Coconut milk flavored with peanut butter and red curry paste makes a classic Thai-inspired, creamy sauce. When tossed with shrimp and bell peppers, it makes for an easy dinner!
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“My favorite food is Thai curry. I travel around and try any and all Thai restaurants I can find. And I love this recipe. I have been making this since 2016 for my family. Always a huge hit. Restaurant quality. Seriously good.”
~Rachel, FoodieCrush reader
This is the red Thai shrimp curry of your dreams, with big, succulent shrimp coated in a coconut-based curry sauce.
Even better, this is a fast and easy recipe that takes just 30 minutes to prepare. While the curry bubbles away, I like to make a batch of steamed white rice in my Instant Pot.
Just like chili, this creamy coconut shrimp curry tastes even better the next day after the flavors have had time to come together.
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
- PLEASE TAKE NOTE! There have been some comments that the dish is too salty. I believe this is from using a lesser quality fish sauce, which will lend a saltier taste. Please use a high-quality fish sauce like the one I recommend, or add just 4 tablespoons of sauce and then taste it, and add more to your liking.
- I like Key West Pink Shrimp in my shrimp coconut curry. In my opinion, they’re sweeter and more flavorful than striped or tiger shrimp that are typically farmed.
- Don’t skip the brown sugar! You need a little sweetness to balance out all the rich and savory umami flavors going on in this dish.
Key Ingredients in This Recipe
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Shrimp — I find wild caught Key West Shrimp in the freezer section at my local Kroger (under the Private Selection brand).
- Vegetables — I used a blend of brightly colored bell peppers, plus onion for flavor. Use any combo of vegetables you like in your red shrimp curry.
- Coconut milk — Use canned unsweetened, full-fat coconut milk. If using low-fat coconut milk, the sauce will be thinner and has a tendency to break.
- Thai red curry paste — Each brand varies in how spicy it is, so taste yours before adding the full amount to the curry.
- Fish sauce — Don’t be afraid of fish sauce. It sounds odd but lends a distinctly Thai flavor to the dish. My husband read somewhere Red Boat is a highly-rated fish sauce, and is 100% natural, so it’s the one we buy now.
- Peanut butter — Use creamy peanut butter for the best consistency.
- Lime juice — The acidic lime juice cuts through the salty fish sauce and brightens the curry.
- Ginger — Use fresh or dried ginger in this dish. I’ve used both. If using fresh, use 1 ½ tablespoons minced ginger and cook it with the peppers and onions and omit the dried ginger from the coconut milk mixture.
- Brown sugar — Rounds out the flavor profile of the red curry.
- Fresh herbs — Cilantro, basil, and green onions add a fresh pop of flavor that rounds out the hearty curry.
How to Make Coconut Curry Shrimp
- Prep and marinate the shrimp. Peel and devein the shrimp (but leave the tails on). Then, toss the shrimp with a little oil, garlic, kosher salt, and red chili flakes. Let the shrimp marinate for 10 minutes.
Heidi’s Tip: I like to leave the tails on my shrimp for presentation’s sake, but if you want to, feel free to remove the tails from the get-go.
- Cook the veggies and shrimp. Cook the onion and peppers in a hot skillet until softened, then transfer them to a bowl. Working in batches, cook the shrimp in the skillet and then place it in a separate bowl.
- Next, make the red curry sauce. The creamy sauce is amped up by combining coconut milk with salty fish sauce and lime juice, plus peanut butter, red curry paste, brown sugar, and ground ginger.
- Bring it all together. Add the cooked onion and peppers back into the skillet and pour in the coconut milk mixture. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook until reduced by half. Add the shrimp to the skillet with the basil and cilantro and toss to coat.
- Garnish before serving. When serving this coconut curry shrimp, it’s all about the garnish. Cilantro leaves, fresh basil, sliced red jalapeño, chopped green onion, and a squeeze of lime simply enhance this dish in my opinion.
FAQs
The peanut butter doesn’t make the curry taste like peanuts, it just deepens the flavor. However, you can omit the peanut butter if you’re out or have an allergy in your family. (You could also experiment with using almond butter, if an allergy is the issue.)
To adjust the spice level of this Thai red shrimp curry, add more or less curry pasta and red chili flakes to taste.
Go for it! The bell peppers can be replaced with another type of pepper, broccoli, bok choy, you name it.
Storage Tips
Shrimp curry lasts up to 5 days in the fridge, and leftovers should be gently reheated over medium heat or in the microwave. Be very careful if microwaving, because shrimp tends to go dry and rubbery when microwaved.
What to Serve with Thai Shrimp Curry
Serve over brown rice for another layer of nutty flavor. If you’re a white rice kind of eater, go for it. Cellophane or rice noodles would be really good underneath the curry too, or spiralize a few zucchini noodles to keep the veg-love flowing.
Side dish ideas include:
- Thai Quinoa Salad
- Thai Coconut Noodle Salad
- Thai Zucchini Noodle Salad
- Asian Slaw
- Sesame Broccoli
- Asian Pickled Cucumbers
- Asian Ramen Noodle Salad
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Shrimp In Thai Coconut Curry Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 pound jumbo shrimp , peeled and deveined, tail on
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil , divided
- 2 cloves garlic , minced or pressed
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
- ½ onion , peeled and sliced
- ½ red bell pepper , seeded and sliced
- ½ orange bell pepper , seeded and sliced
- ½ yellow bell pepper , seeded and sliced
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 4-6 tablespoons high quality fish sauce , start with 4 tablespoons and add more to taste
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- 2 tablespoons lime juice , about ½ large lime, juiced
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 tablespoons basil leaves , chopped
- 2 tablespoons cilantro , chopped
- 1 green onion , chopped
- Red jalapeno pepper , thinly sliced (optional)
Instructions
- Place the shrimp in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of the oil, garlic, kosher salt and red chili flakes. Toss to coat and let marinate for 10 minutes.
- Heat a 12-inch skillet over medium high heat with 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the onion and peppers and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer the peppers and onion to a bowl.
- Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the skillet and cook half of the shrimp for 2 minutes, then flip and cook for another 2 minutes or until opaque. Transfer the shrimp to a plate. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil and cook the remaining shrimp then add to the other shrimp.
- In another bowl or 4-cup measuring cup mix the coconut milk, fish sauce, peanut butter, red curry paste, lime juice, brown sugar and ground ginger and stir well.
- Transfer the cooked onion and peppers to the skillet and pour the coconut milk mixture of the peppers. Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer and cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
- Add the shrimp to the skillet with the basil and cilantro and toss to coat. Serve over rice or noodles. Garnish with more cilantro and basil, chopped green onion and sliced red jalapeño of desired.
Notes
Nutrition
More Easy Thai Recipes to Try
- Thai Beef Curry
- Thai Turkey Meatballs in Red Curry Sauce
- Thai Green Chicken Curry
- Pad Thai
- Thai Chicken Larb
- Thai Basil Chicken
- Thai Black Pepper Tofu
- Thai Beef Salad (Yum Nua)
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Coya
I believe the word you wanted was ‘marinate’. Marinade is what you marinate in.
Jermaine
Get a life….heard of typos?!?!
Sheila
Very disappointed. After reading the reviews I went with 4 of the fish sauce lower end) — it was far too salty despite adding more coconut milk, peanut butter and lime juice. Chucked the sauce. And added veggies to shrimp so as not to waste the dish…
Deepthi Mony
Hi,
I was just hooked on to the yummy looking recipe from the time I read so decided to give it try… But I didn’t have any shrimp I the freezer (and was to lazy to head out and buy) so I used mushroom and it tasted amazing!!! I did tweak the amount of fish sauce for fear of it tasting like a fishy veg dish….And I also added some lemon grass ….
It is one of the most amazing thai style curries I’ve had…my whole family licked it clean ..thanks!!!
Kendall
Hi Heidi, two quick questions – My sauce turned out more brown than yellow like in your photos…any idea why? Also, when finished, mine tasted strongly of peanut butter, which is fine, but I was just wondering if it was supposed to be the most prominent taste in the dish? Definitely possible that I didn’t add enough of something else, but just wanted to check before I tried again! Thanks!
Linda Cornish
Hi Heidi – This was such a delicious recipe. I had almond butter on hand so use that instead of peanut butter and still came out great. Will be making this again!
Bev
Made this for supper tonite. Added diced sweet potato. DEE-lish! Thank you!
Holly
This is calling for canned coconut milk not carton correct?
Melissa M Stern
We bought the fish sauce recommended and used the reduced amount in the recipe. It was just too salty! Like, burn your taste buds off salty! I picked the shrimp out of mine, but the toddler and husband didn’t take more than a couple bites. It’s a shame it went to waste because shrimp is expensive and we don’t buy it more than a couple times per year.
Jennifer Z.
This is fantastic. I used 3 tablespoons of Thai Kitchen fish sauce, and I did not add salt to recipe, and my family thought it was just right. Also, I used light coconut milk; I can’t imagine how decadent this will be with the full fat! I served it over farro. My 9 year old daughter can be hard to please when it comes to dinner … her unsolicited compliments to me on this meal darn near brought me to tears.
Ana
Made this recipe yesterday and the flavors are spot on! Next time I will start with 2 1/2 tablespoons of fish sauce (I used the Thai Kitchen brand) and then salt up from there. I ended up using the whole can of coconut sauce to help de-saltify the sauce and it really helped. Thanks for the recipe!
Julie
This was OUTSTANDING, absolutely delish!!!!!! I served with coconut rice mixed w/green onions and a Thai zucchini recipe I found on Pinterest! SO, SO good, will always make this, thank you so much for sharing :-)))))))
Brandy
I made this dish tonight and OMG!!! DELICIOUS!!! My family is totally in love. We eat Thai, alot, but always at restaurants. They thought this taste like our favorite place. Only thing missing is Basil Rolls, thanks!
Thank you Brandy! But you have to share…What are basil rolls??? Do tell!
Liv
I was wondering if you think it would be okay to use chicken instead of shrimp? Thank you :)
I haven’t made it with chicken Liv, but I’m 99% sure it would be delicious!
france
We also have a dish like this called kare-kare but instead of shrimp we use ox tripe & vegetables. It also uses peanut butter & coconut milk but instead of fish sauce we use shrimp paste & we just serve it with the kare-kare. By that we could control te saltiness to your preferred taste.
Wow, what an interesting combo. What country would this dish hail from?
Hello Kitty
It’s a Filipino dish. Very tasty & the shrimp paste controls the saltiness as said above. It’s a great dish and keep up with the great recipes! I’ll taste my trial run of your recipe (as any good chef would do) and control the fish sauce. Thank you!
Joe
I was so excited to make this dish and literally had to throw it away after tasting it. Between salting the shrimp (which I should have known not to do since shrimp already can be salty) and the fish sauce (I used the recommended brand), the dish was so salty and the flavors of peanut butter or the coconut did not come through at all. I ended up adding another can of sweeten coconut milk to try and dissipate the salt flavor and that didn’t help. We served over pasta.
A major disappointment!
I’ll go back to my own recipe for Thai pasta that has pang curry paste, coconut milk, basil and ginger, ertc. yielding a smooth, creamy sauce that is perfect with chicken or shrimp tasting more like a Thai Panang dish.
Tiffany
How many calories ?
Ben
I will be doing this tonight!!! Will let you know what transpired. Maybe get a photo afterwards BEFORE consuming it ( if I can keep my daughter away for long enough to take a photo!!!)
Tere Vidal
Wanted to make something special for grandkids and it was a hit. Thank you for this recipe and for the step by step instructions, and tips. We used the plain shrimp version and went light on the red pepper flakes, and it was amazing. Next time will try the more adult version.
Sandy
This was so delicious! We also just cut down on the fish sauce and kept tasking. We added a couple zucchinis and some tofu. It was great!
Pam Richard
When eating this, my husband just kept saying “Oh wow!!!” High praise indeed!! I do have to say, I thought it was a little salty (but kept right on eating!). But, again, my husband thought it was spot on! (I’ve been trying to cut back on my salt intake, so I’m sure that’s what it was. Also, I didn’t have Red Boat fish sauce. I’ll try that next time!). I’m SO glad I came across your recipe! This is DEFINITELY a keeper!!
I’m so glad he loved it Pam. Be sure to use a high quality fish sauce. Lower quality fish sauces can taste extra salty.
Tiffany S.
Was a bit weary about all of the comments about the dish being too salty but I decided to give it a try anyway. I followed everything to a “tee” and the final result was an extremely salty dish. So disappointing…currently throwing it down the drain and ordering my dinner for the night :(
Sorry you had that experience Tiffany. I’ve made this several times and it was great. Again, my suggestion is to be sure to use a high quality fish sauce. Lower quality fish sauces can taste extra salty.
Josie Paterson
Unfortunately mine turned out much too salty to eat. Had to throw it out. Maybe it’s my fish sauce… very disappointing :(
I would recommend adding a note in the recipe about the quality of fish sauce needed or to lower the amount of fish sauce if not using the one you recommend
Thanks for the note Josie, I will do that.
Amanda
Hi there,
This looks great! I’d like to make it Friday night. I just have one question — What gives the sauce its yellow colour? Is it the red bell peppers? I’m asking because I have an intolerance to bell peppers (green are usually ok, but reds especially bother me) and was going to substitute with snow peas. Will this change the colour and/or taste of the dish drastically?
Thank you!
Tamara
Thank you for this recipe. I did use two tablespoons of fish sauce and it turned out perfectly. It was a wonderful date night meal for my boyfriend and I. I made it with a coconut jasmine rice. Yum! I’ll definitely make it again.
Anne Beth
The photos made me drool! Made this with half the fish sauce, a little extra lime juice, and the result was absolutely delicious! Served mine over quinoa and rest of the gang over rice noodles. Also eliminated the garlic and onions as low FODMAP, but added hot sauce to garnish and they weren’t missed. Thank you for this recipe:)