Delicious and easy spicy Thai steamed mussels that can be finished in just thirty minutes.
I halved this recipe, but otherwise followed it exactly. My only complaint is that there was not enough heat. I'll add dried thai chilis next time. The sauce is so incredibly delicious. Be sure you have some crusty Italian bread to sop it up with!!!
Read More I halved this recipe, but otherwise followed it exactly. My only complaint is that there was not enough heat. I'll add dried thai chilis next time. The sauce is so incredibly delicious. Be sure you have some crusty Italian bread to sop it up with!!!
Simply amazing. Such an elegant and flavorful first course for a Thai dinner party. The sauce is to die for, and the cilantro is a wonderful touch. I've always been afraid of making mussels but they steamed up perfectly with this recipe. We bought 3# for 4 people and it was way too much, though. Recommend half that.
We made a big pot of these for a party we had on Monday (since it was a bank holiday here)Great idea - served them with some pickled ginger and hot chilli sauce. Nice and spicy!
This is an awesome recipe. As the Chef who created it when I was running the kitchen at the Silver Thatch Inn in Charlottesville Va. It quickly became one of most popular appetizers and was a requested recipe from Gourmet magazine in summer of 99'
This recipe rocks! We have a Belgian restaurant in town that makes great mussels and my husband liked these Thai curry mussels better than theirs! You really don't need 2 cups of cilantro--maybe 1 cup. Just sprinkle some in each bowl before you spoon in the mussels and broth. This is so easy and so delicious. Guest will be impressed.
Fantastic!, it turned out beautifully. I'm a huge fan of Cilantro and the rich curry sauce had a fair bit of heat to it aswell! I always have to remind myself though, that the mussels release a lot of juices and water. Great as an appetizer or a light main course. I'm cooking it tonight as a romantic dinner for the two of us, once the kids are in bed!
I've made this so many times and it is AMAZING. Make sure you have lots of crusty bread on hand to sop up all of the delicious sauce. The cilantro adds this great coolness to go along with the kick of the spice. Awesome!
this is AWESOME!!! i added a small thai chili pepper and a little ginger root to the broth, served with plain jasmine rice. SO GOOD! mussels do release a lot of liquid, so if you're like me who tend to taste test a lot while cooking, taste this dish AFTER the mussels are cooked.
Perfect! I originally halved the recipe because I wasn't sure my boys would like it - and then had to make more. Byrdboys were drinking the broth. Definite keeper, thank you!
My family's newest favorite! They at first balked at me steering away from our usual tomato based mussels....but now....Thai Mussels are all they want. If it's not spicy enough add more red curry paste. Cooking is a science...experiment...I don't know how people cannot like these!
Fantastic recipe! To really kick it up add 1 stalk of lemongrass, and 2 kafir lime leaves. Break the stalks and tear the leaves and throw them in. Better than anything you will ever have in a restaurant.
As of right now, I see 3,040 "saves" and 61 reviews. If you've been thinking about making this, but have reservations about, perhaps, dealing with cleaning the mussels (like I did), just GO for it! I got 4(ish) pounds of mussels from the local grocery store, and did end up discarding quite a few of them that were open or cracked(maybe a third?) but scrubbed the closed ones with a toothbrush and pulled out the "beards", and we (*we* including a VERY hearty eater) had more than enough (including a good bit of crusty bread) for dinner. The sauce was perfect as written (ok, maybe a little extra red curry) and my aforementioned hearty eater used his soup spoon to finish the sauce/broth after his bread was used up. I do recommend watching the mussels as they're cooking, and as soon as they're all opened even just a little bit to remove from the heat. I think mine took maybe 3 minutes and were perfectly cooked. We love cilantro on anything/everything, and the amount in the recipe was great, but if you had any less or more, it would be quite all right. The balance of the other ingredients is absolutely perfect. This will go with/on chicken and rice next, and definitely mussels and/or clams again!
I have enjoyed this type of dish in restaurants many times, and this recipe is just as good, if not better. I halved the recipe and followed it exactly, except that I used about half the amount of cilantro. I was afraid it would be too much, but in retrospect it probably would have been good either way. This dish MUST be served with a crunchy baguette to sop up the delicious broth! Mussels have always intimidated me for some reason, but this recipe reminded me how simple, easy, and delicious steamed mussels can be!
DELICIOUS!!! I wouldn't change a thing - Quick tip: 1/3 fresh lime juice = 1 lime, juiced. You could easily add 2 more pounds of mussels to this recipe as there is a lot of amazing broth!! We soaked it up with a baguette. We will make again for sure!
This is so easy to make... and my husband loves it. I made it a couple of times and everyone who tries it says it is great. Thanks for sharing it.
Good, but I found that the lime juice was a bit overpowering so I had to add more coconut milk the first time to balance the flavor. The second time I made it, I just cut back the lime juice and it was perfect for me. I use the live mussels sold at Costco (5lbs for $11.99) ! YUM
This was absolutely delicious. A big hit!
Very good recipe, I would have given 5 stars, but I did modify a little... added a bit extra fish sauce, some more red curry, and used roughly half the amount of mussels. There were only two of us. I kept the sauce proportion the same after reading other reviews that said the extra sauce was great over rice or with bread; so I did make jasmine rice and it was delicious on the rice. It just needed a little something, something that the extra bit of fish sauce and curry paste gave it. But good flavors all in all.
Delicious and the extra broth makes a great soup for leftovers! I sauteed the garlic beforehand, and added onions because I just always use the 2 together. Then I added everything else plus some chili pepper flakes and curry powder on top of the paste...I like spice! The lime however, I added near the end because it can make it to acidic if added too early in my opinion. I also let the broth cook for 10-15 minutes to really let the flavours come together. So yummy! Thanks!
This is awesome! It was so quick and easy to make, and my daughter loved it. Be certain to get some artisan bread, as that was just as good to soak in the broth as the mussels.
Definitely a crowd pleaser, I have not needed to make any changes, just be sure you have fresh mussels.
Great sauce !! I always steam the mussels first then add the sauce after they are done. I find the sauce gets too watery otherwise and some of the flavor is lost. Adding the sauce and tossing the mussels in it after retains all the flavor of this fine sauce. Since the mussels only take 5 minutes or so, it really isn't enough time to impart the flavor into the mussels anyway.
THE best mussels yet! This will be my recipe always. The heat on the end is mild so add some extra red curry paste if you like it hotter. The cilantro perfectly tops it off! A serious thank you to the poster. : )
MMM... I love mussels, and I have never had them prepared any other way than with garlic and white wine before this recipe. We really enjoyed this dish. It was so easy to put together! I had never made a curry sauce, which was a lot of fun. I served these mussels with Pad Thai and Crusty French Bread (both from this site), which was a great way to sop up all of the extra sauce. I forgot to buy cilantro, so I used chopped green onions instead. I'm still partial to the garlic/ white wine method of serving mussels, but this was great as well!
This recipe is perfect as is, although I do like it with a bit more hot sauce. >:-) and I like to add a few pieces of cod or Mahi, and a few shrimp for variety. I have even used the extra sauce for corn on the cob instead of butter - yummy! Be sure to have lots of crusty bread to sop the juices.
YUMMY! This is a great way to use fresh mussels. Even my kids loved it! I would like a bit more heat, so I will probably try a different/more curry next time.
Yum! Easy and delicious. The only change I'll make next time will be to use less cilantro or none at all - 2 cups is a lot and it over powers the rest of the dish.
Loads of flavour! Just make sure that your pot is big enough. You can serve with rice or pasta and spoon the sauce overtop!
YUMMO....I modified somewhat, 2 T Madras curry powder for red curry paste, and 2 T minced garlic because we love garlic. This is a keeper...Fastastic...Served with slices of toasted french baguette to soak up all the juices, and also bought 4/lbs of mussels vs. 5
I LOVE this recipe!!! I've made it quite a few times, and every time I take that first bite, I'm totally blown away! This is by far one of my favorite recipes ever!! Usually, I make the amount of sauce recommended with only 2-3 lb of mussels, so there is extra sauce for dipping, slurping, and eating with pasta later. Yummm...
I cooked this for my Thai boyfriend, I combined mussels and small prawns (they are sweeter than the big prawns) make sure you leave the heads as they add flavour to the broth. I had to add Thai chilli pepper, this is really just for my boyfriend. I tasted the broth before adding the chilli, and really it was tasty even without the chilli. Like the others have said you will want to have bread to soak the broth, we had no bread.. so my boyfriend just drank it. There was no broth left even in the serving bowl.
Served it for the first time last night, YUMMY! We had left over sauce so tonight we had it with shrimp! Equally as good. This is a keeper : )
Absolutely marvelous! I didn't have red curry and couldn't find it in the store, so resorted to green curry and added red pepper flakes to kick it up a notch. I made the mistake of cutting fresh basil into the mix, since I've seen this done with curry in Thai restaurants. Will definitely not do that again. It gave the mix an odd taste. My bad. I love mussels, I love Thai, and this was an awesome base! 5 stars!
Very good and easy to make. The sauce is really good over rice. Didn't have red chili paste so I substituted it with green chili paste.
These mussels were amazing! I took another reviewer's suggestion and added crushed red chilies for heat, and I used fresh basil instead of cilantro (can't get cilantro in England). They were fab! I'll definitely make these again.
This was awesome! My boyfriend said he would've gladly paid big bucks for this in a restaurant! Very simple to prepare such a decadent dish.
Made this for my family, Used soy sauce instead of the curry powder, (one family member is asmatic and can't do spicey) they ended up fighting over it and then fighting over the remaining sauce. Thanks for the reciepe
Holy COW, this was good! I made it as the first course on Valentine's Day for my honey. I went ahead and made the whole recipe for the sauce, and just used a pound of mussels. It was delicious, and we were both glad to have extra sauce to soak up with crusty bread. I am already thinking of ways to use this sauce for other dishes - chicken or fish and veggies over rice, for one! Thanks for an AWESOME recipe!
Good recipe. I added kaffir lime leaves and bruised lemongrass to give a bit more zest.
Fantastic! I used clams instead of mussels and me and my guests loved them! I used curry powder as I didn't have curry paste
Very good and easy. Mild flavor - If you want more of the curry flavor, you might add a little more of the red curry paste. We all enjoyed this very much!
I often order thai mussels in restaurants. This is a wonderful well matched recipe to those I love when dining out. My only addition is a dash of cayenne which doesn't make it hot just adds a bit of snap against the creamy coconut milk. Super yummy!
Just what the Dr. ordered. Hubby has the flu and this spicy curry made him melt. As written, this is pretty mild. If you like your Thai food hot, add a sliced chili or another tablespoon of curry. I used light coconut milk, half the cilantro and half the mussels for 2. For texture I added rice noodles, shitake mushrooms and edamame. Superduper delicious. Thank you for posting this recipe!!
i would probably use a little less coconut milk next time...but pretty tasty!
I tried this recipe a few days ago and it's a keeper! I used 2lbs instead of 5 but kept the rest of the ingredients the same. This turned out perfect for us since we love a lot of sauce to be poured over our steamed rice. This recipe didn't have enough 'heat' for me so I ended up using 2 1/2tbsp of the red curry paste, and also added a bit more of the fish sauce and sugar just to keep everything balanced (characteristic of Thai dishes). Overall, the dish was superb and my husband and I are addicted to it now!
this is a great recipe, i love curry, next time i will try a different type of curry, and maybe try clams aswell, thanks a lot.
This was my first time making mussels, and I was a little nervous. But it turned out fantastic! I followed the recipe almost to a tee. Here are some tips, especially if you haven't cooked mussels before. Get farm-raised mussels from the grocer, not wild mussels (the farm-raised mussels don't have barnacles and are usually cleaned and de-bearded). Make sure the grocer has cleaned and de-bearded them (if not, you have to). When you are starting to cook, make sure all the mussels are closed. If they're open, tap them together. If they close, you can use them. If not, toss them. Place all the closed mussels in a colander and rinse with cold water. Then, start on the recipe. I halved it, which was perfect for two people. The store was out of red curry paste so I used green. I added a few shakes of dried ginger and dried lemongrass while the broth was boiling (took that from a green curry paste-based mussel recipe). I used half a bunch of cilantro, chopped. I added half of that cilantro after 2 minutes and the other half when there was 2 minutes to go. I cooked for 8 minutes just to be sure they were done. Not all the mussels were touching the sauce because my pot was deeper than it was wide, so I made sure to dip each mussel into the sauce before eating it. Make sure to have some crusty bread to soak up the mussels! My boyfriend who hates mussels said these were the best mussels he's ever had!
This sauce is awesome!!!!!! It's similar to the sauce I make for my Thai dishes. This is an easy recipe, the hardest part was sorting through the mussels. This is the first time I made mussels, I will experiment with other sauces the next time I make mussels but will definitely use this sauce again for more than mussels
This recipe was fantastic! We doubled the recipe to make approx 10 lbs of mussels. 5 of us ate them all! Nice and spicy - used "Thai Kitchen" brand red curry paste. There was plenty of broth left over. Used it the next day as a base for a Thai Vegetable Shrimp Curry served over rice. This recipe is a keeper!
Definitely needs more curry, and less lime. Will make it again with those changes... Served with jasmine rice and sugar snap peas.
Amazing and very easy! I didn't have an open bottle of white wine and didn't want to open one just for this recipe so I used some rice cooking wine instead - that was the only change I made. The cilantro is the perfect finishing touch!
So yummy! I just added a tiny bit more sugar and subbed lite coconut milk for the regular. It was so good there was nothing left but broth, which I think we both wanted to slurp down like soup! Excellent recipe!
This is an excellent way to serve mussels. I've only ever done the safe tomato or butter based broth even though we enjoy hot thai food. I cut back on the curry only because I didnt want it seriously hot but will take it up to full heat next time. Delicious, and will make again.
I have cooked this several times for guests and everyone always raves about this dish. The sauce is fantastic and having bread on the table for dipping works well.
I made this a few times. My family, friends, and I thought this was delicious! I also used frozen mussels because I couldn't find any fresh. It worked just fine. I also used more red curry paste. I served it with steamed white rice and it was perfect. If you want even more heat, add some Thai chilis! Thanks for a great recipe!
Made the recipe exactly. They were fabulous. One guest had never had mussels before and couldn't get enough of these. Very authentic Thai flavour. Loved them.
I just adore this dish. The time estimates are long. If you know where your ingredients are (sometimes it takes me 10 minutes to find the coconut milk) it takes about 15 minutes total to make this delicious dish. I use about twice the amount of red curry paste, but I'm allergic to garlic and have to leave that out, so maybe that's why I need more zing. I also like to squeeze a little extra lime juice over it at the end. I serve it with nice crusty bread to soak up all of the sauce, and it's a terrific meal that's a little out of the ordinary... although we love it so much it's become a staple in our house.
great recipe! A few changes we made were to double the sauce and to use one can light coconut milk and one regular (since it is very high in fat). We couldn't find red curry paste and used green. We served with crusty bread and a green salad. The extra mussels and sauce are great over fresh linguine or rice the next day!
I followed this recipe exactly, because I like to see what the original is suposed to taste like first. For me the Thai influence was unexpected but my husband and I loved it. Next time I will omit or lessen the fish sauce. I still rated a 5 because I think that is due to my personal tastes and not indicative of any fault in the recipe. Great Job!
Absolutely delicious! Prep time was much less than 20 min for me. I think I found a new favorite quick inexpensive meal!
I uploaded a picture but it doesn't do this recipe justice. I put the mussels over rice noodles, paired it with a nice pinot gris and it was fantastic. After reading the other comments I decided to add a bit of red pepper flakes for some heat. Other then that I followed the recipe as is. When I make this again I would cook the mussels in the sauce but then thicken it up for the noodle.
This was a nice change, but I still prefer the traditional butter, wine, shallots, and herb sauce for steamed mussels. If I were to make this again, I would follow the suggestion of another reviewer…make the sauce, steam the mussels separately, and then add back to the sauce, and mix. I think the liquor (think that's what it's called?) diluted the Thai sauce too much when everything was steamed together. Be sure there's plenty of crusty bread slices on the table to soak up that delicious sauce!
Awesome dish! I was looking for an excuse to do something with a Thai curry, and I came across this recipe. The heat is nicely balanced by the sweetness of the coconut milk, and you can adjust the spiciness to your liking, by varying the amount of curry paste. Great with steamed jasmine rice, or crunchy garlic toast. Definitely will make again!
Seriously great. The foundation of this recipe is perfect. My market didn't have 5 pounds of mussels, so we had to make do with 2, but made the broth to full quantity anyway, and it was perfect amount for my husband and I as a main dish. Based on personal taste, and what I had in the larder, these were my minor changes, and they worked very, very well: We really like spice, so I doubled the amount of red paste. I also added about a tablespoon of chopped fresh mint, and a tablespoon of chopped fresh ginger (we had it; thought it might be good in there too -- and it was!) Plus, I made some sticky rice and served it on the side; after the mussels were eaten, we tossed the sticky rice into the broth base and it was amazing -- imagine a rice tom-kah. Great, great, great. We served this with homemade chicken potstickers. A delicious dinner. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
I followed the recipe with exception of using frozen shelled raw mussels (added them to broth frozen, let them cook for about 15 minutes) and ginger powder. It still turned out delicious. The boyfriend liked it too, and he's pickier than most 3-year-olds. I will be making this again soon.
my husband and i LOVE this dish. we make it whenever we can get our hands on mussels. he works in a restaurant, and has even contemplated recommending this to one of the chefs as a special. we usually add less wine, more garlic and surprisingly more fish sauce. DELICIOUS!!!
This recipe was delicious! My local market was out of mussels, so I made it with littleneck clams which were absolutely delicious. The mussels would have been perfect as well. Have bread on hand to get all of the extra juice. I may try having a side of jasmine rice next time and pouring a small amount of the leftover juice on the rice. Yum. My boyfriend loved this so much has asked to have it again tomorrow!
Delicious; the broth was absolutely perfect, despite omitting the wine and using only dried cilantro spices rather than fresh. Also, instead of red curry paste, I used Thai chili paste and it was wonderfully hot and spicy.
Delicious! Five pounds of mussels was a lot for our seafood buffet for seven people, so unless it is the main dish, plan accordingly! Next time I would buy 2.5 pounds instead.
Excellent recipe! Made a big batch for a small dinner party and everyone loved it. I did add more red curry paste, dried Thai chiles, minced ginger, lemongrass paste and some fish sauce to make it even more flavorful. Will likely make this curry sauce and use other kinds of protein, serving over rice.
The best (not to mention the simplest) Thai mussel recipe we've tried - rave reviews. Not hot, though, if you wan some heat, I suggest mincing 2 hot Thai chili peppers.
Easy and oh-so-tasty! Make them as hot or mild as you like. Be sure to get some fresh bread for dipping in the sauce.
Awesome!!! This is really flavorful, you won't want it to end! My only recommendation would be to make double the sauce and eat it with rice so you can soak up the extra sauce. Yumm!
Do not change this recipe. It is perfect! My husband clapped and gave a standing ovation. Just the right heat, just the right tang, just the right sweetness. Perfect flavors on so many levels. I will be making this often. Thank you to the author!
I added the shrimp. I didn't follow exactly. Sauted the garlic and paste first then added the wine to reduce it and get the alcohol out of it. The rest I did the same, except add some red pepper flakes for some heat.
I love this recipe! However, I did make a couple of changes: I used 1/2 cup dry white wine (instead of 1/3 cup) and I used the entire 4 oz. jar of Thai Red Curry Paste (instead of 1 1/2 Tbls.). Another tip, I made it once with light coconut milk and it wasn't nearly as good as when I used regular coconut milk! Another recommendation: I double the sauce recipe if I'm cooking 3 or more pounds of Mussels.
Excellent! The only adjustments I made were to replace the white wine with chicken stock since we were out, added shallots to provide texture and reduced the lime juice to a third of 1/3. Even our 2 year old was asking for, "more, more." And you'll definitely want some bread to enjoy every last drop of the broth.
I have tried quite a few Thai mussel recipes and this one is one of the best.
Loved it. Made it as written but added some shredded Thai Basil sprigs since I had it in the fridge. Will make again exactly as written. Will also make with other seafood.
I had only two pounds of mussels but made the entire broth recipe. My husband and I devoured it, sopping up the extra broth with bread and soup spoons. Delicious!
These "Thai Steamed Mussels" were excellent! I made mine without the wine. Thank you MURINMOON for sharing your recipe.
