Instant Pot Thai Panang Curry

Instant Pot Thai Panang Curry is a fast vegetarian curry with chickpeas and sweet potatoes in a spicy, creamy coconut broth. Cook pot-in-pot rice at the same time for a one-pot meal that comes together in under 30 minutes. 

If you’ve been following this blog for some time, you know that every February we feature an entire month of Thai food here on the site. #ThaiFoodMonth is our favorite way to celebrate the cuisine that we fell in love with when we lived in Bangkok. So I’m jumping ahead a bit by sharing one of my favorite Thai meals even though it’s still January. It’s just too easy to make this inexpensive, vegetarian meal in the Instant Pot. I couldn’t resist tacking it on to this week of meals that use the Ultimate Guide to 6-Minute Instant Pot Meals. 

With the exception of our absolute favorite Thai Food restaurant here in Kansas City (I’m looking at you Waldo Thai Place), Frank and I almost always prefer to make Thai food at home. We don’t often make dishes that require special ingredients or complicated cooking techniques. A basic curry, using store-bought curry paste, is about as easy as it gets and hits the sweet spot that many great Thai dishes do. This Instant Pot Panang Curry is:

• Creamy
• Spicy
• Filling
• Vegetarian (!)
• Easy to Customize

Here’s how to make this entire meal in the Instant Pot on 6 minutes high pressure.

What is Panang Curry?

Panang (sometimes spelled panaeng, phanaeng or phanang) Curry is a Thai curry with a creamy, coconut base. It is very similar to Thai red curry but has the addition of ground peanuts that make the curry sauce thicker, more mild, and a bit creamier. It is one of the most mild Thai curries since the peanuts mellow the spice and give it a natural sweetness.

In this version of Panang Curry, I use peanut butter (instead of ground peanuts) stirred in at the end of cooking. It’s not totally authentic, but it’s easy, fast, and makes the dish taste very close to the Panang Curry I ate in Bangkok.

Ingredients

• Unsweetened Coconut Milk – Regular canned coconut milk (not light) will give the curry a rich, creamy base.
• Red Curry Paste – Thai curry pastes are becoming so common that you can find them in the international aisle of most grocery stores. American brands like “Thai Kitchen” are typically less spicy than Thai brands that you might find at the international / Asian grocery store. See the recipe notes for tips on adjusting the curry paste to fit with your spice preference. (Note for vegetarians: Be sure to check the ingredients if you don’t eat fish. Many curry pastes are made with shrimp / shrimp paste, so you may need to seek out a vegetarian-friendly version.)
• Soy Sauce, Brown Sugar, and Lime Juice -These give the curry the balance of savory, sweet, and sour that is so iconic in Thai curries. Add the soy sauce and brown sugar at the beginning of cooking, but stir lime juice in after cooking to help it retain its fresh flavor.
• Fresh Garlic and Ginger – These fresh aromatics build so much flavor in the curry. 
• Chickpeas and Sweet Potatoes – These are the protein / vegetable base of this curry. If you want to make a meat-based version, substitute 1 1/2 lbs Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast (more on alternatives in this post).
• Creamy Peanut Butter – To give the Instant Pot Thai Panang Curry its distinctive peanut flavor, stir peanut butter into the finished curry. It’s easy, fast, and uses an ingredient you probably already have in your pantry. I prefer unsweetened “natural” peanut butter, but see the recipe notes for tips on using other peanut butter.
• Fish Sauce – If you are pescatarian or don’t adhere to a strict vegetarian diet, a little fish sauce stirred into the end of the curry makes this dish taste truly authentic. Once the fish sauce is stirred into the curry, it doesn’t taste particularly fishy, but has a rich, savory flavor. (Fish sauce is stinky, so just don’t smell it as you add it! You’ll love the flavor it gives your curry.)

How to Make Pot-in-Pot Rice

Perhaps the best part about making Thai curry in the Instant Pot is that you can cook the rice at the same time, right inside the Instant Pot. This technique has been a total game-changer for me. Check out this post on the Pot-in-Pot Method for the Instant Pot for more details on this handy method.

For Instant Pot Thai Panang Curry, just put rice and water in a bowl elevated above the curry. Use a 1:1 ratio of rice to water. When the dish is done cooking, set the rice aside, covered so it will continue to steam slightly until you’re ready to serve. 

More Recipes that use Thai Red Curry Paste

• Thai Crispy Rice -Thai Crispy Rice is deliciously addictive. Let the rice crisp on the bottom of the pan for this twist on fried rice that is full of crunchy texture and flavor.
• Thai-Style Meatballs with Pork and Rice – Savory and with a hint of curry spice, Thai-Style Meatballs with Pork and Rice are pan seared to get crispy and golden on the outside and perfectly cooked inside.
• Thai Curry Noodle Soup with Chicken – Warm, fragrant, and totally slurp-able. All wrapped up in a dinner package that takes less than 30 minutes.

Favorite Tools

• 6-Quart Instant Pot Duo – This is the Instant Pot / pressure cooker I use to test all meals on this site. It easily makes enough to serve the 5 members of our family (usually without leftovers). Though this recipe was not tested in the larger 8-Quart Instant Pot, it should work in that version. 
• Instant Pot Rack – This 2.3-inch rack is just the right height to hold a bowl above the other ingredients to cook using pot-in-pot method described in this recipe.
• Instant Pot Bowl (for pot-in-pot method) – I test all of my recipes using a 7-Cup Round Pyrex Dish. This will fit in the 6-Quart Instant Pot.

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