A Guide to Cooking Chicken Thai Red Curry: The Perfect Comfort Food
Forget ordering takeaway and make your own Chicken Thai Red Curry at home to impress your friends and family! I love cooking with seasonal vegetables in my curries and autumn brings one of my favourite vegetables of all time... butternut squash!
I really enjoy the sweetness from the squash and the warm spice of chilli from the sauce, I think they complement each other really well. Alternatively, you can use pumpkin too! Get the most out of those pumpkins being carved for Halloween and give them a second life in a delicious hot curry. I think they deserve it after sitting out in the cold all night!
What Makes Thai Red Curry Special?
Thai red curry is one of those dishes that manages to be both deeply comforting and vibrant at the same time. The bold red colour, fragrant aroma, and layers of flavour, from the fiery heat of red chillies to the creamy richness of coconut milk, make it one of the most beloved dishes in Thai cuisine, and for good reason.
What sets Thai red curry apart from other curry styles is its balance. Thai cooking is built around the harmony of five key taste profiles: sweet, salty, sour, spicy, and umami. Red curry captures all five in every spoonful. The heat from the red chillies is tempered by the sweetness of coconut milk and palm sugar, while fish sauce adds depth and saltiness, and a hint of lime rounds everything off beautifully.
Unlike the dry spice blends found in many Indian-style curries, Thai red curry is built on a fresh aromatic paste, blended from ingredients like lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime, and fresh chillies. In this version, the addition of butternut squash takes things a step further. The squash absorbs the bold curry sauce as it cooks, becoming tender and flavourful throughout, while its natural sweetness adds another dimension that makes this dish particularly special in the colder months.
Origins
The vibrant red colour that gives this curry its name comes from the red chillies at the heart of the paste. Chillies were actually introduced to Thailand by Portuguese traders during the 16th and 17th centuries, before which Thai cuisine relied on long pepper and other local spices for heat. Once chillies arrived, they became central to Thai cooking almost immediately, and the curry pastes we know today were born.
Traditionally, curry paste was, and still is, made by pounding each ingredient by hand in a stone mortar and pestle. It is a labour of love, and the texture and flavour achieved through this method is considered superior to machine blending. Each region of Thailand developed its own version over time, with slight variations in the ratio of ingredients and heat levels depending on local produce and taste preferences. Red curry is most closely associated with central Thai cuisine and is one of the most widely cooked and recognised styles of Thai food both at home and abroad.
Today, Thai red curry has become one of the most popular Thai dishes in the world, served in restaurants from Bangkok to London, and increasingly made at home thanks to high-quality curry pastes like Mae Jum's, which bring authentic Thai flavour to your kitchen without the need to source and grind individual fresh aromatics from scratch.
Ingredients You'll Need
Mae Jum Thai Red Curry Paste The heart and soul of this dish. Mae Jum's Thai Red Curry Paste is crafted using traditional aromatics such as lemongrass, galangal, red chillies and kaffir lime stone-ground into a smooth, fragrant paste. Using a quality paste is the single most important factor in getting authentic Thai flavour at home, and Mae Jum's is made to the highest standard using a traditional Thai recipe with no shortcuts.
Chicken Thigh Chicken thighs are the cut of choice here for good reason. They stay tender and juicy when simmered in the sauce, soaking up the curry flavours without drying out, something breast meat tends to do in longer cooking times. If you prefer, chicken breast can be used as a substitute, but thighs will always give you better texture and more flavour in a curry.
Coconut Milk Coconut milk forms the creamy, lightly sweet base of the sauce and does the essential job of balancing the heat from the red chillies. A full-fat coconut milk gives the best result, creating a richer, more luscious sauce that coats the chicken and vegetables perfectly. If you can, avoid low-fat alternatives where possible, as they tend to result in a thinner, less satisfying finish.
Butternut Squash The star vegetable of this recipe. Butternut squash brings a natural sweetness and hearty texture that pairs wonderfully with the bold, spicy sauce. In autumn, squash is at its seasonal best, dense, sweet, and full of flavour. As it cooks, it absorbs the curry sauce and becomes meltingly tender, adding real depth and substance to every bowl.
Red Pepper Added later in the cooking process, red pepper contributes a mild sweetness and a welcome pop of colour to the finished dish. Keeping it towards the end of cooking ensures it retains a slight bite and doesn't become too soft, adding a pleasant contrast in texture.
Fish Sauce and Palm Sugar These two ingredients are the classic Thai seasoning pairing, salty and sweet, that bring the whole dish into balance. Fish sauce delivers a deep, savoury, umami-rich flavour, while palm sugar adds a gentle caramel-like sweetness. Together they lift and round out the sauce, giving it that distinctly authentic Thai quality.
Coconut Oil Used for frying the curry paste at the start, coconut oil handles high heat well and adds a subtle sweetness that complements the other flavours in the dish. It's the traditional choice for cooking Thai curries and makes a noticeable difference to the depth of the finished sauce.
Thai Basil Used as a garnish, Thai basil is quite different from regular sweet basil, it has a slightly anise-like, peppery quality that adds a fragrant and aromatic finish to the curry. Scattered over the top just before serving or cooked into the curry at the very end, it wilts gently into the hot sauce and gives the dish an authentic, restaurant-style flavour and presentation.
Cooking Tips
Bloom your curry paste properly. The step that makes the biggest difference is frying the curry paste in oil before adding any liquid. This process called "blooming," awakens the aromatics and builds the essential flavour foundation of the dish. Give it a minute or two over medium-high heat until it becomes fragrant, you'll notice the aroma shift immediately.
Add coconut milk in two stages. Adding a small amount of coconut milk first to loosen the paste, and then the remainder later, helps emulsify the sauce and creates a more cohesive, deeply flavoured result. It's a technique used in traditional Thai cooking and well worth following.
Time your vegetables carefully. Butternut squash takes longer to cook than red pepper, so they go in at different stages. The squash needs around 10-15 minutes to become tender and absorb the sauce, while the pepper only needs five minutes to retain its texture and colour. Rushing either will leave you with vegetables that are either underdone or mushy.
Taste and adjust before serving. Thai cooking is fundamentally about balance. Before you dish up, taste the sauce and adjust, a little more fish sauce for saltiness, a touch more palm sugar for sweetness, or maybe a small squeeze of lime for brightness. These small adjustments make a big difference to the final flavour.
Final Thoughts
This Chicken Thai Red Curry with Butternut Squash is the kind of dish that feels special but demands very little effort. It is the perfect weeknight dinner when you want something warming, satisfying, and full of genuine flavour without spending hours in the kitchen. Autumn is a particularly wonderful time to cook this recipe, when butternut squash is in season and the colder evenings call for something hearty and comforting.
Whether you're making it for yourself after a long day, or putting it in front of a table full of friends and family, this dish is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. And with Mae Jum's Thai Red Curry Paste, the authentic flavours of Thailand are already at your fingertips, ready in under 30 minutes, with minimal preparation and maximum reward.
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