Whip up your very own homemade Thai green curry paste from scratch and never buy store-bought again! Packed with aromatic herbs and spicy heat, this easy curry paste will add incredible flavour to your favourite curry recipes.
In This Post You’ll Learn
Why We Love This
This amazing homemade Thai green curry paste recipe tastes so much better than store-bought curry paste!
Made with fresh, natural ingredients, there’s no artificial ingredients or preservatives to worry about. Plus you can can easily adapt the recipe to tweak the flavour and heat level or make it vegan friendly if you need.
We love using a food processor to make it quickly and effortlessly, but it’s also great fun to crack out your mortar and pestle for the traditional curry paste making experience.
Whip up a big batch then freeze in portions for a quick homemade curry paste when you need it most!
Related: Thai Panang Curry Paste / Base Genep Spice Paste
Curry Paste Tips: Food Processor vs Mortar & Pestle
Food Processor:
Add Oil – If your food processor is struggling to get through the herbs and spices, you can add a drizzle of vegetable oil to help get things moving and chopping properly. Pause between pulses and use a spoon to push ingredients down closer to the blades if they’re starting to rise too high around the edges of the food processor bowl.
Mortar & Pestle:
Chop Finely – Chopping all your fresh herbs and chillies as finely as possible before popping them in the mortar and pestle will make things SO much easier. That way you’ll end up with a creamy smooth-textured paste at the end, with half the effort.
Sit With Your Mortar & Pestle – Place the mortar on the floor and sit cross legged beside it. Yep! This will give you maximum power and assistance from gravity. Grab your pestle and hold it with your thumb pressed on the top. Then bang away, letting the pestle fall with a flick of your wrist. You actually need less effort here than you think – just let gravity do all the work for you! Meanwhile use a spoon to scoop the ingredients back down into the centre well of the mortar.
What is Thai Green Curry Paste?
Thai green curry paste (also known as gaeng kiew waan / แกงเขียวหวาน) is a spicy seasoning used most known for being the star ingredient in Thai green chicken curry.
This fragrant curry paste is made using a blend of long green chillies and the smaller, spicy bird’s eye chillies, along with fresh Southeast Asian herbs such as galangal, turmeric, coriander and sweet basil.
Additional spices including cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black pepper are dry toasted first, then crushed and blended into the paste to give it a more savoury, earthy flavour.
You can also use the homemade paste to season other dishes like soups and stews, stir fries, noodles or rice dishes.
What You’ll Need
Tip: Sometimes the hardest part about making green curry paste from scratch is finding the ingredients! If you can’t get them at your local supermarket, check out your nearest Asian grocery store.
- Chillies – Today we’re using equal amounts of long green chillies and extra spicy Thai green bird’s eye chillies. We deseed them first to tone down the heat to our tastes. You can easily adjust the spice level by using more or less of either version, or keeping in the seeds for a very, very spicy kick.
- Fresh Herbs – You’ll need lemongrass stems (the white base, around 10 cm / 4 inches in length), galangal (sub with fresh ginger if it’s more easily accessible where you live), turmeric (sub with powdered), coriander / cilantro leaves and roots, as well as Thai basil leaves. Use fresh herbs wherever possible as this is what gives the paste such a huge depth of flavour and colour.
- Spices – Whole cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black peppercorns (sub white peppercorns) are dry toasted first to bring out their rich flavours, then ground into a fine powder. Sub with ground spices if you need, but only toast them for a few seconds to avoid burning.
- Makrut / Kaffir Lime – You’ll need both the fresh leaves and fruit rind for this recipe. Makrut is the Thai name for this ingredient (and out of respect, is the best name to use), but in Australia and elsewhere it’s often labelled as kaffir lime or Thai lime. If you can’t source it, just leave it out or add the zest of one regular lime. The flavour won’t be the same, but it will get you closer.
- Shrimp Paste – This funky and pungent ingredient is essential to bring that classic umami flavour to the curry paste. Sub fish sauce in the first instance, or with 1 tsp of salt if you want to make a vegan friendly curry paste.
- Other Ingredients – You’ll also need small red shallots and garlic cloves.
How to Make Thai Green Curry Paste
First, gather your ingredients: See recipe card below for measurements.
- Dry toast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black peppercorns in a small frying pan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Move the spices around constantly for an even toast.
- Pour into a mortar and pestle and grind into powder.
- Start with the biggest ingredients first. Place your large green chillies, small green chillies and shallots into the blender. Pulse until chopped fine for around 10 seconds. Scrape down the sides using a spoon or spatula.
- Next add the galangal (or ginger), lemongrass, garlic, coriander roots and makrut lime leaves.
- Pulse for another 10 seconds and scrape down again.
- Now it’s time to add your vegetable oil to help it turn into paste.
- Add in the coriander leaves, Thai basil leaves, Thai makrut / kaffir lime zest and shrimp paste. Pulse and scrape down again, then blend until you see the paste start to churn itself and get smoother, around 10-15 seconds.
- To finish, add the turmeric powder and toasted and ground spices. Stir into the paste slightly to avoid it spraying everywhere. Blend for 5-10 seconds until completely mixed through your paste. Scrape down and blend one last time for 5 seconds or so and you’re ready to go!
- Use immediately as a base for Thai green curry, or portion it out into 2 tbsp chunks and freeze, so you can grab them whenever you need. It’ll also last in the fridge in an airtight container for around two weeks.
Wandercook’s Tips
- Control the Heat – If you love super spicy curry pastes, use double or even triple the amount of chillies listed in this recipe. Or to scale it back and make it milder, leave out the bird’s eye chillies completely.
- Storage – Homemade curry paste will last for 2-3 days in the fridge in an airtight container.
- Toasting Spices Before Grinding – This helps release all the fragrant potential of the spices. You can skip it if you really don’t want to toast them first (but for the flavour it adds, it’s well worth it!).
FAQs
Yes, you can. An easy way to do this is to measure out 2 tbsp portions of paste onto a lined baking tray or silicone ice cube tray. Partially freeze for 30 minutes, then transfer to an airtight container. This will stop the portions sticking together, and keep them easily accessible for your next curry! Store for up to three months.
We use Mae Ploy or Maesri brands for green curry paste if we don’t have any homemade curry paste on hand. May Ploy tends to come in larger containers, but it lasts for a long time so it’s handy to keep in the fridge. Maesri paste is available in convenient small size cans suitable for 1-2 batches of curry.
Yes you can, just leave out the shrimp paste and substitute with 1 tsp salt instead.
Use it as a quick swap for red curry paste in your favourite curry recipes. Add a small amount to marinades and dipping sauces for a burst of heat and flavour. Or try adding it to stir fries such as nasi goreng (fried rice), mee goreng (fried noodles) for a whole new experience. Stir fry in a little oil first to release the flavour, then continue with the stir fry recipe.
Variations
- Not Salty Enough? – Add more shrimp paste, fish sauce or salt.
- Too Salty? – Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice or a sprinkle of sugar.
Try these amazing recipes next:
- Choo Chee Chicken Curry – The most popular Thai curry in our home town of Adelaide!
- Panang Curry Paste – A popular Thai curry paste, infused with peanuts for extra flavour.
- Panang Chicken Curry – An easy weeknight curry recipe to add to your repertoire.
- Vietnamese Chicken Curry – An amazing one-pan dinner! Serve with crusty bread for dunking.
- Sri Lankan Pumpkin Curry – A creamy coconut infused pumpkin curry. Naturally vegan.
★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment and a star rating below!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 3 lemongrass white stems only, chopped into chunks
- 2.5 cm galangal fresh, sub ginger
- 3 cm turmeric fresh, sub 3 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp Thai makrut / kaffir lime zest grated, sub regular lime
- 4 coriander root chopped
- 6 Thai makrut / kaffir lime leaves
- 5 large green chillies fresh and deseeded
- 5 small green chillies fresh and deseeded (medium spice level), such as bird's eye
- ¼ cup coriander leaves around 30
- ¼ cup Thai basil leaves around 20
- 5 shallots or ½ red onion, whole or sliced in half for larger ones
- 10 garlic whole cloves
- 2 tsp shrimp paste sub fish sauce or 1 tsp salt to make it vegan
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
For toasting the spices
- Dry toast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black peppercorns in a small frying pan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Move the spices around constantly for an even toast.2 tbsp coriander seeds, 2 tbsp cumin seeds, 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- Pour into a mortar and pestle and grind into powder.
For making the paste in a blender
- Start with the biggest ingredients first. Place your large green chillies, small green chillies and shallots into the blender.5 large green chillies, 5 shallots, 5 small green chillies
- Pulse until chopped fine for around 10 seconds. Scrape down the sides using a spoon or spatula.
- Next add the galangal (or ginger), lemongrass, garlic, coriander roots and Thai makrut / kaffir lime leaves. Pulse for another 10 seconds and scrape down again.3 lemongrass, 2.5 cm galangal, 4 coriander root, 10 garlic, 6 Thai makrut / kaffir lime leaves
- Now it’s time to add your vegetable oil to help it turn into paste. On top, add in the coriander leaves, Thai basil leaves, Thai makrut / kaffir lime zest and shrimp paste. Pulse and scrape down again, then blend until you see the paste start to churn itself and get smoother, around 10-15 seconds.2 tsp Thai makrut / kaffir lime zest, ¼ cup coriander leaves, ¼ cup Thai basil leaves, 2 tsp shrimp paste, 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- To finish, pour in your turmeric powder and toasted and ground spices. Stir into the paste slightly to avoid it spraying everywhere. Blend for 5-10 seconds until completely mixed through your paste. Scrape down and blend one last time for 5 seconds and you’re ready to go!3 cm turmeric
- Use immediately as a base for your Thai green curry, or portion it out into 2 tbsp chunks and freeze, so you can grab them whenever you need. It’ll also last in the fridge in an airtight container for around two weeks.
Video
Recipe Notes
- Chillies – Today we’re using equal amounts of long green chillies and extra spicy Thai green bird’s eye chillies. We deseed them first to tone down the heat to our tastes. You can easily adjust the spice level by using more or less of either version, or keeping in the seeds for a very, very spicy kick.
- Fresh Herbs – You’ll need lemongrass stems (the white base, around 10 cm / 4 inches in length), galangal (sub with fresh ginger if it’s more easily accessible where you live), turmeric (sub with powdered), coriander / cilantro leaves and roots, as well as Thai basil leaves. Use fresh herbs wherever possible as this is what gives the paste such a huge depth of flavour and colour.
- Spices – Whole cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black peppercorns (sub white peppercorns) are dry toasted first to bring out their rich flavours, then ground into a fine powder. Sub with ground spices if you need, but only toast them for a few seconds to avoid burning.
- Makrut / Kaffir Lime – You’ll need both the fresh leaves and fruit rind for this recipe. Makrut is the Thai name for this ingredient (and out of respect, is the best name to use), but in Australia and elsewhere it’s often labelled as kaffir lime or Thai lime. If you can’t source it, just leave it out or add the zest of one regular lime. The flavour won’t be the same, but it will get you closer.
- Shrimp Paste – This funky and pungent ingredient is essential to bring that classic umami flavour to the curry paste. Sub fish sauce in the first instance, or with 1 tsp of salt if you want to make a vegan friendly curry paste.
- Other Ingredients – You’ll also need small red shallots and garlic cloves.
Nutrition
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