Red Coconut Curry Noodles
These delicious red coconut curry noodles are a quick meal that produce incredible results with amazing flavors of the coconut curry sauce.
I have to drive about an hour and 45 minutes to get to a beloved Trader Joe’s. On my last excursion, I impulsively picked up two packages of rice noodles, even though I didn’t own a recipe to use with them at the time.
Fast forward at least six months. Enter this recipe: Red Coconut Curry Noodles made with rice stick noodles. Ok, I’m in. I already know that I love curry. And I love coconut in curry. So I figured I would like this recipe. I just didn’t realize quite how much I would like it.
The flavors of the coconut curry sauce are amazing – slightly sweet from the Thai chili sauce and coconut milk with a hint of spice from the curry paste.
My husband didn’t believe me when I told him we were eating rice noodles. A) because he had never heard of rice noodles (remember this is the man that would gladly eat hog dogs the rest of his life) and B) because he thought for sure it was fettuccine or some other traditional pasta.
Utterly delicious, this will definitely be a remake in our house, especially since it is a quick meal that produces incredible results.
With yesterday’s recipe and today’s recipe, you might be wondering if it is worth buying some of the atypical ingredients listed (like the Thai chili sauce and red curry paste).
My vote is that if this meal looks at all intriguing, you should go for it. Leftover sweet Thai chili sauce can be used for these other-worldly egg rolls, and I use the curry paste in everything from these delicious Chiang Mai Noodles to these quick and delicious Asian noodles.
What to Serve With This
- Shrimp or Lemon and Garlic Grilled Chicken
- Cut up apples with Toffee Apple Dip
- Steamed peas or broccoli
One Year Ago: Deep, Dark Chocolate Brownies (My Favorite Brownie Recipe on the Planet)
Two Years Ago: Chicken with Mushrooms and Zucchini
Red Coconut Curry Noodles
Ingredients
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 cans light or regular coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- ¼ cups sweet Thai chili sauce
- 2 ¼ cups chicken broth
- 1 (13.5 ounce) package rice noodles (about ¼-inch wide)
- 1 yellow onion, sliced into thin half moons
- 2 red peppers, cored and sliced thinly
- 1 cup broccoli slaw or thinly sliced matchstick carrots
- 1 teaspoon salt to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, scoop the cream off the top of each can of coconut and put it in the pot. (If using light coconut milk, there won’t be cream to use, so use the 1 tablespoon oil called for in the recipe). The cream will be used as the “fat” instead of oil or butter. Along with the cream, add the curry paste and ginger. Let this simmer, stirring constantly, for about one minute.
- Add the chicken and onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is no longer pink, about 5-6 minutes. Add the coconut milk, sweet Thai chili sauce, cilantro, and chicken broth. Bring this to a simmer.
- Add the red pepper, broccoli slaw (or carrots) and rice noodles and salt. Simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent the noodles from sticking to the bottom, for about 5-8 minutes. The noodles will thicken and plump up as they absorb the liquid. The mixture will be slightly soupy when the noodles are finished cooking.
- Take the pot off the heat and let the noodles sit for about 5 minutes. The mixture will continue to thicken. Garnish with more cilantro, if desired.
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Recipe Source: adapted from Tasty Kitchen
We have made this so many times over the years and love it. However, is there a trick to not ending up with dry, chewy chicken in this recipe and others like it?
Hi Allison, after the chicken cooks in the first step, you could remove it from the pot and add it in after the noodles have cooked.
Mel, this may be a dumb question, but for this recipe, do you soak the noodles before you add them to the coconut milk mixture, or do you add them in dry?
Hi Nancy – I add them in dry.
A crowd favorite!
We made this tonight and it was amazing! So perfectly creamy with just the right amount of curry.
I think you should bring this one back as a blast from the past. I have been making this recipe at least once a month probably since you debuted it. I have used all types of vegetables including frozen peas when I was in a pinch. It never fails and we usually have enough leftover for someone’s lunch the next day.
I usually use twice the curry paste and extra ginger, but we all like things pretty spice laden.
As always, thanks for an easy, but delicious recipe. All my favorites in rotation seem to come from you.
I made this last night and it turned out awesome! Seriously, it tasted like take-out from one of my favorite Thai restaurants. After reading some of the other comments, I added a little Thai fish sauce to taste at the end. You rock Mel!
Mel, once again a wonderful recipe! I’ve never ‘ruined’ a recipe from your blog. And have never made one we haven’t loved. Mine came out very red looking though and I don’t know why yours isn’t with the red curry paste? My hubby ate two helpings and then stood over the stove and took a few more bites out of the pan! Thanks for all the great eats!
Never mind! I just re-read the description and saw you mentioned rice stick noodles.
This looks super delicious! Just wondering if this recipe calls for the refrigerated, fresh rice noodles or the dried and then packaged kind. Thanks!
I made this tonight with snow peas in place of the chicken for a meatless meal. It was DELICIOUS! Better than the recent take out curry we ate. Even my kids (including my picky 2-year-old) gobbled it up! Thank you Mel!
So yummy! I couldn’t find curry paste at the store but curry powder totally worked for me. My boys usually complain about red peppers but gobbled them up with this one. And I’m pretty sure I had a whole nother serving as I cleaned up leftovers. I’ve never been disappointed with any of your recipes!
Meli this was very delicious…I was pleasantly surprised how well all the flavours worked in harmony. I opted to make this vegetarian and subbed the red pepper and carrots for cauliflower….it was really good!! Thank for
This was fantastic! My whole family ate it, which is a rare occurrence. I used 1.5 the amount of red curry powder, added a little coconut oil in step 1, and garnished with chopped peanuts. Will make again!
I am so excited to try this! Do you think I can substitute green curry paste for the red?
Brooke – I haven’t tried that but since it’s a similar product, I definitely think it is worth a try!
I made these tonight and loved them. Even my kids ate it. I cannot tell you how amazing that is!
Melody – I think linguine could work in a pinch if you can’t find the rice noodles.
I cannot find rice noodles and wanted to make tonight…would Linguine work ok? Has anyone tried that?
Thank you dear for your wonderful recipe. I made it for dinner and my fiance kept licking his fork. Going to try your sesame noodles with peanut sauce. You rock
I usually have rice noodles in my pantry, however, this time I didn’t and I wanted to try this recipe anyway so…I ate it over rice and it was delicious!
This looks great. I’m making it tomorrow! About how much does it feed? I would LOVE it if you could include that in your recipes. Thanks Mel!
Stacie – sorry, I usually include that information, especially on newer recipes. I’ve edited this recipe with the information – it serves between 4 and 6.
Just finished eating…this was DELICIOUS! Totally restaurant worthy and I plan on making it again, and again.
Katy – glad you liked this one!
When I read the recipe I was surprised not to see fish sauce as an ingredient since it’s in pretty much all Thai cooking. I made the recipe as written and in the end I could tell the fish sauce was missing mainly because of the saltiness it adds, but a little table salt in the end did the trick. And since I like things spicy I added a little ground chili paste too. I wanted the noodles to absorb most of the liquid so I added a little less chicken stock and it worked out perfectly. It was sooooo good. Like I’m already craving them for lunch tomorrow. My kids all ate it –including my one year old. This is the perfect balance of coconut and curry!
Reyna – glad fish sauce helped round out the flavors of this dish!
I like your adaptation better than Tasty Cook’s (sorry), but that might be due to its similarity to Laksa, a soup I have loved ever since I first tasted it at a Malaysian restaurant.
http://ohyoucook.blogspot.com/2010/07/lots-olaksa-soup.html
I made these tonight and am feeling very cocky. I am usually a pretty bad cook, but these noodles tasted like something I might get at a Thai restaurant! Enough spice to make them flavorful, but not what I would call spicy (and I live in Minnesota. Some Minnesotans think that ketchup is a bit on the spicy side.) This will most certainly go in my “make again” file.
Molly – you go ahead and feel as cocky as you want! I love it when meals exceed my expectations and I’m glad this had the same result for you. I laughed at your “spicy ketchup” comment. I’m just across the border from you in Wisconsin and let me tell you, food doesn’t get very spicy around these parts. 🙂
I couldn’t find the sweet chili sauce at my grocery store so I bought the next closest jar I could find- chili garlic sauce… hopefully it’ll turn out! Thanks for the post- looks divine!
Looks delicious. Drooling~~
My hubby and I both love simple, flavorful dishes like this. I have everthing to make it right now except the rice noodles. I live a good hour and a half from anywhere that will have these so I will just bookmark this and try it next week.
Good luck with those bears!
We must be on the same page this week. I just printed out this recipe a couple of days ago for dinner next week. Did you see the butter chicken? It looks delicious as well.
I love any dish infused with coconut–looks fabulous!
i’ve never even seen a trader joe’s, so i guess i just don’t know what i’m missing. also, leftover chili sauce can go straight down my gullet. 🙂
This looks delicious! I love red curry and I bet it was so good with noodles. Yum!
Only 1 hour and 45 minutes to Trader Joe’s? Lucky girl! We drive 11 hours to my grandma’s in the Bay Area, stock up and eat the refrigerated items before we leave town. Great post, thank you!!
I would love to make this! I drool over anything that has coconut milk in it. Would you consider adding a picture of the brands of red curry paste and sweet Thai chili sauce that you use? Asian markets always have me walking in circles and I never quite know what the differences are between the 15 different brands of fish sauce. Thanks!
Krystal – I just finished the jars of these ingredients but when I buy them again, I’ll include pictures!
@Ariane, curry powder and curry paste (of which there are many varieties) are completely different and are not substitutes for each other.
Looks awesome. Can I use 1 tea curry powder instead or does it make all the difference to get the paste?
Ariane – Steven’s input above is correct…curry paste and curry powder are two very different things so you definitely do want to go get the curry paste to make this dish.
We dearly wish we had a Trader Joe’s in Denver. I don’t know why we don’t. Anyhow, this recipe cries out to be made. And the protein and vegetation I would assume are negotiable. I despair that you wonderful cooks I follow are providing just too many good ideas!
This has my mouth watering…and it’s only 7:30am here 🙂
I am so happy you posted this recipe! I printed this recipe from Tasty Kitchen several weeks ago, but I haven’t had a chance to try it yet. If you and your family loved it, then I know it is a winner! It is SO worth it to stock your pantry with Asian ingredients. They keep almost forever in the fridge, and you will love the flavors so much that you will seek out recipes to use them in!
On another note- I made the Vietnamese Spring Rolls for dinner last night. I just couldn’t wait until my Asian themed party next month! My daughter helped me roll them, and they were fabulous! We added some julienned carrots and thinly sliced red onion, and I think julienned zucchini and yellow squash would be nice, too. The dipping sauce was “lick the bowl clean” to die for, Melanie! Thanks for yet another fabulous recipe! 🙂
P.S. Have fun in Yellowstone…it is beautiful! Do beware of the bears though! 🙂
Kim – I’m thrilled that the spring rolls turned out so well for you. I’ve been thinking about your Asian-themed party and hope it is a great success!