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
- ¼ 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.
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 🙂
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 🙂
Tess! says
Hey, used a 6qrt but totally got the burnt message. Even added some more water. Kept giving me the burned message!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Tess, just want to confirm, did you use chicken thighs? I think the fat from the thighs helps to avoid burning. I’m surprised it happened even when you added water though. You mixed well, right? Hopefully we can help troubleshoot!
Lisa says
Easy recipe however a little bland for my taste, I may try a little more of the curry paste if I decide to try in future. Will definitely try some more recipes as I love curry.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Lisa, you can definitely add as much paste as you’d like – different brands can vary in flavor.
Jackie says
I’ve made this with breast meat as well. It’s definitely a family favorite! Thank you! Do you know if I can make it with frozen meat?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Jackie, that’s great to hear! Thank you for letting me know how much your family likes this 🙂 For frozen chicken, I would suggest adding a few minutes to the cook time – maybe 3 to 5? I haven’t tried with frozen breast meat, but for thighs I’d suggest 5 minutes.
Chelsie says
This was so tasty! However I did get the burn warning as well. I noticed someone else did too. I used chicken thighs as the recipe indicated and followed all ingredients to a tee. I’m wondering if it may have been because I mixed the chicken around in the mixture before I closed it. When I quick released the pressure all chicken thighs were stuck to the bottom though. Maybe I should have just set them on top of the mixture and closed the lid? Who knows! Still delicious though!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Chelsie, hmm I’m not sure why the burn sign came up – just wondering but, did you use a 6 quart to make this?
Julie says
So good and so easy! We ate it with steamed broccoli and naan.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Thanks, Julie! Glad you liked it 🙂
Jo says
All your Instant Pot chicken curry recipes call for thigh meat. Can you substitute white meat and is there any change in cooking time?
Jenn says
This was delicious! My fiancé loved it too. We had chicken we needed to use so I browsed my recipes for something that looked quick and that we had all of the ingredients (minus Thai basil). So easy to throw together. Next time I might throw some Thai basil and stir it in after the chicken is cooked and let it sit for a few mins before devouring. Thank you!
My Heart Beets says
Jenn, that’s so great to hear! Glad you both liked this dish 🙂
Dee says
Just made this for dinner tonight! It came out delicious but initially i got the “burn” notification. Luckily it didn’t come to pressure so I just opened the lid and scraped the bottom of the pot and put the lid back on and pressure cooked it and it was fine. Any tips on how to avoid this again in the future? Because I will definitely be making this again! It was a huge hit!
My Heart Beets says
Hi Dee, I’m so glad you liked it! I’m not sure why the burn notification would’ve come up… just curious but did you use chicken thighs? The fat in the thighs helps – if you used breasts maybe that could be an issue? If you made any changes, please let me know – it would help me with troubleshooting!
Govind Rangrass says
I had a similar issue with the dish never getting to pressure. Released it before it got to the burn stage though. By that point the chicken had almost become kind of mushy. Perhaps cooking the chicken first and then adding it later would help? Came out a bit bland so would recommend tweaking the paste and asking Ashley what brand she used.
Erin says
Made this with chicken breast instead of thighs and it turned out great! Used fresh ginger and garlic too, plus a few handfuls of chopped kale. Kids and I liked it a lot.
My Heart Beets says
Erin, that’s so great to hear! I’m especially glad your kids liked it 🙂 Thanks for letting me know how it turned out!
Taruna Sood says
This was my first time making this dish, and my kids ate it all. I even got praises from them afterwards (they are VERY picky eaters!!). Thank you for such a quick and nutritious recipe 🙂
My Heart Beets says
Taruna, that’s so awesome to hear! Wow, praise from kids is the best (I have a toddler and an almost 4-year-old lol, so I know how it goes). Thanks for letting me know how much you all liked this curry 🙂
MJ says
Is there anyway to get the nutritional info on the recipes? Especially on this one which is our FAV. My husband needs to be on a low sodium diet.
Thank you in advance
Jacki says
Do I have to adjust time if using the 3quart instant pot? Thank you
My Heart Beets says
Hi Jacki, I test all recipes with a 6 quart but I would think this one would work fine in a 3 quart as well. Let me know what you think if you try this dish!
Glo says
Made double the recipe tonight, with extra red curry paste (Used the entire can Maesri brand) and fresh chopped garlic and ginger, then at the end removed the chicken to cut it up, and during that time put the instant pot on sauté and added sliced bell peppers, chopped onion, shredded carrots, and frozen peas in the sauce. Interesting, some of the chicken looked like it had charred slightly on one side, wanted to mention because I saw some other burn comments. But it didn’t affect the taste. Garnished with peanuts and regular fresh basil. Yum!!!
My Heart Beets says
That sounds great! Glad you liked it 🙂
Cdl says
Hi Ashley,
First, thank you for your recipes! I’m from South America and live in the US, but thanks to you, I’ve fallen in love with Indian food. Now trying to venture into Thai. Will try this recipe tonight. Wondering if you’d have a Panaang Curry one, it is my favorite and would loove to try your version of it in the IP.
Thank you!!!
My Heart Beets says
I’m so happy to hear that you’re enjoying my recipes! I don’t have a panang recipe but hope you’ll find this one has hints of panang! Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Varalika Srivastava says
Hi Ashley! Thank you for the great recipe. I want to share this recipe with my sister in India but she doesn’t have an Instant Pot. Would you by any chance know if this can be made iij n a normal pressure cooker? And how long would we need to cook it etc? And if anything would have to change in the recipe?
Becci says
This was amazing. I got a burn notice – I’m blaming the peanut butter, something something g got stuck! – so I finished it PIP, 2 mins HP, 10 mins NPR. Awesome dinner. Will be making again. A lot.
My Heart Beets says
Becci, I’m so glad you liked the dish – thanks for letting me know how it turned out! Let me know if the burn notice comes up again!
Christine says
I’d like to add in some veggies – I’m thinking carrots and diced potatoes. Should I add some time to the instant pot?
My Heart Beets says
Nope, they’ll cook in that amount of time – I’d suggest leaving the potatoes in larger chunks. Hope that helps 🙂
Christine says
Thank you!! This looks great and I love that its all pantry staples in a time like this! Thanks again!
MonyMony says
Enjoyed this dish a lot. We made it ahead of time and reheated next day. Added extra Sriracha sauce when served.
My Heart Beets says
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how the Thai chicken curry turned out for you 🙂
Laura Koshy says
This looks amazing and easy. Two questions….because i have little spice-advertise defendants and I’m trying to copycat a Thai coconut chicken I got at Costco they love:
Does the optional sweet chili sauce have a lot of heat?
If using fresh breasts (not thin cut) how might you adjust the cook time?
I’ve made a few of your Indian IP recipes before and they were huge hits! Looking forward to this.
My Heart Beets says
Hi Laura, sweet chili sauce is more sweet than spicy in my opinion. I haven’t tried with chicken breasts but would think the same time will work since they’re thicker. Let me know how this goes!
Shosh says
If I want to throw in some veggies (carrots, onion, pepper) should I add more coconut milk and seasoning?
My Heart Beets says
Hi Shosh, I would just add the veggies in and then taste it at the end – if you feel it needs more seasoning you can add it then. I think the amount of coconut milk will be enough even with the veggies, but you can always add more at the end and sauté for a few minutes if you feel it needs it.
Nicky says
I made this last night and it was a huge hit with my whole family, kids included! Thanks, Ashley, for another great recipe. I wanted to add veggies, too, and wanted it to stay saucy. I sauteed 2 bell peppers in the pot and then removed them. I was afraid they’d turn to mush if they cooked with the chicken. Then I sauteed some celery, added double the spices and sauce ingredients, and a little over 2 lbs chicken. Turned out perfect!
My Heart Beets says
Nicky, that’s so great to hear 🙂 And thanks for sharing your additions – yum!
Dale says
This sounds delicious! I’m just wondering what the calorie count might be? can’t wait to try it!
Jenn says
This recipe is incredible! Definitely one of my favorites by far and is pretty much on repeat now. Thank you!
My Heart Beets says
Jenn, that’s great to hear! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Karen Michele West says
My recipe went and burned. We did pressure cook normal for 10 mins but it burnt before it started in a 6 litre viva instant pot. What do I do to avoid this?
My Heart Beets says
Karen, I’m sorry to hear that! Did it just say burn or did the chicken actually burn? I think the burn sign tends to appear often on the newer models which is why I’m asking. I’m not sure why it would have burned – the valve was sealed and the silicone ring was on properly, correct?
Ashley says
This recipe and the version with the curry powder have become easy weeknight staples and I’m so grateful for both. I first made the curry version on a night I had a cold and it was exactly what I needed to perk up. I also have Indian Food Under Pressure and cook from it a ton. Your recipes are the best, Ashley!
My Heart Beets says
Ashley, that’s so great to hear! Thank you for letting me know how much you like those recipes! I’m really glad you like my cookbook too 🙂
Ritu Chhangani says
Hi Ashley,
I finally tried this recipe and oh so delicious! So I actually messed up and put ingredients from the coconut chicken curry and the Thai coconut chicken but it still turned out amazing! Super easy. Thanks so much! I’ve also done your cheesecake (yum), butter chicken and your onion tomato masala.
My Heart Beets says
Ritu, I’m so glad you liked this dish! and lol, I’m glad it still turned out well – that actually sounds like a good combo!
Rebecca says
Hi there! I finally got a insta pot and I’m super excited to try this recipe tonight! 🙌 I want to use fresh ginger and garlic, how much do you think I should use??? Thank you!
My Heart Beets says
Rebecca, that’s awesome! If using fresh, I’d go with 2-3 tsp garlic and 1 tsp ginger. I’d also sauté the fresh garlic and ginger in oil first then add the rest of the ingredients. Let me know how it goes!
Rebecca says
Thank you! This is such a delicious recipe, my boyfriend was raving! Going to be a weekly meal for sure. 😊
My Heart Beets says
I’m so glad 🙂
Cdl says
What can I use instead of peanut butter? Allergic to nuts 🙁
My Heart Beets says
Sunbutter! 🙂
Amanda says
If I were to try to use frozen chicken (either breasts or thighs), what would you suggest for cooking time?
My Heart Beets says
Amanda, I haven’t tried with frozen meat but I’d increase the time to 10 minutes and then NPR. Let me know how it goes 🙂
Holly says
This is going to be the next recipe I make! I made your coconute chicken curry but used fresh ginger and garlic. Will try the same with this recipe. Can’t wait!
My Heart Beets says
Holly, awesome can’t wait to hear what you think!
Rebecca says
I have been craving Thai and this does it for me. Only thing is id probably add a little more salt next time. But it was perfect. The flavor was spot on.
My Heart Beets says
Rebecca, so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Claudia says
Can I use chicken thighs with bones? What would be the cooking time?
Also if using skinless, boneless chicken, could you cook the rice in this recipe at same time?