Which is hotter, Thai red curry or Thai green curry?

Elizabeth Slaughter

April 07, 2022

I made the classic mistake when I first ventured into Thai cuisine many years ago – Red is the colour of fire right? Green is a cool colour. I NEVER forgot my error!!

Jon

January 24, 2021

I just had my first experience with a Thai curry paste, and I was blown away to not get virtually any heat from it. It turned out to be sweet and savory, but not at all hot, which was just not what I was expecting. Quite enjoyed it, however. But maybe for the next one I’ll have to try a green curry paste rather than a red, and try for some heat, as well.

Nitsa Raymond

September 01, 2019

You can have a spicy red curry and a sweet green curry if that is how someone wishes to make them. But no, that is not how they would be served in Thailand.

Greg

September 01, 2019

I also had this backwards. My local Thai restaurant’s says something along the lines of “Spicy red curry” and “Sweet green curry”. Is sweet green curry not really a thing in Thailand?

Michael

March 26, 2019

Thank you for this write up. I enjoy most curries, but especially love Thai curries; both the green and the red varieties. More than the heat level, it’s the wonderful aromas and underlying flavours that set them apart from other types of curries. It is always a disappointment and an amusement to me when I am asked how hot I want my Thai green curry dish, and my answer dictates how much ground red pepper flakes get added into the dish. When I ask for a hotter Thai green curry dish, I expect more of the delicious spicy underlying flavors of the curry, not just extra heat to added to deaden my taste buds.

Liz Scambler

December 05, 2018

Thank you so much for sharing this information, I too thought that a thai green curry was milder than a red. However the most helpful part was about the flavour from dried chillies, I grow my own chillies and dry them but always thought that dried chillies would be hotter than fresh because of the concentration!! Thanks again.

Ignatius Tse

November 05, 2018

I live in Sydney and I asked a Thai restaurant owner once which was hotter. They told me it was a myth and the level of heat was dependant on the amount of chilli you put in the curry so it is possibly to make a red curry that is hotter than curry and vice versa. But what you have written makes sense to me.

Paranoimia

August 02, 2018

I wish I’d read this before I ate the take-away I ordered last night. I ordered a Thai Green Curry and it blew my head off! I’ll definitely try a red curry next time.

I wonder if the confusion comes from the whole “red for danger, green for safe” thing which is drilled into us from an early age?

Denise Severn

May 07, 2018

I think that the reason I have had a difficult time keeping track of which curry is the hottest, red, yellow or green is probably a little bit silly but might be the same way others get confused. My brain wants to think of it like a traffic stoplight, which green meaning “go” or mild,yellow “slow down, getting hotter, and red meaning “stop” or hot. I finally think I have it straight now though. Green the hottest, red medium and yellow the mildest. Correct?Just thought I would share my personal insight.😊

Carlo Russo

October 14, 2017

Thank you for this article. I too have had the same confusion….even down to my Thai cookbook not saying “DRIED red chilies” for the red curry paste recipe.

Also another perspective on western ideology…often in Mexican\Southwest foods so popular in the USA, green sauces are usually the milder choice, often tomatillo based. Even the green jalapeno Tabasco sauce is the mildest offering..I could see that ideology just getting implied due to blissful ignorance :)