Red Curry Chicken and Rice Bowls

By Ali Slagle

Updated January 27, 2026

  • Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.
Media 1 of 1
Ready In
1 hr
Rating
4(464)
Comments
Read comments

This cozy yet reviving rice bowl pairs Thai red curry-stained rice with tender chicken and a citrusy slaw. To fire up the red curry paste, toast it with the raw rice before adding broth. Then, place chicken breasts on top of the rice, where they will steam tender. While the rice rests, mix together a salad with a nuoc cham-inspired dressing, pre-shredded slaw blend, citrus, peanuts and herbs. 

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

    or to print this recipe.

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 1½ cups long-grain white rice

  • 2 tablespoons to ⅓ cup Thai red curry paste, to taste

  • 2 cups chicken broth

  • 1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, patted dry

  • 3 garlic cloves

  • 2 limes

  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce, plus more to taste

  • 4 tangerines or other small, sweet citrus

  • ⅓ cup salted peanuts

  • 12 to 16 ounces slaw blend

  • 1 cup cilantro or mint leaves, or a mix

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a large Dutch oven over medium, add the rice and red curry paste to taste. Stir until fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. 

  2. Step 2

    Stir in the broth. Place the chicken breasts on top, spread the tops of the breasts with a little more red curry paste, then bring to a boil over high. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through, 20 to 23 minutes. (Make sure to look under the chicken to see if the rice is cooked.) Turn off the heat, transfer the chicken to a cutting board, then cover the rice and let both rest for at least 10 minutes. 

  3. Step 3

    While the rice rests, into a large bowl, finely grate the garlic and zest of the limes. Add the juices of the limes and the fish sauce. Peel the tangerines and thinly slice. Add to the bowl. Coarsely chop the peanuts. Add the slaw, peanuts and herbs to the dressing and toss to coat.

  4. Step 4

    Thinly slice the chicken. Season the rice to taste with fish sauce. Eat the rice with the chicken and slaw.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

4 out of 5
464 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Max

I really enjoy Thai food and I have overwhelmingly positive results from the NYT cooking app. But this one was a miss. The chicken takes longer to cook than the recipe states. But cooking the rice longer results in the rice becoming paste. Would recommend cooking chicken and rice separately. The zest of two limes was too much and overpowered the slaw.

Contrapunctus

I'd take a couple of cues from Pailin of Hot Thai Kitchen: 1) use a quality red curry paste such as Mae Ploy; and 2) start cooking the curry paste in a small amount (~2/3 c) of good coconut milk, such as Aroy-D. The coconut milk will emulsify with the curry paste and then eventually the coconut oil will break out of the emulsion and the curry paste essentially fries gently. Use the rest of the coconut milk, thinned out with the chicken broth, for the cooking liquid. Lastly, I'd be inclined to use boneless thighs, as they do cook through in the given time, but failing that, pounding the breasts to a thinner depth seems the way to go.

Dave Holland

I found this dish to be quite dry. I had to scale it for 6 people but it still could have used more of the lime juice dressing. Would consider some flavor added to the slaw as well otherwise it simply adds another dry factor. Overall taste was quite nice.

Halle

I can’t comment on the cooking technique as I used some leftover grilled chicken breast, but I thought all the flavors were delicious. The rice had an excellent level of spice - I recommend ensuring you let it toast in the curry paste on the longer side, I got better flavor results that way. I skipped the tangerines in the slaw as I just wasn’t feeling it and imo it was still so good. The amount of dressing was perfect, it flavored the slaw well without producing any excess liquid. The best part: it’s quite easy and fast to cook. Perfect for weeknights!

Amber

I made this last night and followed directions mostly as written. I used more broth than the recipe called for. I used a whole jar of the red curry in the rice and on the chicken breas. My chicken was juicy. I made the slaw as directed but added a bit more of the lime juice to balance the fish sauce. It was a bit one note but that being said, I found it to be tasty when all the components were eaten together.

Amy

Absolutely amazing. So many good flavors cleverly mixed to allow for sweet and savory, soft and crunchy. Immediately added to our regular rotation.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.