In this Thai Test Kitchen article, we'll be tasting and comparing six different Thai green curry pastes to determine which brand produces the best green curry. Read on to discover our choice for the best Thai curry paste.
Ever since the boyfriend's parents introduced me to Mae Anong curry pastes, I haven't had the urge to try any other brand. Mae Anong has many different varieties of pastes available, they all taste great, and I can find them easily at my local Thai market. However, one of the most frequent questions that comes up on this blog is which brand of curry paste is the best. And since I hadn't tried all of the curry paste brands out there, I never felt like I could answer in confidence.... that is, until now!
Read on for our next Thai Test Kitchen challenge: a side-by-side comparison of six Thai curry paste brands.
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Curry Paste Brands
For this curry paste showdown, I chose to compare the brands that are the most widely available in the U.S., but still maintain some sense of being Thai, such as being a product of Thailand or having a respectable ingredient list. I also went with only green curry pastes and followed the same basic curry-making steps to make sure that the playing field was even. The brands compared were: 1) Thai Kitchen, 2) Lobo, 3) Aroy-D, 4) Maesri, 5) Mae Ploy, and 6) Mae Anong.
Color, Texture, Aroma
Immediately upon opening the packages, differences in color and texture of the various brands were apparent. Thai Kitchen (1), Aroy-D (3), and Maesri (4) had a more yellow tint than the other brands, whereas Mae Ploy (5) and Mae Anong (6) had a crumblier texture than the others. And perhaps as a signal of what was to come, I also felt that the Thai Kitchen paste had a somewhat unpleasant aroma as compared to the others.
Making the Curries
After our initial inspection, it was time to start making curries! I followed this basic green curry recipe, but with pork, eggplant, and green beans instead of chicken and eggplants. This ended up being quite the production, using all four burners on the stove for the initial four curries, then hurrying to make the last two before the first set got cold...
You'll notice in the photos below that the Thai Kitchen (1) curry separated more than the others. It also required more water to maintain a decent consistency, as did the Lobo (2) curry. I think this was mostly a reflection of the different pots I was using, and not because of an inherent difference in how the curry paste cooked. Despite this, you can see that the first three curries ended up being more green in color than the last three, with the Mae Anong (6) curry looking almost gray.
Taste Test Results
Next came the taste test. The boyfriend and I recruited friends to be our guinea pigs and sample these curries, side by side, with plenty of water and rice in between to cleanse our palates.
The results were as follows:
1. Somewhat surprisingly to me, all of the curries were ranked as being decent. There were definitely favorites, but overall, our friends decided that any of these curries would be passable as a Thai green curry.
2. The top three brands were Mae Anong, Mae Ploy, and Maesri. Mae Anong and Maesri were described as having smooth, round flavors with Mae Anong being slightly more flavorful than Maesri. Mae Ploy ended up being too salty for the boyfriend and me after the addition of fish sauce as called for in my recipe, but it did have a nice heat and depth of green curry flavor.
3. The bottom three brands were Thai Kitchen, Lobo, and Aroy-D. Thai Kitchen was described as having a somewhat unpleasant, slightly bitter taste, but still tasting like green curry. Lobo had a distinctive lime (but not kaffir lime) flavor and Aroy-D tasted more like an Indian curry with a prominent turmeric taste. These three were also less flavorful than the top three brands.
Regardless of Brand
I have to say that my favorite brand of curry paste is still Mae Anong, even though it doesn't make for as pretty pictures given its grayish hue. But, I'll definitely be more willing to substitute Mae Ploy or Maesri in the future should the need arise.
This little experiment also reconfirmed for me that the amount of fish sauce needed for your curry depends upon the paste you're using, and the amount of water necessary to achieve a nice consistency is dependent upon many factors, including your pan and how quickly it heats. Also, you simply can't skip out on Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves, as they make all of the difference in creating a fantastic Thai green curry, regardless of the paste used.
So now the question of which Thai curry paste is best has been resolved, and we have enough green curry to last us for a long while! Luckily it freezes well... Do these results coincide with your experiences? Which brand of Thai curry paste is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.
Matt Carlton
I generally use Mae Ploy for my green curry. It is a bit salty, but I find that a little bit of palm sugar dissolved in a but of lime juice can help. Not a lot, but just a bit. Maybe a tsp of each. Lots of chopped thai basil and some coconut cream in with the coconut milk.
Sometimes a bit of coconut milk in the rice?
Linda
I would love it if you reviewed curry pasted in a tube.
Jack Mitchell
I just made Masaman curry for the first time using the Maesri paste, and the recipe on the can. It was very tasty, if not quite as flavorful as the masaman curry from my favorite Thai place in town.
Chelsea
That's amazing information. Thanks for sharing and love your site
Karen
Made this on Sunday for lunch during the week and loved it! Made me miss my trip to Thailand and all the curry I had there. Will definitely be adding this recipe to my favorites list!
Jimmy
Great! So informative and helpful to me! Thank you much for this post. Keep sharing!
Margie
Thank you for doing this. I’ve been using Thai Kitchen Red for my favorite mussel dish and it always seems to be missing something – most especially heat.
Blanca
I really need this recipe! Thank you for sharing!
Elizabeth
What am I missing here? This is a taste comparison. I see no recipe here...
marlene
Thank you for doing this. I've been using Thai Kitchen Red for my favorite mussel dish and it always seems to be missing something - most especially heat. I can't wait to try Mai Anong and Maesri and see the difference. Looking forward to that and seeing you do a red curry paste comparison. Thanks again!
Phil
Hi Laura
Whoops - this is an extremely late response!
I found the best range of Maesri curry pastes at Forest Hill Chase shopping centre at Forest Hill.
Susan
Trader Joe's has a green curry sauce in a jar…use coconut milk with it.
BetsyB
Thank you for this comparison. I made a green Thai Curry last night with Thai Kitchen and my husband was not happy. To be honest, I couldn't taste it very well after standing over the pot for so long, but upon tasting today I see what he means. No heat or spice, and some unidentifiable underlying unpleasantness. Glad to know about some other options as I was ready to give up. 🙂
Rachel
Great investigative work, Frankie! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Frankie
After I read your Thai Test Kitchen: Which brand of curry paste is best, I asked my friends about those 6 brands. They told me that your top three pick were the most popular among Thai community. Even though I am a Chinese guy, I love Thai food, especially Thai curry. Because I am vegan, I did a bit investigation on the top three brands. Mae Anong and Mae Ploy use shrimp paste as one of the ingredients. As a vegan myself, I think Maesri is the best one because it is vegan product. I will use Maesri when I cook Thai curry. Yum
Bianca
I use Cock Brand Curry Paste and I find it quite colour- and flavourful. 🙂 Have you ever used it? Would love to hear how it compares to the other brands above.
It seems Cock Brand is more readily available in Europe, while Maesri et al might be more readily available in the US.
Rachel
Hi Bianca, thanks for the comment. I haven't tried Cock brand yet. I'll have to try it and others mentioned in the comments and do another, more extensive taste comparison 🙂