Thai food doesn’t get easier than this! Creamy coconut chicken curry is coming to an instant pot near you…
Make some room y’all because this Thai coconut chicken curry is about to move in! It’s going to take a spot on your regular dinner menu and it’s never going to leave. Ever. Which is totally okay. Because you’re going to fall in love with it immediately.
If you love Thai food (and really, who doesn’t?), then you’re going to love this chicken curry. It tastes kind of like a cross between red curry and panang curry. It’s saucy and well seasoned and nutty and creamy and crunchy and citrusy! It has great flavor and texture and basically everything you’d want in a curry. Oh, and it’s easy to make.
Pour and cook recipes are the best. You guys really liked my easy curried chicken and ever since sharing that recipe, I’ve been dreaming up different variations.
I’m all about the easy recipe life and it looks like you’re about it too. Weekdays are stressful – heck, weekends too. You know what shouldn’t be stressful? Cooking. There’s no reason to stress out about what to feed yourself or your family, not when you’ve got me in your life.
There’s a reason you and I get along so well. It’s because we get each other. You like good food and you also like to be lazy sometimes. Right? Right.
Well this is Thai food at its absolute laziest…
Like, you pour a bunch of ingredients together, mix and press start.
10-ish minutes later…
Hi, dinner! Gosh, you look good. I could just eat you up!
You only need a handful of ingredients to make this Thai chicken curry: chicken thighs, coconut milk, red curry paste, peanut butter and a few spices. These ingredients are all mostly pantry staples! If red curry paste isn’t a pantry staple for you – it really should be. So much flavor in that little bottle!
Serve this curry over my instant pot jasmine rice. And if you feel like putting in a bit of effort, top it with crunchy (chopped) peanuts, fresh Thai basil and a big squeeze of lime juice!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds skinless and boneless chicken thighs
- 1 14 ounce can full-fat coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce optional
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder
- ÂĽ teaspoon cayenne adjust to taste
Garnish
- Handful of fresh Thai basil and/or cilantro chopped
- Crushed peanuts
- 1 lime cut into wedges
Instructions
- Add the coconut milk, peanut butter, red curry paste, chili sauce (if using) and spices to a 6 quart instant pot and mix well. Then add the chicken to the pot.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 5 minutes at high pressure.
- Naturally release pressure (or NPR for 10 minutes, then release pressure).
- Using two forks, shred the chicken right into the curry (or you can remove the chicken and cut it into chunks if you prefer)
- Sprinkle with Thai basil/cilantro and crushed peanuts if desired. You can also serve this with lime wedges and add a squeeze of lime juice before eating.
Chloe says
I’m hoping the right person reads this. I highly recommend that you DO NOT try this recipe with an instant pot larger than 6 quarts! I did, and it was a stress-inducing and very sad disaster. I guess just because of the diameter of the pot and how the ingredients distributed, it took my device 50 minutes to preheat before I gave up on it, and realized that 1/3 of the curry sauce was burned to the bottom of the pot. With that being said, I tried to salvage what I could, and the chicken and remaining sauce was good (I’m sure it would have been amazing had it been done properly). I’m not giving a rating because I didn’t do this recipe justice; Just wanted to warn people who have a larger instant pot that this recipe might not work out because of the model you own.
Tom says
Another hit recipe from Ashley and I will definitely be making this again. Wife loved it too. Followed the recipe but added a little brown sugar to sweeten it up (It’s an American thing). I am so glad I have found this site and I look forward to trying many more recipes in the days ahead.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Tom, that’s so nice to hear, thank you 🙂 I’m so glad you and your wife liked this!
Tej says
Another winner! Took a page out of your butter chicken recipe and added some sliced bell peppers at the end with the cilantro. Did it with sunbutter (for allergic toddler) and frozen chicken thighs (for lack of foresight), and cooked P.I.P with white basmati rice …even had time to make a quick Thai cucumber salad while the magic happened in the pressure cooker. Everyone (including picky kids) devoured this! Thank you!!!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Tej, I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Ila says
If made with chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) instead of thighs, how would that change the cook time? Thank you.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
I would add an extra 5 minutes to the cook time since breasts are usually thicker and I’d also do a full natural release. Hope that helps!
Mala says
Love the recipe Superhit with the family! Thank you Ashley🤟🏻
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Mala, that’s so great to hear! Thanks for letting me know how much you and your family liked this 🙂
Dan D. says
My pressure cooker doesn’t have the burn message feature and I have ruined a recipe or two due to scorching, sadly, so I was a little worried about the scorching in this recipe after reading the comments. So as an experiment, I put all the ingredients of step #1 into a large sturdy measuring cup and buzzed them up with an immersion blender until they were perfectly smooth, then added them to the cooker pot and continued with the recipe as written. It worked like a charm…no scorching, just total deliciousness! Just wanted to share that little epiphany for those who might have the occasional scorching problem with no burn warning. Thanks Ashley for yet another winner of a recipe!!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Glad to hear that – thank you for sharing, Dan! I’m sure it’ll help other readers 🙂
Nick says
Hi, lovely recipe.
Which brand of red curry paste , peanut butter and coconut milk do you use for this?
George says
All three of my girls gobbled this up with a side of green beans! Fantastic meal!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
George, that’s awesome! So great to hear. Glad your girls liked this curry 🙂
MattyB says
Made this as my first instant pot recipe and I love it. It’s simple and flavorful. I read some of the comments that said it lacked flavor so I put in a bit more Thai curry paste. I also think that some people might be getting “burning” warning a because their peanut butter isn’t mixed in well enough so it sticks to the bottom and burns. I got a few small burned spots and it is definitely where peanut butter had stuck.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Happy to hear that this was your first IP recipe and that you enjoyed it! Also, thanks for sharing – I’m sure that’ll help other blog readers 🙂