A Thai Red Curry Paste recipe that’s doable by any home cook and yields a curry that truly is as great as what you get at the very best Thai restaurants. The DNA of this paste is a recipe by the great David Thompson, a highly regarded Thai food expert.
Like Green Curry Paste, a homemade curry paste yields the freshest, most fragrant curry that you can never buy in a jar. Use this red curry paste recipe for Thai Red Curry, fish cakes or add zing to Thai Fried Rice!
Thai red curry paste
This Thai Red Curry Paste recipe is a RecipeTin Family effort, refined over years with multiple family meals during which we critiqued the latest version.
We’re a tough crowd, when it comes to each other. We don’t hold back punches. You should have heard the critiques for the earlier versions. “It lacks complexity!” -> “Something’s missing… I don’t know what. Something’s missing!“-> “It’s nice, but it’s brown not red.” -> “Why is it gritty?” “The veggies are too soft, the chicken’s not tender enough” -> “It’s almost there! Almost!” ?
Actually, the cook is usually the toughest critic. We’re pretty hard on ourselves!
But finally, the whole RecipeTin Family approves and we declare this curry paste to be The One. A Thai Red Curry Paste that’s totally doable by any home cook that makes a Thai Red Curry that rivals those served by the best Thai restaurants in Sydney – and we are known for great Thai food here!
How Authentic Thai Red Curry Paste is made
Truly authentic Thai curry pastes require serious effort – the paste is made by grinding the ingredients in a mortar and pestle and it takes over 30 minutes. The first time I tried it, I was cursing like a sailor less than 10 minutes in, chilli bits flying everywhere.
The 2nd time I tried it, I gave up 3 minutes in and scraped everything into a blender.
Blender is the way to go. Blender all the way!!!
Much of the base for this Thai Red Curry Paste is drawn from Chef and restaurant recipes. Little tweaks here and there to balance it to my taste to make it as close as I could to the red curries served at my favorite Thai restaurants.
What goes in Thai Red Curry Paste
There’s no denying that you’ll probably require a trip to the Asian grocery store to get all the ingredients for Thai Red Curry Paste, unless your local supermarket has an exceptionally well stocked Asian section! But everything should be relatively simple to hunt down, they are all pretty common Asian ingredients. Just show the shop keeper these photos if you can’t find them!
The star ingredient in Thai Red Curry is dried red chillies. Chop before hydrating in boiled water to shake the seeds loose (seeds = spiciness) and also, they hydrate better = easier to whizz into a smooth paste.
Using fresh red chillies won’t produce the same end result, I tried. Dried chillies have an earthy flavour, they are not crazy spicy and it’s a key flavour base for red curry.
Another ingredient in Thai Red Curry Paste that is a bit unique is galangal. It looks like ginger, but tastes more citrusy and is harder to cut. If you can’t find it, substitute with ginger and lime zest.
Because galangal is so tough, it can be one of the offenders of grainy curry sauce because consumer grade blenders and food processors can’t blitz it finely enough if you just throw chunks in. In our Red Curry Paste readings, we never came across a recipe that called for galangal to be grated. But this step is truly worth taking if you want to ensure your curry is smooth, especially if you have an ordinary blender. I have a powerful Vitamix blender, and I still grate my galangal.
The other key ingredient in Thai Red Curry Paste is Shrimp Paste. This is where our recipe differs from some authentic Thai recipes. Made from fermented, dried shrimp (prawns), most Thai recipes use pure shrimp paste which is called Belacan. Typically, it’s sold in dried blocks which is required to be soaked to rehydrate before use.
However, we like to use Shrimp Paste that comes in a jar with oil and some other flavourings added. This is a tip I picked up from Sujet Saenkham, the chef of the very popular Spice I Am Thai restaurants in Sydney, and it was our final tweak that took our curry from “it’s almost there!” to “YES!!!! This is truly restaurant quality!!!!”. ( <- OK, there may have been a little jiggy upon the first taste test).
The main reason I use this is for the oil because this is the key thing we noticed between hand grinding and using a blender – the extraction of natural oils from the chilli. You can’t achieve this using a blender, only grinding by hand.
Solution: Use Shrimp Paste in oil. There are many brands out there. I use Por Kwan which is the most popular brand at Asian supermarkets here in Australia. Just check the jar and as long as it has more than just shrimp and salt in the ingredients, it should be just fine.
The other ingredients in Thai Red Curry Paste are more familiar every day ingredients: lemongrass, coriander / cilantro, eschalots / shallots (baby red onions) and lime.
Plonk it all into the blender, and blitz away until smooth – this can take a good 30 seconds or even up to 1 minute, depending on how powerful your blender is.
relegated at home due the coronavirus problems in Italy .. found your page looking for some good recipe for red curry paste. Love your recepies and copied at leat 20 to put on the to do list… Arnold
Thoughts and prayers are with all of you in Italy and around the world during these trying times. I’m currently self-quarantined in the U.S. as well.
I can’t wait until things are back to normal and I can make a trip to the Asian store to buy these ingredients. Until then, best wishes and THANK YOU, Nagi, for an amazing site!
I love this recipe and have made it several times now. It makes a wonderful Thai Red Curry which is better than most restaurant curries I have had. Thanks Nagi 😀
What a great compliment, thanks so much Alyson! N x
How can I buy your actual cookbooks? I’m not a fan of Ebooks. I get your recipes and love them and I really love seeing Dozer.
Hi Sharolyn, I don’t have any physical books available just yet sorry! N x
Hi Nagi– This recipe looks amazing, but I have a dinner guest that is allergic to shrimp. Can I substitute with fish sauce? Or the fermented fish paste that I see at some Asian markets.
Hi Joni, I imagine fermented fish paste would be the perfect substitute – N x
thanks so much for your quick reply! I am going to make this, then use it for your fish cake recipe! Can’t wait to taste the results!! 🙂
Hey Nagi, this recipe looks wonderful! I’m eager to try it, but wanted to know if there are any vegetarian substitutes for the shrimp paste that I could use?
Hi Emily, unfortunately not for this one – it just would be the same without – N x
Have just finished making a batch of red curry paste after making green curry paste last week ( which was divine). However this red batch is SUPER HOT, and I can take quite a bit of heat. How can I get all the flavour if I reduce the amount of paste I use in making a curry?
Hi Joni, what type of chillies did you use here? – N x
16 dried red whole chillies, which I cut, shook seeds out ( most of them but there were a few left) soaked, drained, whizzed all as in the recipe
You followed the recipe. Just sounds like you’re a little bitch.
Hi Nagi! Just wondering if I make this a little more in bulk, how long it lastes in the refrigerator for (can I freeze?)?
Hi Jonathon, you can store in the fridge up to 3 days or the freezer up to a month 🙂
Thanks!
I have made this paste twice now, and while it has a great flavor it always turns out brown and not red, what am i doing wrong!? It does make a delicious curry though x
Hi Steve, it just could be the ingredients used – as long as it tastes great!
Hi Nagi,
I’m allergic to shrimp. Can it be made without it or can I sub in something else like fish sauce?
Hi PeeBee, I find to get that authentic flavour you really need the shrimp paste, using just fish sauce will become far too salty unfortunately – N x
Hi Nagi, I cannot seem to find dried chilis anywhere! Is there any way that I can make this recipe with fresh chilis?
It just won’t yield the same result unfortunately!
I have made this recipe probably 8 times now. I love it. People think I’m an awesome cook because of this recipe !! I change it a tiny bit by adding more dried chilli and 2 birds eye chilli because I like it to blow your head off haha
That’s awesome Georgia! Woah you do like it hot! 🌶
I can’t eat garlic, is there any way to make this taste as good without it?
Hi Bec, can you have eschallots?
Hi Nagi.
Where can I buy fresh Thai Chillie Pepper in Australia at short notice? What would be a great substitute if I can’t get them at short notice.
I’m making both your Red and Green Thai Curry pastes next Tuesday. To give you an idea where I live, and what kind of access I have to Asian foods; I live 1/2 drive from Tweed Heads, which is close to the border of NSW/QLD.
I’d love to hear from you. Your recipes look great, I appreciate also the information around the Shrimp paste vs dried shrimp paste changing colour to curry. I also appreciate the photos you provided re: peeling lemongrass, and soaking chillies, as one of my issues, is picking lemongrass out of my pastes or finding them in my meal. Admittedly it’s not a huge issues as the meals tastes good. I’d just like a smoother paste to compliment rather then distract.
I hope you are having a great week so far.
Warm regards
Sonja
Birds eyes will be fine 🙂
Excellent; thank you Nagi. I am going to check out the local Asian Supermarket in Tweed Heads in the next couple of days. *Fingers crossed* they have Thai green chilli peppers; if not I’ll use birdseye chillies as your recommendation.
I think I may check online for future purchase and freeze 🙂
Hi, I couldn’t find shrimp paste. But I did find Belacan. Could you pls tell me how to use Belacan in the paste?
Hi Mel, the substitution is in note 4 ☺️
I made this today with dried birds eye chillies and it just wouldn’t go red/orange so added 2 fresh birds eye chillies and still won’t. Don’t want to add any more in case it’s too spicy. Bit gutted. What have I done wrong?
Birds eye chillis are far too hot to use for this recipe. Use the large dried chillis typically found in asian grocers, spur chillis, or another “medium” heat chilli. You need to balance the heat of the chilli with it’s other flavors. Switch to larger chillis of any sort (red, preferably) and you will get a better result.
You can sometimes find dried chilis in the Hispanic food section of the grocery store, if that helps anyone.
BTW, do you have a recipe for yellow curry paste? We prefer it.
I’m in the process of making your yummy recipe but having a blonde moment with the quantities as in the tablespoon measurements in the ingredients listed. Can you just clarify for me that I should definitely be using 1 tbsp of shrimp paste etc? Thank you!
My hair is solid black and yet I have plenty of those moments myself… Yes 1 tablespoons of that stinky shrimp paste! Also please make sure you taste the dried chillies to check how spicy they are – see note 1!
Thanks for the thai red curry paste recipe. Just made and tasted. Great flavour combo. Another winner.
Love that you enjoyed this Sandra! Thanks for letting me know – N x
Thank you! Made this today & it is de-lisc-ious! Making it again tomorrow with tiger prawns !!
OOOH! Prawn Red Curry!!!
I have a quick question. How large should the shallots be? Where I live, I can buy shallots that are about the size of golf balls, or those that are larger (size of a small onion). Is there a tablespoon equivalent for the amount of shallots?
Thank you!
Hi William! Golf ball size ones 🙂 N x
Hey,
Can you please tell me a substitute for shrimp paste and anchovies as we don’t get it here in India 🙂
Is there something else I can use besides Shrimp Paste? Unfortunately, I’m allergic to shrimp. Also, love your website and the layout! I recently found it and have been obsessed, reading over all your posts! Thank you for the wonderful information.
Hi Lena, how about anchovies? Are you ok with anchovies? If so, let me know and I’ll shoot over directions 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi,
Can you send me some directions on using anchovies too please.
Thank you
Hi Heba! I would use anchovies from a can, and roughly chop to measure out 2 tsp and use in place of shrimp paste in the recipe. 🙂 N x
Completely good with anchovies! That would be a lifesaver. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!
I make my own yellow curry paste and then put about 1.5 tbsp in cupcake liners and then freeze them. So when I need it, I just pull them out and throw it in the pan! I have seen a huge difference in my curries with using homemade curry, so this one is a must. I agree about shrimp paste, you need it. And galangal is also highly recommended…ginger substitute just isnt the same. Tom Kha is the soup I make for expecting mothers and sometimes it is hard to find the root when I am away from home.
Thank you for your site and the laborious efforts you put in creating great recipes!! You have a huge fan here in San Francisco!
Galangal actually grows really well in most parts of Australia, particularly the sub-tropics. If you can find a plant to start with you can grow your own galangal. Ring around some nurseries to see who stocks it, it’s more common these days than ever.
What a great tip!!! 🙂 Thank you! PS I love San Fran, been a few times and I love it even more every time!