Instant Pot Thai Green Curry is a creamy coconut curry with the flavors of green chilies, Thai Basil, lime, coriander, and cumin. This spicy curry is as good as your favorite restaurant Thai green curry but is so quick and easy that it can be ready in less than 30 minutes. Serve it with Instant Pot Jasmine Rice for an amazing flavor combination!

Introduction

My family loves Thai food and we used to go out to Thai restaurants all the time, but now we hardly ever do. I’m usually my own worst critic, and for me to say this is not easy: I think the Thai curries that I make at home are as good as restaurant Thai curries.

Best of all, they are so quick and easy that I can have dinner on the table in 20 minutes if I prep the ingredients ahead of time and cook the Jasmine rice and curry in the Instant Pot at the same time (together!) using the pot-in-pot method.

If you want to find out more about my quest to create the best Thai curries at home, please read my Instant Pot Thai Red Curry with Chicken. The bottom line is that ingredients make a big difference.

I usually like to use Thai eggplants in my Instant Pot green curry but I visited the Asian store three times in the past week and they were all out! So I made the curry with zucchini and bell peppers.

I like to use green vegetables just for aesthetics, but you can substitute any vegetables of your choice.

Thai green curry paste has a wonderful combination of flavors including green chilies, garlic, galangal ginger, shallots, lemongrass, lime leaves, coriander, cumin, cardamom, turmeric, and black pepper.

Out of all the Thai curries, massaman curry is the mildest and green curry is the hottest/spiciest. Even at Thai restaurants, I get the other curries medium or spicy, but I like to order mild green curry because it’s still pretty spicy!

Here are some Thai recipes you might like to try out

– Instant Pot Thai Red Curry

– Instant Pot Thai Massaman Curry

– Instant Pot Thai Panang Curry

– Instant Pot Thai Yellow Curry

– Instant Pot Thai Peanut Noodles

– Instant Pot Thai Coconut Soup (Tom Kha Gai)

– Instant Pot Thai Grilled Chicken (Gai Yang)

– Instant Pot Jasmine Rice

TIPS AND SUBSTITUTIONS Green Curry Paste Maesri and Mae Ploy are my two favorite Thai curry paste brands. I can’t emphasize enough how much of a difference the brand makes. You can find them at Southeast Asian grocery stores or on amazon. In my experience, getting the brand of Thai green curry paste available at regular grocery stores does not produce great flavor. If the curry is too spicy at the end, add some more coconut milk when you’re cooking the vegetables. Lime Leaves Lime leaves (also known as k-lime, makrut or kaffir lime leaves) add unique flavor to Thai curries. You can find them at Asian grocery stores. I highly recommend using them. They keep very well in the freezer! I like to either scrunch up the lime leaves and bruise them before adding them to the curry or chiffonade them by cutting them into very thin strips. This releases the oils from the leaves and adds a stronger flavor. If you can’t find lime leaves, add an extra teaspoon or two of lime juice. Taste as you go. Thai Basil Thai basil is another ingredient you can find at an Asian grocery store. It, too, adds a unique flavor to Thai recipes and I recommend trying to find it. But if you can’t locate Thai basil, substitute with regular Italian basil.

Fish Sauce I really like the quality of Red Boat fish sauce which you can find at Asian grocery stores or on amazon. But it is more expensive than other fish sauce brands. Tiparos is another brand of fish sauce I’ve used – it’s more affordably priced. There’s no substitute for fish sauce. It adds that depth of flavor, the umami, to dishes. I’ve had vegetarian readers recommend the Fysh brand of sauce. But I haven’t tried it. You may need to add a little extra. Soy sauce is also a substitute for fish sauce, but there is a flavor difference. Palm Sugar Palm sugar is more authentic to a Thai curry than brown sugar is. However, I frequently use brown sugar without sacrificing taste. Coconut Milk I use full-fat coconut milk. I find some coconut milk brands don’t do well during pressure cooking, including some brands that are widely available at grocery stores. My two favorite brands are Aroy-D and Chaokoh. Some readers recommend Trader Joe’s brand coconut milk. I frequently get questions about the coconut milk curdling after being pressure cooked in the Instant Pot. Yes, it will appear to be curdled when you open the Instant Pot. But once you stir it up and cook the vegetables in the curry sauce, the curry should be very smooth. Meats and Tofu You can easily substitute other meats or tofu for the chicken, but you’ll have to adjust the cooking time – here are some approximate times. Note: the timing for meat is for bite-size strips! Pork shoulder: 8 minutes Natural Pressure Release (NPR)

Beef chuck: 12 minutes NPR

Extra-firm tofu, cubed: 2 minutes, Quick Release (QR) Vegetables I sometimes choose to decrease the quantity of chicken and double the quantity of vegetables, so we eat less meat and more veggies. Spiciness This recipe makes a green curry that’s fairly spicy, but not extreme. If you’re unsure, start with just 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of the green curry paste, and next time you can adjust the heat. Doubling the Recipe You can double all the ingredients in the recipe and pressure cook for the same amount of time. Just make sure your ingredients don’t go past the 2/3-full mark. Splatter Screen When you’re sauteing ingredients in the Instant Pot, the bubbling mixture can splatter. I like to use a splatter screen to cover the inner pot during this saute process. Burn Message If you regularly encounter the ‘burn’ message, feel free to add 1/4 cup of chicken broth when pressure cooking the coconut milk.

[Read more: Instant Pot Burn Message]



If you’re new to the Instant Pot and aren’t familiar with how to use it, you might find it helpful to first read one of the following guides and then come back here to learn how to make this recipe.

– Instant Pot DUO Beginner’s Manual

– Instant Pot ULTRA Beginner’s Manual

– Instant Pot DUO EVO PLUS Beginner’s Manual

– Instant Pot DUO NOVA Beginner’s Manual

Instant Pot Thai Green Curry – Ingredients

Zucchini

Chicken

Onion

Water/broth

Bell pepper

Bamboo shoots

Thai basil Coriander

Cumin

Brown sugar

Green curry paste

Fish sauce

Coconut milk

Lime juice (missing from photo)

How to Make Green Curry in the Instant Pot (Step by Step Instructions)

Turn on Saute Mode Saute spices and coconut milk Add remaining coconut milk and chicken Pressure cook Quick-release pressure Add vegetables and seasonings and saute

Turn on Saute Mode

Instant Pot DUO: Select the Saute function.

Select the function. Instant Pot ULTRA: Select the Saute function and press Start.

Saute Spices and Coconut Milk

Stir together green curry paste and 1/2 can of coconut milk and saute until mixture is bubbly, a minute or two. Use a splatter screen if necessary, to guard against splatters from the coconut milk.

Stir in coriander and cumin and cook for 30 seconds.

Add Remaining Coconut Milk and Chicken

Press Cancel to turn off Instant Pot.

to turn off Instant Pot. Stir in chicken, remaining coconut milk, and chicken broth or water.

Instant Pot Duo Pressure Cook 4 minutes

Close the lid and make sure steam release handle is in Sealing position

position Press Manual (or Pressure Cook) and + or – until the display reads 4 (4 minutes).

Instant Pot Ultra Pressure Cook 4 minutes

Close the lid.

Select Pressure Cook mode and adjust the time to 4 minutes ( 00:04 ).

mode and adjust the time to 4 minutes ( ). Press ‘Start’.

Pressure Cooking Process (Duo and Ultra)

Instant Pot display will change to On .

. Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.

The display will count down to 0; it will then switch to Keep Warm mode and display L0:00 or 00 00 and begin to count up the number of minutes since pressure cooking completed.

How to Quick Release Pressure (QR) on the DUO

Move the steam release handle to Venting . Steam will come out of the steam release handle.

. Steam will come out of the steam release handle. When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.

Press Cancel and open the Instant Pot.

How to Quick Release Pressure (QR) on the ULTRA

Press down on the Steam Release Button until it locks into place, and steam begins to come out of the Steam Release Valve.

When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.

Press Cancel and open the Instant Pot.

[Find out more about the pressure release methods and how and when to use them. ]

Add Vegetables and Seasonings and Saute

Select Saute mode.

mode. Stir in fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, bell pepper, zucchini, onion, bamboo shoots, and lime leaves.

Cook until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. Don’t overcook, as the vegetables will continue to cook in the residual heat.

Taste and adjust with more fish sauce, brown sugar or lime juice.

Stir in the Thai basil leaves.

I am not a certified nutritionist. I provide my best estimate of nutritional information merely as a courtesy to my readers. If you depend on nutritional information for dietary or health reasons, I suggest using your favorite online nutrition calculator to confirm the nutritional value of this recipe based on the actual ingredients that you use. If you loved this recipe, please give it a five ⭐ rating in the comment section below and please share it on social media using the social media share buttons at the top and bottom of this post. Thank you so much! BACK TO TOP

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