A bit of a twist on the classic Thai red curry, this one is made using chicken meatballs. These curry chicken meatballs are loaded with flavour on their own, then browned before being simmered in a spicy, robust Thai curry sauce. Full of sweet, savoury, tangy, spicy and rich flavours, it’s creamy and cosy yet light due to the fresh flavours from lime and herbs. Served with rice, it’s the perfect Thai curry dinner.
The Thai chicken meatballs are extremely easy to make and can be made ahead to make the cooking process quicker later. There’s spring onion, garlic, ginger and fish sauce mixed right in and it results in the most tasty and seriously soft and tender chicken meatballs.
As for the sauce, an easy store-bought Thai red curry paste is given a good boost with some extra garlic, ginger and fish sauce, so it’s loaded with flavour and is so comforting and rich.
Try this slow cooker satay chicken too.
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Ingredients
With my Thai fish cakes as inspiration and my strong love of chicken, I wanted to create some Thai chicken meatballs. These chicken meatballs are so tasty they could be served alone as an appetizer but I wanted to take them one step further and serve them in a Thai curry sauce. It was a great move and the ingredients all meld so beautifully together.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
- Aromats: Fresh ginger, fresh garlic cloves and fish sauce are a wonderful trifecta of punchy flavour. Fish sauce has a really pungent and for some people off-putting aroma but the flavour is seriously amazing. Don’t let the scent put you off.
- Chicken mince: You can use the chicken mince (ground chicken) available from the supermarket or make your own by processing chicken thighs and breast to a chunky paste. You can also swap the chicken for pork mince (ground pork) or turkey mince (ground turkey). If you don’t love meatballs, just swap it for chicken thigh chunks, marinating it in the mixture that goes inside the meatballs.
- Spring onions: Aka scallions or green onions are also mixed right into the meatballs. Make sure to chop it finely.
- Egg: Just 1 large egg will help to bind the meatballs.
- Breadcrumbs: I use panko bread crumbs but regular breadcrumbs or homemade bread crumbs will also work here. It helps to give the curry chicken meatballs a little structure but is not enough to dry them out.
- Red curry paste: There are so many brands out there and they all have their varying flavour profiles. I find Maesri pastes quite salty, while I love Valcom which actually has a sweeter profile. Any will work, just find your favourite by experimenting.
- Coconut milk: Use full fat coconut milk for the best flavour and give it a good shake before using. Sometimes the liquid and solids separate in coconut milk but you want to use all the can contents. Don’t use coconut cream.
- Chicken stock or chicken broth adds a little more flavour to the dish. You can also use vegetable stock or just water keeping in mind it will alter the flavour slightly.
- Vegetables: I use a red capsicum (red bell pepper), fresh bean sprouts and baby spinach but you can swap these up for other vegetables too. Green beans are very common on Thai curries. You can also try zucchini, snow peas, bamboo shoots, kale – the list goes on.
- Sugar: Just a little sugar is really balancing in a curry and Thai curries, and indeed most Asian cuisines, are based heavily on balancing sweet, salty and sour flavours.
- Lime: A little lime is juiced right into the curry, then serve the curry chicken meatballs with lime wedges too so your guests can add it to their tastes.
How to make curry chicken meatballs
This Thai red curry chicken with a twist really is easy to make. There are a few ingredients but you can certainly meal prep a lot of this ahead to turn it into a 30-minute weeknight dinner too. See my time-saving tips below.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
1. Prep the aromats
Mince the garlic and ginger (I use a microplane and it makes this very quick and easy), then mix them with the fish sauce in a little glass. Half of this will be used in the meatballs and the other half in the Thai curry sauce.
2. Make the meatballs
Mix together the meatball ingredients in a large bowl. It will be soft and sticky but that’s fine.
Next, roll them into balls. I do this in two steps, first using a two-tablespoon volume cookie scoop to scoop evenly sized amounts, then I roll them with wet hands (wetting your hands will stop the meat sticking to them). These meatballs stay quite soft so handle them gently. If you have time, chill them for 30 minutes.
3. Cook the meatballs
Saute the meatballs in a little oil for 5-6 minutes until golden brown. They don’t need to be cooked through at this point. They won’t stay a perfect ball shape as chicken mince is just so soft but it’s important not to add more breadcrumbs – while they might help them keep their shape, they also make them drier and reduce the flavour. Don’t worry, they don’t need to be balls to taste amazing.
4. Cook the coconut curry sauce
Set the Thai chicken meatballs aside and add the red Thai curry paste and remaining aromats to the pan over medium heat. Cook just for a minute or so until it’s smelling nice and fragrant.
Now, add the coconut milk, chicken stock and capsicum. Just let this come to a simmer.
Now, add back the chicken meatballs and let it come to a boil.
Let it cook at a low-boil / high-simmer until it thickens. I like to get it quite thick, reducing by about half, but thicken it to your liking – just make sure the meatballs are cooked through before stopping. The more it reduces the more intense the flavours get but the less actual sauce you’ll have.
Add some lime juice and sugar then give it a taste and make any flavour adjustments to your red curry sauce now. Add the bean sprouts for a minute or so before adding the spinach. It will wilt straight into the hot Thai curry sauce, so you can serve it immediately.
⏰ Time-saving tips
This Thai chicken meatballs curry is relatively quick, taking around 45 minutes but if you want to make it super quick and ready in under 30 minutes, I have some tips to make that happen.
- Make the Thai meatballs ahead. You can make these even 2 days ahead and just have them sitting on a tray, covered in the refrigerator, ready to cook.
- Slice any vegetables and mince garlic and ginger ahead of time. Just doing this can save 5-7 minutes alone. You can mince garlic on a large scale in a food processor then freeze it in a freezer bag in a flat sheet so you can just break off what you need when you need it too.
What to serve with this dish
These Thai red curry meatballs are wonderful served simply with some steamed jasmine rice and fresh herbs. The herbs used in Thai cooking and, in most cooking these days, are more than just a garnish and serve a real purpose. They add so much freshness and flavour.
I use Thai basil and coriander (cilantro). Thai basil has a slight anise flavour to it and is such a classic ingredient in Thai cooking but Italian basil works very well too. If you don’t love coriander, try some mint or parsley. There’s no real prep required either, just rinse and dry them then scatter straight over the finished dish.
These curry chicken meatballs are also great served with noodles. Some simple rice noodles work great here. If you’d like to keep the carbs low, try serving it with cauliflower rice.
Storage
Leftovers reheat well, so store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. These red curry chicken meatballs freeze well too. Freeze, also in an airtight container, for up to 3 months.
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Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons fish sauce (notes 1)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 teaspoons finely grated ginger or ginger paste
- 500 g chicken mince (ground chicken)
- 2 large spring onions (scallions / green onions) finely sliced
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (notes 1)
- ⅓ cup red curry paste or more to taste
- 400 ml canned coconut milk (14oz)
- ¾ cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock) (180ml)
- 1 medium red capsicum (bell pepper) sliced
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 lime cut into wedges
- 1 big handful fresh bean sprouts
- 1 big handful baby spinach leaves
TO SERVE
- Steamed rice
- Fresh Thai basil or coriander cilantro
- Red chilli sliced
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- Large frying pan or skillet
- microplane helpful but not essential
- 2 Tbsp volume cookie scoop helpful but not essential
Instructions
- In a small dish, combine the fish sauce, garlic and ginger. Mix well.
- Add half the ginger-garlic mixture to a medium bowl (set the rest aside) along with the chicken mince, spring onions, egg and breadcrumbs. Mix well to a soft, sticky mixture. Wet your hands lightly to stop the mixture sticking to them, then form in to 20-22 small meatballs (see notes 4).
- Heat oil in a large skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat then add the meatballs, cooking for 5-6 minutes until golden. Set aside. They don’t need to be cooked through at this point.
- Reduce the temperature to medium and take the pan off the heat for a minute to cool it slightly. There should still be some oil in the pan but if not, add a little more, then add the curry paste and remaining ginger-garlic mixture. Stir fry for a minute until fragrant.
- Add the coconut milk, stock and capsicum. Bring to a simmer then add the meatballs back. Simmer for 5-6 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly.
- Add the sugar and squeeze the juice of half a lime (saving half the lime for serving). Give it a good stir for 30 seconds then taste. Adjust to taste: Add fish sauce for more salt, sugar to balance saltiness and tang and more lime if it needs more tang. This is the point where you get to adjust it to your tastes.
- Add the bean sprouts and cook for another 1 minute to soften. Stir in the spinach and remove from heat.
- Serve over steamed rice, with herbs, sliced chilli and wedges of lime on the side.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- I use a microplane to finely grate my ginger and garlic cloves.
- I use a small ice cream scoop or cookie scoop to scoop the meatball mixture so they’re all evenly sized.
- Chicken mince and hence, these meatballs are soft so they won’t keep a perfect round shape but don’t worry, it doesn’t change how amazing they taste. If I were to add more breadcrumbs to help them stay nice and round, it will also affect the flavour. The meatball mixture is quite soft and sticky. Wetting your hands before rolling 3-4 balls helps them not stick to your hand.
- You can swap the chicken mince for pork mince or turkey mince. You can also just used sliced chicken thighs and marinate it in half the aromats in place of working it into the meatball mixture.
- Nutrition details are approximate only and don’t include rice or toppings – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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4 Comments on “Thai Red Curry Chicken Meatballs”
Made this for dinner last night and it was delicious. Easy to make but looks impressive. I’m going to try the sticky minced chicken stir fry next.
I have made your Biscoff truffles and mud cake and both were a hit with family and friends.
Will be using your website a lot more from now on.
Thankyou for some great and more unusual recipes.
I’m so happy you’re enjoying all the recipes, Julie. Thank you so much for dropping back to let me know 🙂
Loved this one so quick and easy and as suggested I made the meat balls in advance. Thanks Marie
Makes my day that you love it, Kim. I truly appreciate you dropping back to leave a review 🙂