I really did mean to post a classic pot roast chicken. But this Thai red curry version is SO MUCH MORE EXCITING!! To-die-for red curry sauce with outrageously juicy chicken, you’ll have this in the oven in 10 minutes. Effortless recipes with incredible results, this is my kind of food!
Thai red curry pot roast chicken
Consider this to be the roast chicken version of Lamb Shanks Massaman Curry, and beloved fan-favourite where you just put everything in a pan, pop it in the oven, then out comes fall-apart bronzed lamb shanks smothered in a rich massaman curry sauce.
Admittedly, this roast chicken red curry version does call for one extra step – sautéing the curry paste with aromatics (garlic, ginger, lemongrass) – before adding everything else and transferring it into the oven. Well worth a whole 2 minutes of effort for the extra depth of flavour you get in the Thai red curry sauce. And LOOK at the sauce!!
Speaking of sauce – did I mention we’re using store bought instead of homemade red curry paste today? For ease. Which brings me to an important topic:
My favourite red curry paste – Maesri
The best and cheapest. Full stop, end of story!
There is just no other than compares in mainstream grocery stores and Asian stores here in Australia. For authentic flavour – fresh, real, and not too sweet (why-oh-why are all the “western” red curry pastes so darn sweet??!!). Given the tick of approval by Thai nationals and it happens to be the cheapest curry paste clocking in at $2.10 a can.
While I highly recommend Maesri, this recipe does work with other red curry paste brands too. But the sauce will only be as good as the curry paste you use!
Where to find Maesri red curry paste
Asian grocery stores (it’s very common here in Australia)
Australia – Woolworths, Harris Farms, Amazon, asianpantry.com.au
Other countries – Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon CA (strangely pricey in Canada??)
Ingredients in Thai red curry pot roast chicken
Here’s what you need to make today’s recipe.
The red curry sauce
Red curry paste – As per section above, Maesri is my preferred! Cheapest and most authentic flavour.
Lemongrass, garlic and ginger – Adding these gives the store bought curry paste a flavour boost that makes it virtually like homemade red curry paste. It really makes a different!
Lemongrass – Substitute with 1 tablespoon of lemongrass paste. But one day, I hope you can make this with fresh lemongrass because it really is better!
Coconut cream – Not all coconut cream is created equal! Good ones are 100% coconut and have better flavour. Economical ones use water + thickener.
Coconut milk will also work but coconut flavour is not as intense (the sauce gets a ton of juices from chicken which dilutes the coconut flavour which is why coconut cream works better than milk).
Kaffir lime leaves – For authentic Thai curry flavour! Fairly accessible these days at large grocery stores and Asian stores. They freeze 100% perfectly which is handy.
Use leftover kaffire lime leaves in Thai red curry, Tom Yum soup, Thai meatballs, beef rendang, Malaysian chicken satay curry, green curry, golden turmeric baked fish and everybody’s favourite Asian coconut rice!
Fish sauce – This is used as the salt in red curry. More flavour than plain salt!
Sugar – For the right touch of sweetness you find in red curry sauce.
Red chilli – For optional garnish.
Vegetables and herbs
Potatoes – Small, skin on whole potatoes are best as the skin holds them together while they cook up beautifully creamy inside. If using cut pieces, add them partway through cooking else they will disintegrate.
Green beans – Just to add some vegetables into the sauce, plus a sprinkle of green. Feel free to add other vegetables!
Thai Basil has a slight aniseed flavour. Italian basil can be used in a pinch! Really adds a special touch to the finished dish so try not to skip it. But if this is the only thing you’re missing, still worth making!
Coriander/cilantro (optional) – This is mainly for garnish, though if you don’t have Thai Basil this makes a good alternative as a fresh herb addition to the dish.
Whole chicken
Oh yes, and you will need a whole chicken. Let’s not make today’s recipe like that time I forgot to include pork in a roast pork recipe!! 😂
I use a 1.8kg/3.6lb chicken. It’s fine to use one a little larger or smaller as the pot-roasting method of cooking we’re using today is very forgiving. It will keep chicken juicy even if you take it over (small chickens) and cooks evenly and fast so larger chickens will cook through.
How to make Thai red curry pot roast chicken
This all gets made in one pot, and you’ll have it in the oven in 10 minutes!
Cook off curry paste – Sauté the curry paste with lemongrass, ginger and garlic for a couple of minutes. The curry paste will dry out and caramelise which intensifies and improves the flavour. An essential step when using any store bought curry paste!
Sauce – Add the chicken stock then reduce it by half to concentrate the flavour. Add the remaining sauce ingredients – coconut cream, fish sauce, sugar, kaffir lime leaves – and stir to combine.
Put the chicken into the sauce and spoon sauce over. Then place the potatoes around it.
Bake covered for 40 minutes.
Brown the chicken – After 40 minutes, remove the lid and bake for a further 30 minutes, basting every 10 minutes. Oh, and push the beans into the sauce for the last 10 minutes! Any earlier and they’ll overcook far too much.
Just use a spoon to baste the chicken (which simple means spooning the sauce over) though if you have a turkey baster, it will make your life even easier.
Final baste – Give the chicken a final baste then transfer it to a plate to rest for 10 minutes before cutting it into pieces.
Thai Basil leaves – Stir the basil leaves into the sauce just before plating up, so as to retain the freshness of the flavour.
To serve – Place the chicken pieces on a platter then pour over the sauce, potatoes and beans. Garnish with extra chilli and fresh coriander if desired, then take it to the table!
I know I’ve been going on and on about the sauce – and it really is worthy of the talk, I promise – but I shouldn’t undersell how juicy the chicken is, thanks to the pot roasting method of cooking! So much more forgiving than traditional roast chicken – which we all love, but does require more accuracy to ensure you don’t end up with a dry breast.
Ah, also, the potatoes!! Using whole small baby potatoes means we can cook them until they are really soft and creamy inside without disintegrating. If you only have large potatoes, cut them into 1.5cm / 0.6″ chunks and add them about halfway through the cook time, otherwise they will over-cook and turn into mush.
Serve over jasmine rice, to soak up all that beautiful curry sauce, and a perky side salad for something fresh. Pictured above is my Asian side salad but if I had a choice, I probably would’ve opted for smashed cucumbers or my favourite Chang’s Crispy Noodle Cabbage Salad.
I really hope you try this recipe one of these days! Something a little different but very straight forward to make that’s forgiving, with knock-your-socks-off results. It’s Amazing – with a capital A. Everybody knows when I use capitals, I really mean it! 😂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Thai red curry pot roast chicken
Ingredients
- 1.8 kg/ 3.6 lb whole chicken
- 1 tsp cooking/kosher salt
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 115g/ 4 oz (1/2 cup) Thai red curry paste (Maesri recommended, Note 1)
- 2 large garlic cloves , finely grated (Note 2)
- 2 tsp fresh ginger , finely grated (Note 2)
- 2 tsp fresh lemongrass , finely grated, white / pale green part only (Note 2)
- 1 cup chicken stock/broth , low sodium
- 400 ml/ 14 oz coconut cream (Note 3)
- 6 kaffir lime leaves , crushed in hand (Note 4)
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 600g/ 1.2lb small potatoes (12 or so), skin on (Note 5)
- 120g/ 4oz green beans , trimmed and cut in half
- 15 Thai basil leaves , or more! (sub ordinary Italian basil, Note 6)
Serving + optional garnishes:
- Jasmine rice
- Red chilli , finely sliced
- Coriander / cilantro leaves
Instructions
- De-chill & salt chicken – Take the chicken out of the fridge 1 hour prior. Pat dry then sprinkle with the salt.
- Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F (180°C fan).
- Sauté curry paste – Use a large, oven-proof pot with a lid. Heat oil on medium high heat. Cook curry paste, garlic, ginger and lemongrass for 2 minutes. This step substantially improves the flavour of store bought curry paste.
- Sauce – Add chicken stock, stir, then simmer rapidly for 3 minutes to reduce by half. Stir in coconut cream, hand-crushed kaffir lime leaves, sugar and fish sauce.
- Place chicken into the sauce. Spoon over sauce. Surround with potatoes.
- Bake 1 hour – Place the lid on and bake for 40 minutes. Remove lid spoon sauce over chicken (ie. baste). Turn the oven up to 220°C/425°F (200°C fan). Bake uncovered for 10 minutes, baste, bake another 10 minutes.
- Beans, then bake 10 minutes – Push beans into the sauce (wherever they fit!). Baste again then bake for a final 10 minutes (no lid).
- Rest 10 minutes – Remove chicken onto a plate (Note 7). Rest 10 minutes. Put lid on pot to keep sauce warm.
- Serving – Carve chicken, place on platter. Stir basil leaves into sauce. Pour/spoon sauce, potatoes and beans over chicken. Garnish with chilli and coriander, if desired. Serve with jasmine rice!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Typical.
Made this for the first time over the weekend. Amazing & soo, soo easy!
I cooked this tonight using chicken drumsticks only but true to the recipe, and it was the best chicken curry i have ever tasted. we have leftovers i will serve tomorrow to friends together with the massaman lamb shank recipe from Nagi.
Hi, just wondering if anyone has tried this in a tray? I’ve recently downsized house and only have a rectangular tray. Thinking of butterflying the chicken to make it fit. Any tried and tested feedback, please let me know 🙂 ta
I actually made this last night and it is amazing. You’ll be fine if you butterfly the chicken, as long as your tray is deep enough obviously. It doesn’t make a heap of sauce (I actually added an extra can of coconut milk because I like a lot of sauce but it didn’t need it as the sauce is so flavourful). Actually butterflying it is a good idea as the entire skin will get caramelised. It’s delish!!
Thank you so much Jackie, appreciate your reply 🙂 Will definitely give it a go soon!
Made this for the first time last evening for dinner guests, which normally I would never do without a test run first. Happily, and not surprisingly, Nagi has delivered! The hardest part was securing some of the ingredients, as I live in a less-than-cosmopolitan area. Lime zest substituted for the lime leaves and homemade preserved lemon for the lemon grass, but I have to give kudos to our local gem of a grocer, Goods, who stock the Maesri curry paste recommended by Nagi! Will definitely make this again. Ps. Goods also have the gochujang used in Nagi’s Korean short rib recipe from “Dinner”.
Great recipe. Cooking it tonight for a second time. Going to use the left over sauce on some sausages with veg for lunch since it’s so good
So yummy! This is a keeper, really easy to make too.
This dish is so easy and so delicious. Have made it several times now. Even tried it with a random bag of curry spices and lentils made up by our local deli – kept all the other ingredients the same (there were not instructions on the baggie and we didn’t really know what to do with it). Superb. Thanks, Nagi!
I was very happy with how this turned out – tasty.
I think I’d add the beans later (than 10 mins to go) as they were well done and had turned that yucky grey/green!
Served with emergency dump + bake fried rice (again another easy recipe).
I did the recipe using Thai Yellow Curry paste as my a
Asian grocery only had green and yellow in the recommended brand. Delicious. Must do again.
Poor recipe, I followed it to a tee , nothing like the video , potatoes half cooked and I cooked longer, I like spicy but this recipe was over the top . I could only eat half of what I playted , yuk . I love Nagi but wtf grammar was bad perhaps Dozer and Nagi were having a sip or three.
What an incredibly nasty comment! What is wrong with you (also people with terrible grammar and spelling shouldn’t throw stones)? Your palate must be sensitive as it was only warm for my family of 5. Maybe you cut your potatoes too big? Take the chicken out to rest and cook the potatoes for longer – a simple step most people who can cook would do by rote. Regardless of the recipe, there is never any need for such a crappy comment – this is a free website; no-one is forcing you to make anything. Just move on and get a life.
Wow, what a nasty human. I’ve cooked this and it was awesome. No need for such a negative comment. I agree move on hater. Too many Karen’s in this world.
I totally agree with you Jackie. I sent a similar message yesterday to another reader. Out of 138 comments, this was the only negative.
Because Nagi has done so much for the community, we feel protective of her. Of course you can’t please everyone, I get that.
This is sooooo good , I’ve cooked it twice already, and both times they’ve turned out perfectly. I’ve only been able to get 1.5kg chickens and I used the same cooking time as a 1.8kg and it was perfect.
Also, is the calorie summary at the bottom of the recipie per serving? 😅
This recipe is so easy to make. The chicken was moist and delicious with a perfect amount of spice. Will definitely be making this again 😊
A winner recipe! That’s what my kids called it. The sauce was absolutely delicious, and the chicken was so juicy and tender. Thanks for this amazing recipe.
This is a winner. So delicious. It was plenty spicy for my group so no need to add extra red chilis. I served with rice to mop up that SCRUMPTIOUS sauce.
Hi Nagi, I am planning on making Thai red curry pot roast chicken for a lunch with friends. I have bought the recommended tin of curry paste and was just wondering if this is very spicy 🌶️ 🌶️🌶️ by the end of cooking.
As I will be catering to a group of ladies and not sure of their preferences to spicy foods.
Thanks 🙏🏼
I do a lot of traditional roast chickens and thought I’d try this as something different. I bought the recommended red curry paste on Amazon (I’m located in Australia).
My husband boldly claimed this was the best whole chicken I’ve ever cooked. It was amazing. Nice and easy to cook and packed with flavour. Potatoes were delicious. Perfect with rice.
Oh my 😋
The sauce this makes, absolutely divine 🥰
Made it a couple of weeks ago, making again for dinner tonight.
Thanks Nagi, you make my cooking amazing 🤗
This was so delicious and such juicy chicken. There was too much for two of us so I took all the leftover chicken off the bone, cut up the leftover potatoes and beans and mixed them all up with the leftover sauce. Instant Thai red chicken curry to serve with rice! I’m also boiling up the bones to make a broth as a base for another curry. Thanks for another awesome recipe!
Soooo delicious! I bought a cast iron pot especially so I could make this, and it didn’t disappoint. Thank you Nagi, all your recipes are delicious and always deliver on taste. I will definitely be making this again 😋😋😋
Hi, what size and brand of cast iron pot did you use? Thanks
Hi Karyl,
I bought a Classica 28cm Round Casserole Dish – Red from Catch. Very happy with its for the price, and a good size for a chook.
Absolutely YUM.
Hi Nagi,
This was delicious despite me not totally following the recipe so I can imagine how much better it could be!
Are you able to add a little note / comment to your recipes that are a little spicy and therefore not kid friendly?
My 5 and 3 year old was looking forward to trying it but was too spicy for them.
Thanks and keep doing the amazing recipes!
This was so good. Prep took about half an hour with all the grated ingredients, but it was absolutely worth it. We have enough for supper tomorrow night and a carcass for soup!
This was so juicy and wonderfully seasoned. Many compliments from the family. Worth it to use all the authentic ingredients.
Will make again.