This Thai-Inspired Green Curry Meatballs recipe is bursting with flavor and completely addicting. They are healthy, made with fresh ingredients, and one of my favorite meals!
Looking for more Thai-Inspired recipes? Try Chickpea Curry, Pad Thai, or Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps.
There is one thing that gets me about this recipe every time–the FLAVOR! These little Thai-Inspired Green Curry Meatballs are bursting with bold flavor! If you want to take them next level, to this homemade green curry paste from Hot Thai Kitchen.
How to Make Green Curry Meatballs:
Combine Meat Mixture: Add the oats, egg and milk to a large mixing bowl. Mix together and set aside for 10 minutes. Add ground meat, ginger, curry paste, fish sauce, sugar, salt, garlic and onion. Mix to combine.
Cook Meatballs: Scoop the meat mixture into balls. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a nonstick pan. Once hot, place one layer of meatballs in the pan, leaving space between each, cooking in batches as necessary. Brown the meatballs on all sides, turning occasionally as they cook. They don’t need to be cooked through, just browned on all sides. Remove the meatballs to a plate. (Remove some of the grease if there is excess).
Make Sauce: Add curry paste and garlic to the pan and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in one can of coconut milk, scraping up any browned bits from the pan. Stir cornstarch in to the other can of coconut milk, and add to the pan. Add brown sugar, garlic, lime, fish sauce, cilantro and stir to combine.
Simmer: Return meatballs to pan and simmer them in the sauce until cooked through, about 10 more minutes.
Serve over your favorite hot, cooked rice. I prefer jasmine or basmati rice, but brown rice is also a great, healthier option. I garnish them with fresh Thai basil and chopped cilantro. YUM!
Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: prepare the raw meatballs up to a day in advance, stored in the fridge, or freeze them.
To Freeze: I like to double this recipe, using 3lbs ground meat, and freeze half the meatballs for another meal. Form meatballs and place in freezer, uncovered for 30 minutes to flash freeze them. Place meatballs in a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw completely in the fridge before cooking. To freeze baked meatballs, allow them to cool completely, then store in a freezer safe container in freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge and rewarm in the curry sauce.
Recipe Variations:
- Ground Meat: Ground turkey is my preference, but ground pork or chicken would also taste great.
- Curry Paste: I prefer the Mae Ploy brand of curry paste, as it has stronger/better flavor than others (1 Tablespoons produces mild/medium heat level), but if you’re using a different brand (for example, the Thai Kitchen brand is pretty mild), you may want to add more curry paste.
- Gluten Free: For meatball mixture, omit oats and replace with 1 teaspoon of cornstarch.
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Recipe
Green Curry Meatballs
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats* or panko breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey , pork or chicken
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons Green curry paste
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce (optional)
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cloves garlic , finely minced
- 1/2 cup onion , diced
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
For the sauce:
- 1 Tablespoon Green curry paste*
- 4 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 15 ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 1 lime juiced
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- salt and freshly ground black pepper , to taste
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 4-5 cups cooked jasmine rice , brown rice, white rice, or basmati rice, for serving
Instructions
- Combine meat mixture: Add the oats, egg and milk to a large mixing bowl. Mix together and set aside for 10 minutes. Add ground meat, ginger, curry paste, fish sauce, sugar, salt, garlic and onion. Mix to combine.
- Roll into balls: Scoop the meat mixture into balls, a little smaller than golf-ball size.
- Cook Meatballs: In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, place one layer of meatballs in the pan, leaving space between each—you may meed to cook them in two separate batches, depending on the size of your pan. Brown the meatballs on all sides, turning occasionally as they cook. They don't need to be cooked through, just browned on all sides. Remove the meatballs to a plate. (Remove some of the grease if there is excess).
- Make sauce: Add curry paste and garlic to the pan and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in one can of coconut milk, scraping up any browned bits from the pan. Stir cornstarch in to the other can of coconut milk, and add to the pan. Add brown sugar, garlic, lime, fish sauce, cilantro and stir to combine.
- Simmer: Return meatballs to pan and simmer them in the sauce until cooked through, about 10 more minutes.
- Serve over hot, cooked rice.
Notes
Nutrition
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*Nutritional label does not include rice.
I originally shared this recipe in February 2014. Updated January 2018 and April 2023.
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We cannot get enough of these! My Husband said, “I would give these a 10-star review, but I can’t. So, I’ll give them 5-stars TWICE!”
If you have a taste for Thai – you wont be disappointed!
Looks and sounds great. Just wondering how many meatballs are in one serving?
Thanks in advance.
It just depends how big you make them. Divide however many meatballs you form, by 6 (the nutritional label is based off of six servings).So if you make 24 meatballs, the serving size would be 4 per person. If you make 18 larger meatballs, it would be 3 per person.
This is comfort in a bowl! So good! Thank you!
Flavorful dish. Loved the fresh lime. Served with sautéed pea pods and orange bell pepper for sweet pairing with the spicy curry. I used 1.5 T Mae ploy green curry paste in the sauce and it was plenty spicy for us, and we like spice. Start with a little then add more!
Made this recipe tonight, served with steamed broccolini, chopped cucumber with chopped mint, peanuts and Thai salad dressing, sesame seeds and plenty of coriander and mint. A hit, thanks for the lovely recipe.
These meatballs are delicious! My husband who says he hates ground chicken and turkey absolutely wolfed these down. He remarked how tender and flavourful they were! We ate some and have frozen the rest for a rainy day, thank you for this recipe.
Oh my goodness, this was a great recipe! I made this for meal prep lunches and can’t wait for the next few days! I froze half of the meatballs for future use and added spinach while the meatballs were simmering in the sauce for the added veggie. This recipe is definitely going in the regular rotation–many thanks for sharing!
Used the ground chicken for this. Amazing. Two things make this the bomb: fish sauce and fresh lime juice! We added fresh chopped Serrano for serving for those who like a surprise bit of heat. Otherwise changed nothing. Saved this recipe to my homescreen. 😋
Made these with my husband last night and they were delicious! We found this from your “Weekly Meal Plan (39)” and are now super excited for the rest of the meals. This recipe was fast, easy, and tasty. It’s definitely joining our regular dinner rotation dishes. Thank you for sharing!