Red Curry vs Green Curry: What’s The Difference?

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Thailand, a country with glorious beaches, forests, jungles and mountains is also world-famous for its mouth-watering cuisine.

Thai cuisine is the most renowned and popular in the world and focuses on the taste, color, texture, appearance and quality of the dish.

It combines a lot of tasty and spicy meals – mostly curries. These curries are prepared in various Thai restaurants across the globe.

Thai curry refers to dishes in Thai cuisine that are made with various types of curry paste-

which is made up of chillies, garlic, onions ,lemon grass ,coconut milk , meat, seafood, healthy and hearty vegetables and a good mix of herbs that are responsible for the enticing aroma.

They can be vegetarian and non-vegetarian. It is generally a healthy food for everyone.

Some of the most loved and favorite Thai curries are the Red Thai curry and the Green Thai curry.

Red Curry

Red curry is a popular Thai dish. The delicious Red Thai Curry is a rich, healthy meal packed full of bright flavors and hearty vegetables. It’s warm and perfect for cool days.

It is made up of several varieties of  Red hot chilies as its base, Coconut milk,tomatoes and plenty of aromatics, like onion, ginger and garlic, and lemongrass.

Red curry is hotter than  green curry.This is because red curry contains more chili peppers than other types of curries.

Green Curry

Wonderful Green Thai Curry is a healthy and comforting meal packed with the vibrant fresh hot chillies as its base, lemon grass, basil, coconut milk and green coriander leaves, and loaded with the choicest vegetables.

Green curry is spicy but not as much as red curry.Its  ??flavor is milder and sweeter.

Serve both the Red and Green Thai Curry with a bowl of steamed rice to enjoy your Thai style Meal. 

Red vs. Green Curry: How They’re Similar 

There are a few similarities between these Thai curries. Common spices that you’ll see in both the curries are a variety of hot chillies, Coconut milk, garlic, shallot, cumin, chili powder, turmeric, coriander, and cilantro. Both dishes typically have lemongrass as part of their base ingredients and they are dishes from Thailand.

The major ingredient used in making them is “Chilies.” The red curry is made with red chilies, green curry is a product of green chilies.

How does Red curry differ from Green curry?

Red curry and Green curry are two Thai food staples that have become popular in recent times.

Despite similarities in how the two curry pastes are made, green curry and red curry do have noticeable differences. Let’s compare.

The main difference between red curry and green curry is that Red Curry is made from a blend of several varieties of  Red hot chilies as its base, tomatoes which gives it a spicy and tangy taste and other aromatic ingredients. It is the most versatile curry and can be paired well with most food items whereas 

Green Thai Curry is more or less similar to the red Thai curry, except that it gets its signature color from the green chillies.

Green curry is made from blending different varieties of green chillies as its base, basil, coriander and lime leaf to enhance the flavor and green tinge. and certain aromatic ingredients.

It pairs especially well with fish and rice. This curry gets its distinct color from its ingredients basil, coriander and green chillies.

Red Curry vs Green Curry: Factors to Compare. 

Comparison Table Between Red Curry and Green 

Parameter of ComparisonRed CurryGreen Curry
Flavor Red curry has a bolder flavor and more depth.
Green curry’s flavor is milder and sweeter.
IngredientsRed hot chillies, Coconut milk, tomatoes, lemon grass, garlic, shallot, cumin, chili powder, turmeric, coriander, and cilantroGreen chilies, Coconut milk, lemongrass, basil, mint, lemons, cumin, shallots, ginger, green bell peppers.
Color Red curry gets its signature color from red chillies and tomatoes.Green curry gets its distinct color from green chillies, basil, cilantro and coriander. 
Spice Red curry is spicier than green curry.It is made of 20 Red chilies. It usually ranks a 5/5 in spice levels.Green curry has a brighter and sharper taste.It usually ranks between a 2 or 3 out of 5 in the level of spice.
Ingredients UsedRed hot chillies, Coconut milk, tomatoes, lemon grass, garlic, shallot, cumin, chili powder, turmeric, coriander, and cilantroGreen chilies, Coconut milk, lemongrass, basil, mint, lemons, cumin, shallots, ginger, green bell peppers.
ConsistencyRed Curry has thin Soupy like consistency.Green curry is thicker than red curry and can be made thinner with coconut milk or water.
Alternative namesIn the Thai language, red curry is called gaeng phed. It translates as “spicy soup”Green curry is known as “sweet green curry” or gaeng keow wahn in the local language.

Red Curry vs Green Curry: Which one tastes better

I’m no expert on either to be honest but I eat and enjoy both the thai curries.

If you prefer hot, spicy dishes; apparently, you’d love red curries.

On the other hand, if you love taster, mild-hot dishes, green curry is the ideal.

Is green curry healthier than red curry?

Green and Red Thai curries both are popular favorites and healthy dishes when it comes to Thai cuisine. Today, they are a standard food item in any Thai or Asian restaurant.

They are usually made with a hefty dose of coconut milk, hearty vegetables, chillies, garlic, onions ,lemon grass.

Final Thoughts

Red and Green curries are popular Thai curries and can be paired with most food items especially with steamed rice. Red Curry is spicy hot while Green Curry has a spicy minty taste.

There is no consensus on which type of Thai curry is better. Each person has their favorite, and each region has its own version. Some say that Green Curry is the best because it tastes sweeter and milder compared to other curries. Others prefer Red Curry because of its spicier flavor. 

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