I love making Thai curry at home - as long as I cheat and use a can of Thai curry paste. Now, I am an adventurous home cook, and buy lots of specialty ingredients, but Thai curries use a lot of things I would never need again. That's where curry paste comes in. It has all the chiles, aromatics, herbs and spices that make up a Thai chili. Turns out, I'm not the only one who likes a shortcut - lots of Thai home cooks use curry paste instead of making their own base. 2 I like a lot of curry flavor, so I use an entire 4 ounce can, but you can cut back to a couple of tablespoons if you want less heat.
Speaking of heat, green curry gets that bright green color from the main ingredient - Thai green chiles. This is not a dish for the faint of heart - it packs some heat with its Thai flavor.
Speaking of the color - I thought green curry would be a hard sell to my kids, but once they tried it, they fell in love with the Thai combo of hot, sour, sweet, and salty flavors.
I love my pressure cooker for quick curries. I can replace an hour of simmering with ten minutes under pressure and get tender chicken in a bright, spicy, green broth. I add green beans at the end - they would be cooked to mush in the pressure cooker, but a quick simmer gives an extra crunch to the dish.
Recipe: Pressure Cooker Thai Green Chicken Curry
Equipment
- 6 quart or larger pressure cooker (I love my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker)
Pressure Cooker Thai Green Chicken Curry
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
Pressure Cooker Thai Green Chicken Curry - replace an hour of simmering with ten minutes under pressure, and get tender chicken in a bright, spicy, green broth.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thin
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- ½ inch piece of ginger, peeled and crushed
- Cream from the top of a 13.5-ounce can coconut milk
- ½ cup green curry paste (a whole 4-ounce can)
- 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch by ½-inch strips
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt or ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- The rest of the 13.5-ounce can coconut milk
- 1 cup chicken stock or water
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce (plus more to taste)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (plus more to taste)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar (plus more to taste)
- Juice of 1 lime
- 12 ounces green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
Garnish and Sides
- Minced cilantro
- Minced basil (preferably Thai basil)
- Lime wedges
- Jasmine rice
Instructions
Saute the aromatics: Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat in the pressure cooker pot until shimmering. (Use Sauté mode in an electric pressure cooker.) Stir in the onion, garlic, and ginger, and saute until the onion starts to soften, about 3 minutes.
Fry the curry paste: Scoop the cream from the top of the can of coconut milk and add it to the pot, then stir in the curry paste. Cook, stirring often, until the curry paste darkens, about 5 minutes.
Pressure cook the curry: Sprinkle the chicken with the kosher salt. Add the chicken to the pot, and stir to coat with curry paste. Stir in the rest of the can of coconut milk, chicken stock, fish sauce, soy sauce, and brown sugar. Lock the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 10 minutes in an electric PC or 8 minutes in a stovetop PC. Quick release the pressure in the pot.
Finish the curry: Remove the lid from the pressure cooker, then set it over medium heat (Sauté mode in an electric pressure cooker.) Stir in the lime juice and the green beans, and simmer the curry until the green beans are crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Taste the curry for seasoning, adding more soy sauce (to add salt) or brown sugar (to add sweet) as needed. Ladle the curry into bowls, sprinkle with minced cilantro and basil, and serve with Jasmine rice.
Notes
Don't shake the can of coconut milk - you want the solid layer of cream on the top and the liquid underneath. That lets you fry the coconut cream with the curry paste, then add the liquid later
I like my curry hot, so I use ½ cup of curry paste, the entire 4-ounce can. If you want to cut back on the heat, only use ¼ cup of curry paste.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Weeknight Dinner
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Thai
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Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup of curry
- Calories: 338
- Sugar: 4.8 g
- Sodium: 919.9 mg
- Fat: 17.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 11.8 g
- Protein: 33.2 g
- Cholesterol: 141 mg
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Pressure Cooker White Rice
Pressure Cooker Korean Braised Short Ribs
Pressure Cooker Massaman Beef Curry
Instant Pot Thai Yellow Curry
My list of Pressure Cooker Recipes
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Steve says
Another fabulous DCD recipe. I used a half can of curry paste, and would do the same next time, it seemed just right. I was skeptical about using thighs but they cooked down perfectly. A quick and satisfying home-style dish.
Mike Vrobel says
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Nancy D says
This was a super yummy dinner that my hubby and kids loved. The flavor was great. I used the whole 4 oz. of green curry paste and didn't find it too spicy. After reading the reviews, I think I'll squirt a bit of sriracha on top next time, as we like things spicy. I followed the recipe as written, except I used 1 pound of brussel sprouts and 8 oz. of brown mushrooms instead of the green beans. I actually sauteed the brussel sprouts and mushrooms in a skillet, then added it all into the instant pot chicken/curry..... I thought it might take a bit more than 4 minutes to cook the brussel sprouts and my family was hungry, so that speeded it up a bit :). Great dinner!!! Will make this again.
EG says
This was really delicious, family loved it and I will definitely make it again. However, as I'm finding as an instant pot newbie, things get overcooked. I used boneless breasts and the chicken piece disintegrated a bit. I also didn't ever get the sauce to thicken. Despite all that the flavors were kick ass. So just have to figure out some adjustments.
Daniella Reyna says
5 out of 5 stars, no questions about it. I followed this recipe when I got a load of premade curry packages so, i relied on this as my guidance. The curry chicken finally came out AMAZING with your help after a few failed attempts making curry chicken with no knowledge of how to make curry chicken!!
Everyone raved about it. So, today, I only have one package of curry so, I assimilated your instructions into the remaining curry package I had for our dinner tonight. It tastes pretty darn good. Totally making this my go-to recipe and I also added chickpeas to the curry at the end of the cooking. I added carrots & mushrooms to it too as well at the beginning. Thank you once again!! : )
Mike Vrobel says
You're welcome!
Jen says
If I use boneless chicken thighs instead of chicken breast, how do I adjust the PC's time?
Mike Vrobel says
Thighs will take the same time to cook.
Rich says
Anybody try with light coconut milk?
Christopher Fuentes says
I've tried similar recipes with light coconut milk. It turns out ok, but obviously not as creamy as the full-fat version. Since you use the cream early on in this recipe, I would guess it relies on that extra fat a little more than ones that have you just dump the can in. Still, I might try it with the light milk and leave a review.