Vegan Thai Red Curry with Mushrooms

This Vegan Thai Red Curry with Mushrooms is quick and easy but super flavorful. Ready in just 20 minutes, this healthy mushroom curry is perfect for a midweek meal and also freezer-friendly!

An Easy Vegetarian and Vegan Thai Red Curry

This vegan Thai red curry is super easy to make and requires just a few ingredients. If this curry doesn't fit your "easy midweek meals" list, I don't know what would! Just like my Thai sour green papaya curry (gaeng som), Thai panang curry and Thai green curry (gaeng keow wan), this curry is delicious, except that it's vegan. If you want the curry to be more filling, you can add tofu to it. 

Or, if you do eat meat, you can add anything from pork to chicken and beef - basically whatever floats your boat!

Video Tutorial

Vegetables to Use in Red Curry

I use the champignon or white button mushrooms in this recipe, and it turns out great every single time. I've tried shiitake mushrooms and they work great as well. However, if you cannot find these types of mushrooms, you can use a different type or even other veggies (or fruits, depending on how you look at them) like eggplant, squash, or sweet potato.

Making the Paste Vegan

Did you know that when you go to a Thai restaurant and order a vegan Thai red curry, the curry you get is a lot of times actually not vegan?! This is because many restaurants use a pre-made curry paste that usually includes the "Thai shrimp paste" as one of the ingredients. Traditionally, Thai red curry paste is made with Thai shrimp paste, but there is a vegan alternative to that these days. And the vegan ingredient you can use to replace the Thai shrimp paste is fermented soybean paste!

If you're going to make your own curry paste, then, of course, you're going to need more ingredients and time. So, I recommend you do that at the weekend. You can follow my step-by-step Thai red curry paste recipe here. But remember to replace the Thai shrimp paste, with fermented soybean paste as suggested above. For those of you who want to buy a Thai red curry paste and keep this curry recipe vegan, make sure the paste you're buying is vegan.

Ingredients

• 6.7 ounces or 200 milliliters of coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons of vegan Thai red curry paste (read my notes above about how to make it vegan!)
• 60 ounces of sliced champignon mushrooms
• ½ cup of water
• 1 cup of Thai basil leaves (about 4-5 stalks)
• 4-6 kaffir lime leaves, hand-torn

Instructions

1. Set a saucepan over medium-low heat. Once the pan is hot, add about 2 tablespoons of the coconut milk and all of the Thai red curry paste. Stir until the paste is fragrant.
2. Pour the rest of the coconut milk and all of the water into the saucepan and bring to a boil. 
3. Add the champignon mushrooms and stir for a few minutes.
4. Toss in the Thai basil leaves and then the kaffir lime leaves.
5. Cook for another minute or so. Then, turn off the heat and serve warm.

What to Serve with Vegan Thai Red Curry

Steamed rice! After all, this is a Thai curry so it's a no-brainer to serve it with rice, which is our staple. You can serve the curry over steamed rice or serve the curry in a larger bowl with a common spoon and share it with your family or friends. If you have a bit more time and want a fuller meal, you can also make my bean sprouts stir-fried with tofu puffs or easy cabbage stir-fry to accompany this vegan mushroom curry.

Storing and Reheating

As this curry is perfect for filling your freezer, you can make a big batch and freeze it in single servings or family-size portions. The curry will remain great in the freezer for about a month. This makes life during the week so much easier. You can just defrost the curry in the fridge 24 hours ahead of time, then bring to a boil in a saucepan.

On the other hand, if you're cooking this curry in an amount you can finish within a few days, you can store it in airtight containers in the refrigerator and microwave for 2-3 minutes when ready to eat.

Related Recipes

📖 Recipe