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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 was amazing!!! So easy and a bowl of comfort!
Thank you so much Amy! xTieghan
I made this for dinner last week, and we loved it so much we are making it again this week! Such a delicious recipe – thank you!
Thank you Monica! I am really glad this recipe turned out so amazing for you! xTieghan
This soup came out tasty but a little salty. It definitely took longer than 30 minutes, especially if you include preparing the vegetables and fully cooking the squash. I recommend cooking the soup until the squash is soft. I accidentally doubled the amount of butternut squash; definitely a happy accident. The store was out of cilantro, but the soup was fine without it.
Hi Rebecca! I am really glad you enjoyed this! If there is anything I can help with, please let me know! xTieghan
This is the weirdest recipe I have ever tried.
In my opinion, the broth ruins this recipe.
Mixing curry paste with soy sauce and fish sauce, is not a great base for a curry… Maybe if you leave it out, this wil taste all right.
Also the peanut butter doesn’t add anything at all, you should leave that out and replace that with roasted peanuts as a garnish.
Overall a failed attempt to fusion cooking.
Hi Divya! I am really sorry you did not enjoy this one! If there is anything I can help with, please let me know! Otherwise, I hope you enjoy some other recipes of mine! xTieghan
This was very good, similar to the 30 minute thai peanut chicken ramen recipe you posted recently (which we loved!)!
I would suggest you steam or microwave the sweet potato or butternut squash first and the recipe will go together much more quickly. I also used only one can of lite coconut milk and replaced the rest with my homemade broth. I also added chili sauce for more spice. My meatballs did fine just as written. Make sure your pan and oil are hot and watch closely for turning.
Thanks, we love your recipes and use them often!!
Thank you for trying this and so many other recipes of mine! I hope you continue to enjoy them all! xTieghan
This is so, so good! It’s a perfect fall supper. If I could do one thing different, it would be to add more butternut squash. That was such a nice flavor and texture in the sauce. The meatballs are tender and very flavorful. This will become a go to for sure.
Hi Diana! I am really glad this recipe turned out so well for you! Thank you so much for trying it! xTieghan
Is the dish super spicy? Could I use a little less curry paste and still get the same flavor profile?
Hey Sofi,
Yes, that would be fine to do. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Made this tonight and loved it
Just one question, for the cilantro the recipe says 1/2 cup plus some for serving. I couldn’t find where to add the 1/2 cup of cilantro. Can you please advise?
Hey Sheryl,
Sorry for the confusion, you will add that with the spinach. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Took a chance on this as it’s not our normal. Delicious – doubled chicken and rice pasta – plenty of sauce – a hit with our dinner guests!
Love that!! Thank you so much Jacquie! xTieghan
I made this last night according to the recipe and it was a hit with even my pickier eaters! The pomegranates were a beautiful garnish and also was a surprise pop of flavor. It wouldn’t be the same without them. My family prefers rice over noodles so I made long grain brown rice and it was delicious! I was a little confused as to when to add the cilantro since it was farther up the ingredient list but after other questions, it made sense it was a garnish. Thank you, Tieghan!
I am really glad this turned out so amazing for you, Carolyn! Thank you so much for trying it! xTieghan
This recipe was so good! Easy to make, and delicious. I liked the option to thin out the broth as desired, I ended up adding an extra 1.5 cups of water as i found my coconut milk and curry paste quite thick and strong. Made this with rice noodles as that was all I had and it went perfectly!
Yes! So glad this recipe turned out so well for you, Tiffany! Thank you so much for trying this one! xTieghan
Do you think ground beef would be good?
Hey Chandra,
Yes, that will work! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
This was so good and very easy! I used turkey instead of chicken because my grocery store was out. I also skipped on the cilantro and pomegranate, so mine wasn’t exactly pretty, but it tasted great! I did have to cook for longer when I added the sweet potatoes back into the pot. They were not cooked through all the way at 5-8 minutes, but after letting everything simmer for about 15 minutes at the end it was great!
Thank you so much Annika! I am really glad this recipe turned out so amazing for you!! xTieghan
Delicious!
Thank you Laura! xTieghan
Delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you for trying this! I am really glad you enjoyed it! xTieghan