Cook an incredible dinner with minimal ingredients with our Easy Coconut Shrimp Curry recipe. Imagine tender shrimp simmering in a fragrant coconut curry sauce before being poured over a steamy bowl of rice. Hungry yet? Good! Because this shrimp curry is ready in no time and is bound to leave you full and content.
Forget jarred sauces… this sauce will have you licking your plates clean! Make this shrimp curry even more spectacular and serve it with our super soft buttery garlic 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 combine our love of good seafood and aromatic curry to bring you the best shrimp curry recipe you’ve ever tried.
This may not be an authentic Indian curry, but it does give you a satisfying hit of those classic Indian flavours and spices, similar to our much-loved butter chicken recipe, and will more than likely 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 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 flavours we all know and love.
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 shrimp curry 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 shrimp curry 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
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon turmeric or curry powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
- 1 ½ tablespoons oil divided
- 1 pound jumbo shrimp peeled, 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 ½ teaspoons garam masala
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder or curry powder
- 14 ounces can crushed tomatoes or Passata for a smoother sauce
- ½-1 teaspoon red chilli powder adjust to your taste preference
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons brown sugar
- 13.5 ounces coconut milk or coconut cream, can
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped to garnish
Instructions
SHRIMP:
- For shrimp, combine spices in a bowl. Toss shrimp with the spices and 1 tablespoon of oil. Set aside.
- Heat ½ 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.
Chris says
Ive made this 3 times now, twice with shrimps and once with minced pork, equally delicious.
Im sure you can use any meat, or no meat at all even. This spice mix will come out amazing eitherway
Veronique says
This recipe is really good!!!! I made often either with shrimps or chicken breast cut in cubes! Very flavourful
Dee says
I added some shredded coconut to thicken it a bit. I could guzzle the sauce. Thanks!!!
katarina says
This was amazing, delicious flavourful and so simple to put together. I used 2# of shrimp and increased the sauce and spice ingredients. Perfect, the sauce is yummy, I went with curry vs Tumeric and used Passata, definetly making again and again and again!!!!!
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.
Jennifer Mitchell says
Really delicious! I make curries often and this is one of my favorites. The sauce is divine. Took me 45 minutes so about double what the recipe said. Next time I will make a vegetable version.
jonathan says
this was a delicious base recipe – we added zuchinni, red bell pepper, mushrooms, carrots, and some chicken broth, and served it over mashed potatoes – divine.
Priya says
Thank you for a great recipe! I did not add any onions and garlic as we are on a low FODMAP diet, but despite the aromatics, the flavor was amazing. I did add some Jalapeños for a bit of a kick. I used crushed tomatoes and blended it in the mixer for a smooth creamy sauce. I think this is one of the best Shrimp curry recipe I’ve had. Definitely adding this to my cooking rotation.