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
PrintEasy, One-Pot Coconut Thai Chicken Curry
- 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.
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 (13.5 oz) 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.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop/Oven
- Cuisine: Thai
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
402 Comments on “Easy, One-Pot Coconut Thai Chicken Curry”
Delicious! Though I don’t know what’s up with my coconut milk consistency (used Thai kitchen), but I added in only a half can of water just to test, and it still needed some more time to simmer down. Regardless: going in to the regular rotation. Thank you!!
Wonderful to hear this, Amy! Not sure why the experience is so different for everyone regarding water. Glad you were able to make it work.
Second time making this in my RV kitchen. I love this dish!
Wonderful to hear this!
Do you cover the pot when you put it in the oven ?
No! Uncovered!
Excellent Thai coconut chicken recipe. I put in 1 small can of tomato paste as I had no other tomatoes in the house fresh or canned, added two cups frozen pre blanched cauliflower cut in small pieces ,from last years garden, followed the rest of the recipe including 2 cups water, did it stove top and it took no time to make. very yummy! Thankyou!
So nice to hear this, Anne! Cauliflower sounds so yummy here.
AWESOME! This recipe is amazing. My husband says he would love to have it once a week. Fabulous flavors but what I loved best is that it’s SO easy!!!!
Yay! So nice to hear this, Jeanne 😍😍😍
i want to try this, I don’t have tumeric as I have not had to use it, should I just substitute the curry powder for this?
Excited to try it.
Yes!
I did try it. So great taste I much say. Just base on your recipe, thank you much for sharing!
Wonderful to hear this, Lori!
Ali:
What attracted me to this recipe was the ease, I had the ingredients and the need to do something easy and different with the chicken I bought. I tossed in eggplant that needed to be cooked and I didn’t have any spinach on hand. I happened to have thai basil in the yard and some cilantro.
This was an excellent recipe, easy to change up with what you have and it’s super easy to make. Having it in one pot makes for easy clean up. What a great recipe. This is a winner and definitely going into the regular rotation. Thanks so much for your blog, your easy to follow videos and instructions. Your recipes are among my favorite and I’m so glad I found your site.
So nice to hear all of this, Roxanne! I’m so glad this turned out well. Eggplant + Thai basil (jealous you have it in your yard!!) sound wonderful. Thanks for taking the time to write.
Yummy and easy!!
Wonderful to hear this, Jeanne!
Thanks so much for a “keeper” recipe! I made a lot of substitutions, and it still turned out wonderfully. I used frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts, right out of the freezer. I cooked per your directions, and flipped them over after 30 minutes. They were cooked perfectly through. (i think it would definintely be best with skin-on dark meat, but the froz. Breasts were still wonderful.). Other subs: canned coconut cream, canned chopped tomatoes with chilis and juice (used tomato juice instead of the added water), Used 1 tbsp green curry paste, extra curry powder and brown sugar, and added spicy chutney. Delish!
Wonderful to hear this, Amy! Glad it worked with all of your substitutions, which sound lovely.
I havnt even made the dish yet, just read the recipe and my mouth is watering. I’ll make it tonight👍
Wonderful to hear this, Richard! Hope you love it!
Hi.
I have all the ingredients but for the red curry paste. Can I use green curry paste instead?
Yes!
Yummy but too much liquid! Good with cauliflower though…
Incredibly flavorful and easy to prepare thanks to delicious time-saving tip
Wonderful to hear this, Emily!
I plan on making this recipe for the first time tonight. It sounds amazing!! I have an 8 quart Dutch oven… or would you recommend a cast iron skillet? Silly question, any feedback is appreciated.
I think the Dutch oven will be great … I worry the skillet won’t be large enough. The one issue you may run into with the DO is that the chicken may not brown as much as you like only because the sides of the skillet may be a little high, but this isn’t a dish in which the skin gets crispy, so it’s not really an issue … the browning is nice visually more than anything.
This didn’t disappoint!!!!! Absolutely delicious. SO easy, and flavorful. Made it with coconut jasmine rice. Thank you for the advise. ONE POT…. !!!! doesn’t get better than that.
Everyone stole my leftovers! Already planning on another pot for next week.
Wonderful to hear this, Bridget!! Thanks so much for writing 🙂
We enjoyed this recipe. I did use two cans of water, but also added two large, peeled russet potatoes cut into large pieces and added at the beginning of cooking time with other ingredients. Next time I might also sauté the tomatoes a bit with the onions. Served with warm pita triangles and jasmine rice, delicious.
Thank you.
That all sounds amazing, Meg! So great to hear this. Thanks for writing!
This looks amazing, do you think it would still be good using boneless chicken?
I do, but you’ll have to cut the time way back and maybe some of the water, too.
Oh my goodness, this is good. I used 1.5 cans of water but will try it next time with 1. This time I used 2 tablespoons of green curry paste but will try 3 next time. Added frozen green beans, in addition to spinach and cilantro. The flavors melded overnight and leftovers were even better the next day. I don’t know how you do it but all of your recipes are wonderful and approachable and I am super thankful! 😊
Awww Hina, you are too sweet 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thank you. So nice to hear all of this 💕💕💕💕
This looks amazing and I bought all the ingredients … only to realize I don’t have a saute pan! Yours is GORGEOUS. What size is it? What is the brand? THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Hi Jennifer!
This is the pan: Le Creuset 5-Qt Braiser
This is SO easy and SO delicious! It is on regular rotation at our house. I add green beans, sliced red, yellow or orange pepper and Swiss chard mid way through cooking as I like a lot of veg in my curry. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Oh I love this idea! I love a lot of veg in my curry, too. Thanks so much for writing and sharing this 💕💕💕💕
Game changer as promised! I made this and immediately sent the recipe to all my stressed out friends trying to put meals on the table during COVID. My partner LOVED it … and so did I! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I am excited to try all five of the chicken recipes using this technique!
Oh yay! So nice to hear this, Jen. Hope you love the other 5 recipes just as much 💕💕💕
This was delicious! I only used I TBS of curry paste but will try more next time. It had the perfect balance of flavors. Served it with brown rice.
It was so easy to prep and put in the oven when we were ready for dinner. Loved it!
Made this last night with a few adjustments (really, just more veggies – the seasoning is SPOT ON), and it got rave reviews! I added NO EXTRA water, and used the 3T red curry paste. I made the sauce in a saucepan, poured it into a 13×9 pyrex, then added 7 large chicken thighs (next time, and there WILL be a next time, I’ll trim off the skin on the bottom side of the thighs), dipping them to coat them. After the hour, they were a beautiful brown. I put them on a serving platter and kept them warm, poured the sauce (there was LOTS) back into the saucepan. I squeezed the excess liquid from a thawed 10 oz package of frozen chopped spinach and added it, plus added 1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped. Cooked till the cauliflower was tender, then added the cilantro and served it in a separate bowl along with jasmine rice and garlic buttered naan. What a keeper!!! Thank you SO MUCH!
Oh my goodness, Laurie … ALL of your additions/adaptations sound totally amazing. Thanks so much for writing! So glad you liked this one 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
This sounds so seriously wonderful!!! Is it possible to make this in a slow-cooker? If so, do I need to change anything.
Thank you!
Hi Carol! I’m sure you could, and I bet it would be delicious. The only thing to keep in mind is this: the skin will not brown or get crisp at all, which is fine, just a warning… you’ll likely want to discard it at the end of cooking.
Love this flavorful soup. Used less turmeric and diced canned tomatoes (cuz I never have fresh). Superb flavor. I do take skin off my legs. Not fatty at all.
So nice to hear this, Marta. Thanks so much for writing. Great to hear you don’t remove the skin — I’m sure its presences lends flavor.
Has anyone tried this with boneless, skinless chicken breasts? I know I’d need to reduce the cooking time, but was wondering by how much. Thanks for any help. It looks delicious!
I LOVED THIS! It was such a great recipe, with easy-to-follow instructions and easily adjustable measurements and of course it tasted A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, with a beautiful flavour and lots of sauce for the rice. Thanks for this, I will defo be making again 💗
So great to hear this! Thanks so much for writing.
Absolutely delicious!!!!!!! And so so easy.
Wonderful to hear this, Morgan!
First time to your page. This recipe is Fantastic! The flavors were so addictive. Substituted root veggies for the spinach but otherwise followed the recipe. We will be adding this to our regular rotation. Thanks!
Great to hear, Rita! Love the idea of root veggies here. Thanks so much for writing.
Hi Ali!
Would love to try this recipe but I don’t have an oven. Do I just keep it cooking on the stove for longer or do you have other suggestions? Thanks xx
Hi Stephanie! I think you could definitely simply simmer it stovetop. Keep in mind the skin of the chicken won’t get crisp. I would simmer it for about the same amount of time, maybe checking after 45 minutes or so.