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These Thai Meatballs are quick to make and bursting with bold, savory flavor from a homemade green curry coconut sauce. They’re the perfect 30-minute dinner served with jasmine rice or veggies.
Thai Meatballs deserve their own fan club.
There are few recipes on my site with more bold and amazing flavor, with so little effort, as these Thai Meatballs. And the creamy green curry sauce turns them into a special meal that feels fancy but is totally doable on a busy weeknight. My whole family devours Thai Meatballs and everyone wants leftovers in their lunch.
I usually use store-bought curry paste, but here's a great homemade green curry paste recipe from Hot Thai Kitchen!
Try my other Thai-inspired recipes, like Pad Thai, Thai Basil Chicken, Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps, or Chickpea Curry!
How to make Thai Meatballs:
Thai Meatballs: Mix oats, egg, and milk; let sit 10 minutes. Add ground meat, ginger, curry paste, fish sauce, sugar, salt, garlic, onion and mix well. Shape into balls. Heat oil over medium-high and cook meatballs in batches until browned on all sides (they don’t need to be fully cooked). Remove to a plate and drain excess grease, if needed.
Green Curry Sauce: In the same pan, sauté curry paste and garlic for 30 seconds. Stir in one can of coconut milk, scraping up browned bits. Whisk cornstarch into the second can of coconut milk and add to the pan, along with brown sugar, garlic, lime, fish sauce, and cilantro. Return meatballs to the pan and simmer in the sauce until cooked through, about 10 minutes.
Serve: Spoon over hot rice (jasmine, basmati, or brown) and garnish with fresh Thai basil and cilantro. Enjoy immediately!
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, chicken, , pork or beef
- 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 canned 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
- Thai Meatballs 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.1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats*, 1 large egg, ¼ cup milk, 1 ½ pounds lean ground turkey, chicken, 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger, 2 teaspoons Green curry paste, 2 teaspoons fish sauce, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 cloves garlic, ½ cup onion
- 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).2 Tablespoons olive oil
- Green Curry 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.1 Tablespoon Green curry paste, 4 cloves garlic, 2 15 ounce cans canned unsweetened coconut milk, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 2 teaspoons light brown sugar, 1 lime, 1 teaspoon fish sauce, ⅓ cup chopped fresh cilantro, salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Simmer: Return meatballs to pan and simmer them in the sauce until cooked through, about 10 more minutes.
- Serve over hot, cooked rice.4-5 cups cooked jasmine rice
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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*Nutritional label does not include rice.
I originally shared this recipe in February 2014. Updated January 2018 and April 2023 and September 2025.
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Absolutely delicious!! I ended up making the rice cilantro-lime. You can never go wrong with TBFS!!!
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!