How To Make Homemade Thai Red Curry Paste

This scratch-made Thai Red Curry paste recipe will have you making red curry soups, noodle bowls and marinating all the BBQ things this summer. Full of fresh ginger, garlic, chilies, and herbs this easier version food processor version comes together in about 10 minutes!

I get it. Making your own sauces and pastes from scratch can seem a little intimidating and may be time-consuming. But in the case of this curry paste, have no fear. It’s as easy as tossing everything into a food processor and hitting blend. 

Thai Red Curry Paste
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In this series for Homemade Thai Curry Paste we’ve covered how to make: 

• Green Thai Curry Paste 
• Yellow Thai Curry Paste

Both recipes have all the tips, and tricks to make sure that you get the best curry paste flavor. They’re fresher and brighter tasting than any jars you can buy. BUT, if you’ve got a go-to curry paste that you just can’t live without, then adding some fresh ingredients like ginger, garlic and lemongrass may be just the ticket to give them a fresh facelift and amp up the flavor.

How to make Thai red curry paste step by step

1. Start with all of your ingredient prep. Peel the garlic and shallots. Peel the ginger (there’s a great video below of how to peel ginger using a spoon) Get the chilies ready etc.
2. Measure out all of your ingredients and place them in the bowl of a food processor. This is where you can decide how hot you’d like your curry paste. Obviously, more chilies mean hotter paste. This is one of the best reasons to make your own curry paste is that you can control the intensity of the heat. Can’t do that with store-bought paste!
3. Blend all of the ingredients until they’re a chunky paste.
4. You can blend the paste further if you’re after something really smooth. I personally prefer a little texture in there and don’t take mine quite as far as I could. 

Thai Red Curry FAQ’s

1. Can you use ginger or lemongrass paste in this recipe? I would highly recommend that you don’t use premade pastes in this recipe. They lack the freshness factor that brings a homemade paste to life. And the texture just isn’t the same. 
2. How many chilies should I use if I like it really spicy? In my experience, I would start at 8. You can always add more in, but once they’re in there, you can’t take them out! 
3. How Long does this paste keep? It will keep perfectly fine in the fridge for a couple of days, but since this recipe makes a lot of paste, I would recommend that you freeze the rest. It will happily sit in the freezer for about a year. The spiciness will dissipate a little bit, but over time, but not enough to really make a big difference.

How to peel ginger with a spoon:

 Now that you’re a curry paste master you need ALLL the curry recipes you can handle! Let me know how you’ve used your newfound domestic engineer skills! ♡

Recipes to use your homemade curry pastes!

• Thai Red Curry Noodle Bowls
• Thai Yellow Curry Sweet Potato Soup
• Vegetarian Thai Green Curry with Cashew Rice
• Thai Yellow Curry Chicken Skewers
• Simple Thai Yellow Curry Soup

Tools used to make this Thai Red Curry Paste

1. Food Processor
2. Spatula
3. Reusable Freezer Bags

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Homemade Thai Red Curry Paste

Debs

Thai red curry paste is the perfect marinade for chicken and tofu and is a the foundation of the perfect bowl of curry noodles. Made in a food processor so it's quick and easy means that you'll always have time to skip the jars and make your own. And it freezes like a dream.

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 0 mins

Course Sauce

Cuisine Thai

Servings 10 servings

Calories 38 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 lemon grass stalks
• 2 shallot
• 4- inch piece ginger
• 8 dried red chilies
• 1 red serrano pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 Tablespoons fish sauce soy sauce for vegetarians, tamari for gluten-free
• 2 Tablespoons palm sugar
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 2 Tablespoons water if needed

Instructions

 

• Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food and blend until a chunky paste forms.
• Freeze the paste in a ziplock or reusable bag. Cut off what you need per recipe and keep the remaining paste frozen.

Notes

To use frozen paste simply cut off what you need and place the rest back into the freezer.

Keyword Asian Noodles, Curry sauce, Marinade, Thai curry paste