These Thai red curry chicken meatballs taste amazing and are so easy to make. Tender, tasty meatballs and vegetables, bathed in a rich, bold and spicy sauce.
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.
More Information
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Nutrition information is approximate only and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use and any changes you make may cause variations.
