This paleo and keto Thai coconut curry chicken is true comfort in a bowl! Bursting with flavor, it’s easy-peasy to whip up and makes killer leftovers (i.e. an ideal quick meal!).
Keto Thai Coconut Curry Chicken 🍛
The Easy-Peasy Version 💨
Most store-bought Thai curry pastes are loaded with sugars, so for this keto version we did a quick (and abbreviated version!) for an easy-peasy meal. Yet, count on explosive and warming flavors.
Said curry sauce is also a breeze to make. Think sautéed onions cooked up with the incredibly aromatic ginger, garlic, cumin, lime zest and chili (to taste). Finished off with a generous dose of coconut milk. All naturally keto ingredients, whoop whop!
Serving Suggestions
If keto (and paleo or whole30!), we cannot recommend enough that you serve it up with cauliflower rice. It’s wonderful this way, trust us. Just keep in mind that we prefer to rice our cauliflower slightly bigger here, so you get more of a ‘mouthful’ and it doesn’t completely blend into the curry.
Paleo, Whole30 & Keto Thai Coconut Curry Chicken
Ingredients
For the keto thai coconut curry
- 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil for cooking
- 2 red peppers or color of choice, seeded & sliced
- 1 small onion very finely minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger freshly grated
- 3 cloves garlic grated or ran through a press
- 1 teaspoon lime zest freshly grated
- 1-2 green chili to taste, seeded and minced
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste
- 2 chicken breasts diced into bite-size pieces
- 1 13.5-ounce cans full fat coconut milk or simple*
- 3/4 cup water as needed
- 1/2 cup chicken stock or more water
- 3 teaspoons Swerve or xylitol
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons liquid aminos
- 2 limes juice of
Serving suggestions
- cilantro leaves
- cauliflower rice
- lime wedges
Instructions
- Add coconut oil to a skillet or pan over medium/high heat. Add pepper slices and briefly sauté until softened, 2-4 minutes. Remove from pan, and set aside.
- Heat up more coconut oil and add in onion, cooking for 4-6 minutes until translucent. Add in ginger, garlic, lime zest, green chili, cumin and cayenne pepper. Cook, stirring often, until it all starts to brown (4-6 more minutes).
- Add in chicken and cook, over medium heat, until it's no longer pink in the center but still tender. Add back in the peppers, coconut milk, water, stock, sweetener, fish sauce, liquid aminos, and lime juice. Simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Check for seasoning and serve right away over a bed of cauliflower rice with fresh cilantro and lime wedges.
Has anyone successfully frozen this. We will be camping and wondering if freezing this is still as yummy? Thanks
This was so easy to make and the flavor is amazing. I did make a few mods: I used coconut cream instead of milk because I like a thicker curry over shirataki noodles, I doubled the fish sauce (my brand was pretty mild compared to ones from Asian market) and I doubled the cumin/cayenne.
I swear to God I’m going to eat the whole pot.
LOVED this, what a fantastic recipe! Used 2 serranos instead of thai chile, and the balance of flavors turned out great. My boyfriend who’s not the hugest thai food fan loved it also. Definitely putting this into the rotation.
Awesome to hear Vanessa!!
This turned out super watery and soupy for me. I don’t know what I did wrong. I doubled the portion to 8 and followed the directions exactly. I would recommend omitting the water and the chicken broth and adding red Thai curry paste 🙂
Loved it. Though it turned out more like a soup, brothy rather than creamy, even though I used less liquid than the recipe called for. How to get it to thicken up? Keep simmering and reducing? I made stir fried bok choy, snow peas, sprouts and sauteed rabe on the side, which helped soak up some of the liquid when serving. Also, how much curry? Am I crazy, but I couldn’t see how much in the recipe. I winged it and it turned out great, but would love to know how much curry powder for next time. Loved one of the comments suggesting to add basil…I’ll definitely try it next time. The flavors are spot on!
I dont know what I did wrong!! My recipe ended up bland and way watery – didnt look creamy at all. I did add some salt and extra cayenne to boost the flavors. Im still new to Keto but have a fair amount of cooking experience behind me. Maybe I should have added water and stock after coconut milk to see how much I really needed??
try using dashi instead of chicken stock
it’s a fermented japanese fish stock that will compliment the fish sauce
and I swapped the chicken for lightly seared salmon (it continues to cook in the hot broth, so don’t overcook it)
I also doubled the ginger and garlic
Absolutely DELICIOUS!!! Very hearty but still has a fresh clean taste. Just lovely on a cold day. Cauliflower is best just coarse chopped instead of riced. I used all broth, no water and added the cauliflower raw to the cooked chicken & sauce, the hot mix softened the cauliflower to a perfect texture and did not get mushy. Perfect dish!
Loved this recipe. It was absolutely perfect. Some of the best curry I’ve ever had, and my non-Keto SO loved it, too. Will absolutely be making again.
I made this on tuesday night. I know it says 4 servings however, my husband and I mad it into 8. We are not eating as much as we used to. The flavors in this are spectacular! Thank you so much for the recipes. We are looking forward to trying more
Hi! I noticed the same comment before was not answered. I’m just making sure the nutrition information is for 4 servings, correct? Not one? And does a serving have a specific amount, like 3 cups?
Thank u!
Can’t wait to make this if it will fit in my daily log.
What type do you recommend for “green chili”?
-Jalapeño?
-Poblano?
-Other?
Has anybody made this without the sweetener? I’m trying to avoid the insulin spike.
Psssst keto sweeteners don’t spike insulin 😉
Unfortunately, anything that goes in your mouth, sweet or not, spikes insulin. It’s a different effect from raising blood glucose and people often don’t understand the difference between insulin and blood sugar. It’s what we type 2 diabetics are fighting when we try to lose weight. The ketogenic diet helps with the carb control intake which lessens the impact of the insulin effect. Either way, I am sure it would be fine without the sweetener. I am making it right now as I type! I love your recipes, Paola!
As far as I know, anything can cause an insulin response but not necessarily everything causes an insulin *spike*. That’s the fundamental difference, or else surely everything would kick you out of ketosis? There has to be a distinction.
Not really a true statement. Insulin secretion by the pancreas is not affected by artificial sweeteners as they have no caloric value.
I made it with and without sweetener and couldn’t tell much of a difference – especially after boosting some of the other spices
home fermented hot sauce helps too, but I love spicy food (keto has kind of renewed my enjoyment of it, as I stopped eating it due to acid reflux/heartburn which has all but disappeared after cutting out carbs)
Thank you so much Paola for your fabulous ideas. I love love love this chicken; it was one of the best dishes I had since I started keto diet. You truly make my keto diet an awesome experience. I tried many of your recipes and they all turned out amazing. I truly appreciate the fact that you post measurements in grams for baking recipes; must be my European background 🙂
Thank you for sharing your gift for making absolutely delicious food with us!
This recipe is ridiculously delicious! Trying to eat slowly to make the enjoyment last. Only problem is limiting myself to one portion! Thank you!
I highly recommend adding fresh basil. Particularly Thai basil for a more authentic flavor.
Hi Paola
I was wondering if I could switch the chicken for monkfish?
Thanks so much:)
Sharron
Wish they had monk fish here……..i love it, tastes like lobster to me. I think that would make an awesome curry.
Hi what is the serving size for the nutritikn facts? Is it one cup?
This looks really good! Just curious though… I didn’t see curry in the ingredients. Does it taste similar to yellow coconut curry chicken you would buy at a restaurant?
Curry is a mixture of spices. The curry in your spice rack has them premixed. There are many different blends of curries; they are unique to region and individual cooks
Hi can I add tumeric to this? Would it be good? How much do you suggest? thanks!
Make the butter chicken instead! xo
I’m very confused by the 1 small onion… also what type of onion was it?
Hi Eric! White onions don’t just grow in one even size, there are small, medium and large ones. Just eyeball a small one 😉 xo!
Absolutely delicious! A rather chilly spring day called for something warm and comforting. I made a double batch and had enough for the next day. Dare I say that it tasted better the next day, so delicious! It’s going to be a repeat for sure. Thank you for sharing!
That’s wonderful to hear Mary thank you! So happy you enjoyed it so much xo!
Gonna make this tomorrow….can’t wait! I I’ve been doing standard keto since September ’17 and I’m so glad to have found your blog, Paola–I love, love, LOVE it! It feels like I’ve stumbled on a diamond mine of keto-friendly recipe gems. I love to cook (though I’m nowhere near as talented as you) and I’m always trying to stretch within the parameters of a keto diet. This blog is proof that keto does NOT have to be boring; with a little ingenuity, anyone can produce delicious replications that are just as tasty as their carb-laden counterparts!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment Nicole, awesome you’re enjoying the blog thus far! And definitely agree, no need to make grain free eating restrictive at all 😉 xo!
Thanks so much for the effort you’ve put in to creating these amazing recipes! I’ve been trying to do the same and it’s never been this successful! This is now my go to site for my new keto way of living!! Your recipes and detail are absolutely amazing! So far, I’ve tried the butter chicken, the fried chicken (I used wings) and the bulletproof cocoa. I will be baking the new yeast bread recipe over the weekend.
I am now in the process of making this curried chicken and am tracking my macros into a website that I’ve used for years (nutritiondata). I am plotting the recipe for 2 servings and my net carbs are coming in way way way above yours! I am using homemade coconut milk which may be different to yours but just onions and red peppers alone pack a whole lot of carbs because of their high sugar content so I’m not sure how yours is so low. I know you have the caveat of differences in brands resulting in differences in macros mine comes in at a whopping 11.6 net carbs per serving (I’m trying to stay under 20 per day). I also find your protein amount quite low per serving. Now, of course, I’m not sure about the weight of the chicken breast you used. That brings me to a wonderful point you made about the bread. Would you be able to share weights of the items you use rather than “one small onion” or “1 red pepper”?
I look forward to hearing your response on this!
Hi Maxine! So happy you’re enjoying! I’ll double check the nutrition info for this recipe, but given the ingredients in it I really don’t think it should be coming out at 11.6g. I have been known to make mistakes (ahem, we all do!). So I always suggest that readers do their own checks xo!
Oh, and on the grams for savory recipes most readers complained A LOT when I was doing it so I just stopped. They still complain in the baking, but there you do get the best results.
I double checked mine but I guess it’s the use of fresh coconut milk. How does anyone ever know the composition though since people use different amounts of liquid to milk the coconut. Either way, I broke my recipe into 3 and enjoyed it thoroughly!!
🙂 I get your point re people and grams! I think it’s necessary for consistency so I’m a stickler. I’m so sorry you stopped!
I look forward to trying so many more of your recipes… and thanks again for this labour of love!!
It’s my absolute pleasure Maxine! Thank you for reading 😉
Wow this was great! Awesome flavor and reasonable weeknight recipe for a story ked keto kitchen. Thank you again!
That’s awesome Alanna! So happy you enjoyed it and thanks so much for reporting back xo!
I made this last night and was so delicious. I actually added 2 more chicken breasts and some baby bok choy for my husband and adult son and myself. There was still more than enough broth to cover the additional chicken and sadly no leftovers Will definitely make again
So happy you enjoyed Jeannette! And thanks so much for your detailed feedback, always super helpful to future readers! xo!
This is delicious! Made it for dinner tonight but substituted Miracle Noidles for the cauliflower rice. No matter that they call it rice — still tastes like cauliflower!
Awesome! So happy you loved it Patricia! And YUP, cauliflower is still cauliflower (but I actually like it here!). Great idea about the miracle noodles though- I also saw they now have an official ‘miracle rice’ too 😉 xo!
Need to edit the “butter chicken” out of the blurb about the cauliflower rice.
Oh lol thank you!! What would I do without my readers?!
OMGosh, this looks delicious! I noticed, though, that there is no curry in the recipe. Is that correct? Can’t wait to make this.
Hi Roxana! You are essentially making a ‘speedy and abbreviated’ curry with the onion, garlic, ginger etc. There are obviously more complex curry versions (with more obscure ingredients, think bergamot), but this is a quick take with pantry ingredients. I’ve found that most store-bought curry pastes are not keto (loaded with sugars etc).
If you’re looking for a more complete curry check out the butter chicken (though an Indian curry) xo!
Thanks for that explanation. 🙂
Check out either Mae Ploy or Aroy-D (both out of Thailand) yellow curry paste if they’re available where you are. Neither contain any sugar or anything at all weird, just normal foods and spices. I‘ve used both with excellent results.
Thank you for Gnom-Gnom Paola! It’s such a delight to read and cook your recipes, you can tell how much you love food (am I right or am I right?!). Finally a keto blog for foodies!
Made this just now and the whole fam was wowed! Easy, quick and very tasty! Will become a staple!
Looks great! Think I’ll substitute chicken thighs for the breasts, however.
That’s a fabulous idea Elaine! My ‘longer’ version of this actually uses bone-in thighs and you just have to do a 30-45 minute simmer rather than 15 :). Get some much flavor out of those thigh bones if you have the time! Hope you enjoy it! xo