Easy Thai Shrimp Curry
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Craving a warm, creamy curry that’s packed with flavor—but short on time? This Thai shrimp curry recipe is a weeknight hero. It’s rich, comforting, and ready in just 25 minutes with pantry-friendly staples like coconut milk, green curry paste, and frozen shrimp.
This is the best Thai shrimp curry—a fast, flavorful dish that brings the taste of your favorite takeout right into your own kitchen. Tender shrimp simmer in a rich, coconut-based green curry sauce that’s loaded with bold flavor from classic Thai ingredients.
There’s plenty of sauce if you want to add vegetables to round out the meal; carrots, bell peppers, or snap peas are all great options (just cook them separately and stir them in at the end). Serve the curry with jasmine rice to soak up all that flavorful sauce—and be sure to start the rice first so everything’s ready at the same time.
If you love the sweet, spicy, and fragrant flavors of Thai food, try my easy pad Thai, chicken satay or pork fried rice next.
“This is a restaurant-quality dish that can be served to company or family. I added carrots and red and green peppers…Delicious!rnrn”
shrimp thai curry ingredients
- Onion, Scallions and Garlic: These aromatics form the flavor foundation for the sauce.
- Thai Green Curry Paste: This common Thai ingredient is made from a blend of lemongrass, galangal (a cousin of ginger), cumin, coriander root, Kaffir lime, and hot green chilies to name just a few. I use the Thai Kitchen brand which is available in most large grocery stores. Note that different brands will have different levels of heat, so you may need more or less depending on the kind you use.
- Coconut Milk: A staple in many curry dishes, it brings a sweet and creamy flavor which balances the spicy flavors of the curry paste. Use full-fat coconut milk for rich texture and taste. You can use any brand, but I’ve found that the milk’s consistency and fat content can vary depending on the brand. I’ve consistently had great results with the Thai Kitchen brand. Don’t worry if the coconut milk looks solidified or separated when you open the can; it can be added to the recipe “broken” and then whisked back together into a creamy emulsion.
- Fish Sauce: This dark, pungent liquid used in Southeast Asia cooking doesn’t have a “fishy” taste, but rather a salty, savory flavor. If possible, buy a brand imported from Thailand or Vietnam, and don’t worry about buying a large bottle it keeps forever.
- Lime Juice: Brightens up the sauce with citrusy freshness.
- Shrimp: Frozen shrimp are a freezer-friendly staple easy to keep on hand for quick meals. Buy them peeled and deveined so all you need to do is thaw them out and they’re ready to cook in all your favorite quick shrimp recipes, like this one.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How to make Thai shrimp curry
Step 1: Cook the onions. Heat your oil in a skillet and add the onions. Cook about three minutes or until slightly soft.
Step 2: Add the other aromatics. Add the scallions, garlic and green curry paste and cook a few minutes more to release the fragrance and aromatics from each ingredient.
Step 3: Finish the sauce. Add the coconut milk, water, fish sauce and brown sugar to the cooked vegetables. Bring to a gentle boil.
Step 4: Add the shrimp. Cook until the shrimp are pink and just cooked through.
Step 5: Finish and serve. Stir in the lime juice and sprinkle with the fresh chopped cilantro. Serve it up over jasmine rice with lime wedges on the side and enjoy!
Jenn’s Pro tips & thai coconut curry shrimp variations
- Adding vegetables. Feel free to add vegetables to the dish for color and to bulk it up. I recommend cooking them separately and adding them right at the end to heat them up. Carrots, green beans, snow peas, and broccoli are some simple options that work well.
- Swap the meat. Chicken, like in this red curry chicken, will work equally well with the flavors of the green curry.
- Adjusting the spiciness. You can add more curry paste or even some sliced fresh green chilies if you want more spice in your curry. For a milder flavor, choose a mild curry paste and use less of it if needed for less heat.
- Thawing shrimp: Thaw them out in the fridge overnight, or if you happen to forget or need them quickly defrosted, place them in a bowl under cool running water. They will thaw out in about 15 minutes.
More best Thai recipes to try
Thai Shrimp Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup thinly sliced scallions, white and green parts, from 4 to 5 scallions
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2½ tablespoons Thai green curry paste
- 1 (14-oz) can coconut milk
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon (packed) dark or light brown sugar
- 2 lbs large (31/35), extra large (26/30) or jumbo (21/25) shrimp, peeled and deveined (see note), thawed if frozen
- Juice of 1 lime, about 2 tablespoons, plus more lime wedges for serving
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro, Thai basil, or Italian basil (or a combination)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 3 minutes. If the onions start to brown, reduce the heat to medium. Add the scallions, garlic, and green curry paste, and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes more.
- Add the coconut milk, water, fish sauce, and sugar and bring to a gentle boil. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring frequently, until the shrimp are pink and just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and sprinkle with the cilantro (or basil). Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary, and serve with jasmine rice.
Notes
Pair with
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I made this for dinner guests last night and it was resounding hit. I made the recipe exactly as Jenn wrote it and the flavors were wonderful. One of my guests is a die hard meat and potatoes fan but at the end of the meal he asked for a spoon so he could get every last drop of the delicious sauce. Thank you so much Jenn.
Lovely combination of flavours – very similar to a Thai mussel recipe I thoroughly enjoy.
Thank you
This recipe is very good . I made a brown rice to accompany this dish .
I’m so confused! The recipe calls for Green curry, not red. I need the milder of the two. Red or Green?
Hi Gerry, It despends on the brand, but red curry paste is generally less spicy than green. Hope that helps!
This was a little too spicy for me. (I’m a wimp!). Can I use the red Thai curry sauce in your chicken recipe instead?
Thanks,
Ellen
Hi Ellen, sorry you found this to be a little too spicy! If you’re referring to the Thai red chicken curry, the recipe calls for red curry paste already. Let me know if I’m misunderstanding.
The recipe calls for green curry…
This turned out so well! It’s great to have a base green curry recipe in which I can use different ingredients. It was mild enough that my nine year-old would eat it, but I could add more curry as desired. I used half shrimp and half scallops, starting the scallops a couple of minutes before the shrimp.
Hi Jenn! The only uncooked shrimp I can seem to find at my grocery store is deveined and “easy peel”- with the tail on. Can I use this the same way as the shrimp the recipe calls for?
Yep!
Hi I saw it said to use coconut milk if you are allergic to coconut what would be a good substitute that would work.
Hi Sierra, You can use heavy cream or half and half — it won’t have that authentic Thai taste but will still be delicious!
This came out amazing! I made this along with Jenn’s tangy citrus slaw and some grilled pineapple. Another keeper!
Followed the recipe exactly, definitely a keeper! Delicious!!
“A Keeper – 5 Stars” were the first words my husband said after the first taste! Made this for dinner last night. I followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious. I will definitely be making this again .. and again! Thanks for another great recipe Jenn!