Prawn Curry with Coconut Milk

Perfectly briny with just the right amount of fiery heat, prawn curry with coconut milk is a keto-friendly, gluten-free, and dairy-free dinner you'll look forward to making. 

Article Index

• Why you'll love it
• Ingredients
• Tips
• Instructions
• Serving suggestions
• Variations
• FAQs
• Related recipes
• Recipe

Why you'll love it

There is something exquisite about perfectly cooked shrimp. It's both tender and juicy and always soaks up the flavors of the sauce. 

This is going to become one of your favorite ways to cook and prepare prawns. Your entire kitchen will become engulfed in the tantalizing aromas of Goan cuisine. It's enough to make you wish the pan to hurry up and cook faster! 

Prawn curry with coconut milk is absolutely delicious. It uses all the spices you love about the Indian diet. This dairy-free meal tastes best when you serve it piping hot.

Make it once, and you'll agree - it's an absolutely fantastic curry.

Ingredients

There are just a few simple ingredients in this prawn curry with coconut milk. Here's what you will need before you begin. 

Prawns

Of course, the main ingredient is fresh prawns. To save time, you can use cooked prawns. If you use frozen prawns, you'll have to wait for them to thaw, which adds to your prep time.   

If you don't like prepping shrimp, buy deveined prawns.

Coconut Milk

You will use coconut milk as the base of the curry sauce.  For a thicker sauce, you should use coconut milk from the can because it has natural coconut cream in it. 

Lemon Juice

The citrusy flavors from fresh lemons brighten the entire curry. 

Red Chili Peppers

Use as many chili peppers as you want. The more you use, the spicier it will taste. 

Seasonings

These are the spices I used in this curry:

• Garam Masala
• Fenugreek Powder 
• Ginger Powder - you can use ginger garlic paste or fresh ginger instead 
• Granulated Garlic 
• Curry Powder - you can use curry leaves or curry paste instead
• Coriander Leaves - optionally, add coriander powder instead of leaves 
• Ground Black Pepper 
• Sea Salt Crystals 

Canned Tomatoes

A can of chopped tomatoes saves you a lot of prep time. Fresh tomatoes will also work. 

Onions

Finely chop up your favorite kind of onion. I used a white onion, but yellow or red will also taste delicious in this curry. Chopped onions add earthy notes to the dish. 

Please note: Check out the recipe card at the bottom for a full list of ingredients used to make this low-carb recipe.

Tips

• Lemon juice is optional. Western dishes add lemon juice to seafoods, but it isn't a traditional ingredient. 
• Prepare the raw prawns. Devein them and remove the skin, but leave the tails on. 
• Use pre-cooked prawns. Save time and use pre-cooked prawns.

Instructions

If you can make a skillet meal, you can make coconut prawn curry. Here's a quick overview of how to make prawn curry. 

Season the prawns 

Season the prawns with half of the spices (except the garam masala). Let it set like this for about 15 minutes. 

Pan fry the prawns

Add lemon juice and olive oil (or coconut oil) to the pan. Pan fry the prawns over medium heat for about two minutes on each side. 

Fry shrimp heads

In the same pan, fry the shrimp heads. This extracts the flavor from them. Then, either throw them out or eat them. 

Saute the onions 

In the same pan, saute the onions until they are translucent. 

Add tomatoes and spices

Stir in the tomatoes, and sprinkle in the remaining spices.  

Add red chiles

Toss in the red chilies and Garam Masala. Mix well. Simmer on low heat for 5 to 8 minutes.

Simmer curry sauce 

Add the coconut milk and prawns back to the pan.

Continue to simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes or until sauce thickens and prawns cooked thoroughly.

Season with salt and ground black pepper to taste. For a little fun, garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serving suggestions

Enjoy this easy prawn curry as a flavorful lunch, add some sides, and eat it for dinner. It is traditionally served with basmati rice. Instead of steamed rice, serve this over cauliflower rice.

You might also see prawn curry recipes served with butternut squash. Check out this guide to find out why butternut squash isn't very keto-friendly. 

Serve this awesome recipe with some keto naan bread. It has the perfect texture for dipping into the piping hot curry sauce. If you are serving a full Indian-inspired dinner, make some palak soup to go on the side. 

Variations

You can change up this quick and easy recipe in a few different ways. If you make any adjustments, please let me know in the comments.

• Garnish with freshly grated coconut. This will give the curry a wonderful texture that compliments that softer shrimp. 
• Saute in coconut oil. The coconut oil will naturally enhance the curry flavors. 
• Spritz with lime juice. This brightens the shrimp and brings out the citrusy flavors from the lemon juice. 
• Make it spicier. Add chili powder along with the red chiles. 

FAQs

Here are some questions people often ask about making low-carb prawn curry. If you don't see your question in this list, please leave it in the comments.

Related recipes

If you enjoyed this dairy-free coconut milk prawn curry recipe, here are some more low-carb dinner recipes you should make next. You might just find a new shrimp recipe to make all the time.

• Grilled shrimp kabobs have a wonderfully smoky flavor and are naturally gluten-free and low-carb. 
• Gumbo with Shrimp and Sausage brings a keto-friendly taste of the deep south to your kitchen table.
• Blackened shrimp are fiery and hot with an unmistakable Cajun flavor. 
• Shrimp Fajitas are a simple sheet pan recipe that only has 2 grams net carbs in each serving.
• Gluten-Free Keto Coconut Shrimp is both low-carb and paleo and there are just 2 grams net carbs in each serving.

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Recipe