15-Minute Thai Green Curry Recipe

If you are like us, perhaps you have wanted to make curry at home but feel like the process would be too time-consuming. Enter Susan Olayinka, who has a 15-minute curry recipe she swears delivers full flavor in less time. But how?

"The secret is to use an ingredient that already contains many ingredients," she told Mashed. In this dish, it's Thai green curry, which features ingredients like lemongrass, garlic, and chili. "The Thai green curry paste is definitely the way to inject flavor into this meal in a short time span," she said.

Before you get started on this quick recipe, which Olayinka says works well in her house mid-week, just note that as the UK native says, "I would say out of five, the spiciness level of this curry is two." If that sounds like your cup of tea, er, curry, then a delicious, fuss-free meal awaits! Give it a try.

You may think that a curry recipe would require a trip to a specialty grocery store, but Olayinka told Mashed, "No, funny enough, all of the ingredients are really easy to find. I actually got them at my big local supermarket, and they tend to have them in bigger supermarkets."

So, when you visit the store, simply add the following ingredients to your shopping list: sesame seed oil, with Olayinka noting, "Sesame oil and sesame seed oil are exactly the same thing — oil made from sesame seeds," 12 ounces of cooked chicken, and two cups of chargrilled mixed vegetables. Also, put a can of full-fat coconut milk in your cart, along with Thai fish sauce, brown sugar, that Thai green curry sauce, and Thai basil leaves.

This curry comes together so easily, you'll make it weekly. First, pour the sesame oil into a saucepan set over medium-to-high heat. Next, add the cooked chicken, which should be cut into bite-sized pieces. Stir the chicken a few times to coat it in the oil before moving on to the next step.

Meanwhile, if you aren't a fan of chicken or just feel like you've been eating too much poultry of late, Olayinka told Mashed, "This curry can definitely complement many other types of protein." She recommends substituting shrimp, tofu, beef, or even beans. 

See? This recipe is quick and versatile, making it a sure staple in your house starting, well, now.

After your cooked chicken is well-coated in the sesame oil, you can immediately add the chargrilled mixed vegetables. Other varieties to try include onion, mushroom, or just about any vegetable you like. Of course, this recipe calls for the mix to be chargrilled, so you can buy veggies already prepared this way or grill them yourself. 

Incidentally, this fast curry is a great way to use up leftover grilled veggies or vegetables you have hanging out in your crisper that aren't part of another planned meal — and any cooked chicken you didn't use yet, for that matter.

Now, you'll add the rest of your ingredients to the saucepan. So, in goes the full-fat coconut milk, Thai fish sauce, brown sugar, and Thai green curry sauce. You will reduce the heat to low to medium and cook the curry for 13 minutes. It's really that simple! But still, Olayinka did add a word of caution about one way a home cook can mess up the meal.

"I would say you need to be careful not to over-stir the curry, as the chicken will start to break down since it's already cooked," she told Mashed.

Before serving your super simple yet impressive meal, stir in Thai basil leaves for a final flourish. Enjoy your curry with rice on the side if you so desire — a quick microwavable version will perfectly complement the easy nature of this dish and ensure dinner gets to the table practically before you can say "yum!"