These Instant Pot Red Curry Chicken Noodles come together in less than 30 minutes – you'll love this Thai-inspired meal idea!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Olive oil – any neutral oil will work in place of olive oil like sunflower oil, grapeseed oil and vegetable oil.
- Chicken breast – chicken breast is a leaner option but chicken thighs will also work well in this recipe and may be a juicier option!
- Garlic – use fresh or jarred minced garlic for this recipe.
- Ginger – fresh grated ginger or ginger paste can both be used.
- Red curry paste – if you are able to make your own homemade curry paste, use that. Otherwise, store-bought red curry paste is an easy choice that still tastes great.
- Coconut milk – full fat coconut milk adds an authentic red curry taste to this recipe. If necessary, you can substitute coconut milk with Greek yogurt, heavy cream or any non-dairy milk of your choice.
- Soy sauce – instead of soy sauce, you can use tamari or coconut aminos.
- Red pepper – any other bell pepper colour will work well in this dish.
- Snow peas – substitute snow peas with sugar snap peas, edamame or green beans. You can also opt out of the peas and use another veggie of your choice like broccoli, carrots or bok choy.
- Rice noodles – vermicelli noodles can be used instead of rice noodles. If you're not worried about gluten, you can use linguine of fettuccine in place of the rice noodles.
- Peanuts – these are great to garnish the dish with, but you can leave them off if need be.
- Sesame seeds – garnish with black or white sesame seeds or leave these off.
- Cilantro – leave the cilantro off if you’re not a fan.
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How to make this recipe
- Add everything to the Instant Pot in order.
- Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes.
- Boil the noodles.
- Top the noodles with the curry.
- Serve and enjoy!
Making this dish on the stovetop
Don’t have an Instant Pot handy? No worries! You can easily make these red curry chicken noodles on the stovetop as well. Here’s how:
- Sauté the chicken in a pan on the stovetop.
- Add the garlic, ginger and red curry paste.
- Stir in the coconut milk, soy sauce, red pepper and snap peas.
- Cook until the veggies are tender.
- Boil the noodles as normal.
- Serve the curry over noodles and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe has 454 calories per serving. If you want to cut down on the calorie count a bit, you can use low-fat coconut milk, but the curry won’t be as creamy.
Red curry is hotter or spicier than green curry. Red curry is made with lots of chilies, whereas green curry contains basil, coriander and chili peppers in addition to a range of other ingredients.
This dish definitely has a bit of kick to it, but it’s not overwhelmingly spicy. If you want to cut down on the spice a bit, I suggest using a homemade red curry paste so you can control the number of chilies that go into it.
Storing and reheating
I recommend storing any leftovers in individual glass meal prep containers for up to 5 days. This recipe is great for meal prep! Just pull a container out of the fridge then reheat it in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes. Garnish your curry with crushed peanuts, sesame seeds and cilantro then enjoy.
Freezing this recipe
You can freeze this red curry in an airtight container or freezer-safe Ziploc bag for up to 3 months. To reheat, let it defrost in the fridge overnight then reheat as normal.
You can also freeze the leftover chicken on its own separately for future meals. If you decide to freeze your chicken, make sure it has cooled down entirely then freeze it for up to 3 months.
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Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on storing the leftovers.
- These are the vermicelli noodles I buy.
- And of course I get all my free-range chicken breasts from Butcher Box!
Instant Pot Red Curry Chicken Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 chicken breasts, diced into 1-inch cubes
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp fresh minced ginger
- 1/4 cup store-bought or homemade red curry paste
- 1 can full fat coconut milk
- 2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari if gluten-free
- 1 red pepper, sliced
- 1 cup snow peas
- 8 oz rice noodles
- Chopped peanuts, for topping
- sesame seeds, for topping
- Chopped fresh cilantro, for topping
Instructions
- Dump all ingredients except for red pepper, snow peas, rice noodles and toppings into Instant Pot. Set to manual and pressure cook on high for 3 minutes. Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to pre-heat and then the 3 minutes to cook. When complete, press cancel and do a quick release of the steam, waiting until the pressure gauge drops back down and the lid is safe to open.
- Meanwhile, boil water in your kettle then pour over noodles and stir, soaking in a large bowl for 1-2 minutes until noodles are just softened (they should be hard at the centre). Drain and set aside.
- When Instant Pot is safe to open, press saute mode and add red peppers and snow peas, sauteeing for 5 minutes. Add cooked rice noodles to bowls, then top with curry mixture and toppings. Serve and enjoy!
STOVETOP INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan over med-high heat. Add chicken, seasoning with salt and pepper and sauteeing for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned. Add in garlic, ginger and red curry paste, sauteeing another 30 seconds until fragrant. Finally, add coconut milk, soy sauce, red pepper and snap peas, sauteeing for another 7-8 minutes until the veggies are tender.
- Meanwhile, boil water in your kettle then pour over noodles and stir, soaking in a large bowl for 1-2 minutes until noodles are just softened (they should be hard at the centre). Drain and set aside.
- Add cooked rice noodles to bowls, then top with curry mixture and toppings. Serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Carrie Maier says
I would love to alternate this with prawns vs. chicken. Any suggestions how to do the prawns in this receipe?
Taylor Stinson says
Unfortunately I don’t think it would work with this recipe 🙁 The shrimp would get overcooked in the Instant Pot and if you cook the noodles without any protein I also fear they would get overcooked. I wish I could help but I haven’t tested it.
Jessie says
Hello! First just want to say LOVE your blog and the recipes. I made this recipe and I loved the flavor, but the sauce turned out super watery. Do you have any suggestions to thicken it up?
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Jessie – you can mix 1 tbsp cornstarch with 1 tbsp water and then stir into the noodles and saute for 2-3 minutes. That should do the trick!
Rose says
Can you put the noodles in the instant pot to cook?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Rose! Yes you can – keep the noodles floating on top as you see in this recipe: https://thegirlonbloor.com/instant-pot-honey-sesame-chicken-noodle-bowls/
Melissa says
I really want to try this recipe but I don’t have an instant pot I can do this in my crock pot or stove top? If so do any of the instructions change?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Melissa! You could definitely do this on the stovetop! Just put all the ingredients in a pot on the stove save for veggies, noodles and toppings. Cook for 15 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked through then stir in the veggies and cook another 5 min. Add the noodles that are cooked separately and your toppings and that should be all there is to it!
Leah says
Made this for supper last night and it was a huge hit in our house!! From taking the stuff out of the fridge to sitting down to eat it was under 30 minutes – my kinda meal 🙂 I think next time I make it I will add a few tablespoons of fish sauce at the beginning and then in addition to the peppers and peas, add onions and bean sprouts at the end. We served it over rice as I already had some cooked. Thank you for a new meal to add to the regular rotation!!!
Rebecca says
Looks delish!! I’ve been making your recipes after recently discovering your recipes – so good!! Do you have another recipe for those who don’t have an instant pot? 🙁
Taylor Stinson says
Aww thanks Rebecca! 🙂 This recipe can easily be done without the Instant Pot – you could always cook the chicken, ginger, garlic and onions on the stove then add in the curry paste and coconut milk and stir in the red pepper and snap peas and cook those for 5 min or so. Cook the noodles separately as you would do with the Instant Pot version then pour the curry overtop in a bowl. I do have a similar stovetop version of this recipe from years ago (when I was first blogging so my cooking skills weren’t as up to par, haha) but I mix the noodles in with the sauce in that one (linked here: https://thegirlonbloor.com/thai-red-coconut-curry-noodle-bowls/) and I find it that mixing the noodles and sauce instead of just pouring overtop kind of makes them soggy and at risk of absorbing too much liquid. Hopefully you’ll be able to try this newer version instead though with the tips I’ve listed above…it’s one of my faves 🙂
Kat says
What might the timing be in a regular slow cooker?
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Kat – unfortunately I couldn’t really tell you because this isn’t a slow cooker recipe. If I had to guess, you could put the chicken and curry sauce ingredients in for 6-8 hours on low and see if it turns out, then do the noodles and veggies separate from there. Hope that helps!
Sonal says
I have got it cooking now, with some tweaks. Using green curry paste as opposed to red (since it was all i had on hand) and a bag of frozen asian veggies….cant wait to try it!
Taylor Stinson says
Oooooh green curry sounds fantastic Sonal!!! Hope it turned out deliciously for you!
Victor says
Hi there, fellow Torontonian. What a lovely bowl! Makes my mouth water,
Taylor Stinson says
Thanks so much Victor 🙂
Karly says
Super easy and looks delicious! Can’t wait to try this!
Taylor Stinson says
Thanks so much Karly!!! Let me know if you do! 🙂