Thai Red curry that is creamy, veggie-packed 100 percent vegetarian (easily vegan) yet every bit as rich and fragrant as the restaurant version. This comfort bowl of home made Thai curry comes together in 30 minutes including making homemade Red Thai Curry paste.

Whether you’re craving a quick weeknight dinner, or looking for a “budget Thai red curry” that won’t empty your wallet, or planning a show-stopping vegetarian main for Thanksgiving, this recipe has you covered. You can use supermarket curry paste and pantry staples, and thai red curry recipe scales beautifully for meal prep.

Why You will Love this 30 Minutes Thai Red Curry Recipe

• One pot, 30-minute cook time – weeknight lifesaver
• Totally plant-based, Vegan-adaptable and naturally gluten-free
• Flexible veggies: clear the crisper drawer
• Meal-prep friendly (5 days fridge, 3 months freezer)
• Crowd-pleasing flavor: Big flavors, low effort creamy coconut, bright lime, gentle heat. Goes perfectly well with steamed rice.

Can I make Veg Thai Red Curry at Home in 30 Minutes?

Absolutely. The secret is blooming store-bought red curry paste in hot oil to unlock its aromatics, then letting full-fat coconut milk do the heavy lifting for body and richness. From there, quick-cooking veggies and tofu finish in under 10 minutes.

Veg Thai Red Curry in 4 Steps

1. Sauté 2 Tbsp red curry paste in 1 Tbsp oil until fragrant (1 min).
2. Stir in 1 can (14 oz / 400 ml) coconut milk + ½ cup water; bring to gentle boil.
3. Add 3 cups mixed vegetables; simmer 10 min.
4. Finish with juice of ½ lime, handful Thai basil. Ready in 30 minutes, serves 4.

Ingredients Needed

• Thai Red Curry Paste : I use my homemade Thai Red Curry paste. If you want to use store bought I love Mae Ploy for bold flavor, but Thai Kitchen works if that’s what your grocery carries. To keep things vegetarian, check labels and skip pastes that have shrimp or fish.
• Vegetables & Protein Swaps: I used thai eggplants, Bell peppers, broccoli, mushrooms. These hit the sweet spot for color and texture. Swap in zucchini, baby corn, green beans etc as seasons change. Protein ideas: extra-firm tofu, canned chickpeas, or tempeh.
• Coconut Milk & : Use a mix of full-fat coconut milk for a lush, restaurant-style mouthfeel. Light coconut milk will thin the sauce
• Thai Basil leaves for the classic flavours.

How to Make Thai Red Vegetable Curry

• Let’s start by preparing the veggies, slit the mini eggplants so they remain firm in the curry, chop broccoli into bite size florets, slice mushrooms, green bell pepper and chop coriander.
• Next, heat a pan with deep sides and add coconut milk. Keep stirring and bring it to a boil until it thickens.
• Once the coconut milk is bubbling, add the thai red paste and mix it in.
• Now add the slit eggplants and cook for 3-4 minutes, after this add the chopped broccoli and cook both for another 5 minutes, while stirring in between. 

• Next, add the remaining vegetables like mushrooms, bell peppers and let the curry simmer for 5 minutes, if required adjust the consistency of curry by adding water. Season with salt to taste and further cook for 10 minutes.
• Once the vegetables are cooked properly, remove the curry from heat and serve with rice. Garnish with some fresh Thai basil leaves if you like.

What to Serve with Veg Thai Red Curry

• Steamed jasmine rice (or cauliflower rice for low-carb)
• Fresh rice noodles for a slurpable twist
• Cucumber-mint salad to cool the palate

Expert Tips For Creamy Vibrant Curry

1. Use full-fat canned coconut milk; the extra fat prevents curdling.
2. Don’t rush the paste-bloom step – that single minute wakes up chilies and lemongrass.
3. Slice veggies uniformly so everything cooks in the same 10-minute window.
4. Taste before salting – curry pastes vary wildly in sodium.
5. Stir in herbs off-heat to preserve their aroma.

Storage Meal Prep & Freezing

• Refrigerate in airtight glass jars up to 5 days. The flavors deepen overnight.
• Freeze flat in zip bags up to 3 months; thaw in the fridge and reheat gently.
• Meal-prep idea: portion curry over rice in microwave-safe bowls for grab-and-go lunches.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Using low-fat coconut milk without a thickener – the sauce will be watery.
• Boiling rapidly – high heat can break the coconut emulsion.
• Adding basil too early – it bruises and turns dark.
• Over-crowding the pan – leads to soggy vegetables.

FAQ

More Such Recipes

• Thai Peanut Noodles Recipe
• Thai Green Vegetable Curry
• Thai Red Curry Paste
• Thai Cucumber Salad Recipe
• Air Fryer Asian Roasted Broccoli
• Egg Fried Rice Recipe

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Thai Red Vegetable Curry

Creamy 30-minute vegetarian Thai curry with colorful veggies and coconut milk.

Course dinner, Main Course

Cuisine thai

Keyword curry, High Protein Vegan Satay, thai, vegetarian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

• 250 ml Coconut milk
• 2-3 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• ½ green bell pepper medium
• ½ red bell pepper medium
• 1 cup mini eggplant
• 1 cup mushroom
• 1 cup broccoli medium sized
• 5-6 thai basil leaves garnish

Instructions

• Let’s start by preparing the veggies, slit the mini eggplants so they remain firm in the curry, chop broccoli into bite size florets, slice mushrooms, green bell pepper and chop coriander.
• Next, heat a pan with deep sides and add coconut milk. Keep stirring and bring it to a boil until it thickens.
• Once the coconut milk is bubbling, add the thai red paste and mix it in.
• Now add the slit eggplants and cook for 3-4 minutes, after this add the chopped broccoli and cook both for another 5 minutes, while stirring in between.
• Next, add the remaining vegetables like mushrooms, bell peppers,and let the curry simmer for 5 minutes, if required adjust the consistency of curry by adding water. Season with salt to taste and further cook for 10 minutes.
• Once the vegetables are cooked properly, remove the curry from heat and serve with rice. Garnish with some fresh Thai basil leaves if you like.

Video

This vegetarian Thai red curry paste is easy to make and packs fresh flavors in just 10 minutes! This best Thai red curry paste is perfect to use not only in Thai red curry but stir fries, soups, noodles or egg fried rice! Its also fit for vegan diet and is a zero oil recipe too!

I have shared my Homemade Thai Green Curry paste recipe before because I simply love to make such flavours from scratch at home. Most importantly as a vegetarian I know what all ingredients went into it and enjoy my food in peace.

What is Thai Red Curry paste?

Thai red curry paste is used commonly in thai cusine recipes and is traditionally made in mortar and pestle. On its own, its spicy, salty and the common ingredients are usually shrimp paste (belacan), chilies, onions or shallots, lemongrass, galangal and cilantro. There are 2 kinds of red curry pastes, this one is prik gaeng ped as it has coriander seeds and cumin seeds, whereas prik gaeng kua does not have it.

Unlike the green curry paste, what makes Thai red curry paste red, is the red chilies used in making it. The traditional or authentic method can be cumbersome, so this Thai red curry paste is made in the blender.

Why To Make Thai Red Curry Paste at Home?

Just like green curry paste, making this at home from scratch gives the best flavor and the flexibility to adjust and control the heat, which can’t be done if you have a store-bought jar.

• Vegetarian & Vegan-friendly: Unlike the authentic thai red paste, we won’t be using shrimp paste, plus its naturally dairy-free, making it as easy vegan recipe too!
• Zero-oil: There is no oil being used in the recipe, so you don’t have to worry about added fats.
• Easy & quick 10 minute recipe: Since there is no stove top cooking or any long process, its a breeze to make in the blender or food processor.
• Customizable: You can tweak the amount of ingredients to suit your preferences like the amount of chilies to control heat etc.

Ingredients For Thai Red Curry Paste

The ingredients below are essential for that distinct red thai paste taste! But If you have an Asian supermarket nearby, it will be much easier to get all of these.

• Red shallots or onion
• Lemongrass stem – This is going to add an aroma to the curry paste. Fresh will be better, but you can use frozen too.
• Galangal – This looks like ginger, but has a different flavor and is pretty hard to cut. Again, fresh galangal is better but frozen can be used too.
• Lime zest 
• ground coriander
• ground cumin
• Fresh turmeric – You can add powdered too! Turmeric is also going to brighten the red color of the paste.
• Fresh Coriander (Cilantro) – Not only the leaves, but the coriander roots add an earthy flavor.
• Kaffir lime leaves (Makrut leaves) – These fragrant leaves are going to add citrusy flavor.
• Soaked red chilies – Soaking dried chilies give an earthy flavor along with heat and color. Save the water as it has a flavor too! You can use fresh red chilies but they won’t give the same flavor and could make the curry paste more spicy.

Since this is a vegetarian recipe, there will be no shrimp paste, so if you want a more umami flavor, Shiitake paste or Miso paste can be added.

How to make Thai Red Curry Paste at home?

• Add all ingredients along with chili water to a blender or food processor, then blend to smooth paste.
• Keep scraping down the sides while you are blending and add more water, if required.

• Once the paste is ready, use it immediately to make Thai red curry! or refrigerate for upto 2 days or you can freeze it for about a month.

Recipe Tips & Notes

• Rinse the coriander roots thoroughly because you don’t want any dirt or grim in the curry paste.
• If you want a more umami flavor then you can add Miso paste or dried shiitake mushrooms in place of shrimp paste.
• Chop or grate the Galangal before adding to blender as it can take a lot of effort to blend it smooth as it very tough.

How do I use Thai red curry paste?

Thai red curry paste is popularly used in Thai red curry, but I like using it many recipes like stir fries, soups, egg fried rice , Thai red curry noodle Soup or flavoring meat mixtures as its quite versatile.

How To Store Thai Red Curry Paste?

If you are thinking of making a curry right away then you can store in an air tight container in fridge, but if that is not the case then freezing it in portions like ice cubes can would be helpful to use in future as well.makrut

FAQS

More Such Recipes

• Thai red curry noodle Soup
• Thai Green Curry Recipe
• Thai Cucumber Salad Recipe
• Thai Basil Tofu Stir-Fry – Pad Krapow
• Spicy Ramen Noodles Recipe
• Egg Fried Rice Recipe
• High Protein Tofu Satay

If You like this recipe and made it Please rate the recipe. It helps us to reach more people. For the Latest updates Subscribe to Rekha’s Whatsapp. You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest for more food inspirations.

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Thai Red Curry Paste

This easy vegetarian Thai red curry paste takes just 10 minutes to make and is full of fresh flavors! Perfect for Thai red curry, stir-fries, soups, or egg fried rice. Vegan-friendly and a zero-oil recipe too!

Course sauces marinades

Cuisine Asian, thai

Keyword 5 minutes recipe, curry paste, Quick Vegan Recipe, thai, vegetarian

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Calories 58kcal

Ingredients

• 2 shallots chopped
• 1 lemongrass stem trimmed and finely chopped (about 2.5 – 3 tbsp)
• 2 tbsp galangal
• 1/2 tsp lime zest
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• fresh turmeric small piece
• Fresh Coriander thin bunch
• 6 kaffir lime leaves
• 3-4 red chilis soaked in water

Instructions

• Add all ingredients and a little water to a blender or food processor, then blend to smooth paste.
• Keep scraping down the sides while you are blending and add more water, if required.
• Once the paste is ready, use it immediately to make Thai red curry! or refrigerate for upto 2 days or you can freeze it for about a month.

Video

Notes

Nutrition Values 

It is calculated on the basis this quantity makes curry for 8 people so I have listed it as 8 servings and divided the calories as per that assumption

Nutrition

Calories: 58kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Sodium: 11mg | Potassium: 332mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 657IU | Vitamin C: 99mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 2mg