This Instant Pot Thai Red Curry with Chicken is just delightful! It makes a perfect meal when paired with Jasmine Rice, and it comes together so quickly in the Instant Pot. To make it a real one-pot meal, cook rice and Thai red curry together using the Pot in Pot method! Perfect for a busy weeknight meal.
Thai cuisine is one of my all-time favorite cuisines. For the longest time, we just went to restaurants to get our Thai fix. And if I ever did attempt to make Thai food, the flavor was not even close to what my favorite restaurants served, and so I just didn’t bother.
Finally, I found out that the secret to making great tasting Thai curries is to use the right kind of curry paste. The kind I had been using is the one commonly found in most American grocery stores. Changing brands made a BIG difference to the taste of the curries.
There are two brands of Thai curry pastes that I really like: Maesri (which I like best) and Mae Ploy.
To take this Instant Pot Thai Red Curry to the next level, do try and find either of these curry pastes at an Asian grocery store near where you live and if you can’t, of course, there’s always amazon.com. Please note that Mae Ploy is a bit spicier than Maesri.
There are two more ingredients you should try and get when you visit your Asian grocery store: Lime leaves (also known as k-lime, makrut and sometimes kaffir lime) and Thai basil. They add unsurpassed and unique flavors to this Instant Pot Thai Red Curry.
One other thing I discovered about Thai food is that Thai curries taste best with Jasmine rice. There’s something about Jasmine rice that soaks up the curry and just enhances the flavors.
Regular white rice, basmati rice, and brown rice just don’t taste the same. Here’s my recipe for Instant Pot Jasmine Rice.
For the coconut milk in this Instant Pot Thai Red Curry, I use the regular fat content, and don’t opt for the light variety – again, there’s a taste difference.
This recipe is the Instant Pot version of my Thai Red Curry.
Thai food purists would say that Thai food shouldn’t be pressure cooked. I’m guessing you’re here because you just want to make a Thai curry in your Instant Pot and don’t care about rules! And pssst, guess what?! This curry is just wonderful cooked in the Instant Pot. I’m not kidding – it’s really tasty.
It comes together so quickly, and it’s my go-to dish on really busy days. I always keep coconut milk and curry paste in my pantry and I use whatever meat and veggies I have on hand. I hope you give it a try.
Oh, and to make life really easy, check out my easy-to-understand, step-by-step article on Pot-in-Pot cooking – it shows you how to make this curry and rice together. At the same time!
Click below to see all my Thai recipes!
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 Red Curry with Chicken.
Instant Pot Thai Red Curry with Chicken – Ingredients
Instant Pot Thai Red Curry with Chicken – Step by Step Instructions
- Press ‘Saute’.
- Stir together red curry paste and 1/2 can of coconut milk and saute until mixture is bubbly, a minute or two. *
* 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.
- 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) *
* Note: if your chicken pieces are bigger, then you’ll need to add on a few minutes of cooking time.
- 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, carrot, 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 with Instant Pot Jasmine Rice.
Instant Pot Thai Red Curry with Chicken
This Instant Pot Thai Red Curry with Chicken is delightful (and addicting!) It makes a perfect meal when paired with Jasmine Rice, and comes together so quickly in the Instant Pot. Perfect for a busy weeknight meal.
Print Pin RatePrep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 246kcal
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp Thai red curry paste preferably Maesri or Mae Ploy brand
- 14 oz. (1 can) regular-fat coconut milk
- 1 lb boneless chicken breasts or thighs sliced into thin bite-size pieces
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce more to taste
- 2 tsp brown sugar or to taste
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- 1 cup red and/or green bell pepper cubed
- 1 cup carrots sliced
- 1/2 cup onion cubed
- 1/2 cup canned bamboo shoots
- 4 lime leaves slightly bruised *
- 12 Thai Basil leaves
Instructions
- Select ‘Saute’ and stir in red curry paste and 1/2 can of coconut milk until mixture is bubbly, about a minute or two.
- 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.
- Stir in fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, bell pepper, carrots, 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.
Notes
- Prep time does not include steps that are already accounted for in the ingredient list, e.g. minced garlic, cut vegetables, etc.
- Use a
splatter screen, if necessary, to guard against the coconut milk bubbling up. - You can choose to substitute the vegetables with your choice e.g. green beans, zucchini, sweet potatoes, and you can also increase the quantity of vegetables.
- 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 also referred to as k-lime, makrut or kaffir lime leaves
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 246kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Sodium: 705mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g
Have you made this recipe?I love seeing your photos! Tag me on Instagram @PaintTheKitchenRed hashtag #paintthekitchenred
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/or share on social media using the social media share buttons at the top and bottom of this post. Thank you!
You might also like to try:
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| Instant Pot Indian Chicken Curry | How to Cook Rice and Curry Together! | Instant Pot Massaman Curry |
Cindy
Is this dish really spicy? I have tried some brands of red curry paste that is really spicy that I usually don’t add more than 1 tbsp
Paint the Kitchen Red
Cindy – if you’re sensitive to spice I think you should try and halve the curry paste and then when it’s done cooking, add more coconut milk to get it to the spice level you like.
Will Whitmire
Hi! We love this recipe. We tried adding some extra peppers because we like the extra veggies, but found that it diluted the flavor a bit. Any suggestions on how to balance the seasoning with extra peppers?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks for your question, Will. I do add extra vegetables to the curry sometimes and haven’t found it to be an issue. Maybe you can add an extra half teaspoon of curry paste and give it a try.
Tori
I’ve made this three times now and it’s just delicious. This last time I finally found the recommended curry paste brand and it really does make a difference! Much more flavor. I also use a little extra because I increase the veggies by 50%. I still haven’t found Thai basil or lime leaves, so I use regular basil and a few tablespoons of lime zest and it tastes great. I will say that it has more flavor the next day, so if you try it immediately and aren’t blown away, try it the next day (though it’s still tasty right out of the pot).
Paint the Kitchen Red
Tori – yesss! Glad to hear you agree about the paste 🙂 Thanks for your comment and rating.
Tracie
The whole family loved it. Better than the restaurant. Huge success. I used the sauce with some shrimp sautéed on the side. Very tasty. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Tracie! I’m happy to hear you liked the recipe 🙂
Kathy Kim
i didn’t have Thai red curry paste so after looking at my TomYum paste and seeing that they’re similar ingredients except for less chili, I used what I had and added more chili (korean is all I had), a bit of cumin and some Thai mixed spices as well as garlic and more ginger. I have yet to taste it as it’s still cooking but I wonder if you know if Tom Yum paste can sub Thai red curry paste? My searches said that the tamarind in Tom Yum soup will make things sour but I noticed my brand of Tom Yum doesn’t have any tamarind in it…so here’s hoping it’ll turn out!!! Will follow up later…
Paint the Kitchen Red
Kathy, some people do use red curry paste for tom kha gai so I’m guessing that there a lot of similarities. My Instant Pot Tom Kha Gai recipe is made mostly from scratch. Let me know how it turned out!
Catherine Anderson
Where, oh where do you find Thai basil. I have looked and looked. Maybe not in the right places. The basil makes the dish in my opinion.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Catherine, I get mine at a Southeast Asian grocery store that sells all kinds of Asian products. If you buy a big bunch and keep it in a jar of water (clean water every few days), it can stay for a while. You can always try regular basil.
Christine
This looks amazing. I would like to make it with shrimp instead. Any suggestions ? Thank you
Paint the Kitchen Red
Christine, since shrimp cooks in no time you might want to just pressure cook shrimp and all the veggies for 1 minute. Your other option is to just cook the whole thing in saute mode. That way you don’t have to worry about overcooking the shrimp. Hope you like it.
Dave
This was so amazing!!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks, Dave – glad you liked it 🙂
Shosh
I followed this recipe exactly, to a T. I even went to a specialty grocery store. The dish cooked perfectly, but there just isn’t much flavor. Any recommendations? Would be nice if I could add some spice but really anything to make the flavors stronger and richer.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Shosh, did you use Maesri or Mae Ploy brand? Mae Ploy tends to be spicier. You can increase the amount of spice paste to 4 or 5 tablespoons. You can omit the broth. All of these should help you get more flavor. Sorry to hear you didn’t have a good experience – I am surprised because it’s a very flavorful curry when I make it.
Kim
This is delicious! I was able to get the Lime leaves and the Thai basil and you absolutely want to have them. I’ll double the recipe next time 🙂
Paint the Kitchen Red
Awesome, Kim! One of my favorites too. Please do try my other Thai recipes: Panang, Yellow, Massaman, Green, Peanut Noodles. I really think you’ll like them too 🙂
Heather
So good, so easy – No need for thai takeout when the craving hits!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks for your comment Heather! I feel the same way because I crave Thai food all the time. Give the panang curry a try – you’ll love it!
Lauren
In love with this recipe!! I have been searching and searching for a good recipe since I have tried to make this in the past and it was bland and runny. I added 4 tsp of brown sugar instead of two. This recipe is perfect! will definitely make this again and again! Thank you so much!!!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Lauren, and oldie but goodie recipe that I go back to again and again. I’m so very happy that you’ve discovered it. Give my other recipes a try too: Panang curry, green curry, massaman curry, yellow curry. I recently posted a Tom Kha Gai (coconut soup) that is phenomenal too!
Susan
Love this recipe. QUESTION: I want to plan this for a Sunday lunch, but would like to complete half recipe ahead of time.
Would it be possible complete the recipe up to & including the IP cooking time, then instead of a quick release, let it sit in the IP for two hour (doing a natural release then stay on warm setting).
I can then do the last steps when I get home just prior to serving lunch. Will it be safe to keep the food in the IP for that long? Will the chicken texture be the same? Will it still be very hot to cook the rest of the veggies afterwards?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Susan, I actually did this last week, but with green curry. It was just as tasty, but the chicken was kind of shredded. So if you’re planning it for guests, you might not want to do that. I have another suggestion: pressure cook, release pressure QR or NR, refrigerate (a silicone lid is very handy for this). And then when you’re ready to serve, just turn on saute mode and continue with the recipe. You can even make it they day before. Hope that helps 🙂
Judy
Good recipe. Good tips for cooking in PC. I don’t have an Ip, but that seems to be the go to these days. I came for the PC guidelines as I no longer have a stove to use. I Love Thai Curries, and have been making them for years. I like Mae Ploy for curry base, and the addition of kafir lime leaves is pretty spot on. I also ALWAYS add tamarind sauce that I have made from tamarind pods. I stir it in at the end, after cooked with the lime juice. I like Trader Joes full-fat coconut milk or other coconut milk that does NOT have added suifites . Both of those you cited, as well as Thai Kitchen referred to by one commentator all have added sulfites, and some have additional emulsifiers, gums, etc. I stay away from those. I recommend that folks look for coconut milk that has no additives. The milk will be separated in the can, hard fat and watery milk, but will come together well in the curry. It separates when cold. But this came out well as far as how to do. I made mine with eggplant, chicken thighs, bak choi and green pepper. chicken nicely cooked and vegetables tender crisp.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Judy, thanks for your detailed comment and I’m happy that you liked the recipe!
Sherie Tobin
Where are the instructions to cook the rice in the same pot as the curry?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Sherie, if you look at this article on Pot in Pot cooking you’ll see directions towards the end.
PRay
Thanks for a great recipe. I had frozen chicken thighs and I precooked them in my IP for five minutes. They came out partially cooked. Chopped those and did my curry and coconut milk. I put tons of veg, which is how we like it! We aren’t eating sugar so used a little swerve to sweeten.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Excellent – thank you so much for your comment. Thawing the chicken by precooking in the IP is a great option.
Winnie Nguyen
I made this tonight. The taste is great but the consistency is runny, clear, and very oily from the coconut. It’s not the rich, creamy, opaque ones I’m used to from restaurants. Did I miss something?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Winnie – the most likely reason is the quality of the coconut milk. I have had bad experiences with many grocery store coconut milks and “lite” coconut milk. The two coconut milks I recommend are Aroy-D and Chaokoh. They are available at Asian stores and on amazon. I have links in the recipe card. Hope you have better luck next time.
Winnie Nguyen
Thanks! I usually buy those brands but for some reason I had Thai Kitchen brand in my pantry. I will try again next time.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Bingo! That’s the one 🙂
Regine
This is my go-to recipe for my curry dishes. Just made a batch last night to last the week. I use chicken breast that has been brined and marinated in a special Caribbean salsa. I dumped the whole thing – chicken and marinade – into the recipe. The combination of flavor and Caribbean spice is absolutely divine. The cooking instructions work perfectly with my ultra instant pot. The chicken was tender and just right. Also, it doesn’t matter what vegetables you have on hand. You get a nice outcome every time.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you, Regine! Sounds like you’ve made the recipe your own, which is great! I appreciate you sharing.
Christine F
After overcooking my chicken on the first attempt to the point it was almost inedible, I tried again last night – cutting my chicken much bigger (~2″ chunks) and setting the pressure cooker to 3 min instead of 4. Much better results with the chicken this time. Also, the veggies need to be cut really thin so they cook quickly, otherwise you’ll still end up with overcooked chicken.
Paint the Kitchen Red
That’s unusual that chicken would be so overcooked at 4 minutes. Maybe it’s your model of Instant Pot runs hotter i.e. higher level of pressure, maybe?? Thanks for giving it another try and for sharing your experience.