Chicken with Red Curry and Coconut

This chicken with red curry and coconut is the easiest curry dish to put together. It cooks for as little as 2 hours, or as long as 6 hours and can then be frozen or refrigerated and re-heated whenever you like.

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Chicken with Red Curry and Coconut

  • Prep Time: 15 m
  • Cook Time: 2 h
  • Total Time: 2 h 15 m
  • Servings:
    4

Ingredients

  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds), cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 to 2 shallots finely chopped
  • 1 inch fresh ginger peeled and grated
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons red curry paste
  • 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
  • 14 ounces chopped tomatoes
  • 15 ounces coconut milk
  • salt and crushed red pepper flakes
  • ¼ cup Thai basil or regular basil leaves
  • 1 hot red chili pepper thinly sliced
  • 1 lime wedges
  • fresh cilantro

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat the sous vide water bath to 140ºF.
  2. Place the cut up chicken pieces into a large zipper lock plastic bag and set aside.
  3. Heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat on the stovetop. Add the oil and sauté the shallot for a few minutes until it starts to soften. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for a minute or so. Add the brown sugar, curry paste and turmeric and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Stir in the coconut milk and continue to simmer for a minute or two. Season to taste with salt and crushed red pepper flakes and drop in the basil leaves. Pour the sauce over the chicken in the bag.
  4. Seal the bag and massage the chicken and sauce together so that everything is well seasoned. Remove as much of the air as possible by submerging the bag in the water up to the zipper seal (don’t let any water into the bag), and allowing the water to displace the air in the bag. Seal and lower the bag into the sous vide water bath.
  5. Cook in the sous vide bath for at least 2 hours, or for as long as 6 hours.
  6. Serve the curry over rice and garnish with the hot red chili pepper slices, lime wedges and fresh cilantro leaves.
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Comments (10)Post a Reply

  1. 5 stars
    I made this recipe tonight for my family and served it with a nice side salad. My husband and kids loved it. Yes – even the kids LOVED it. The chicken was more tender than ever, thanks to the sous vide method of cooking. I prepared it around lunch time and it was perfect at dinner time. Thank you Blue Jean Chef!

  2. Thought this was absolutely delish and will make it again . I am new to souse vide so my question is if you cook it longer does the chicken get more tender? The flavor was fabulous but I had hoped for the chicken no to be so firm.

    1. Hi Judy. Cooking longer with sous vide does not make food more tender. The most important part of sous vide is the temperature that you set. If you set the temperature too high, that could toughen the meat, but at 140ºF the chicken should be tender. Sometimes it is just the particular chicken you get, but you could try leaving the chicken in larger pieces which can help too.

  3. This was a great recipe. I made it when I got home, next time I will prep the night before and have everything cut up. We love this recipe. I love all your recipes, they are easy to follow, which I like because you talk to us in normal language. Thanks for the recipes.

  4. Safe temperature for poultry is 165, how can sous vide at 140 be safe? I have an Instant Pot with a sous vide setting but not thrilled about the idea of cooking it 25 degrees below set USDA guidelines.

    1. Hi Terry. Sous vide cooking is safe cooking. I agree that when you first encounter sous vide methods, it seems alarming, but check out my article on food safety in sous vide cooking here: https://bluejeanchef.com/cooking-school/food-safety/ That explains that holding food at a lower temperature for a longer period of time is the same as bringing it to a higher temperature for an instant when it comes to killing pathogens.

  5. 5 stars
    I used 1 thinly sliced dried Thai pepper instead of the crushed red pepper, and then also baked it at 375F for 30 minutes instead of the sous vide bath. Just can not get past the fact the USDA say’ poultry should be cooked to 165F and I served it over Coconut Rice. My picky New England wife who thinks Worcestershire sauce is a bit spicy even liked this!

  6. Can everything be prepared the night before, placed in the refrigerator, and placed in a water bath the next day?

    1. Hi Stephanie,
      Yes. You absolutely can prepare everything the night before and store it in the bag. I suggest letting the sauce cool down before pouring it over the chicken and refrigerating. Then, just pre-heat your sous vide bath and pop the bag in the next day.

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