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This ultra-delicious Thai-inspired butternut squash red curry is creamy, spicy, rich, and comforting! The sweet butternut squash pairs beautifully with all the red curry spices.
And here it is!
Thai butternut squash red curry has always been one of the most popular recipes on my blog. And the taste is incredible!
Maybe it’s the fact that it’s loaded with vegetables, but it’s also very customizable? Like chickpeas? Throw in a can! Let it bubble and simmer away with thai curry paste until the whole house smells delicious. Top the curry recipe with fresh herbs like chopped cilantro and serve it up with brown rice or white rice.
Thank goodness it’s butternut squash season again—AKA the best season there is, in my very humble opinion. Because, um… hello! Butternut squash red Thai curry is actually a thing. And it’s creamy, spicy, sweet, crunchy, comforting, and just downright addicting. Something I’ve been waiting all summer long to share. But who makes spicy curry in the summertime other than me?
Everything we love about food in general all rolled into one easy curry recipe. What I need you to know is that this is weeknight curry. We’re using store-bought red curry paste and really amping up the flavor with a little yellow curry powder. WHAT.
Yes friends. The yellow curry powder adds so much spice and flavor to this easy one-pot butternut squash curry.
How to Make Butternut Squash Curry:
Butternut squash curry ingredients:
- Basmati Rice: You can also serve this with naan, quinoa, white rice, or brown rice!
- Coconut Oil: I like to cook curry recipes that naturally use coconut milk in coconut oil to help enhance the flavor. You could also use avocado oil or any other oil that you typically cook with.
- Shallots: I like to use shallots for most Thai recipes that I make. If you happen to have a red or yellow onion on hand, you could make that swap too!
- Butternut Squash: We’ll dice the squash and simmer it in the curry until it’s fork-tender! Even my never-vegetarian hubby loves this recipe!
- Fresh Ginger: We’ll add grated ginger to the curry to amp up the flavor.
- Red Curry Paste: Buy a good brand of red curry paste, as most of the flavor in this recipe comes from it. This is my favorite brand.
- Yellow Curry Powder: contains ingredients like cumin, turmeric, and other seasonings. You can use any mild yellow curry powder you like. Here’s what you need.
- Coconut Milk: I like to use full-fat coconut milk for this recipe, but a low-fat version will work too. Coconut milk helps thicken the curry, so this recipe is naturally gluten-free.
- Vegetable Broth or Chicken broth: This is what helps thin out the coconut milk and makes a delicious curry that you can spoon over your rice.
- Fish Sauce: adds umami to the recipe. Feel free to omit this if you follow a strict vegetarian or vegan diet. This is my favorite brand.
- Sugar: helps balance the salt in the recipe.
- Baby Spinach: adds color and is another source of fiber and nutrition.
Making Butternut Squash Curry:
- Serve it up. Grab a bowl and load it up with your favorite rice or quinoa. Then top it with this freshly made, extremely fragrant curry recipe! Sprinkle some crushed peanuts or cashews on top and cilantro. Squeeze on fresh lime juice to really wake up the flavors!
- Saute the aromatics. Start by heating the oil in a skillet. Once melted, add the shallots and give them plenty of time to sweat down and become golden. Then, add the butternut squash and grated ginger.
- Simmer the curry. Once the butternut squash is well coated in the oil, we’ll add in the red curry paste and curry powder and stir until the squash cubes have a chance to get nicely coated in these ingredients. Continue to cook until the curry starts to get fragrant. Add the broth, coconut milk, fish sauce, and sugar. Bring the curry to a simmer, then lower the heat and allow the squash to cook until it’s completely fork-tender. You’ll know it’s done when a fork pierces through the cubes without any resistance. Stir in the baby spinach.
FAQs about this recipe
Swap it for sweet potatoes if you’d like.
Keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat in the microwave before serving.
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- 20-Minute Panang Chicken Curry
- Chicken Tikka Masala
- Creamy Coconut Curry with Shrimp and Corn
- Curried Butternut Squash Soup
- Finger Lickin’ Butter Chicken
Thai Butternut Squash Red Curry
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoons coconut oil or any oil really
- 1 shallot chopped
- 2-2 1/2 cups diced butternut squash about 1.5 pounds
- 1 tablespoon ginger grated
- 2-3 tablespoons red curry paste
- 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
- 15 ounce can coconut milk
- 3/4 cup vegetable stock or chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce omit for vegans/vegetarians
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3-4 cups fresh baby spinach
- cooked basmati rice
- for serving crushed cashews/ peanuts, cilantro, lime wedges for serving
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium high heat. Add the shallots and saute them for 5-6 minutes or until they just begin to get golden. Add the butternut squash and grated ginger, stir to coat with the oil.
- Add the red curry paste, yellow curry powder and stir until all the butternut squash is nicely coated. Continue to cook the curry paste for 2-3 minutes or until it's fragrant. Add the broth, coconut milk, fish sauce, and sugar. Let the sauce come to a simmer before covering.
- Lower the heat and allow the squash to cook all the way through, about 12-18 minutes. You'll know it's done when you can easily pierce the butternut squash with the tip of a knife. Stir in the baby spinach and allow it to wilt.
- Serve with basmati rice topped with crushed nuts, cilantro, and lime wedges.
Notes
- Kale can be used in place of the spinach in this recipe but keep in mind you’ll need to add it in earlier so that it has enough time to wilt.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
I never leave comments under recipe but this one is actually REALLY REALLY DELICIOUS!!!! Definitely make this recipe! I just made it for the second time and this time I added some chicken in which was tasty!
Don’t usually leave comments but this recipe was amazing! Sent to all my friends and will definitely be making again.
So good! We’ll be making this one again.
Amazing! I like to cut the butternut squash into larger chunks and roast in the oven for added sweetness, then pop it into the sauce for about 10-15 mins. Have trued this with pumpkin too and it’s so delicious it’s become a staple mid week rotation.
Excellent recipe and very easy to adapt re different veggies: i used mangetout, red pepper and mushrooms.
Very pleasing and will make again.
This is one of my favourite squash recipes. Since I found it few years ago, I’ve made it many times as alternative to pumpkin/squash soup. Now that I have my own vegetable garden it’s the reason to grow squash
Yumm and Yumm hands down the best
It was unclear whether to peal the squash or not. I pealed mine just in case and it turned out beautifully.
It was okay. The only change that I made to the recipe was to add some bamboo shoots. The final product was filling, but bland. If I made it again I would add a jalapeno or some other type of pepper to give it some kick. This is maybe a good recipe to use to introduce kids to curry, or for other folks that don’t like spicy foods.
I made the Thai butternut squash last week with red curry and it was delicious. Husband loved it, kids were not that into it. Flavors were way more intense the next day. Husband was in love with it the 2nd day. Used part of a red onion because I did not have shallots on hand. Also added garlic. Since I used a whole squash, I was able to save half to make again this week. Very lovely dish, thank you!
Made this tonight and wow!!! Amazing just the right amount of everything!
I could eat this every day!!
Easy and quick recipe, I added a hand full of cooked potatoes and spinich from a mix bag of salad leaves as needed using,all other ingredients from my store cupboard.
Enjoyable to cook and eat, definitely one for my menu.
This was a great flavorful meatless meal! I probably could have added an additional cup of butternut squash to make it chunkier, but other than that, this was a really tasty dish!
hey, love this! how many calories per serving?
Hi Mariza, I made this for dinner tonight. It was super easy, quick and delicious. Thank you. I used a red onion and flakes almonds as I didn’t have shallots or cashews but it was still super tasty. Thanks for the inspiration- lockdown cooking is painful! Caroline in Wiltshire, UK.
Wow, what a miss. I usually don’t post when things don’t turn out well, but I felt obliged. This had absolutely no flavor. I ended up adding pepper flakes, garlic, salt, extra red chili paste … I just kept trying. I don’t know what happened here but this was so tasteless (and I’m not new to the kitchen or to curries).
That’s weird. Did you use red Thai curry paste (not just chilli paste?) This is SUPER flavourful, spicy, sweet, salty and sour – the fish sauce and sugar are essential for that authentic Thai flavour. Every time I make it its do intensely flavourful. Perhaps it was the curry paste you used? Some supermarket brands are bland. I get Mae Ploy or Thai Taste usually 🙂
Delicious! I made a slight variation on it by adding in vegetable bouillon instead of broth and just letting it cook into the coconut milk. I also added some extra cream, a bit of paprika, plenty of chile powder, soy sauce, coconut aminos, and I subbed bamboo shoots and spring onions instead of the spinach. I also put in a large tablespoon of peanut butter and cooked in canola and peanut oil! I know it seems like I changed a lot, but in reality I just personalized it a bit. It is a testament to this recipe that it is so versatile that you can change it up a bit and it will be wonderful!
This was so easy and delicious! Made it exactly as described, other than swapping half an onion for the shallots since I didn’t have any on hand. The whole family enjoyed it!
We love this recipe! I’ve made it several times and noticed some key factors. If I use a high quality coconut milk with lots of solids the broth is just the right texture. Tonight I used my grocery generic brand, which is thinner, and ended up adding some cauliflower to keep it from being too soupy. And like others say, the amount of red curry spice depends on which one you use. But really, adjust according to your ingredients and it’s fantastic! Thanks!