Meatballs are always a family dinner hit. This Thai Green Curry Meatball dish is no exception. It’s simple, flavorful, different, and amazing.

I have a lot of meatball recipes on this here site. Did you know that? I kind of like to think I’m one with the meatball. My kids devour them. They make us all very happy. And happy is a good thing at dinnertime. I know you know what I mean.

White dish with browned meatballs covered in sauce and parsley and a dish of cooked white rice behind it.

However, I realized in dismay the other day that it’s been a shocking amount of time since I posted a new meatball recipe. Shame on me! I’m here today to redeem myself and I’m telling you, this is a doozy (in a good way).

Totally different than the other meatball recipes I’ve posted, this green curry Thai-style version is crazy delicious.

A quick homemade meatball is browned and then simmered in a green curry coconut milk sauce. It’s simple. It’s flavorful. It’s different. It’s amazing.

Curry sauce and parsley covered meatballs in a white dish.

Served with rice (or better yet, coconut rice) and you’ve got yourself a stellar meatball meal!

And we all know by now that coconut milk in main dish fare is a surefire way to win room in my food-loving heart. These green curry meatballs are welcome in my home any day, any time.

Three sauce-covered meatballs and cooked white rice on a plate.

What To Serve With This:

Rice (or better yet, Coconut Rice)
Fresh, seasonal fruit
Spinach Strawberry Salad with Homemade Creamy Poppyseed Dressing

One Year Ago: 39 Meals to Make in 30-Minutes or Less
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Thai Green Curry Meatballs

4.14 stars (38 ratings)

Ingredients

Meatballs:

  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 ½ cup rolled oats
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 2 pounds lean ground beef or lean ground turkey
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
  • 1 tablespoon Thai green curry paste
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ½ cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 3 green onions, white and green parts finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil, plus more if needed; can substitute canola or vegetable oil

Sauce:

  • 2 cans (13.5-ounces each) unsweetened coconut milk
  • 3 tablespoons green curry paste
  • ¼ cup lime juice, from about 2-3 limes
  • Hot cooked rice for serving

Instructions 

  • In a large bowl, combine the eggs, oats and milk. Let the mixture stand and soak for 5-10 minutes. Add ground beef or turkey, ginger, curry paste, fish sauce, sugar, cilantro, salt, garlic and green onions. Mix to combine and distribute all the ingredients through the meat.
  • Shape the meat mixture into meatballs, a bit smaller than golf ball size. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, 12-inch nonstick skillet. When the oil is hot, place one layer of meatballs in the pan leaving a little room in between each meatball (it’s ok if you can’t fit them all in; they’ll cook in batches). Brown the meatballs on all sides, about 2-3 minutes total. They don’t need to be cooked through – just golden and browned. Remove the meatballs to a plate and do the same with the remaining uncooked meatballs (adding more oil to the pan if necessary – let it get hot before adding the meatballs to brown).
  • Once the last batch of meatballs has been removed to a plate, drain any excess grease from the pan (but leave the goldeny browned cooked bits). Return the skillet to medium heat and stir in the coconut milk and green curry paste, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan and stirring into the sauce.
  • Place the meatballs in the skillet with the sauce. Go ahead and pile them all in, trying for a single layer. Simmer the meatballs and sauce for 8-10 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through, flipping the meatballs once or twice.
  • Stir in the lime juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over hot, cooked rice.

Notes

Green Curry Paste: green curry paste can vary wildly in spice/heat level so if you want to ensure the meatballs and sauce aren’t too spicy, look for a mild green curry paste (or buy one you already like the taste of). The Thai Kitchen brand is the one that Janssen used – her blog is where I got the recipe and she said her young kids gobbled it up. I used the Maesri brand (I have to order any kind of green curry paste online since I can’t find it in the stores here; keep in mind I live in a very, very small town) and it was knock-your-socks off hot (but still tasty if you can handle a little heat).
Sauce: also, a quick note on the sauce – it’s fairly thin which we enjoyed because it soaked into the rice; however, if you want it a bit thicker, stir together a tablespoon or so of cornstarch into cold water (about half as much water as cornstarch) and stir it into the simmering sauce until it thickens a bit.
Serving: 1 Serving, Calories: 690kcal, Carbohydrates: 25g, Protein: 38g, Fat: 51g, Saturated Fat: 35g, Cholesterol: 205mg, Sodium: 1219mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 7g
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Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Janssen at Everyday Reading, originally from Minnesota Monthly (I went crazy with the meatball part of the recipe, upping the meat and taking out the mushrooms – because I can’t get them where I live – as well as a few other things and simplified the sauce a bit)