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You can think of pad prik king as a kind of a "dry curry". It's a dish that concentrates the iconic flavours of Thai food into one quick and easy stir-fry. Chicken and crunchy long beans tossed in salty-sweet red curry paste, and served with creamy salted duck egg. It can easily be modified to work with other proteins as well.
What is Pad Prik King
Pad prik king is a stir fry of protein with red curry paste and makrut lime leaves (aka kaffir lime leaves). The flavour profile is salty and sweet, and it's usually medium to mild when it comes to heat. It's a dry stir fry, so all of the flavours are concentrated and coating all of the meat and vegetables, delivering an explosion of flavour with every bite. It really is one of my faves!
In Thai, pad means to stir fry, prik means chilies, and king means ginger, which is kind of odd because there is no ginger in this recipe! From what I could find, the most likely story behind this dish name is that it's supposed to be about as spicy as ginger, so not super hot like some other Thai dishes can be.
Ingredients and Notes
Here are all the ingredients you need and important notes about them. For amounts, see the recipe card below.
- Chicken breast or thigh,boneless skinless, cut into bite-sized pieces. I always prefer thighs, but in the video I did show you how to use chicken breast because it's important not to cut them too thin to prevent them from drying out too fast.
- Fish sauce, you'll need some for marinating chicken and another amount for the stir fry. How much you need for the stir fry will depend on how salty the curry paste is to start, so be sure to add just a teaspoon, then taste and add more as needed.
- Cooked salted duck egg,this is optional but it is often added to pad prik king and I think it works so well. The creamy saltiness contrasts the slightly sweet stir fry beautifully. You can buy salted duck eggs at any Chinese supermarket, but be sure to buy COOKED ones, not raw.
- Neutral flavored oil
- Red curry paste. Store bought is totally fine, but you can also make your own curry paste using my red curry paste recipe. Brands of Thai curry paste vary greatly, so I recommend Maeploy, Aroy-D, or Namjai for best flavours. If using Maesri in little tins or Thai Kitchen, they are much weaker and you will need to double the amount of paste to get the same flavour.
- Palm sugar,finely chopped, packed, or sub light brown sugar
- Unsalted chicken stock or water
- Long beans, also known as string beans of Chinese long beans have a nuttier and firmer crunch than green beans, but if you cannot find them, you can use French green beans instead (the smaller, skinnier ones).
- Makrut lime leaves,this is a key ingredient for pad prik king, if you can't find fresh, check the frozen section as frozen ones work just as well!
- Jasmine rice,for serving.
How to Make Pad Prik King
Here's a bird's eye view of the steps involved, if it's your first time I highly recommend watching the video tutorial first to ensure success. Detailed steps are in the recipe card below.
- Toss thechickenwithfish sauce and let marinate while you prep other ingredients.
- If using, cut thesalted duck eggsright through the shell in half, then use a spoon to scoop the halves out. At this point you can either cut each half into chunks and toss them into the stir-fry, or serve it on the side.
- Heat the oil over high heat until very hot and sear half the chicken without stirring until browned, about 1 minute. Once browned, stir the chicken briefly just to cook the surface of the other side, and then remove from the pan. Repeat with the remaining chicken.
- With the heat OFF, add a little more oil and add stir in the curry paste until it's loosened, then turn the heat on to medium and cook for about 2 minutes until aromatic. Then stir inthepalm sugar,fish sauce,and deglaze with a little chicken stock or water and stir until sugar is dissolved.
- Add the tornmakrut lime leavesand let them infuse into the sauce for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly. If the sauce looks thick by this point, add a little more stock or water to get it into an pourable consistency.
- Add the chicken back in and toss just to coat in the sauce.
- Add thelong beansand cook until the chicken is fully cooked and the sauce is no longer pooling and the curry paste is coating the chicken and the beans. If you want to add thesalted duck eggchunks into the stir-fry, toss them in at this point and toss just to mix.
- Remove from heat and transfer to a plate. Garnish with finelyjulienned makrut lime leavesand if you didn't mix the duck eggs in, place the eggs on the side. Serve withjasmine rice.and enjoy!
Variations of Pad Prik King in Thailand
In Thailand, the most common version of pad prik king is actually made with deep fried catfish. Thai catfish are sliced into steaks, the bone-in steaks are then deep fried until the outside is crunchy, and then that gets stir fried with the curry paste.
This is typically done in restaurants because prepping and frying the catfish in this manner is pretty involved. For home cooking, we tend to use easier protein options such as chicken and pork (pork belly is very popular). A vegetarian version that use TVP (texturized vegetable protein) or deep fried tofu is also quite common during the vegan festival (chay festival) in Thailand.
Similar Recipes You Might Like
If you love pad prik king, there are a few other dishes you might also enjoy.
- Pad ped is also a red curry stir fry, but it is saucier, less sweet, and this version uses coconut milk.
- Cauliflower Yellow Curry Stir Fry. Once you get a hang of stir frying with curry paste, try this recipe as your next veggies for the meal!
- Red Curry Stir Fry with Chicken (pad ped gai)
- Quick Cauliflower Curry Stir Fry
Pad Prik King - Thai Red Curry Stir Fry with Chicken
By: Pailin Chongchitnant
This authentic recipe for pad prik king is quick and easy, but delivers an explosion of flavours. Spicy red curry paste is stir fried with tender juicy chicken and crunchy long beans, this dish truly represents the essence of Thai cuisine.
5 from 9 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes mins
Cook Time 15 minutes mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Thai
Servings 3
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breast or thigh, cut into bite-sized pieces (if using breast, make sure it's at least 1 cm thick)
- 2 teaspoon fish sauce, for marinating chicken
- 1 cooked salted duck egg, optional, but recommended (see note 3)
- 3 tablespoon Neutral flavored oil
- 3 tablespoon red curry paste, or more if you like it spicier (see note 1)
- 2 tablespoon palm sugar, finely chopped, packed, or sub light brown sugar
- 1-3 teaspoon fish sauce, for the stir fry (see note 2)
- ½ cup unsalted chicken stock or water
- 1 ½ cup long beans, cut into 1.5” pieces
- 7 makrut lime leaves, 5 torn into chunks, 2 finely julienned
- Jasmine rice , for serving
Check Out Ingredients and Kitchen Tools I Use
Notes
- Brands of Thai curry paste vary greatly. I recommend Maeploy, Aroy-D, or Namjai for best flavours. If using Maesri in little tins or Thai Kitchen, they are much weaker and you will need to double the amount of paste to get the same flavour.
- Some brands of curry pastes are saltier than others, so start with 1 teaspoon of fish sauce and add more as needed.
- You can buy cooked salted duck eggs at any Chinese/Asian supermarket. Make sure you buy the one that is cooked, not raw.
FULL VIDEO TUTORIAL
All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video to ensure success. If you enjoy them, consider subscribing to the YouTube Channel to not miss an episode. Thank you!
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Instructions
Toss the chicken with 2 teaspoon of fish sauce. Let chicken marinate while you prep other ingredients, about 15 minutes.
1 lb chicken breast or thigh, 2 teaspoon fish sauce
If using, cut the salted duck eggs right through the shell in half, then use a spoon to scoop the halves out. From here you have two options: you can cut each half into chunks and toss them into the stir-fry, or cut the halves into wedges and serve on the side and let people take as much as they want.
1 cooked salted duck egg
In a wok or a large skillet, add just enough of the oil to coat the bottom and heat over high heat until the pan is very hot. Add about half of thechicken and spread it into a single layer, being sure not to crowd the pan.Let the chicken sear without stirring until browned, about 1 minute.
Once browned, stir the chicken briefly just to cook the surface of the other side, and then remove from the pan, leaving any excess oil behind—the chicken is not supposed to be fully cooked at this point. Repeat with the remaining chicken.
3 tablespoon Neutral flavored oil
Let the pan cool a bit, then with the heat OFF, add a little more oil as needed just so you have at least a tablespoon of oil in the pan. Add the curry paste and stir the curry paste in the oil until it's loosened, then turn the heat on to medium. Cookthe curry paste, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes until aromatic.
3 tablespoon red curry paste
Stir inthe palm sugar, fish sauce, and deglaze with ¼ cup of the chicken stock or water. Keep stirring until the sugar is mostlydissolved, deglazing with more stock/water as needed if it starts to stick to the pan.
2 tablespoon palm sugar, 1-3 teaspoon fish sauce, ½ cup unsalted chicken stock or water
Add the torn makrut lime leaves and let them infuse into the sauce for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
7 makrut lime leaves
If the sauce looks thick, add a little more stock or water to get it into an pourable consistency. Add the chicken back in and toss just to coat in the sauce. Add the long beans and cook until the chicken is fully cooked and the sauce is no longer pooling and the curry paste is coating the chicken and the beans. If you want to add the salted duck egg chunks into the stir-fry, toss them in at this point and stir just to mix.
1 ½ cup long beans
Remove from heat and transfer to a plate. Garnish with finely julienned makrut lime leaves and if you didn't mix the duck eggs in, place the eggs wedges on the side. Serve with jasmine rice. and enjoy!
Jasmine rice
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Jess
Can you substitue salted duck eggs with preserved duck eggs?
Reply
Pailin Chongchitnant
You sure can if that's what you prefer!
Reply
Adele
the best! Added Serrano or Thai chilies for extra spice.Reply
Tamar
I really love this recipe. It comes together so quickly with so little prep. I really wanted this for dinner but only had ground chicken so I followed steps 2, 4 (added t soy sauce) and 5 (minus sauce) of the Pad Kra Pao recipe and followed the other steps here (sautéed veg separately as well and added it and the meat back to the sauce). It worked well with the ground chicken (no slicing chicken necessary 👍🏼).Reply
Stephen Chan
Great and easy dish to make for a weeknight dinner. The combination of red curry paste and magrut/kaffir lime leaves reminds me of another great dish Haw Mok, a fish red curry custard. So if you like this dish, go try that one too, Pai has a video for that.Reply
Natasha
This tastes great--just like at a restaurant! I use garden produce, so usually green beans, though today it was green beans and some cubed zucchini. I usually blanch my green beans for a minute so I don't have to worry about them being completely done. Thanks for the recipe! It's a lovely dish and we've had it twice for lunch in the past week. 🙂Reply
Alexandra
Made this recently. It was excellent. I enjoyed a new way to use rec curry paste. Thank you for this.Reply
Jessie
Pad prik king is my favorite Thai dish, and this is just as delicious as my favorite restaurant The note about the fish sauce is pretty key. My curry paste must be must be pretty salty bc I only used 1 tsp fish sauce and it is almost too salty. Going to make my own curry paste once I use up this store bought one. This is a delicious, delicious recipe.Reply
Daniel
Outstanding recipe Pae! Before I found you, I tried to make this a couple of times myself, but I always screwed it up and it was lousy because I didn't know what I was doing. But then I found you and learned how to cook Thai food correctly.I watched your video and followed the recipe exactly, and it turned out perfect. Restaurant quality, all thanks to you! I'll be making this recipe frequently.
Reply
Sakuna
Delicious! Make this all the time. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.!Reply
Richard
Quick, and tasty! This came together in under an hour. Will definitely make this again!!!Reply
