Massaman Beef curry

Name: Massaman Beef curry
Prep time: 12 min
Cook time: 23 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 85g Peanuts; 400ml can Coconut cream; 4 tbsp Massaman curry paste; 600g stewing cut into strips Beef; 450g waxy Potatoes; 1 cut thin wedges Onion; 4 leaves Lime; 1 Cinnamon stick; 1 tbsp Tamarind paste; 1 tbsp palm or soft light Brown sugar; 1 tbsp Fish Sauce; 1 red deseeded and finely sliced, to serve chilli; to serve Jasmine Rice

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Beef recipe with Thai flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 42 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 35 min total

85g Peanuts
400ml can Coconut Cream
4 tbsp Massaman Curry Paste
600g stewing cut into strips Beef
450g waxy Potatoes
1 cut thin wedges Onion
4 leaves Lime
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 tbsp Tamarind Paste
1 tbsp palm or soft light Brown Sugar
1 tbsp Fish Sauce
1 red deseeded and finely sliced, to serve Chilli
to serve Jasmine Rice

Step-by-step instructions

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6, then roast the peanuts on a baking tray for 5 mins until golden brown. When cool enough to handle, roughly chop. Reduce oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
Heat 2 tbsp coconut cream in a large casserole dish with a lid. Add the curry paste and fry for 1 min, then stir in the beef and fry until well coated and sealed. Stir in the rest of the coconut with half a can of water, the potatoes, onion, lime leaves, cinnamon, tamarind, sugar, fish sauce and most of the peanuts. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook for 2 hrs in the oven until the beef is tender.
Sprinkle with sliced chilli and the remaining peanuts, then serve straight from the dish with jasmine rice.

Why this works on a weeknight

Massaman Beef curry lands at about 35 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Weeknight Curries collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Massaman Beef curry actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🌶️ Weeknight Curries Beef Thai Curry