Easy, One-Pot Coconut Thai Chicken Curry
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This one-pot coconut Thai chicken curry is incredibly flavorful and easy to prepare thanks to delicious time-saving tip: not browning the chicken. After sautéing an onion and making a simple sauce with spices, curry pastes, tomatoes, and coconut milk, you add the chicken to the pot and transfer it to the oven. In just about an hour, it will be done! The sauce is plentiful, so making rice or some sort of flatbread essential.
Are you still browning chicken?
When I was first learning to cook, browning meat prior to braising it, is what all of my favorite cookbooks taught. It’s also what I learned from the chef, Thien Ngo, I worked for at Fork. Before Thien braised anything — chicken, brisket, short ribs — he always began by browning the meat first.
But browning, as far as I can tell, serves only one good purpose: to remove excess fat, thereby ensuring the sauce, in the end, won’t taste unpleasantly fatty. For a braise, browning is not a step that produces crispy skin. And while it creates an appealing color and, in turn, flavor, these two outcomes can be achieved without actually going through the tedious process of browning.
How? In the oven.
Two years ago I made Diana Henry’s Moroccan Chicken and Rice with Harissa and Dates, a recipe that calls for essentially chucking everything into a pan at once and throwing it in the oven. There’s no preliminary browning, and it works: the end product being crispy skin and fall-off-the-bone meat.
I’ve stopped browning chicken ever since, and I’ve been revisiting my favorite braises in the meantime, giving them the chuck-in-the-oven treatment. This one-pan chicken with sherry vinegar sauce is a favorite, and here’s another one: one-pan Thai chicken curry with spinach.
It uses all of the same flavorings as Thien’s Thai chicken curry, but the method is different, simpler.
One-Pan Thai Chicken Curry How-To
- Sauté an onion.
- Add turmeric, curry powder, and Thai red curry paste.
- Add tomatoes, coconut milk, brown sugar, fish sauce, and water.
- Add chicken, transfer to the oven and cook for 1 hour.
- Out of the oven, add a heap of spinach, stir, and serve over rice.
After an hour in the oven, the chicken skins are browned, and the meat has absorbed all the flavors of the sauce. The sauce is plentiful, making rice or some sort of flatbread essential.
A final note regarding not browning:
As noted above, browning meat does remove excess fat. If, prior to cooking, you notice your chicken thighs or drumsticks are particularly fatty, trim the excess fat/overhanging skin. This step usually is enough to ensure the final sauce doesn’t taste too fatty, but if, in the end, you still find the sauce tasting too rich, you can skim excess fat, which will pool to the surface.
5 Favorite No-Browning Chicken Recipes
- One-Pan Chicken and Shallots
- One-Pan Chicken with Sherry Vinegar Sauce
- Chicken legs with white wine, parmigiano, and olive oil
- Moroccan Chicken and Rice
- Spatchcocked Chicken with Za’atar and Lemon
PS: Curried Lentils with Kale & Coconut Milk
PPS: Chopped Thai Satay Salad with Peanut-Ginger Dressing
PPS: Easy Thai Chicken Satay with Coconut Rice
Easy, One-Pot Coconut Thai Chicken Curry
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Description
I learned to make this chicken curry while working at Fork in Philadelphia many years ago, now. The chef, Thien Ngo, prepared it somewhat differently — he browned the meat first in one pot; browned a ton of vegetables (carrots, parsnips, onions) in another pan; additionally, he deep-fried potatoes; and he cooked everything stove top.
I’ve converted this to a one-pan number, and in place of the carrots, parsnips, and potatoes, I stir in a heap of spinach at the end.
A few notes:
- If your chicken thighs or drumsticks are particularly fatty, trim the excess fat. This will prevent your sauce from being too fatty in the end.
- Thai red curry paste. Maesri is the brand I buy at the Asian market. You can find it online, too. I use half a tin for this recipe (which is about 3 tablespoons), which makes it quite spicy but not outrageous. If you are sensitive to heat, start with a tablespoon and adjust the sauce with more at the end.
- Coconut Milk. I’ve gotten in the habit of ordering it online because I love this brand, and I can’t always find it. Plus it’s cheaper.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, sliced
- kosher salt
- 8 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs or drumsticks or a combination of both
- 2 teaspoons turmeric
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 to 3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (see notes above)
- 3 to 4 plum tomatoes, chopped
- 1 can unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped, or more or less to taste
- 3 to 5 ounces spinach, optional
For serving:
- cooked Jasmine or Basmati rice (or any rice you like)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400ºF.
- In a large sauté pan over hight heat, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onions and a pinch of salt, and immediately turn the heat to medium-low. Stir every so often, and cook until the onions soften and begin browning at the edges, about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place the chicken in a large bowl and season all over with kosher salt. Use 1 teaspoon per pound.
- Add the curry powder, turmeric, and Thai red curry paste to the onions, and stir until onions are coated in the spices, about a minute. Add the tomatoes, and stir until they just begin to soften, about a minute. Add the can of coconut milk. Fill up the empty can of coconut milk with water and add to the pan. Add the fish sauce and brown sugar and bring to a simmer. (Note: A number of people have had issues with this being too liquidy, so I’ve reduced the amount of water from 2 empty cans to one… hope this solves the issues.).
- Add the chicken pieces and turn to coat. Transfer pan to the oven uncovered and cook for 1 hour or until the liquid has reduced considerably, the chicken skin is brown, and the meat is falling off the bone. If the liquid has reduced too much, add more by the quarter cup. Note: If you make this ahead, you may need to add more water upon reheating.
- Add cilantro and stir. Add spinach, if using, and stir. Spoon rice into bowls. Top with chicken and sauce, and serve immediately.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop/Oven
- Cuisine: Thai
Keywords: one-pan, Thai, chicken, curry, coconut, milk, cilantro, dinner
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
169 Comments on “Easy, One-Pot Coconut Thai Chicken Curry”
I have made this a couple times now and have raved about it each time. The last time, I used the extra sauce to my advantage by making a second meal. We reheated the sauce and cooked carrots and a sweet potato. It was an easy weeknight meal!
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear this, Beverly! Love your leftover sauce tip. Thanks!
This is seriously amazing!!! I didn’t have spinach, but lightly sautéed baby bokchoy and threw that in at the end. The seasonings were spot on! Delicious!!!
★★★★★
Yum! That sounds amazing, Missy! I love bok choy!
Have made this several times and it’s a keeper! So flavorful and easy (literally takes a few minutes of prep and one bowl). The chicken is so soft. I add carrots midway during the oven cooking.
★★★★★
So great to hear this, Chris! Love the idea of adding carrots here to up the veggie quotient. Smart!
I wonder if anyone has had trouble with the recipe making a mess in the oven because it’s cooked uncovered. I have a 3.5 qt LeCreuset Braiser that fits in my Breville Smart Oven. But since it’s a smaller space I’m concerned it will splatter. I need advice, otherwise I’ll make it in my regular oven. Many thanks in advance!
Hi Sydney! I have not had issues with splattering, but I use a 5-qt braiser, so I worry about your smaller braiser potentially being too filled with liquid/ingredients and therefore potentially causing some spillage or splattering.
I’ve made this about 5 times now, and I don’t even like Indian/Thai food lol! I like to add extra coconut milk because I love the coconut flavor, but this is definitely a favorite for us!
So nice to hear this, Tori! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Could you add rice to the pan before putting in the oven to make it a true one pan dish?
Would love to just chuck it all in!
Wondering if the rice would just cook in all the liquid.
Thank you.
Oh Bea! I love this idea. I haven’t tried, so I can’t say for sure, but I think it’s worth a shot. It may take a bit of trial and error to get right bc you’ll want some liquid for the chicken — it’s nice to have some sauce — but you don’t want the rice to be soupy.
Hello, I’m excited about trying this tonight. I was just wondering if I could do boneless skinless thighs and legs. I have 2 packages that need to be used up before I go buy more. I know the flavor is in the bones and skin, should I just wait or will this be okay?
I think you can! They’ll obviously cook more quickly, so you may want to remove the pieces when they’re done; then continue to cook the sauce a bit so it reduces/concentrates a bit … or not. If the sauce tastes fine when the chicken is done, just serve it!
I actually made it last night with the skinless boneless chicken thighs/legs/breast and it turned out amazing. My husband absolutely loved it and couldn’t stop complimenting me on the dish. I did add carrots, which were so yummy. I think the next time I make this I will add carrots and cauliflower and a sprinkle of cashews at the end for an optional topping crunch. I’m giving this 5 🌟 because 10 isn’t an option 😉. This is a can’t go wrong recipe..even vegetarians can just omit the chicken and add chickpeas/carrots/cauliflower and be completely satisfied with this wonderful comfort dish. Thank you, definitely adding this to my cooking repertoire.
★★★★★
So nice to hear this, Christy! Love the sound of carrots and love all of your ideas re cauliflower and cashews and chickpeas… yum! Thanks for writing 🙂
I made this the other night and my husband and I absolutely loved it! I used boneless skinless thighs since that’s what I got in my grocery delivery (always a crapshoot) and while I’m normally a bone-in, skin on fan, I was actually surprised to love this just as much. Thanks!
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear this, Ann! Great to know that boneless skinless thighs work well here. Thanks for writing!
I made this recipe the other night using boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Cooked for 45 minutes. It was so delicious!! My husband and I both loved it and it will be enjoyed many times again. Thank you!
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear this, Ann! I need to try with boneless skinless thighs … someone else just did this as well.
Holy Thai Basil, Batman! This is an absolutely outstanding recipe and dish. Can’t say it enough, top-notch, like, truly restaurant quality recipe. I’ve made it twice now and had to make this post.
1st pass, made it as written with chicken – rave reviews here.
2nd pass, same chicken recipe though added 12 medium (peeled & deveined) shrimp and increased the sauce a bit – fabulous result and we loved the added light seafood flavor.
✔ Cooking notes on this second pass with the shrimp: Cooked at 400 degrees for first 45 mins, then removed the lid & added the shrimp, reduced the heat to 360 and cooked 30 more mins with lid off. This kept more sauce.
✔✔Served with Coconut Cilantro Lime (organic brown) Rice.
The lots of baby spinach added at the end was brilliant, and the sauce and the dish were great each time. Will do a vegetarian version next when I try this again in a couple of weeks. I may even add a little Holy Thai Basil 🙂 if/when I can find it, or when I grow it this summer. This was about as perfect a dish as you an make!
★★★★★
So nice to hear all of this, Paul! Love the idea of adding shrimp. Thanks so much for sharing your method. As I was reading your comment, I found myself asking: I wonder when he adds the shrimp? Thanks for the detailed notes 🙂
And yes to Thai basil! I grew it one year, and it was such a dream to have on hand all the time. Must do it again this summer. Thanks for writing!
This recipe was lip smacking delicious. I got the complement that “I can’t remember the last time you made anything so good”. I made the following modifications
1) I had light coconut milk, so it was more watery. I didn’t add any additional water
2) I used 1tbsp of the paste (Mae Ploy), and it was spicy with the kids. With rice and yogurt they were happy
3) I covered my pan in the over. This maybe helped preserve the liquid.
4) I used 2 tomatoes instead of 4
5) I also added in a bell pepper once onions were sauteed.
6) I halved the amount of curry powder & turmeric
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear all of this!! Thanks so much for wring and for sharing all of your notes. So helpful for others.
So easy to make and absolutely delicious. Added some sliced carrots and fresh pineapple and topped it with the spinach and crushed peanuts. This recipe is a keeper. Thank you for this delicious recipe!🥂
★★★★★
So nice to hear this, Susanna! All of your additions sound lovely!
Amazing. We used two bone in thighs for Jon and two small bone in breasts for me. Followed exactly. Ali another home run. And so fun to cook in my new Le Crueset braiser. I know your classes are limited in time but we love them and anything that would use the one pot braiser would be great. Otherwise it’s just great to see you and your lovely not so llittle ones. Has it been that long
So nice to hear this Laura! And I’m so happy to hear about your new Le Creuset braiser, too 🙂 It’s one of my faves. I would love to do a one-pot braiser class. I basically use it any time I roast a chicken, which I almost always do spatchcocked now (like this one or this one). Here are two more: one-pot lemon orzo chicken and one-pot chicken with sherry vinegar.