A fragrant and spicy Thai green curry paste. Make your own Thai green paste at home with this simple and quick recipe that can be whipped up in 10 minutes. Use this Thai paste as a base for a fragrant, homemade Thai green curry recipe or jar it up and save for later.
👩🏻🍳 Why make this recipe
Most curry recipes will call for some kind of curry paste, whether thats homemade or out of a jar grabbed off the supermarket shelf. Theres nothing wrong with the latter. Sometimes a jar of paste and a packet of microwave rice are just the ticket on a busy weekday night. That said, if I have the time and where-with-all to get out my blender and chop up a few ingredients, then I most certainly will. Not only does homemade curry paste taste amazing but the fragrant aromas that fill the kitchen are just too good to miss.
This recipe is adapted from the Thai recipes I made in 2012 in Thailand when attending the Siam Rice cookery school in Chang Mai, Northern Thailand.
🥘 Ingredients
To make this easy Thai green curry paste recipe you will need:
Ingredient notes
Green chillies: The chillies used here will ultimately determine how hot your curry is. So if you like it spicy then use hotter chillies. For Thai green Curry paste, green chillies are required. Use the smaller, thinner finger chillies for extra heat or use the larger green chillies for a milder flavour. If you would prefer no spice at all then just replace the chillies with green bell pepper (capsicum).
Ginger: If you can get hold of galangal (Thai ginger) then definitely use that here. If not, standard fresh ginger is just fine. If you can't get hold of any type of fresh ginger than you can substitute for jarred ginger.
Coriander: Coriander is a great flavour in Thai paste and so I don't recommend that you substitute or leave it out. This recipe uses both fresh and ground coriander for full flavour and a burst of colour.
Garlic: You can substitute for 2 tsp of garlic paste, instead of cloves, if preferred.
Lime: this paste recipe uses both the juice and the zest
Lemongrass: You can substitute this for jarred lemongrass if preferred.
🔪 Step by step instructions
- Start by preparing the ingredients: Roughly chop the shallots, lemongrass and green chillies, peel and slice the garlic and ginger, and zest the whole lime and juice half of it.
- Set up a small blender or smoothie maker. Then add all of the ingredients plus 1 tbsp of water.
- Start the blender and blend until a thick, smooth paste has formed. If the blender has trouble getting going add another tbsp of water. Make sure to only add small amount of water (1 tbsp at a time) otherwise your paste will be too thin.
- Use the paste to make a Thai green Curry or transfer to a jar or sealable containers and refrigerate for 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months.
💭 Expert tips
- Blending the paste: Use a small blender to make the Thai green paste. If the ingredients don't blend together easily then add a bit of water or olive oil to help get it going. Only add small amounts (1 tbsp) of water or oil each time. Too much and the paste will become thin and runny.
- Make in advance: Curry pastes are great to make in advance as they store easily and can be used directly in whatever curry you are making as soon as you are ready to make it. I like to batch make my curry pastes and then split into small containers. Each container has enough to make one curry for 2-4 people (3-4 tbsp). These can be stored in the fridge or freezer and then called upon when needed. Frozen paste can be microwaved for a minute or two and can then be used right away.
- Scaling this recipe: The ingredients for this recipe will make around 6 tablespoons of Thai green paste. To make more just increase the amounts of ingredients. Doubling the ingredients will produce 12 tablespoons.
❓ Frequently asked questions
Out of all the Thai currys, Thai green curry is the hottest, despite the belief that Thai red curry is the hotter of the two. This is mainly down to the chillies used. Green chillies (particularly green birds eye chilli peppers) tend to be hotter than red. So whether the paste is hot or too spicy for you, is dependent on the ingredients used and the amounts. If you like it spicy add plenty of small green chillies. If not, add less and go for a bigger sized chilli pepper. If a milder curry is much more your thing then try Panang curry, or Massaman curry, or even a thai yellow curry.
The main difference between Thai green and Thai red curry paste is the colour and the heat, both of which come from the type of chillies used. Substituting one paste for other will ultimately dictate the type of curry you end up making.
2-3 tbsp of paste is usually enough when making a curry for 2-4 people.
Once made, Thai green curry paste can be transferred to a jar and kept in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
🍛 Other curry paste recipes:
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📖 Recipe
Thai green curry paste
Equipment
- Small blender
Ingredients
- 100 g Shallots roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 10 g piece of fresh ginger peeled and sliced
- 8 green finger small chillies
- 1 large green chilli pepper
- 1 stalk lemongrass
- 20 g fresh coriander stems and leaves
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ lime juiced
- 1 lime zested
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 or 2 tbsp of water if needed for blending
Instructions
- Start by preparing the ingredients: Roughly chop the shallots, lemongrass and green chillies, peel and slice the garlic and ginger, and zest the whole lime and juice half of it.
- Set up a small blender or smoothie maker. Then add all of the ingredients plus 1 tbsp of water.
- Start the blender and blend until a thick, smooth paste has formed. If the blender has trouble getting going add another tbsp of water. Make sure to only add small amounts of water (1 tbsp at a time) otherwise your paste will be too thin.
- Use the paste to make a Thai green Curry or transfer to a jar or sealable containers and refrigerate for 1 week or freeze for 1 month.
Video
Nutrition
Notes
This post was first published in May 2018. Updated in March 2021 with an improved recipe, new images, step by step photos and expert tips.
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