Thai Green Curry Meatballs
Meatballs are always a family dinner hit. This Thai Green Curry Meatball dish is no exception. It’s simple, flavorful, different, and amazing.
I have a lot of meatball recipes on this here site. Did you know that? I kind of like to think I’m one with the meatball. My kids devour them. They make us all very happy. And happy is a good thing at dinnertime. I know you know what I mean.
However, I realized in dismay the other day that it’s been a shocking amount of time since I posted a new meatball recipe. Shame on me! I’m here today to redeem myself and I’m telling you, this is a doozy (in a good way).
Totally different than the other meatball recipes I’ve posted, this green curry Thai-style version is crazy delicious.
A quick homemade meatball is browned and then simmered in a green curry coconut milk sauce. It’s simple. It’s flavorful. It’s different. It’s amazing.
Served with rice (or better yet, coconut rice) and you’ve got yourself a stellar meatball meal!
And we all know by now that coconut milk in main dish fare is a surefire way to win room in my food-loving heart. These green curry meatballs are welcome in my home any day, any time.
What to Serve With This
- Rice (or better yet, Coconut Rice)
- Fresh, seasonal fruit
- Spinach Strawberry Salad with Homemade Creamy Poppyseed Dressing
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Thai Green Curry Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ cup rolled oats
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 pounds lean ground beef or lean ground turkey
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon Thai green curry paste
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 3 green onions, white and green parts finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, plus more if needed; can substitute canola or vegetable oil
Sauce:
- 2 cans (13.5-ounces each) unsweetened coconut milk
- 3 tablespoons green curry paste
- ¼ cup lime juice, from about 2-3 limes
- Hot cooked rice for serving
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the eggs, oats and milk. Let the mixture stand and soak for 5-10 minutes. Add ground beef or turkey, ginger, curry paste, fish sauce, sugar, cilantro, salt, garlic and green onions. Mix to combine and distribute all the ingredients through the meat.
- Shape the meat mixture into meatballs, a bit smaller than golf ball size. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, 12-inch nonstick skillet. When the oil is hot, place one layer of meatballs in the pan leaving a little room in between each meatball (it’s ok if you can’t fit them all in; they’ll cook in batches). Brown the meatballs on all sides, about 2-3 minutes total. They don’t need to be cooked through – just golden and browned. Remove the meatballs to a plate and do the same with the remaining uncooked meatballs (adding more oil to the pan if necessary – let it get hot before adding the meatballs to brown).
- Once the last batch of meatballs has been removed to a plate, drain any excess grease from the pan (but leave the goldeny browned cooked bits). Return the skillet to medium heat and stir in the coconut milk and green curry paste, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan and stirring into the sauce.
- Place the meatballs in the skillet with the sauce. Go ahead and pile them all in, trying for a single layer. Simmer the meatballs and sauce for 8-10 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through, flipping the meatballs once or twice.
- Stir in the lime juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over hot, cooked rice.
Notes
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Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Janssen at Everyday Reading, originally from Minnesota Monthly (I went crazy with the meatball part of the recipe, upping the meat and taking out the mushrooms – because I can’t get them where I live – as well as a few other things and simplified the sauce a bit)
Great dish! We really enjoyed it. I added green beans to the sauce at the same time I put the meatballs back in the sauce. Will definitely make again!
I LOVE this recipe! I really like that it suggests you use 2 lbs of meat and 2 coconut milk cans…because there is always so much leftover. The absolute best part of this is the soup I make with the leftovers. I throw the sauce, the meatballs, the rice and chopped spinach into a pot and I add chicken broth. It’s soooooo good!
This was a hit with my family! I did a search for a recipe with meatballs and was looking for something that wasn’t italian OR used soy sauce. We all enjoyed it. I simmered some carrots, zucchini, and green beans that I had in my fridge in the sauce and that was so yummy!
Made these tonight and they were fabulous. Even my pick eater ate one. Just one, but that is something! Thank you for the recipe! Everyone kept coming into the kitchen commenting on the amazing smell!
This recipe was fun to try but I probably won’t make it again. I like meatballs, and I really like green curry, and this recipe was tasty, but it did not seem to be greater than the sum of its parts, if that makes sense. I think next time I will just make a green curry, and make meatballs a different night! It was nice to try though and thank you for the recipe!
Have you ever tried adding kaffir lime leaves to your meatballs? I always add them to my curries and they add a very pleasant Thai flavour. If you’re able to get a hold of them (a lot of asian supermarkets sell them), they might add an interesting taste to these meatballs! They can be tricky to find though, but if you ever see them, might be fun!
I’ve made this so many times! I make all the meatballs (except I brown them in the oven) then put half in the skillet with half of the sauce ingredients and freeze the rest of the meatballs. That way, we have dinner another night when I thaw them and add the other half of the sauce.
Thank you so much!
Mel,
What would I do with out you…this recipe was incredibly delicious and easy to make. Hit the mark again!
Thanks, Erin!
Pretty good flavor, but my meatballs were mush.
This is a family favorite. We make this dish often and have also made it for guests. Never disappoints. You can play around with how much curry you like, really spicy or more savory with a bite. Love it!
Wow! This is new a favorite! I’ve known of your site for a long time but just got around to making some of the recipes. I’m totally hooked! This recipe is perfect for me as we always have hamburger on hand and I get tired of (what feels like) the same recipes over and over. Plus we love curry. I just get excited thinking of how good these were!
OK now that I have the raving out of the way, I noticed some had a hard time with the balls not holding together. In other meatballs I’ve made I’ve never soaked the oats. And to be honest I just about didn’t do it. I have a (bad) habit of looking at the ingredients and being like, “great I can make this as I have all the ingredients!” and then not reading the instructions until I’m in the process of throwing things in the bowl. So I wonder if you don’t soak the oats if that would really mess up the recipe?
OMG these sound amazing! I make meatballs for myself all the time, but my daughter doesn’t like meatballs, burgers, etc. no matter what type of ground meat or seasonings I use. However, I haven’t tried Thai style meatballs. Also, we are more of a Paleo type of family, so we don’t use any flour or milk in the meatballs and they work out just fine. I’ve even done a Swedish style meatball in the oven and they were very tender and stayed in the meatball shape just fine even without any milk or any type of flour. I sometimes add eggs, sometimes don’t. Just depends on how I feel. Also, I base how many eggs I add on how the meat looks/feels when mixing it up. Maybe try adding in just 1 egg and see how it goes, and then adding in another, and so on. We also have grass fed meats, so they are very lean. This recipe sounds like it would make some great, delicious and unique meatloaf. Or turn into burgers with or without the sauce made separately to drizzle onto the burgers (I’d cut it down to just 1 can of coconut milk for that).
I made it as written and gotta say disappointed. It was bland so don’t worry about it being spicy. And the texture was mushy. I used fresh ground turkey and cut back the milk. I think for me it was the texture that was the problem. My husband did like the sauce though
Really enjoyed these meatballs! I made this tonight but ended up using red curry paste since it was all I had on hand. I used ground beef and chickpea flour (I’m sure any type of flour/oat binder works about the same). I served the meatballs and sauce in a bowl alongside a baked sweet potato. If you haven’t tried it, something about the flavor of red curry and sweet potatoes together is delicious!
Mel, I can’t say enough great things about your blog. I’ve been following for several years and you really do a great job offering “tried and true recipes.” Thank you!
Made this tonight and it was delish! I did cook my meatballs in the oven, because I was afraid they would fall apart and I wanted more hands off time. I also only added the juice of 1 lime and that was just the right amount. It was so good! Served over brown rice. Next time I may half the sauce recipe, simply because my kids wanted the meatballs plain so I didn’t need quite as much sauce.
Hey Mel…
Quick question…. I made your meatballs and then popped them in the freezer before cooking them. I ended up making a huge batch in prep for a ton of family visitors (like 150). Anyhow…..when I do use them next week, how would you suggest cooking a large batch so that I am not standing at the stove for forever. Could I instapot them or cook them in the oven? I know you need the oily bits to make the sauce. What would you suggest?
Thanks so much!
April
I would definitely cook a large batch in the oven! 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or so should do the trick. The sauce won’t be quite the same, but you could use a little olive oil in the skillet and it should be ok.
I can’t tell you how many times I have made this recipe. It’s perfect!
Oh these were so tasty! So flavorful! My husband really loved them! All of my kids ate them except my youngest who isn’t feeling well today –he kept saying oh that looks good!
This is one of my husband’s favorites! Anyone that has baked these will you report back? Just trying to save some time. But I am not sure they would be as good!
Yes I baked them & they turned out fabulous!
My meatballs also did not form into meatballs =( I don’t know what went wrong. The turkey was not from a tube. It was foster farm’s 85% lean. What can I do next time to make them stay meatballs??
You could try decreasing the liquid and/or adding more binder (like crushed crackers or bread crumbs).
Hi, would quick oats work as a substitute instead of rolled oats?
I think so
I was so excited to make this but mine turned out a total flop! Maybe you have some idea of what I could have done wrong? I have never used ground turkey, and I always make meatballs with breadcrumbs, never tried oatmeal until this time so maybe I’m just not used to the nature of ground turkey and oatmeal… anyway, I didn’t change any measurements or instructions. At the end of the 8-10 minutes of simmering the meatballs had soaked up almost all the liquid and fallen apart into curry meat blobs! When I stirred in the lime juice at the end there was no sauce to really mix it into so the meat balls that were still intact tasted like they had been doused in lime juice. (because they had, haha) Pucker! Anyway, I’d like to try it again but not sure if I should try baking the meatballs instead of frying, breadcrumbs instead of oatmeal, any ideas what I’ve done wrong?
Hi Kate – what brand of ground turkey did you use? I mentioned in the comments and notes of the recipe that ground turkey in the tube will be really mush – did you use that kind? It sounds like it might be due to the type of ground turkey you used if nothing else was changed in the recipe. I’m sorry they didn’t work out!
Hi Mel, I know you don’t have many men visiting your website, but I love some of your recipes. I originally found you by googling “tender grilled pork chops” because my wife had trouble eating pork chops grilled as they were too dry. Now I don’t make pork chops any other way. I made your bbq macaroni salad for a group 2 years ago for my brother’s meat fest he has day before father’s day every year – big hit! I am going again to meat fest this year and I am going to bring these thai curry meatballs… but I may use bison.
Thanks, Patrick! Happy you are loving the recipes and I think the meatballs with bison sound delicious.
Should I use old-fashioned oats or quick-cooking oats? I’ve never used oats in this way before!! Our grocery store was out of ground turkey so I will be making this with ground chicken this week. I can’t wait to try it – I love Thai green curry!
Dani – I think either could work here but the meatballs are pretty wet so quick oats might be the better choice for a binder.
Okay, great, thanks! I’m making this tonight. Made your Buttermilk Drop Biscuits with a slow cooker chicken stew the other night and they were wonderful!
Are there different kinds of canned coconut milk? I’m wondering if I used the wrong kind of coconut milk. My sauce turned out very thick — it had a pleasant flavor when tasting it on its own, but the sauce seemed too “heavy” and viscous with the meatballs. Also, my meatballs crumbled apart and got mushy in the sauce very quickly. I followed the recipe exactly — I’m trying to figure out how my Thai Meatballs turned out so differently from the delicious ones that your other followers are raving about. Any advice for me so I can try the recipe again?
I’m not sure, Sophie, especially if you made it exactly like the recipe. I usually use lite coconut milk which doesn’t have as much of the heavy creaminess as regular coconut milk but I’ve used both kinds successfully in this recipe. If your meatballs weren’t holding together, you might try adding less moisture to them or more dry ingredients.