pressure cooked in the Instant Pot. Yes, it will appear to be curdled when you open the Instant Pot. But once you stir it up and cook the vegetables in the curry sauce, the curry should be very smooth.
It’s important to buy a good quality coconut milk. I have had less-than-perfect Thai curry when I’ve used lower quality brands and/or light coconut milk. My two favorite brands are Aroy-D and Chaokoh.
You can easily substitute other meats or tofu for the chicken, but you’ll have to adjust the cooking time – here are some approximate times. Note: the timing for meat is for bite-size strips!
- Pork shoulder: 8 minutes Natural Pressure Release (NPR)
- Beef chuck: 12 minutes NPR
- Extra-firm tofu, cubed: 2 minutes, Quick Release (QR)
This recipe makes a green curry that’s fairly spicy, but not extreme. If you’re unsure, start with just 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of the green curry paste, and next time you can adjust the heat.
I sometimes choose to decrease the quantity of chicken and double the quantity of vegetables, so we eat less meat and more veggies.
If you’re new to the Instant Pot and aren’t familiar with how to use it, please read the Instant Pot DUO Beginner’s Quick Start Guide or the Instant Pot ULTRA Beginner’s Quick Start Guide first and then come back here to learn how to make Instant Pot Thai Green Curry with Chicken.
Instant Pot Thai Green Curry with Chicken Ingredients
Instant Pot Thai Green Curry with Chicken Step by Step Instructions
- Press ‘Saute’.
- Stir together Green curry paste and 1/2 can of coconut milk and saute until mixture is bubbly, a minute or two. *
- Stir in coriander and cumin and cook for 30 seconds.
* Use a splatter screen if necessary, to guard against splatters from the coconut milk.
- Press ‘Cancel’ to turn off Instant Pot.
- Stir in chicken, remaining coconut milk, and chicken broth or water.
- Close Instant Pot Lid, and make sure steam release handle is in the ‘Sealing’ position.
- Press ‘Manual’ (or ‘Pressure Cook’) and ‘+’ or ‘-‘ until display reads ‘4’ (4 minutes)
- Instant Pot display will change to ‘On’.
- Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.
- The display will count down from 4 to 0; it will then switch to ‘Keep Warm’ mode and display ‘L0:00’.
- To open the Instant Pot, first move the steam release handle to ‘Venting’. I like to place a folded towel over the steam release handle and move it to the venting position. Remove the towel after turning the handle.
- When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
- Press ‘Cancel’ and open the Instant Pot.
- Press ‘Saute’.
- Stir in fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, bell pepper, zucchini, onion, bamboo shoots, and lime leaves.
- Cook until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. Don’t overcook, as the vegetables will continue to cook in residual heat.
- Taste and adjust with more fish sauce, brown sugar or lime juice.
- Stir in the Thai basil leaves.
- Serve Instant Pot Thai Green Curry with Instant Pot Jasmine Rice.
Instant Pot Thai Green Curry with Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp Thai Green curry paste preferably Maesri or Mae Ploy brand
- 14 oz. (1 can) regular-fat coconut milk preferably Aroy D or Chaokoh brand
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 lb boneless chicken breasts or thighs sliced into thin bite-size pieces
- 1/4 cup water or chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce more to taste
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar or to taste
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- 1 cup green bell pepper cubed or strips
- 1 cup zucchini sliced or strips
- 1/2 cup onion cubed
- 1/2 cup sliced canned bamboo shoots
- 4 lime leaves slightly bruised *
- 1/4 cup Thai basil leaves
Instructions
- Press ‘Saute’ and stir in Green curry paste and 1/2 can of coconut milk until mixture is bubbly, about a minute or two.
- Stir in coriander and cumin and cook for 30 seconds.
- Press 'Cancel'.
- Stir in chicken, remaining coconut milk, and chicken broth.
- Close Instant Pot and make sure steam release handle is in the ‘Sealing’ position.
- Cook on 'Manual' (or 'Pressure Cook') mode for 4 minutes.
- Do a Quick Release of pressure and open the Instant Pot.
- Add in fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, bell pepper, zucchini, onions, bamboo shoots, and lime leaves.
- Press 'Saute' and cook until vegetables are crisp-tender, 3 to 5 minutes. (Be sure not to overcook. Vegetables will continue to cook in the residual heat.)
- Taste and adjust with more fish sauce, brown sugar or lime juice.
- Stir in the Thai basil leaves.
- Serve with Instant Pot Jasmine Rice.
Video
Notes
- Prep time does not include steps that are already accounted for in the ingredient list, e.g. chopped onions, minced garlic, diced chicken, etc.
- Use a
splatter screen if necessary, in the first step, to guard against coconut milk splatters.
- You can choose to substitute the vegetables with your choice e.g. green beans, Thai eggplant, peas.
- You can also increase the quantity of vegetables to suit your tastes.
- My chicken was thinly sliced. If your pieces of chicken are larger, you'll need to add on a few more minutes of cooking or just do a natural release of pressure.
- * Lime leaves are also referred to as k-lime, makrut or kaffir lime leaves.
- See the blog post for more detailed recipe tips.
Nutrition
I am not a certified nutritionist. I provide my best estimate of nutritional information merely as a courtesy to my readers. If you depend on nutritional information for dietary or health reasons, I suggest using your favorite online nutrition calculator to confirm the nutritional value of this recipe based on the actual ingredients that you use.
If you loved this recipe, please give it a 5 Star rating in the comment section below and please share it on social media using the social media share buttons at the top and bottom of this post. Thank you so much!
You might also like to try:
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| Instant Pot Massaman Curry | Instant Pot Thai Red Curry | Instant Pot Jasmine Rice |
Diane
This looks so good! Can I come to dinner? 🙂
Paint the Kitchen Red
Yes, come on over, Diane!
Barbara Schieving
What a gorgeous color!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you Barbara!
Tanu
This looks awesome and I am gonna try it soon..Can I substitute chicken with tofu? What type of tofu should I use? Firm or extra firm? Any suggested brand?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Tanu, I would use extra firm tofu and drain completely with a weight on top. Cook as you would the chicken, but for about 3 minutes and proceed with the rest of the recipe. If you get a chance, let us know how it worked for you!
Cheryl
We enjoyed this green curry just as we did the red curry. Thanks!
Malin Tate
When you generate your nutritional values do you also calculate a serving size? We’ve made your red curry and Massaman and both are incredibly delicious. Can’t wait to try this one.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Malin – I’m so glad you like the recipes. I use the website http://www.myfitnesspal.com to calculate the nutritional information. At the top of the recipe card, you’ll see the number of servings (e.g. “yield: 6”). The nutritional information is for 1/6 of the recipe. Hope that helps.
Emma
This looks great! I would like to cook the rice at the same time as the curry, would that still be 4 minutes on manual, just using the PIP method?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Emma – thanks for your comment. I pressure cook jasmine rice (in a separate dish on a trivet) and chicken for the 4 minutes – since Jasmine rice cooks in 4 minutes; then remove the rice and continue with the recipe. If you’re cooking a different kind of rice that takes 6 minutes or so, you might still be okay with chicken thighs and maybe cut them a bit bigger. Enjoy!
Malin
We found some Thai eggplant in a local Asian market over the weekend and plan to try them in the green curry tonight. Does the cook time need to be adjusted? It feels like a rather dense vegetable. Thanks for the great recipes!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Malin – they do take a bit longer to cook, but I don’t know if they might overcook if you add them with the chicken and pressure cook. I would cut them a little bigger if you’re going to cook with the chicken. You could do half and half: add some with the chicken and see how it does and the rest with other veggies and boil. That way you’ll know for next time. They discolor quickly, so cut them right before you’re adding them. Good luck!
Malin
We tried this last night as you recommended with some Thai eggplant cooked under pressure and some added with the rest of the vegetables. The eggplant added at the end had a nice crunch to it and really took on the flavor of the curry. They were delicious. Unfortunately, the only evidence of the eggplant cooked under pressure were the seeds and the rolled up skins of the eggplant. I guess the pressure destroyed the meat of the eggplant which resulted in a much thinner sauce. Despite the thinner sauce the recipe was still awesome. For future recipes I think we will add the eggplant as soon as the chicken is done then add the remaining vegetables once the sauce comes to a simmer. Thanks for posting your curries! We’ve loved Thai food for years and love that we can now cook restaurant quality curry at home. We’ve had curry at least twice a week for the last month. Keep the Thai recipes coming!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Oh! Good to know. I had a feeling it would be too much but wasn’t sure. Thanks for the update. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the curries. I love them too, especially because I can make them sooo quickly on a weekday.
Grumpy Old Man
This came out really well even with one or two ingredients missing. I think, like most stews, it’s a fairly forgiving recipe.
Paint the Kitchen Red
I’m so glad you tried it out and liked it! Thank you for commenting, Grumpy Old Man!
Pallavi
This was great! I made it tonight and it tasted really authentic. I don’t eat chicken so I replaced the chicken with Tofu and threw the tofu in with the veggies and then did 4 mins of Manual mode.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Pallavi, thanks for your comment. Did the veggies overcook with the 4 min manual mode? I usually do the tofu for 4 min and then just use saute for the veggies. Glad you liked it. Hope you get to try out the other curries too!
Chris Beloni
I have made this recipe and really enjoyed the flavors! How long would you cook if you doubled the recipe?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Chris – you can cook for the same amount of time as stated on the recipe. In general, for Instant Pot recipes, you don’t change cooking time if you change quantity. There are exceptions, for frozen food, thicker cuts of meat, etc. I love this recipe too!
Selina
are the line leaves supposed to be removed before serving? Or do those just get dishes out and eaten too?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Selina, the lime leaves are a bit tough, so the only time I eat them is if I julienne them or cut them into tiny pieces (which I sometimes do to get a stronger flavor). You can just remove them either before serving, or set them aside when you encounter them.
Natalia
Made this tonight! It was sooo delicious but was too spicy for my family. Is there a way to make it less spicy? A little less curry paste?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Natalia – green curry is actually the spiciest of the Thai curries. I would suggest adding less paste (say, 2 Tbsp) if you want the same quantity as the recipe. Alternatively, if you like gravy like I do, just add another half to whole can of coconut milk to mellow it out. If you like milder spice, try the Massaman curry – I just made it last week, very yummy. You can even use chicken instead of the beef.
Jay Ewert
Thank you so much for your post. We just made this in our instant pot and it is fantastic.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Jay, thanks for letting me know! I’m really glad you liked it, it’s one of my favorites too – nice and spicy!
Bree
Hi! I made this recipe and it was very good! I found it to be less sweet than I usually taste at the restaurant. I was wondering if I should add more sugar into the recipe to sweeten it up, or will that ruin it? Or, have you tried palm sugar in this recipe? Also, I found dried lime leaves to use the next time I make it, should I use the same amount of they are dried? Thank you!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Bree – thanks for your question! I always say you should eat what you like and change the recipe to suit your tastes. Some restaurants do serve Thai curries sweeter than others. I would add another one teaspoon of brown sugar, and then more after cooking and after tasting. Palm sugar is actually more authentic so that would work too. Yes, you can add the same quantity of dried leaves, and maybe a few more. Another option is to rehydrate them or crumble them to get more flavor.
Bill
I have tried nearly a dozen thai curry recipes and just about gave up as none could come close to recreating the real deal, but this recipe is perfect. Comes out with rich flavor and consistency and doesn’t take much more than 45 minutes beginning to end. For next time I will up the lime and sugar and cut back on the fish sauce (just a tad too salty).
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Bill – great to hear! I know what you mean; I had the same journey, even going so far as to create my own curry paste which ended up taking me about the whole day! I’m so happy to share with others, and thank you for taking the time to comment.
Cara
This was delicious! I left my cumin at work so I substituted curry powder and it worked fine. I think the kaffir lime leaves makes all the difference in the world and I did 3 tbsp of fish sauce because it’s flavor is spectacular. Thanks for another great use for my pressure cooker!!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Cara – I’m really glad you like the curry! Thanks for commenting.
Kat
I made this tonight and it is the best curry I have ever made at home. It’s one of the best curries I’ve ever tasted. This recipe is amazing. Thank you so much!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks so much, Kat! That’s a great compliment – you made my day!
David
Hi there, just found your website and all the recipes look amazing. Planning to trial this one tomorrow… and whilst I’ve seen some recipes where they add the fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice and even the lime leaves alongside with the chicken before it gets up to pressure, YOU add them after the chicken is cooked. Does it make a major difference?
Many thanks and keep going, your work is amazing!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi David – you could add it all in if you wanted to, but in my experience the flavors become mellow with pressure cooking – you could try it out both ways and see what you think. Thanks for visiting the site and for your kind words!
David
Made it last week, it was fantastic, THANK YOU so much, it was exactly like in my memories…. made me travel to Thailand from the confort of my home. Will try other recipes of yours! 😉
Paint the Kitchen Red
You’re welcome – thank you for the great compliment!
Reva
Nina, made this last night and just delish–ur instructions are spot on, easy to follow and we loved it–was not spicy for me at all–keep your recipes coming
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Reva – thanks for letting me know! I’m really glad you enjoyed the recipe. I will be posting a couple more Thai recipes, hoping for the end of summer or early fall 🙂
Reva
Nina, I can’t wait–post them earlier–I went and bought so many of those curry pastes and coconut milk cans much to my hubby’s chagrin and so i am under pressure 🙂
Paint the Kitchen Red
That’s me too – perfect for when you have a really busy evening and don’t know what to cook 🙂
Merion
Hi, just made this and it smells so good! (Haven’t tasted yet). Is there a reason the chicken only needs to cook for 4 minutes even though the cheat sheet said 10? (I used boneless thighs)
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi there Merion, they may be referring to a whole boneless thigh, whereas this recipe uses bite-size pieces. Keep in mind that cooking time stated in recipes doesn’t usually need to change with larger quantities of a particular food, but will need to be changed with larger sizes e.g. A larger piece of meat, or a whole potato vs pieces. Hope that makes sense!
HeathenIbis
We made this last night and it was wonderful. Any chance you have a yellow curry recipe? We’re big fans and can’t seem to make a good replica at home.
Paint the Kitchen Red
It’s on my list of recipes to do! I’ve made a note of your request, will try and get it out!
RonansMama
This recipe is a “WOW”!
A longtime Instant Pot fan, I was skeptical the coconut milk would break under pressure; it didn’t!
I followed your recipe exactly, it was perfect.
I added (because I live in SF and we have great Asian supermarkets):
2-3 slices galangal
2-3whole Thai chilis
1/2 stalk lemongrass battered & sliced 1”
I added these items first, about 1-2 minutes before I added the other vegetables – to which I added 2” pieces of haricots verts.
This recipe is absolutely spectacular, a knockout – and like another contributor, I hope you/you’ve added a yellow curry.
Thank you so much for what will be an Instant Pot dinner staple!
Following!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you, thank you for your kind words. And for sharing what changes you made. I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe.
Jessica
So far I’ve made both this and your red curry and they have both been outstanding. I can’t wait to try the rest of your recipes.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you, Jessica! I’m so glad you like them – I think you’ll love the other Thai recipes too!
Suzanne
I can’t wait to try your recipe…but need to know, do you live near sea level? I live at 8200 feet, so I am supposed to add 30% cooking time…which I definitely need to add (maybe even more than 30%) because so far all of the dried beans I have tried even adding the 30% have still not been soft enough…still too crunchy…so either my Instant Pot is not getting hot enough…or the altitude charts are off. It does cook steel cut oats perfectly adding the 30% (and usually I can’t cook steel cut oats at our altitude). Please let me know as I’d love to try your recipe asap!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Suzanne, for this dish I don’t think you’ll need to adjust the recipe, but you can add 30% if you want to. I live at 5000 feet and most people can make my recipes with no changes.
Kelly
Made this today. My chicken thighs were over a pound so I upped the rest of the ingredients.
Used Aroy-D coconut miilk. Used 2.5 Tbls Mae-Ploi green curry, nicely spicy for me. Found Japanese eggplant and used red pepper because I prefer it to green and it added nice color. Increased all vege by about 1/2.
The lady at the local asian store recommended leaving the lime leaves out until the last couple of minutes and slicing them thin. I liked that tip.
Since it’s just me, I only added enough Thai basil for one serving. Will take fresh basil for my left-overs.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks, Kelly, for telling us your modifications. That’s always nice for other readers. Yes, it’s a good idea to have some fresh basil to add to leftovers!
Kelly
Forgot to mention that I added 1/2? tsp cornstarch mixed with a bit of water to get that silky mouthfeel I find in my local Thai restaurant.
Shauna Zunino
My 29 yr old son came to stay with me this week and wanted my cooking, I told him pick ANYTHING! He wanted this dish from his favorite restaurant, I’ve never cooked Indian food before and he was beside himself. Thank you for making me look so good! It was amazing.
Shauna and Kyle
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Shauna – this is actually a Thai curry, so quite different flavors from an Indian curry. If you wanted to try an Indian flavored recipe, give the Instant Pot Chicken Curry Soup a try. Thanks for your lovely comment.
Rachel
Just finished cooking this recipe and it turned out very thin. What could have gone wrong? 🙁
Paint the Kitchen Red
Rachel, there are a couple of possibilities: your chicken may have given off liquid, your coconut milk may have been a thinner kind – buy the best quality (I recommend a couple of brands in the recipe). You might not need to have the 1/4 cup of liquid. I suggest the 1/4 cup water to prevent any issues with sealing the Instant Pot. I frequently omit it and have no problems with sealing.