A flavour-filled shrimp curry with an aromatic coconut curry sauce cooks in no time from scratch! Forget jarred sauces….this sauce will have you licking your plates clean!
Cook an incredible dinner with minimal ingredients with our Shrimp Curry recipe. A coconut curry sauce made with minimal ingredients simmers around tender shrimp makes for an incredible dinner. You’ll be surprised at how GOOD this is!
Make this shrimp curry even more spectacular and serve it with super soft Naan bread to mop up the sauce!
SHRIMP CURRY OR SHRIMP MASALA
Our shrimp curry recipe is inspired by our Tikka Masala. We came up with a shrimp version to give you a hit of curry in a simplified way!
This may NOT be an authentic Indian curry, BUT it does give you a satisfying hit of flavor and spices, AND it may just tick all of your curry loving boxes:
- No marinating.
- Fragrant coconut milk adds even MORE flavour.
- Ready in less than 30 minutes. YES!
HOW LONG DOES SHRIMP TAKE TO COOK?
For this shrimp curry recipe, try to find jumbo-sized shrimp for the best meatier results — tails on or off are both fine to use. You only need to cook them for 1 minute each side to get crisp edges and fry off the spices. Then, they will only need about 1-2 minutes to finish cooking in the sauce.
WHAT IS THE SECRET TO A GOOD CURRY?
Ingredients! The right combination of spices and aromatics are essential to a good curry sauce. Garlic, ginger and onion start the flavours off in the right direction, while garam masala, ground cumin, Tumeric and ground coriander give you the irresistible curry flavour.
Having said that, they CAN be replaced with a mild curry powder that may be hiding out at the back of your kitchen pantry, but the flavours may not be the same. I love being able to control the flavours of spices to get them absolutely perfect for the sauce.
The best shrimp curry sauce uses a combination of crushed tomatoes (or Passata) and coconut milk or cream. You can substitute with heavy cream, thickened cream or evaporated milk if you don’t have coconut!
HOW DO YOU MAKE CURRY SAUCE FROM SCRATCH?
Fry your spice coated shrimp first to leave some of those spices in the pan as a base for your sauce.
Scrape up any browned bits left over from the shrimp on the bottom of the pan with a butter/oil combination. Browned bits = flavour!
Sauté your onion, garlic and ginger, then add in your spices to cook them off until fragrant.
Add crushed tomatoes (or Passata), coconut milk or cream and seasonings.
Simmer until slightly thickened for about 4 minutes, then stir in shrimp and cook to warm through.
Take off the heat immediately and garnish your shrimp curry with fresh chopped cilantro!
CAN YOU PUT COOKED PRAWNS IN A CURRY?
Absolutely! You can skip the whole process of frying raw shrimp first and just add cooked shrimp right at the end. Take the sauce off the heat first before adding them in to not risk over-cooking them. Let them sit in the sauce for a couple of minutes to warm through.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH SHRIMP CURRY
Serve shrimp curry with fresh, hot plain rice or garlic butter rice and homemade naan bread.
HOW TO THICKEN CURRY SAUCE
You don’t need to thicken the curry sauce in this recipe as the combination of coconut milk/cream with tomato puree thickens it for you. For a thicker curry, however, you can either add in a couple tablespoons of tomato paste OR a cornstarch slurry.
Simply dissolve two teaspoons of cornstarch into one tablespoon of cold water. Stir the slurry into the sauce and let it simmer until the sauce thickens. It won’t take very long at all.
MORE CREAMY SHRIMP RECIPES
Shrimp in a Piccata Cream Sauce
Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Tuscan Shrimp
Shrimp Alfredo with Bacon
Creamy Pesto Shrimp Alfredo
Easy Coconut Shrimp Curry
Ingredients
SHRIMP:
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (or curry powder)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons oil, divided
- 1 pound (500g) peeled Jumbo-sized shrimp, tails on or off
SAUCE:
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder or curry powder
- 14 oz. (400g) can crushed tomatoes, or Passata for a smoother sauce
- 1/2-1 teaspoon red chili powder, adjust to your taste preference
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 13.5 fl oz (400ml) can coconut milk, or coconut cream
- 2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro, to garnish
Instructions
SHRIMP:
- For shrimp, combine spices in a bowl. Toss shrimp with the spices and 1 tablespoon of oil. Set aside.
- Heat 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear shrimp for only 1 minute on each side, then transfer shrimp to a plate. Set aside.
SAUCE:
- Heat remaining oil and butter in a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Fry onion until soft (about 3 minutes), scraping up any browned bits left over from the shrimp on the bottom of the pan.
- Add garlic and ginger; sauté until fragrant, about for 1 minute. Add in garam masala, cumin, ground coriander and turmeric (or curry powder). Cook stirring occasionally until fragrant, about 20 seconds.
- Add crushed tomatoes (or Passata), chili powder, salt, sugar and coconut milk/cream. Let simmer until slightly thickened, about 4 minutes.
- Stir in shrimp and let cook until the shrimp is fully cooked and warmed through, about 1 more minute.
- Take off the heat immediately. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with fresh garlic butter rice and homemade naan bread.
Mitch says
This was amazing. I don’t even know what to say past that. This is by far the best curry dish I’ve ever made myself.
Jennifer M says
Delicious shrimp curry that is easy to make. Have made it a few times to rave reviews. Can use tofu instead of shrimp for plant-based but still tasty results.
Janell says
This recipe is easy to follow and so yummy. My husband and I are very picky and haven’t been able to find a good Indian curry recipe that we like until now. This is by far the best shrimp curry I’ve made at home.
Nana says
I am trying this tomorrow for our “family” Sunday dinner. Have one grand daughter who does not eat anything dairy so the coconut milk will be perfect.
It looks simple.
Ashley Michelle says
This recipe gets 100 stars! It turned out soooooo sooooo good all my kids had seconds! I loved it. Definitely making again. Let me just say that I prefer coconut milk over coconut cream. The milk gives it a nicer color. Thank you so much for this recipe
Joanne says
So easy and SOOOOO good. A new staple for this household. Thank you!
Kaitlyn says
Made it with shrimp the first time and chicken the second, either way it’s a delicious recipe!! Thank you so much for sharing. It’s truly a delight to the tastebuds and is literally a dish I would pay an absurd amount of money just for a bite of!
Lori B says
Wow !! This was a great shrimp curry dish. My family simply looovvved it! Will substitute chicken next time for a change,but will certainly be making this flavorful shrimp dish again and again.
TLC says
Really awesome sauce! Took me a little longer to prep than indicated but well worth it. Would probably add scallops or try chicken breast next time.
Soraya says
I love the curry taste really good 🤩
Astrid Storhaug says
This was insanely delicious!!! The shrimp were perfectly cooked the sauce was creamy and so amazing I could eat by it self.
On top of that is was so easy and quick to make. I can’t wait to make it again.
Tim says
First time on this site. Just made the coconut curry shrimp dish. Oh my god! I could drink the sauce it was so good. My family loved it. My daughter doesn’t eat shrimp so I substituted chicken breast and fixed it just like the shrimp. She loved it. Can’t wait to try something else.
Arlene says
Delicious. Full of flavors and very easy to put together.
Effie says
This is an excellent recipe. Very flavorful. You could also use chicken. I’ll be adding it to my recipe box.
Travis says
Do yourself a favour and make this!
Waldi Buhrmann says
This was fantastic! i substituted with chicken thighs, and was fantastic. Thank you!
waad says
Hello,
Finally a shrimp curry recipe that is easy to cook and actually tastes DELIS.
Thank you hon and keep up the good work
greetings from Qatar.
Liz says
This was delicious and easy to make. I added a couple of spoons full of chili garlic sauce for spice.
Dennis Jackman says
This recipe is absolutely fantastic. i love to cook so i try different recipes all the time. this one i cooked twice in two weeks and loved it thoroughly both times.Sent it to my daughter today.
Lola Osinkolu | Chef Lola's Kitchen says
Thanks for this one Karina, the shrimps look so scrumptious!
Frank Joseph Lughes says
Very easy and flavorful
Christine says
Another gorgeous dinner tonight! Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe with us. We had the shrimp curry with garlic butter rice and tabbouleh.
Ildiko says
This recipe was so delicious! It was a big hit for dinner. Served with homemade Naan Bread, I got from your recipe & white Basmati Rice. I modified the recipe using 2 large fresh heirloom tomatoes, blended, and 2 cans of coconut milk. Because of this, I needed to add a little more salt and tad more sugar, but in return, I had lots of sauce. I really appreciated the tip to making perfect shrimp, by seasoning with spices and salt and pan-searing the shrimp for a minute on each side prior to adding it to the sauce. The shrimp was so flavorful and not over-cooked.
Dee says
This was THE BOMB! I cooked it exactly like the recipe said and it came out so good! The shrimp was so good seasoned even before I put in the sauce too lol! Served over rice. The clean up was a breeze and will def be making again. I love your site, the recipes are mostly so simple and always taste great. Thanks
Sunday says
I made this for supper tonight, it was excellent. I have two daughters who love spicy foods and 2 who don’t and this was a hit all around. Everyone agreed that we should write this one down in the family recipe book. The only downside its a little bit extra work and mess in the kitchen. It makes a boatload of sauce so be sure to have something to sop it all up with, we made baguettes.
Fatima says
That was really delicious and flavourful, thank you very much Karina.
Rubi says
Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out amazing ❤️ And it was so easy.
Desicart says
These are simple and fast to prepare and everyone enjoyed them!