Best Thai Panang Chicken Curry
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Jul 14, 2025 
The Best Thai Panang Curry we’ve ever made! It’s an authentic curry recipe, straight from our Thailand travels. Cancel your takeout order and give it a try!
Our Favorite Panang Curry Recipe
Thai Panang Curry is a dish I swoon over. It’s rich and spicy with a distinctly unique flavor from the addition of kaffir lime leaves and panang curry paste. I could eat this every day of the week and never get tired of it!
To top it off, the fragrance of a good Panang curry is so intoxicating, it should be bottled in my humble opinion.
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
I have ordered Panang chicken curry numerous times at Thai restaurants, and experimented with homemade versions nearly as many times.
After much testing, I have finally come up with a recipe I feel is The Best Thai Panang Curry I’ve ever made, and possibly the best we’ve ever eaten.
I know that sounds braggy, and I do apologize, but this recipe is flipping amazing! Just taste it and you’ll forgive me.
Find a Local Asian Market
Our Best Thai Panang Chicken Curry is extremely simple to make. The catch is, that you will most likely have to go to an Asian market to gather the ingredients. But trust me, this Panang Curry recipe is worth the trip!
If you live in a large multicultural city, your standard grocery stores may have everything you need. If not, map-search Asian markets… Even small towns usually have one.
Once there, hand your grocery list over and ask the clerk to help you find the best brand of panang red curry paste, thick coconut milk, and fish sauce. Be sure to also pick up Thai basil leaves and kaffir lime leaves.
You can substitute other types of basil; however, the kaffir lime leaves cannot be replaced. The flavor is too unique to swap another ingredient or to leave it out. The Panang curry paste has some kaffir lime leaf in it, but it’s not enough.
Fresh kaffir lime leaves can be frozen for longevity. They do turn dark in the freezer, but retain their vibrant flavor, so you can use it again.
Panang Curry Ingredients
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs (or chicken breast)
- Sweet onion
- Red bell pepper
- Orange bell pepper
- Garlic cloves
- Coconut oil
- Panang red curry paste – made with lemongrass, galangal, shrimp paste, coriander seeds, lime zest, cumin seeds, and chilies
- Peanut butter
- Kaffir lime leaves
- Thick coconut milk (or coconut cream)
- Fish sauce
- Thai basil leaves or sweet basil
How To Make Panang Curry
Ready to make The Best Thai Chicken Curry you’ve ever tasted?
- Chop – Start by cutting chicken thighs, onions, and bell peppers into bite-size pieces.
- Smash – Then crush the kaffir lime leaves to help release their oils. They are tough little leaves so smash and twist away, until they smell very strong.
- Sauté – Sauté the onions, peppers, and garlic in a large skillet. Then add the panang curry paste and a spoonful of peanut butter to the center of the pan. Sauté the curry for a couple of minutes to intensify the flavor.
- Simmer – Then add the kaffir lime leaves, coconut milk, fish sauce, and chicken to the pan. Simmer the curry until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce thickens. Stir in Thai basil leaves and you have a dish worth drooling over.
Bold, fragrant, and oh-so delicious! Your local takeout joint has nothing on our Panang Curry recipe.
Find the full Chicken Panang Curry recipe with ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, and a video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this fabulous curry with jasmine rice, sticky rice, or even Thai Fried Rice!
Or serve alongside other Thai Recipes like…
- Thai Pad Kee Mao
- Chicken Satay
- Thai Pumpkin Curry (Vegan!)
- Nam Sod Lettuce Wraps (or Salad)
- Easy Chicken Pad Thai
- Tom Yum Soup
- Thai Larb Rolls (Keto)
- Thai Baked Turkey Meatballs
- Thai Mango Sticky Rice Recipe
- Thai Crab Fried Rice
- Spicy Thai Chicken Soup
- Thai Shrimp Curry Noodle Bowls
- Thai Quinoa Salad Recipe
- We also love Vietnamese Bun Cha Gio Bowls and Korean Bulgogi!
Thai Chicken Panang Curry Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs chopped
- 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 orange bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 4 ounces Panang red curry paste (1 can)
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter
- 12 kaffir lime leaves, crushed
- 13.5 ounces thick coconut milk, unsweetened (1 can)
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1/4 cup Thai basil leaves or sweet basil
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Chop the onions and peppers into rough 1-inch pieces. Mince the garlic. Then crush the kaffir lime leaves to help release their oils.
- Place a 14-inch skillet (or wok) over medium-high heat. Add the coconut oil. Once the oil melts, add the onions. Sauté for 1 minute, then add the peppers and garlic. Sauté another 2-3 minutes.
- Move the veggies to the sides of the skillet and add the panang red curry paste and peanut butter to the center of the pan. Sauté the curry for 2-3 minutes to intensify the flavor, moving around the pan. Then add the kaffir lime leaves, coconut milk, and fish sauce. Stir to blend.
- Stir in the chopped chicken and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce thickens. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in the basil leaves. Serve with rice, quinoa, or noodles.
Notes
Nutrition
Panang Chicken Curry FAQ
Panang curry paste is a type of red curry specific to Thailand and Laos.
It is less spicy and more aromatic than standard red curry paste. In a pinch you could substitute red curry paste, but the flavor will not be quite the same.
As mentioned above, you will need to make a stop at a local Asian market. However, this recipe is worth the trip… And Asian markets are tons of fun to explore!
Yes! As long as the curry paste and fish sauce you buy are gluten-free, the entire recipe is as well. Most are, but be sure to check the ingredients. P.S. This recipe is dairy-free as well!
This recipe will keep well for 5-7 days in the refrigerator. Keep in an airtight container. That makes this a fabulous MEAL PREP dish!
I’ve been making this now for about 3 years. I stick completely as the recipe is written and it’s amazing.
I recommend this to everyone who ever asks me if I have a good Thai curry recipe and it’s loved my all. My favourite Thai restaurant makes the best Penyang and this is up there with it! This recipe makes it deliciously saucy and the flavours are so fragrant and fresh.
Always a winner in our house and people coming for dinner offer request it! Thanks so much for your great recipes.
Overall, I think the process is good but as written, it’s both too spicy and has too much fish sauce for me. But I often have to tweak recipes to get them to my liking. Next time I’ll cut back on the curry paste and the fish sauce pretty dramatically. Might add additional veggies, like frozen peas or green beans or carrots.
The recipe turned out great, but I had to use lime zest to replace the kaffir lime leaves. Definitely special ordering those online to get the full profile next time.
This is a really great recipe! I usually double the peanut butter and add the fish sauce to taste. Easy recipe to remember too! It’s my go-to whenever I’m craving curry.
I made these about a month ago and they were awesome. Everyone loved them. I’m making them again tonight. I only wish that I could get the nutritional values on these because I am on Weight Watchers plan and please visit us: https://www.beckandbulow.com
I was so excited about this recipe. It was so highly rated. I couldn’t even eat it. Panang curry is my favorite. My go to. It’s a comfort food for me. I have always gotten it in the restaurant. This recipe was so salty I couldn’t eat it. The shear amount of curry paste and fish sauce was overwhelming. I read the recipe several times. I made sure to do my mise en place to make sure everything was measured properly and available when it was time to go in. I put in 4 times the peanut butter and still cannot taste peanut flavor at all. I really did want this to be awesome. I just can’t imagine assaulting my taste buds with it again.
I give this a 3 only because my husband ate it all and said that he’d eat it again with some tweaking.
I agree! 3 Tbs of fish sauce (I have the exact same brand of fish sauce that’s in the picture) was way too salty. I had to throw mine away. I think even 1 tablespoon is more than enough.
I used natural peanut butter, so it took me a bit to understand I needed to add sugar to the recipe (unexpected). The skinless, boneless chicken Thys turned into hard, tasteless lumps, I don’t understand what I did wrong. I cooked until they were no longer raw
Next time, I will add more veggies, a tablespoon more paste a tablespoon more peanut butter and a teaspoon of powdered red pepper. I like the heat
I just cooked this recipe and I must say it is fantastic ……. … only two tablespoons of fish sauce and instead of kaffir leaves I used lime zest …… congratulations from Italy
This was really delicious. I did make a couple changes so don’t sue me. I couldn’t find kaffir lime leaves so I used the zest of one whole lime. I reduced the fish sauce to 2 TBSP and added 2 TBSP of palm sugar, since this seems to be a standard ingredient in Thai recipes for panang. It was really delicious. As in I kept going back to the pan to steal spoonfuls of the sauce. BTW, I used Maesri brand panang curry paste. I don’t get all the comments about how spicy this dish is. I found it quite mild but extremely flavorful using the whole can of paste.
Agreed! I’m not sure what type of curry pastes everyone has been using but it’s definitely not “spicy” in the sense of heat. Americans and people who aren’t from Asia are typically the only ones that even use curry pastes, so it’s made for our lack of tolerance with heat so I’m not sure what everyone is using bc they are spicy with spices, but I’ve never had a curry paste that was actually hot spicy 🌶.
This was awesome!! I used the same fish sauce and curry pictured in the recipe. I may cut back a little bit on the fish sauce and curry next time but you can’t go wrong if you make it exactly as posted. My lips are still a little tingly from the spice! Thank you for the great recipe!
(I used shrimp and next time I’m going to try it with tofu👍)
I can’t remember if I posted this statement before, but if I did, here it is again. Not just a great asian dish. Not just a great panag. Possibly the most delicious thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. Mmmmm!
What onions should I use