Quick, easy and delicious red curry shrimp is ready in just about 20 minutes! Spoon over rice for a perfect weeknight meal.
Why I love this Red Curry Shrimp!
It’s hard to beat frozen shrimp for a quick and easy weeknight meal. A couple of weeks ago, I shared an Indian Butter Shrimp. Today, an equally quick and easy shrimp dish with Thai flavours!
This Thai Red Curry Shrimp combines frozen shrimp with a bell peppers, onion and pineapple, all in a coconut milk and Thai red curry sauce. Serve with some basmati rice for a delicious meal that’s ready in a flash.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Shrimp – I like to use large, raw, peeled, frozen shrimp. I find the large shrimp makes for a “meatier” dish and the larger sized shrimp are also less likely to over-cook. You can use smaller shrimp if you like, simply use a few more.
You can also use cooked, frozen shrimp here as well, if you prefer. For cooked shrimp, simply allow the shrimp to warm through in the sauce for a couple of minutes, as they don’t need to cook further. No need to thaw the shrimp if they are peeled. Simply add to the sauce frozen.
Bell Peppers – You can use all red bell pepper or a mixture of bell pepper colours, as you like.
Pineapple – Yes, it’s unexpected, but it is a wonderfully fresh note in a Thai curry. I highly recommend trying it. I usually just cut up a couple of canned pineapple rings to add. (I freeze the rest of the rings from the can, to have handy the next time I make this or for another dish).
Spinach – Fresh baby spinach is perfect here, though any quick-wilting green is fine here, as well.
Coconut Milk – The amount of coconut milk needed here is equal to one of the mini cans of coconut milk that are available from Thai Kitchen™, which I like, as I don’t have to open a larger can and worry about what to do with the rest. That said, if you only have large cans, you can easily freeze left-over coconut milk. When using a part-can, be sure to stir first, them measure.
Thai Red Curry Paste – Use any brand of Thai Red Curry Paste you like here. If you only have Green or Yellow Thai Curry Paste, both would work here. Simply adjust the amount to taste (green tends to be spicier, so may need less, while yellow is mellow, so you may want a bit more).
You will also need – onion, fish sauce, fresh ginger or ginger paste, lemongrass paste (optional), cilantro and limes, for garnish.
Step-by-Step Photos
This is a quick, visual summary of the easy steps to make this recipe. Always refer to the complete instructions in the Recipe Card below when making the recipe.
A Few More Tips
- Adjust the amount of Thai Red Curry Paste added to your taste. Taste at the end of cooking and stir in a bit more, if you like.
- This dish comes together quickly, so if enjoying with rice, start your rice before you start cooking the curry, so the rice will be ready when the curry is.
- Thai curries are generally not very thick, as they are intended to be spooned out, often over rice. So you can take as much or as little of the sauce as you like. If you want a thicker curry sauce, you can certainly thicken it up at the end of cooking with a cornstarch slurry or 1 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1 Tbsp cold water. Add a bit at a time until sauce thickens to your liking.
Variations
Curries are wonderfully adaptable for any number of ingredients you might have in your fridge to use up. This would be nice with asparagus, carrots or green beans. Just be conscious of the cooking time needed. You may wish to pre-cook slightly or alternately, just extend the cooking time in the skillet to ensure they are tender before proceeding to add the curry paste and coconut milk.
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Ingredients
- 2 teaspoon cooking oil, for pan
- 1/2 medium bell pepper, cored, thinly sliced and cut into bite-sized lengths
- 1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Thai red curry paste, plus more to taste
- 2/3 cup full-fat coconut milk, stirred (or all of a 160ml/5.4oz can)
- 1/3-1/2 cup canned pineapple chunks, or rings, cut into chunks
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar, optional
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste, or 1/2 tsp fresh ginger minced
- 1 teaspoon lemongrass paste, optional
- 14-16 large frozen raw or cooked shrimp
- 2-3 handfuls baby spinach
- Juice of 1/4 lime
For serving:
- Chopped fresh cilantro
- Lime wedges, for drizzling
Instructions
- Prepare and gather your ingredients.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper and onion and cook, stirring, until tender, about 4 minutes. Add Red Curry Paste and cook, stirring, about 30 seconds. Add coconut milk, pineapple, fish sauce, brown sugar, ginger paste and lemongrass paste. Stir to combine, then reduce heat to medium.
- Add frozen shrimp and cook in the sauce, about 4-5 minutes for raw shrimp or until thawed and warmed through, for pre-cooked shrimp. Scatter spinach over-top and cooking, stirring in the spinach as it wilts. Drizzle with juice from 1/4 of a lime.
- Taste sauce. Add additional curry paste, if needed. You may also need a touch of salt, though the fish sauce is salty, so you may find it enough.
- Serve garnished with chopped cilantro and with lime wedges for drizzling. Nice spooned over basmati rice.
Notes
More Shrimp Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Hi Jennifer, I found this while looking for your shrimp with orzo recipe. This Thai style dish was delicious and easy, and will be a regular this winter in our house. The flavours blend beautifully. It was lovely and mild as written. Next time I’ll try adding a little more red curry paste if we’re in the mood for spicier. I used some frozen pineapple chunks as they were on hand, mostly thawed, and that worked fine. Also, for some reason I never knew (after 40 years in the kitchen) that I could cook frozen shrimp directly from frozen – bonus!! The next 40 years will be that much easier :). (Will that shrimp with orzo be making a reappearance on your site? It’s been a real favourite here). Happy 2022 and thanks for the recipes!! Your revamped website looks terrific by the way.
So glad you enjoyed it, Sue! It’s one of my favourite fast meals :) And yes, the other orzo recipe will be back. It needs an update and new photos, but it is on the list. Thanks so much!
I MADE THIS DISH AND THIS DISH MADE MY DAY. I cannot say enough good things about it! The pineapple, the spinach, the shrimp, and the others – they all came together PERFECTLY! I followed the recipe to the T except for the curry paste, which I added 1 tsp more of. Aaaahh thank God for this recipe, I can’t wait to make more for others. To the author of the recipe: Thank you, you’re amazing!
So glad to her, Yumna! Thanks so much :)
We love shrimp and eat it often at our house Jennifer. This looks like one flavorful dish! Can’t wait to give it a go!
Thanks Mary Ann :)
Oooo this combination of flavours and textures looks and sounds insanely delicious! I’m probably not the biggest curry fan, but I’d definitely give it a try because of pinapple (Such a unique twist – never seen!)
Thanks so much, Ben and definitely give it a try. I think you’ll love it :)
So crazy – I was literally telling my husband that I was craving Thai curry yesterday! Needless to say, your shrimp curry is SCREAMING my name!! This looks so flavorful and delicious! Immediately adding this to the dinner rotation for next week! Yummy!
Perfect timing, Cheyanne :) Thai is a favourite of mine. Thanks!
Delicious! I love the flavors of red curry paste and pineapple along with the shrimp. Great dinner option!
Thanks Milena and yes, it’s a love flavour combination :)