This quick and easy Thai Panang curry is a colorful, flavorful home-cooked recipe that’s even better than takeout! With tender chunks of chicken and red pepper in a deliciously creamy peanut sauce, this dish is a real crowd-pleaser. You have my word for it!
When pressed to divulge my favorite food, Thai food is always high at the top of the list. I could easily eat it multiple times every week without tiring of it.
It is also one of my favorite foods to make at home, as it requires various spices and ingredients I wouldn’t ordinarily cook with. An added bonus is it makes my home smell divine.
My Red Curry Salmon, Chicken Massaman Curry and 30-Minute Thai Green Curry with Avocado are among my favorites to make at home.
A few weeks ago, I gathered up my crew of lady friends and had them over for an evening of Thai food.
I decided to try my hand at pangang curry for the first time and was blown away by how easy it was to make and how deliciously it turned out.
What is Panang Curry?
If you’ve never had the pleasure of trying it, Panang curry is a thick, creamy dish that’s laced with peanuts. With a velvety coconut milk base and sweet, nutty undertones, this delightfully mild curry is packed with rich flavors.
Now, an authentic Panang curry is a little tricky to get right in your own kitchen. So, I’ve designed this recipe to help you make a fantastic Panang curry at home, anytime, using readily available ingredients!
Let’s discuss these simple ingredients!
Ingredients for My Panang Curry
Here are all the main ingredients for my at-home Panang curry recipe. You shouldn’t have too much trouble finding all of these at the grocery store!
Full-Fat Coconut Milk: The base of our curry sauce. Full-fat coconut milk is irresistibly creamy and velvety, which is exactly what we need for this dish! If you can find a can of coconut cream, make the swap for a more luxurious Thai Panang chicken curry.
Yellow Onion: Sautéed yellow onion gives our curry a mellow, savory-sweet flavor base. Finely chopped pieces melt into the sauce, giving it a satisfying, umami edge.
Red Bell Pepper: Adds a pop of color and a lovely contrasting texture to this dish. The bell pepper’s mild sweetness balances the richness and spice of the curry sauce. Yellow or orange bell peppers work in a pinch, but steer clear of green ones!
Coconut Oil: I like to brown my chicken in coconut oil to complement the flavor laid down by the milk. If you can’t find any, use a neutral oil so you don’t add any more flavors to the mix.
Skinless Boneless chicken Breasts: An authentic Panang curry would use chicken thighs, but I find chicken breasts retain more than enough moisture to be perfect for this dish. Plus, they’re lower in fat!
Panang Curry Paste: Every Thai curry begins with a paste, and this one is no different. Panang paste is packed with lemongrass, lime zest, coriander seeds, and cumin. It just melts into the coconut milk to create an awesome sauce.
Peanut Butter: Classic Panang curry often contains ground and roasted peanuts, but peanut butter is a lot less hassle and delivers the same nutty flavor. It blends with the coconut milk to create an unbelievably rich and creamy curry sauce.
Use almond butter if you have a peanut allergy. It tastes great this way too!
Fish Sauce: Fish sauce is like bottled umami. It’s super salty and savory, and it’s the heart and soul of Southeast Asian cooking. Find this magical liquid in the Asian Foods aisle of any good grocery store. Replace it with soy sauce if you prefer.
Sea Salt: Helps to balance the sweetness of the vegetables and the spiciness of the curry paste.
Recipe Customizations
- Don’t love chicken? Replace it with shrimp, salmon, pork, or beef!
- Most vegetables work well in this curry, too. Try adding zucchini, broccoli, or carrots.
- If you can’t find Panang curry paste and don’t want to buy it online, replace it with red curry paste or green curry paste. The color will be different, but it’ll still taste fantastic!
- The Panang curry paste I’ve linked happens to be paleo. To make this a paleo-friendly curry, simply substitute the peanut butter with unsweetened almond butter.
- If you can get ahold of some kaffir lime leaves from a local Asian market, toss them in!
- Add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, coconut sugar, or palm sugar for a sweet curry to offset the aromatic spices.
- Toss in any vegetables you love. Broccoli, zucchini, carrots, bok choy, and bamboo shoots are great options.
- Make your own homemade panang curry paste instead of using store-bought curry paste.
- Adjust the level of spiciness to your liking by adding Thai chili peppers or spicy red peppers.
How to Make Panang Curry
Start by opening one of your cans of coconut milk and pouring a very small amount into a large skillet or Dutch oven.
Add the onion and sauté until soft and fragrant. This should take between 5 and 8 minutes.
Then, add the chopped bell pepper and sauté for an additional 2 minutes to soften.
Add the remaining coconut milk, panang curry paste, almond butter, fish sauce, and sea salt and bring the mixture to a full boil.
Reduce the heat to a simmer, then cook for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to develop, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, heat a separate skillet over medium-high heat and add about a tablespoon of coconut oil.
Add the chicken and brown on two sides for 3 to 5 minutes. Then, cover the pan and cook for a further 3 to 5 minutes until it’s cooked through.
Drain any excess liquid, then add the chicken to the curry mixture in the other pot.
Simmer everything for a further 10 minutes, then stir in some Thai basil leaves (if you have them).
Serving Suggestions:
Serve with your choice of steamed jasmine rice, brown rice, cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, quinoa, or whatever you fancy! I like serving with fresh lime wedges so that people can drizzle fresh lime juice over everything.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
How To Nail this Thai Chicken Panang Curry
- A Dutch oven works fantastically well for this recipe. The heat distribution and nonstick surface help you to do practically everything in a single pot.
- Experiment with different types of peanut butter. Smooth peanut butter gives a creamier sauce, but crunchy adds some extra texture and bite!
- Stick with a good quality coconut milk, as brands can vary widely in quality. I recommend Thai Kitchen, Native Forest or Whole Food’s 365 brand.
- For thicker consistency, stick with coconut cream, which is the thickest coconut milk available.
What Does It Taste Like?
This Panang curry is luxurious with complex flavors. One bite and you’ll find it hard to believe you just made it at home!
The curry sauce is out of this world, with sweet, salty, spicy, and savory flavors all working together as one. It has a subtle nutty flavor and also a subtle sweetness.
The chicken is juicy and tender, and the pepper adds a lovely crunch for a bit of texture.
Throw away the takeout menu, and dig in!
Looking fantastic and tasting even better, this creamy and colorful Panang curry is a true Thai showstopper.
Blown away by Thai cuisine? Here are five more healthy curry recipes for you to try!
More Curry Recipes:
- One-Skillet Ground Turkey Thai Curry with Rice
- Vegan Pumpkin Curry
- 30-Minute Chicken Green Curry
- Nightshade-Free AIP Curry
- Green Curry Thai Noodle Soup
- 30- Minute Chicken Green Curry
Let me know in the comments if you try it yourself!
Panang Curry Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 (15-oz) cans full-fat coconut milk divided
- 1/2 yellow onion finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil
- 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts chopped
- 4 Tbsp panang curry paste
- 2 Tbsp peanut butter unsweetened almond butter
- 2 Tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar, optional
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce
- sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Open a can of full-fat coconut milk and pour a small amount (about ¼ cup) into a large skillet or dutch oven. Add the onion and saute until very fragrant and softened, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the bell pepper and saute an additional 2 minutes to soften.
- Add the remaining coconut milk, panang curry paste, peanut butter (almond butter), sugar, fish sauce, and sea salt and bring mixture to a full boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook 15 minutes to allow flavors to develop, stirring occasionally.
- While you are sautéing the onion and bell pepper (and simmering the panang sauce), heat a separate skillet over medium-high and add about a tablespoon of coconut oil (or cooking oil of choice). Add the chopped chicken and brown on two sides, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Cover this skillet and continue cooking until chicken is cooked through, about 3 to 5 minutes. Drain any excess liquid off of the chicken. Transfer the chicken to the skillet/pot with the curry mixture. Continue cooking a gentle simmer for additional 10 minutes to allow flavors to come together.
- Serve panang curry with your choice of rice, cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, quinoa, etc.
Looks yummy, however, there are no peanuts or peanut butter in Panang Gai.
Just made this and loved it. I used different veggies because that’s what I had on hand and the recipe was very forgiving. Also added ginger. Yum. Would definitely make again.
I am wondering how spicy is panang curry paste?
Hi Noelle! The kind I bought (linked in the post) is very spicy. I haven’t tried other brands yet, so if you go with a different one, be sure to read the reviews first. For this paste, you can add more coconut milk or simply use less paste if you want to keep it mild. Happy cooking! xo