Thai Coconut Chicken Curry (made in your slow cooker)
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We all love an easy, flavorful dinner – enter this crockpot Thai chicken curry. This is my go-to when I have a busy week, but don’t want to skimp on tasty, satisfying meals. I’ll show you how to prep everything so the crockpot does all the work, and you can come back to a winning dinner!
This slow cooker chicken curry is everything I want in a comforting, flavor-packed dinner. It starts with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, which stay juicy and tender as they simmer in a rich, coconut-based curry sauce. The sauce is built from classic Thai curry staples—red curry paste, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, and coconut milk—with a touch of brown sugar (or palm or coconut sugar, if you have it) to round everything out.
Vegetables make this curry hearty and colorful. Sweet kombucha squash (or butternut squash), yellow onion, chili peppers, and kale soften into the sauce and soak up all that bold flavor. I like to finish each bowl with fresh cilantro, extra chili, and a squeeze of lime for brightness. Spoon it over rice, and you’ve got a cozy, satisfying meal that tastes deeply flavorful and completely complete.
Ingredients to gather
Most of these ingredients are items you likely have on hand. Just grab your chicken and veggies, throw everything in the crockpot, and you’re good to go! Gather these items:
- Chicken: Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are the way to go.
- Chicken stock: Grab store-bought, or make your own. You can adjust the amount according to the consistency you like – check out the notes section under the recipe!
- Thai red curry paste: Not all curry pastes are created equal. Make your own, otherwise make sure to taste a little bit before adding it to assess the heat and flavor.
- Brown sugar: If you have palm sugar or coconut sugar on hand, both of those great options.
- Curry staples: Soy sauce, minced ginger, fish sauce, garlic, and coconut milk.
- Veggies: Kombucha squash (or butternut squash), yellow onion, chili peppers, and kale.
- To serve: I love to serve this with cilantro, chili peppers, and lime!
A few FAQs
Can I use chicken breasts instead of thighs? I prefer boneless, skinless chicken thighs as they’re more flavorful than breasts and usually more reasonably priced. But if you have chicken breasts on hand, you can definitely use those instead.
Can I cook this on low heat for 8-10 hours? Yes, but there’s a caveat. Cooking this curry for longer will make the squash very soft. At least half of it will disappear into the sauce, which isn’t a bad thing! The curry sauce will become thicker and sweeter, with a hint of squash, but it will still be delicious.
Can I make this Thai chicken curry on the stovetop? Yes! You’ll want to simmer the curry for no longer than 1 hour.
Can I use a different color curry paste? Yes! I’ve used red, green, and yellow in this recipe, and they all work well.
Store, reheat, and freeze
Store: First, let your Thai chicken curry cool to room temperature. Once it’s cooled, transfer it to a covered container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. I think it tastes even better the next day, once the flavors have had a chance to deepen!
Freeze: If you want to store it longer, freeze it for up to three months. Thaw it in the fridge overnight before reheating.
Reheat: Warm it on the stovetop or in the microwave. If it’s thickened in the fridge, you can add a splash of water to loosen things up.
Thai Coconut Chicken Curry (made in your slow cooker)
Ingredients
- 1-2 cups chicken stock (see notes)
- 2-4 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (see notes)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce (see notes)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into bite sized pieces)
- 1 large kabocha squash (cut into 1-inch cubes – or 1 small butternut squash)
- 1 medium yellow onion (chopped)
- 1-2 chili peppers (if you like extra heat)
- 14 ounce can coconut milk
- 1 large bunch of kale (torn into small pieces, roughly 2 packed cups)
- Optional: cilantro, chili peppers, and lime to serve
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients, except for the coconut milk and kale, into your crockpot and stir together well. Set your crockpot to cook on high for 4 hours.1-2 cups chicken stock, 2-4 tablespoons Thai red curry paste, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 tablespoon minced ginger, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 3 cloves garlic, 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, 1 large kabocha squash, 1 medium yellow onion, 1-2 chili peppers
- After 4 hours, stir in the coconut milk and kale and let it sit while you prepare the rice, cauliflower rice, or quinoa to serve.14 ounce can coconut milk, 1 large bunch of kale
- Top with a little cilantro, lime, and, if you like it extra spicy, some chopped chili peppers.Optional: cilantro, chili peppers, and lime to serve
Last step:
- After you make this recipe, take a picture with your phone and share it in the comments section below. I love seeing it when you make my recipes!
Notes
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
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Can you freeze this?
This freezes well!
Curious, never used squash before..do I Cook it first before chopping it and throwing it in ? Thanks.
Nope! Simply peel it, chop it, and pop it in the pot. 🙂
This is a hit. Just use the tips from the reviews and add some salt! Sooo good and sauce is perfect after you smash a few of the squash. I will be making this again! Thanks!!!
So happy to heat you like the recipe!
I forgot to say I did add half a can of water?
I wamted to share that I just made this recipe in my Instant Pot and my husband and I are still flipping our—it was SO delicious and SO easy!! It literally is exactly like what I eat in my favorite Thai restaurant. Thank you so much for this recipe!! I basically threw everything into the instant pot except the vegetable I was not familiar with. I cooked the whole thing on pressure for four minutes then let it natural release about three minutes then I opened it up (looked weird at that point, had to stir a little) and added the kale and lots of lime. Soooooo good!, incredibly tasty!!?
Thank you so much for letting us know the recipe works in an Instant Pot!!!
Wanting to make this with shrimp instead of chicken because my husband is allergic to chicken (I know…crazy) shrimp cooks faster than chicken, so how long should I put the shrimp in the crockpot on high before it’s done? Or should I just cook it separate an add it in at the end?
I’ve never heard of anyone being allergic to chicken before! If you’re making it with shrimp, I would simply stir them in at the end and let them cook for a couple of minutes. They shouldn’t take any more than 4-5 minutes to fully cook. 🙂
Delicious! I used exact same curry paste. I took advice from some of the other commenters and didn’t add coconut milk until the last half hour, and also garnished with crushed peanuts.. Additionally, I typically do this with most of my slow cooker meals, but I cooked the onions, garlic and ginger for a few mins in a skillet, added the curry paste, cooked another minute and then moved to the slow cooker.
Great call on adding peanuts at the end. I bet it was extra delicious!
The comments were so helpful when making this curry so I thought I’d leave feedback as well.
The curry was delish! I’m a curry novice but had a crockpot curry craving. So rest assured, if I can make it and everyone enjoy it, it’s really that easy.
I used cut up russets, carrots and onions. Minced the garlic. Two chicken breasts. 300 ml of chicken broth. Used the red Thai kitchen curry paste (boyfriend commented it lacked flavor, so all other comments might be spot on about this brand) Added Thai basil. Left it on low for eight hours (oh well, I had to work). Got home and shredded the chicken and added the coconut milk. We are it over white jasmin rice and it was really good!
Thank you for your comment and I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe!
I’m really sorry, but this recipe is not worth making. It turned out SO watery and bland. We managed to eat our dinner portions (well, 6 year old is struggling through his), but the leftovers will all be tossed. If you eat curry regularly and are hoping to find a recipe to make at home I wouldn’t bother with this one. If you have never eaten curry and like bland food maybe it’s worth a try, but definitely reduce the water.
I’m sorry to hear it wasn’t a hit. Which brand of curry paste did you use? The one I recommend is very flavorful. If the one you used was bland that would definitely impact how the recipe tastes.
I made it today! I added red bell pepper (one small) and I added zucchini instead of the squash. I also added chickpeas but they disappeared haha. I wish the sauce was a bit thicker. It tasted great!
I’m happy to hear it turned out well!
I can’t believe no one else has mentioned that you can not cook coconut milk this long with out the solids separating and deteriorating making this recipe pretty inedible and a waste. I made this tonight and had to throw it away. I googled and apparently it’s pretty common for this to happen when you slow cook coconut milk.
There’s a note about that right in the recipe. I’m sorry to hear it happened to you!
This turned out really well, thanks! I used 4 oz (125 mLs) of homemade chicken stock instead of the water and cooked for 2.5 hrs on high and then added the kale and coconut milk and cooked for 20 minutes more. I garnished with chopped peanuts as well as the suggested items and served over brown rice. I will be making this again.
I’m so happy to hear you like the recipe!
Just made this for lunch today and thought I would say what I did in case anyone finds it helpful. I cut 5 thighs up into 2 inch pieces and put them in with only 7oz chicken broth (instead of water) and the rest of the “seasonings”, minus the coconut milk, on high for 3 hours. The thighs were cooked through at this point, so I added my veggies – I choose a small head of broccoli, one zucchini cut into a small dice, and 3 leaves of kale, cut into thin ribbons. I also added the can of coconut milk and 1 tsp hot curry powder (from my local spice shop, so I don’t have a brand), because I had to buy the Thai Kitchen red curry paste that Kristen doesn’t recommend because it is all my HT had. Next time I will venture to the Asian markets to find a good red curry paste, but the powder helped add a lot of flavor. Anyway, I cooked the veggies and coconut milk for another hour and they were perfectly crisp tender, the coconut milk did not separate, and we had the perfect amount of liquid to go over our rice. Hope this helps anyone else who is contemplating making this but was nervous about some of the other comments!
Such a great idea to add the curry powder. Thank you for sharing that tip!
Amazing! Made this last night and I’m so happy I made extra. I didn’t have kale so I used bok Choy and bean sprouts. I also added a few baby potatoes. This is a recipe I will definitely make again! Yum! Thank you for sharing!
I’m so happy you like the recipe! Hooray!!
This is one of my all-time favorite recipes. I have learned that you can add just about any veggie you want and it comes out delicious! I have made it with turnips, parsnips, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, corn, eggplant… basically you name it and it goes great in this curry! I use chicken stock instead of water and the flavor is always perfect. I wanted to comment that if you don’t have 4 hours, this can be replicated on the stove top in about 1 hour just by putting together the broth and simmering all the ingredients until cooked through.
That’s so great to know this can be made on the stove top. Thank you for letting us know!
Hi, I am making this tonight but was entering all the ingredients into My fitness Pal. It is telling me this recipe is 422 calories per serving, but your post says it’s 250… am I doing something wrong? I noticed the coconut milk is what made it jump up so high, but saw you used a similar one with similar calories. Just want to make sure I’m counting the right amount of calories!