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Keeping things simple with a warming weeknight style Creamy Coconut Chicken Meatball and Noodle Curry. This southeast Asian inspired noodle curry is the simplest weeknight dinner. Made with flavorful Thai curry paste, coconut milk, creamy peanut butter, and a sprinkling of cilantro. Toss in seared chicken meatballs and plenty of delicious egg noodles and it’s hard to beat this easy creamy curry. It’s the perfect any night of the week dinner that’s made in just about 30 minutes…hearty, cozy, and healthy too.
Hey, hi! We made it to Thursday, which means the weekend is almost here! Trust me, I know it’s been a long week, but thankfully we have good food to share, upcoming holiday excitement, and tomorrow…chocolate. Everything is better with a good dinner and a night that ends on a sweet note. And that is just the truth.
You guys, I am very excited about today’s recipe. It’s inspired by a Southeast Asian soup called Laksa. It’s spicy, creamy, and the most flavorful dish. And I love all the color throughout.
With fall in full force, and Thanksgiving planning and prep underway, I tend to get into a dinner rut of making casserole after casserole and pasta after pasta. In my mind, there isn’t anything wrong with that. I love these foods! But it’s always nice to switch it up. I was feeling like I needed to break away from all my cozy, cheesy pasta and Thanksgiving recipes and share something completely fresh and different, but yet still warming for fall.
The Thanksgiving recipes will return tomorrow and throughout next week, but when in the midst of Thanksgiving planning and prep, we also need good dinners!
The background.
Laksa is one of the most popular southeast Asian dishes. It’s a spicy noodle soup that usually consists of either rice or wheat noodles with chicken or fish. The broth is a spicy, rich curried coconut milk. Laksa can most commonly be found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and southern Thailand. It varies from place to place in exact flavor, but the two things Laksa always has is a creamy, spicy coconut broth and lots of noodles. It’s not hard to prepare, but it does require a handful of ingredients that I can’t easily find.
So this is my simplified version of Laksa. It’s creamy, heavy on the noodles, and made with chicken meatballs. It’s a little different than a classic Laksa, but similar in flavor profiles. Most importantly, it’s easy to make and so delicious.
Here are the details.
Aside from cooking the noodles, you can make this dish entirely in one pot. The meatballs are simply a mix of ground chicken, green onions, soy sauce, and black pepper. Very simple, but yet so flavorful. The combination of green onions and salty soy is key here.
To make the meatballs, roll them out and then pan-fry them in a bit of oil to get them nice and crispy on the outside. I really like using avocado oil for this since it’s a high heat cooking oil, but olive oil works nicely too.
Once the meatballs are seared, remove them from the pot to ensure they don’t end up overcooking or losing their crispness. Once the meatballs are out, add everything else right to that very same pot. Starting with lots of shallots, ginger, and garlic, then toss in the cubed butternut squash or sweet potatoes.
Next, you’ll want to sauté the Thai red curry paste for a minute or two before adding in the liquids. This will activate the flavors in the curry paste and give you a richer tasting broth. Now, just add in all the coconut milk, stir back in the meatballs and simmer everything together for a few minutes.
While that’s happening, boil some egg noodles (or use rice noodles if you’re gluten-free). By the time the noodles are ready, the curry should be thick and ready to toss with the noodles and serve.
To serve, just add the noodles to bowls and then ladle both the veggies and meatballs overtop.
Finish with lots of fresh cilantro and pomegranate arils. Simple, but yet so complex with flavor, and so colorful too!
The broth, the crispy meatballs, the noodles, the toppings…everything all together? It’s delicious. Creamy, gingery, and garlicky, a touch spicy, salty, and truly so perfect. Loving this for busy weeknights, but yet it feels special enough for a cold Sunday night. Either night you end up serving this, it’s going to be perfect.
Looking for other warming curry recipes? Here are my favorites:
Slow Cooker Saucy Thai Butternut Squash Curry
30 Minute Coconut Milk Braised Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Rice
Saucy Coconut Braised Chicken with Rice Noodles and Broccoli
Sweet Potato Lentil Curry with Crispy Sesame Chickpeas
Lastly, if you make this Creamy Coconut Chicken Meatball and Noodle Curry, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Creamy Coconut Chicken Meatball and Noodle Curry
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 725 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 2 green onions, finely chopped, plus more for serving
- 1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce
- black pepper
- 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 cup cubed butternut squash or sweet potato
- 2-3 medium shallots, thinly sliced
- 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 4 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped, plus more for serving
- 1/4 cup Thai red curry paste
- 2 (14-ounce) cans full-fat coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce (or low sodium soy sauce)
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 8 ounces egg or rice noodles
- pomegranate arils, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- 1. Add the chicken, green onions, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, and a pinch of pepper to a bowl. Mix until just combined. Coat your hands with a bit of oil, and roll the meat into tablespoon-size balls (will make 15-20 meatballs).2. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil shimmers, add the meatballs and sear until crisp, about 4-5 minutes, turning them 2-3 times until cooked through. Transfer to a plate.3. To the same pot, add 3 tablespoon oil, the shallots, ginger, and garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the butternut squash and curry paste. Cook another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the coconut milk, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup soy sauce, fish sauce, and peanut butter. Slide the meatballs back into the curry. Simmer over medium heat until the meatballs are cooked through, 5-8 minutes. Stir in the spinach. Thin as desired with additional water or broth.4. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions.5. Divide the noodles between bowls and ladle the curry over. Top each bowl with pomegranate, cilantro, and green onions.
This post was originally published on November 5, 2020
AH.MAZE.ING
As soon as Tieghan posted this – I was like, yes! I’m making it tonight.
And it is soo good!! perfect friday night de-stress meal.
I mixed ground chicken & ground pork for the meatballs .. it’s good!
And I was afraid two cans of coconut milk was too much but it’s perfectly creamy!! Ahh!
Another recipe saved!! Thanks Tieghan!!
Ah I am so happy you decided to try this one and it turned out so well for you! Thank you Lulu! xTieghan
Soooo delicious!! Just changed the sweet potato by half sweet potato and half zuchinni!
Loved it
Thank you so much Lissy! xTieghan
When does the 1/2 C cilantro go in?
Hey Tiffany,
You are going to use the cilantro as a garnish as stated in step 5:) I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
We all loved it!!!?
Thank you Barb! xTieghan
Love this dish. Made this with turkey mince as couldn’t get hold of any chicken mince . It was delish!! Have tried many of your recipes and they are all great! Simple and delicious.
Thank you so much Andrea! xTieghan
Would this be good if I used coconut aminos in place of the soy sauce? I have a soy allergy 🙂
Hey Jordan,
Yes, that would work well! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Someone questioned the amount of chicken broth? I don’t see that mentioned in the ingredients or in the instructions?
And if you are using already grated ginger, what would be the measurement? 1 Tbsp.? 1 tsp?
Hey Laurie,
You can thin with broth or water as listed in step 3, but it is not required. If using pre grated ginger I would use 1 tablespoon. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
This looks so delicious and flavorful. It has a lot going on but it is very well thought out. I can’t wait to try it out. Can you suggest any other ingredient that would fit in this curry?
Hey Dimitri,
You could add some extra veggies. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Hi Tieghan – a lot of your recipes calls for egg noodles. Can you please specify the brand that you use? I can’t seem to find Asian egg noodles, I can only find rice noodles or ramen type noodles. Thanks!
Hi Debra! I will link below the brand of egg noodles I use! Please let me know if you have any more questions! I hope you love this recipe! xTieghan
https://thrivemarket.com/p/bionaturae-organic-egg-pasta-pappardelle?aff_id=16396&t_id=102ffd5d1a1047a5f089776233c9f4&o_id=6&utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=Half%20Baked%20Harvest&utm_content=default&utm_term=products_bionaturae-organic-egg-pasta-pappardelle&utm_campaign=products&aff_sub=affiliate&aff_sub2=Half%20Baked%20Harvest&aff_sub4=default&aff_sub5=products_bionaturae-organic-egg-pasta-pappardelle&aff_sub3=products
There has to be a misprint re the chicken broth? No flavor and watery?
Hey Lisa,
So sorry I am not sure what you mean. The recipe is correct. Please let me know how I can help. xTieghan
This recipe was so so good and enjoyed by the whole family. Very easy to make!!
Thank you so much Stephanie! xTieghan
This looks soooooo good. Hungry now.
Thank you so much Johanna! I hope you love this recipe! xTieghan
This looks soooo good, and I wanted to say thank you for being so good about noting when a dish is “inspired by” a traditional dish from another culture/country. It’s refreshing to see when so many others try to pass off a dish as “authentic” when it’s very clearly not, and all they would have had to say was that it’s “inspired by”! I appreciate the little bit of background you provide, telling us how it’s traditionally made, where it’s usually eaten, and the staples that are the same regardless of regional variations (and then the fact that you kept those staples in you recipe––some people are like “this always has X…but mine doesn’t” and I’m like ????)
Anyway, thank you for doing this. It’s a good reminder that food from many other cultures often gets whitewashed and the people who have made it for generations never get credit. I appreciate that your blog is different!
Hi Emily! I am really glad you have been appreciating my inspired dishes! Thank you so much for this! xTieghan
I love peanut butter in curry! Would this recipe still be good if I omit the meatballs? We’re not big meat eaters here.
Hey Erin,
Sure, I would probably add some veggies! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Yum! I new to curry – could this be made with green curry paste instead of red?
Hey Sarah,
Yes that will work, just note you will have different flavors and different colored curry. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan