I could tell that my body needed rest and a healthy dose of anti-inflammatory, disease-fighting food.
So of course, this Thai green curry was on the dinner menu. It’s vegetarian and SO easy to make!
And guess what? It works. I make this recipe and my healing chicken soup every single time I’m feeling under the weather. The next day I wake up feeling a little better. Thus, this recipe was crowned the name ‘healing thai green curry’… with a few other descriptors in there too, I suppose.
Before we get into just how amazing and incredible this recipe is, I want to let you know that 1) you don’t absolutely need to have lemongrass to make this dish fabulous and b) I need you to make this recipe immediately. I SAID IMMEDIATELY. OK?
What is green curry?
Green curry is a very popular curry dish in Thai cuisine and differs from both red and yellow curries because of its vibrant color & flavors. Thai green curry paste gets its color from green chilies and herbs like cilantro and Thai basil. Traditional green curry paste can also have lemongrass, garlic, shallots shrimp paste and even more herbs and spices.
In my take on Thai green curry we’re using many of those delicious, nourishing ingredients, but are simplifying a bit by using store bought green curry paste.
Is it spicy?
Nope! Between red, yellow and green curry, green is considered the mildest (with red being the hottest). However, there are always easy ways to spice it up to your taste preference!
The healing powers of this Thai green curry
Not only is this Thai green curry recipe delicious, but it’s also chock full of anti-inflammatory ingredients making it perfect for winter and cold season.
- Garlic: Studies have actually found garlic to be effective against fighting colds. It also has been known to fight infections naturally. I actually eat a clove raw when I feel sick. Tony thinks it’s weird because he’s the one who has to kiss me.
- Ginger: A true tummy tamer aka really good for when you have an upset stomach. Put it in your smoothie or put it in this curry.
- Lemongrass: The leaves of this plant are often used to make medicine. Its oil is often used in aromatherapy too. Check out how else lemongrass is commonly used here. I love the flavor it gives this curry and I promise you will too. Of course, you can always leave it out if it’s unavailable to you or if you don’t like it.
- Turmeric: Super trendy for the past few years, but always delicious and a known anti-inflammatory spice. I love the brightness it adds to this dish. I recommend using fresh turmeric.
- Thai Green Curry Paste: You can get this at most grocery stores, but if they don’t have it — you can order it from Amazon.
What you’ll need to make vegetarian Thai green curry
Besides being vegan and gluten free, this comforting Thai green curry is filled with the most delicious flavor combination I think I’ve ever tasted. I could proclaim my love for it over and over again, and if you trust me for recipes, then you know you need to make it too. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Herbs and spices: the key to this green curry recipe is all of those flavorful herbs & spices that I mentioned above. You’ll need garlic, lemongrass, ginger, fresh basil, cilantro, green curry paste and turmeric.
- Veggies: this recipe is packed with wonderful veggies like red bell pepper, carrots, green onion & peas.
- Protein: we’re keeping this Thai green curry vegan & vegetarian by using chickpeas!
- For the broth: you’ll simmer all of those veggies and spices in lite coconut milk, vegetarian broth and a little soy sauce.
- For the rice: don’t forget that coconut infused rice! You’ll just need a bit of coconut oil and short grain brown rice.
Customize this recipe
Good news: this Thai green curry recipe is super easy to customize with ingredients you have on-hand! Here are suggestions and swaps I can recommend:
- No lemongrass? No problem. This dish will still be delicious without it.
- Swap your protein. This curry would be amazing with tofu, and if you’re not following a plant-based diet feel free to try chicken or shrimp!
- Mix up your veggies. Feel free to change up the veggies with what you have on-hand. Broccoli, mushrooms and even some spinach would be perfect.
- Add a little umami. Deepen the flavor of this Thai green curry with some peanut butter (yes, peanut butter!) or fish sauce.
- Change your grain. This would be delicious served with quinoa, cauliflower rice or even rice noodles!
- Kick up the heat. If you like spicy flavors feel free to add in some sriracha, red chili paste or your fav hot sauce.
Storing & freezing tips
In the refrigerator
- To store: store this Thai green curry in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
- To reheat: simply reheat the curry in the microwave or on the stovetop until heated through.
In the freezer
- To freeze: be sure to not overcook the vegetables. Let the curry cool completely before transferring to a freezer safe bag or container. Freeze for up to 2 months. I would not recommend freezing the curry with rice.
- To reheat: thaw the Thai green curry in the refrigerator. While the curry is thawing, feel free to make the coconut brown rice, cauliflower rice or quinoa to serve with it. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave for 2 minutes until heated through.
So what are you waiting for? It’s time to make this fabulous dish. I love to do it for meal prep and cook everything up on a Sunday for myself, then divide into containers. I’ve also included an easy recipe for a delicious toasted coconut brown rice that I think pairs well with the curry.
More healthy curry recipes to try
- Vegan & Gluten Free Curry Chickpea Pot Pie with Sweet Potato ‘Crust’
- Nourishing Yellow Chickpea Pumpkin Curry with Coconut Brown Rice
- Chopped Thai Chickpea Salad with Curry Peanut Dressing
- Curry Roasted Cauliflower Sweet Potato Salad
- Thai Peanut Coconut Cauliflower Chickpea Curry
Get all of our delicious curry recipes here!
I hope you all love this vegetarian Thai green curry recipe! If you make this recipe, be sure to rate the recipe and leave a comment below, or take a pic, upload it to Instagram and tag #ambitiouskitchen! xoxo love you guys.
Healing Lemongrass Chickpea Thai Green Curry
Ingredients
- For the brown rice:
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- 1 cup uncooked short grain brown rice
- 2 ½ cups water
- For the Thai green curry:
- 2 teaspoons olive oil or coconut oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ cup diced green onion
- 2 stalks lemongrass, tender white inner bulb only, minced
- 1 heaping cup diced carrots (about 3 large carrots)
- 1 tablespoon freshly minced ginger
- 3 tablespoons finely diced fresh basil
- 2 tablespoons green curry paste
- ½ teaspoon turmeric (or 1/2 tablespoon freshly ground turmeric)
- 1 (15 oounce) can lite coconut milk
- ½ cup vegetarian broth (or water)
- 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce (or coconut aminos)
- 1 lime, juiced
- ½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 cup frozen peas
- To garnish: Cilantro, green onion & hot sauce
Instructions
- To make the brown rice: Add one cup of brown rice to a pot along with 1 teaspoon of coconut oil. Toast rice over medium heat for 5 minutes until fragrant. Next add 2 ½ cups of water to the pot with the rice; bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 45 minutes.
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, add in garlic, green onion, lemongrass, carrots, fresh ginger, and diced fresh basil. Stir fry for about 5 minute until the onions begin to slightly brown. Next add in green curry paste and turmeric and stir for 30 seconds to release flavors.
- Add in coconut milk, vegetarian broth, chickpeas, soy sauce, lime juice, salt and red bell pepper. Stir well to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes, or until carrots are tender. Right before serving, stir in frozen peas. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.
- Serve over brown rice in a bowl and garnish with fresh cilantro, green onion and a dash of hot sauce if you like things spicy. Serves 4.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
I have made this recipe many times over the past 4 years. It has always turned out fantastically and everyone loves it!
So happy to hear that!
This is my go-to recipe when i don’t know what to cook for myself, or if i have guests over. It’s just the most delicious heart meal! I often eat it over mashed potato rather than rice, which is fun 🙂
Amazing! Love the idea of serving this over mashed potatoes 🙂
Regarding Step 1:
Should the rice be added to the pot of water? Otherwise I don’t know what is being simmered for 45 minutes…
Thank you for the catch! I’ve updated the instructions. You’ll toast the rice in the pot, then add the water to the same pot and simmer it all together.
This recipe is fantastic! Tons of flavor. I look forward to making it again and mixing and matching veggies! I added baked tofu to make it even more filling.
So good! Great idea to add tofu!
This recipe was delicious. I used the following modifications: I used lemon grass and ginger from a tube and just estimated. I used chicken thighs instead of chick peas as I needed to use them and I put this in the crock pot for 3 1/2 hours on low. Great flavor, will make again.
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
Loved this recipe! Question? What is the serving size that matches your nutritional facts? Does the nutritional facts include the rice?
I’m so glad! It’s 1/4 of the recipe and includes the rice 🙂
This dish is quite delicious, thank you for sharing this recipe with us.
Lovely Thai curry, nice and simple instructions, love the video playing next to the ingredients. I added a bit of fish sauce like you advised, it was great tasting and we all loved it👍👏👏👏
Doubled the recipe first time trying it because I knew it would be delicious and it is! The dish is full of beautiful colors and textures and tastes, and fun to improvise depending on what’s available. I have lemongrass in my garden, and it’s easy to grow. Lots of pluses for this dish – No dairy, no gluten, and wonderfully fragrant. Easy prep. Enjoy!
A lot thinner than the pic. Just ok. Coconut cream would’ve thickened this up like the pic, but much more calories
Hmm simmering the dish should help it to thicken up, but feel free to cut down on the broth just a bit if you’d like.
This turned out great!! Perfect for a meatless meal =)
I have made this recipe several times and it is awesome! It took me much longer than 15 minutes to gather and prep all the ingredients. Once cooking starts, it goes fast, so I recommend having your ingredients in order and ready before starting.
Good to know, thanks for the feedback! Glad it’s worth the effort 🙂
This was delicious!!! I didn’t have enough carrots so added parsnips which have a bit more spice. I used red pepper flakes to spice it up. Since my nose started running, the spice combo was perfect for me. I will make this again and add more veggies!
I added a fish sauce and garlic chili paste – this recipe was easy to follow and turned out delicious!
Oooh that sounds amazing!!
This was excellent – richly flavoured and satisfying. I like a slightly thicker sauce so added some almond butter. My only other advice is to allow more prep time. The mincing and chopping (which I do by hand) took me closer to 30 min.
So easy, so good! I’ve never made curry before and everything was at my local store, including lemongrass. Added broccoli for extra color! COVID is officially in our house and I was excited to make this and the chicken soup—left a review there, too!
Nice, happy you enjoyed it! Ooh love the addition of broccoli, too. Feel better!!
Really enjoyed this, made it tonight for dinner and lunches for the rest of the week! I didn’t have lemongrass or capsicum but it was still absolutely amazing. Really good start off for my new anti inflammatory healthy diet!
So glad to hear you loved it, Jordana 🙂
This was SO delicious! I made both the brown rice and soup with homemade bone broth for extra nutrients as well. Thank you for this!
Yay!! Glad that you enjoyed it. Thanks for the review ❤️
This curry dish is absolutely incredible and something we will make for our family probably close to every week! I think it would also be great with tofu and I am excited to try it next time.
This recipe is incredible. I love the name of it. I started making it during COVID 19, and I can’t stop. I use any and every vegetables I have on hand-from green beans to zucchini to snap peas. My favorite is adding cauliflower. I prefer red curry, so I change that out too. Even though this has chickpeas for protein, I sometimes add tofu that I have sautéed in a little coconut oil and salt. Bottom line-this recipe is amazing as is. It’s fun to alter and play with adding any veggie under the sun. It does feel very “healing” to make and digest. I do frequently cheat and use the lemon grass paste only because I find it the most tedious part of the recipe.
I’m SO happy you’re loving it, Sarah! Those are all amazing substitutions. And totally fine to use the lemongrass paste–total time-saver!
I started with a small cold today and this dish hit the spot! So refreshing and tasty! I am a huge fan of lemongrass and have a great grocery store (Jungle Jim’s) to purchase beautiful Thai dish necessities. I will definitely make this again!
So glad you loved this one, Linda! Hope you’re feeling better today 🙂
This was delicious and easy. I made this with chicken instead of chickpeas and I couldn’t find green curry so I used red and shaved off carbs by using cauli rice. I love your recipes!
I’m so thrilled to hear you loved it 🙂 Such a good idea to use cauli rice, and I bet red curry was delicious!
This recipe is one of my favourites and a definite go-to for busy nights when I don’t have a lot of time to cook. I’m not one to leave comments but this recipe is worth it. Canadian friends you can purchase a nice green curry paste at Oceans.
Thanks so much for the review, Jess! I’m SO happy to hear that you loved this one 🙂
This is so delicious! I couldn’t find lemongrass at the grocery store but they did have lemongrass paste and it worked really well! I took the skin off the chickpeas and mashed them a tad for my toddler and he loved every bite.
Perfect! So glad it was a hit 🙂
Super flavoursome and hearty – love the protein power in this recipe. Next time I’d definitely add some cubed sweet potato and broccoli florets. Really easy, straightforward recipe which is wholesome and so darn yummy! Highly recommend giving this one a go.
Sounds delicious! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Amazing! Loved it and can’t wait to eat leftovers for lunch.
So happy to hear that!
Very easy vegan meal! Also does not cost much at all to buy these ingredients at grocery store. I’ve made this multiple times and I always overdo it with the cilantro and scallions – huge fan of herbs. 🙂
Absolutely! Glad it’s a favorite 🙂
Great flavor. Easy to make. Entire family enjoyed it. Will make again. Added two cans of chick peas and an entire bag of peas. Ate over cauliflower rice.
Love it! Perfect dinner 🙂
This one turned out to be too hot for my taste….need to reduce the thai curry, or replace with mild curry, It highjacked completely the taste of this dish….
Sorry to hear that! The curry I have linked is very mild, so I’d suggest picking up a mild one next time.
I made this recipe several weeks ago and it was outstanding. I loved how the flavors came together and I think it was even better the second night. On the second night I had a left over salmon fillet which I flaked into the soup and it sent it over the top.
Amazing! So happy to hear that 🙂
My whole family LOVEDDDD this curry!! The flavors are amazing. We changed the recipe up a little bit though, because we aren’t the biggest fans of chickpeas.
We added a cup of green lentils instead of the chickpeas and also added about a cup of small cauliflower florets with the first round of ingredients. I was prepared to add a bit more liquid, but I didn’t need to.
I couldn’t get lemongrass, so I added some lemon juice along with the other liquids and then added about two tablespoons of chopped lemon balm (stems and leaves) towards the end of the cooking process,
We also used white rice instead of brown rice because that was what we had.
The curry paste we used was a bit spicy and was perfect for me and my husband, but a bit too much for my 1 year old. I added some yogurt to his portion and he devoured it! So definitely a great addition, if you need to reduce the heat or if you just love yogurt!
Perfect! This one’s great for customizing with what you have on-hand. So glad it was a hit!
This was so easy and delicious. I had never toasted brown rice in coconut oil before and it added such a beautiful touch. I am always hesitant with vegetarian dishes (though I try to incorporate them for sustainability and health) but this was totally filling and so flavourful. Highly recommend!
Absolutely! Perfect lunch or dinner 🙂
In my experience eating Thai food at places all over the US, red (Panang) and yellow (Massaman) curries are the mildest, and green is usually spiciest because of the inclusion of jalapeños or other green chile peppers. Perhaps the curry paste you’re buying is milder than usual. There’s something so delicious about jalapeño and coconut milk though!
You’re right about not freezing the rice and just making some fresh. Freezing rice tends to break up the grains.
Also, a little lemon juice and lime zest together can sub for lemongrass if there’s no Whole Foods or an Asian market nearby. Ive never cut it up small and left it in a recipe; I usually cut a stalk into pieces about 3 inches long, cook it in the recipe, and remove the pieces at the end. CHEERS
The green curry paste I use is very mild! Noted on those observations 🙂 And great tip with the lemongrass swap!
Love this recipe! I cook a cup of lentils and add them in at the end for protein. This time I threw in a handful of spinach at the end for a little extra greens.
Perfect! Great idea 🙂
This is so good! I love the flavors and also love that it feels comforting but is actually healthy! I used your tip of adding another can of chickpeas for extra protein, so it’s nice and filling, and I threw in some broccoli because I bought too much. Thank you!!
Absolutely! This one’s great for customizing. Glad you enjoyed!
This recipe was wonderful, great for meal prepping too. It was spicy and had a lot of bright notes all at the same time. The ginger and lemongrass made the recipe for me. Over the brown rice this was a hearty comforting bowl of food!
Such an easy and super tasty recipe! I love how easy it was to tweak for what I had in my fridge. Added spinach at the end for extra color and nutrition. Yummmm
Perfect! Such a great dinner!
This was so tasty and easy to make. We used homemade stock and we didn’t have chickpeas so we substituted lentils. Delish!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
Husband was feeling sick, so I made this this week. It’s really delicious! And super easy and quick to make. I really like a little zing with my curry, so I think the next time I may add more lime before I serve it.
So glad you found this one! The coziest dinner 🙂
Made this tonight for the first time. My wife and I both loved it and ate until we were stuffed! Lol. I did tweak it just a bit by adding a half a lime more of juice and a little more curry (love curry). My only question was the lemongrass. I was trying to find a soft part of it but the stalk was very crunchy. i kept peeling away (wasted a lot) to get to the middle, trying to find a soft inner piece.
Is that what the recipe wanted?
So glad you both enjoyed! And yes – just remove the outer stems!