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.
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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.