Chicken Coconut Thai Curry

Vegetable and chicken coconut curry in a silver skillet.

Chicken Coconut Thai Curry is an easy and tasty weeknight meal. Chicken is marinated in coconut milk and spices, breaded, and cooked in a sweet and spicy curry sauce.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Thai

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 25

Marinading time 30

Total Time 35

Servings servings

Calories 474kcal

Author Slow The Cook Down

Equipment

Large Skillet

Ingredients

For the marinade

1 large chicken breast (or 2 small)
13.5 ounces canned coconut milk (400ml) (1 can)
1 inch fresh ginger finely diced
1 lemon grass stalk (cut in half lengthways and strips cut in half)
juice of 1 lime
2 garlic cloves finely diced
1 red chili finely diced

For the curry

1 oz bread crumbs (enough to coat the chicken breasts)
2 tbsp oil for frying (divided)
1 large yellow onion (diced)
1 bell pepper (red or orange work best) (sliced)
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp coconut sugar
2 green onions (sliced)

Instructions

First up, you need to marinate the chicken breast in coconut milk with ginger, lemongrass, lime juice, garlic and chili. I marinated mine in a ziplock bag, but you can also pop it in a bowl and cover with clingfilm. The chicken will need to marinate for at least 30mins and up to 24 hours.
When you are ready to cook, take the chicken breasts out of the marinade - KEEP THE MARINADE! - and coat them in breadcrumbs.
Heat a little oil in a frying pan and put it on a high heat. Fry the chicken breasts for a few minutes on each side until they are golden brown. Remove the chicken from the pan and set to one side. Don't worry of some of the breading comes off.
Put the frying pan on a high / medium heat, add a little more oil and add the diced onion and red bell pepper. Cook until the onion starts to soften.
Pour in all of the coconut marinade over the vegetables and remove the lemongrass. Add in the fish sauce and coconut sugar. Bring the pan to a boil, and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Add in the breaded chicken breasts to the coconut sauce - push them down into the sauce so that they are nearly submerged, and continue to simmer.
Simmer for around 5-10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through (internal temp of 165ºf / 75ºc). Sprinkle over some chopped green onion to serve.

Notes

Marinate the chicken for as long as you can, and for at least 30 minutes. This will not only add more flavor to the chicken, but it will also keep it from drying out.
Coconut sugar enhances the coconut flavor in the dish and is easily found in stores. If you don't have any you can substitute it with table sugar.
ALWAYS buy free range / organic chicken.
Add in whatever veggies you need to use up! Green beans, peas and spinach will all work well.
Use fresh herbs.
Use fresh lime juice - don't by the stuff that comes in little plastic bottles!
Serve with sticky rice for a complete meal.

Nutritional values are based on 1 of 2 servings and are an approximation.

Nutrition