20-Minute Vegetable Green Curry (2024)

I LOVE a good curry dish. They are so warm and comforting, packed full of interesting flavors, and depending how they are prepared, they can be pretty dang healthy too. So they are obviously a big win in my book.

I’ve shared a few other favorite curry recipes on our blog before, like: red curry, yellow curry, massaman curry, and a pumpkin curry. But variety is the spice of life, so I figured it was time I shared a recipe for green curry with you all.

Related: 35 Comforting Soup Recipes and 60 Easy Dinner Recipes

This one is quick to throw together (taking 20 minutes or less to make) and packed full of vegetables—basically the perfect weeknight cold weather dinner.

Bonus points are that at our house this tends to make enough for leftovers, so I have a delicious lunch waiting for me in the refrigerator the next day. 🙂

20-Minute Vegetable Green Curry, serves 3-4

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 potatoes
1/2 bell pepper
2 carrots
1/3 cup green peas
2 tablespoons green curry paste (or more to taste)
1 can coconut milk (light or full fat, up to you)
1/4 to 1/2 cup water
cilantro and lime for garnish
cooked rice or naan for serving

If you are cooking rice to go with this, get it started now because the curry will come together quickly.

Prep the vegetables: peel, slice, and chop as needed. On the potato, be sure to keep the pieces quite small (see mine in the photos for reference).

If you cut the potato pieces large, this will add on cooking time, or result in not quite cooked through potatoes while everything else is ready to be eaten.

You’ll also note that I was using frozen green peas so to prep those I simply thawed, or partially thaw (you don’t want them mushy).

Here’s the brand of green curry paste I used:Mekhala. I really like that all the ingredients are organic and it’s a completely plant-based curry paste (meaning it’s vegan friendly).

I will say that the label has three peppers to indicate the spice level, but I found it to be not very spicy compared to other brands, like Mae Ploy (another curry paste brand I like—great taste!).

But with any curry paste you are using for the first time, I recommend using a lower amount, just 1-2 tablespoons initially, and you can always stir more into the final dish once you taste and see what you think. Adding more spice is easy, but once a dish is too spicy for you it’s much harder to go back!

In a large pan or skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Cook the potatoes and carrots for 3-4 minutes. Then add the bell pepper and onion and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

By this time the potatoes should be fork tender, meaning you can easily slice one with the side of a fork. Test one if needed.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut milk and curry paste so they are well combined. Then pour this in the pan along with the peas. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water to thin the curry some.

I personally like my curry on the thicker side, more like a thin sauce, so I tend to stick to a 1/4 cup, but this is up to you and your own preferences.

Once everything is nice and hot, taste and if needed add a little more curry paste, or soy sauce, or red pepper flakes depending what you feel the dish needs.

Top with cilantro and a big squeeze of lime juice over rice or with naan bread. If you have leftovers, I recommend saving the curry separate from the rice (or bread) and rewarming before mixing to eat again.

Note: If you’d like to add some protein to this, feel free. You could easily add some baked tofu, shrimp, or chicken depending what you and your family likes or try my chickpea yellow curry! Happy curry making! xo. Emma