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Learn Thai Cooking

Balance salty, sour, sweet and spicy in curries, soups and stir-fries.

Free to start. Built from a single prompt. No credit card.

Thai cooking is about balance: fish sauce for salt, lime or tamarind for sour, palm sugar for sweetness and fresh chiles for heat, adjusted by taste until no single note dominates. Aromatics like lemongrass, galangal and makrut lime leaves give curries and soups their perfume, and many dishes start with a paste pounded in a mortar and pestle. Beginners usually learn green curry, tom yum, a holy basil stir-fry and som tam salad. Learnr builds a personalized Thai cooking course from one prompt and teaches these techniques and dishes in short interactive lessons.

How to learn Thai Cooking, step by step

Build the core pantry. Get fish sauce, palm sugar, tamarind paste, coconut milk, oyster sauce, jasmine rice and dried chiles. For freshness, find lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime leaves, Thai bird's eye chiles, shallots and Thai basil or holy basil at an Asian grocer.
Practice balancing four tastes. Mix a simple dressing of fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar and chopped chile, then adjust one element at a time until it tastes bright and rounded. This one exercise teaches the balance that runs through almost every Thai dish.
Make a curry by frying the paste. Pound or blend green or red curry paste, or start with a good store-bought one. Fry it in thick coconut cream until fragrant and the fat separates, then add coconut milk, protein and vegetables, and season with fish sauce and palm sugar.
Cook tom yum and tom kha. Simmer bruised lemongrass, sliced galangal and torn lime leaves in stock, add shrimp or chicken, then season off the heat with fish sauce and lime. Tom kha adds coconut milk for a richer, milder soup.
Stir-fry fast and hot. For pad kra pao, fry garlic and chiles, add minced chicken or pork, season with fish sauce and oyster sauce, then wilt in holy basil. Prep everything first, since a wok stir-fry takes only minutes.
Cook safely and taste every time. Cook shrimp until opaque and chicken to 165°F, wear gloves when handling many hot chiles, and remember pad thai and some sauces contain peanuts and shellfish. Keep a short Learnr lesson habit to learn one new dish each week.

What you'll learn

Balance fish sauce, lime, palm sugar and chile by taste
Pound or blend a curry paste and fry it in coconut cream
Cook green or red curry, tom yum and tom kha
Stir-fry pad kra pao and pad thai at high heat
Make som tam and cook jasmine and sticky rice

What's inside your Thai Cooking course

A sample path Learnr builds for Thai Cooking. Your real course adapts to your goal and level.

1. The Thai pantry and the four core tastes
2. Rice: jasmine and sticky
3. Curry pastes and coconut curries
4. Soups: tom yum and tom kha
5. Wok stir-fries and noodles
6. Salads, dipping sauces and balancing to taste

How long does it take to learn Thai Cooking?

Simple stir-fries and a curry from store-bought paste come together in a week or two. Pounding pastes and balancing flavors confidently without a recipe usually takes a few months of regular cooking.

What you need before you start

Basic stovetop and chopping skills. A wok or large skillet, a rice cooker or pot, and ideally a mortar and pestle are all you need.

Common mistakes to avoid

Following quantities blindly instead of tasting. Fish sauce, limes and chiles vary, so adjust the balance by taste every time.
Adding fish sauce or lime too early in soups, which dulls them. Season tom yum off the heat just before serving.
Substituting regular basil and ginger without knowing the difference. Thai basil and galangal taste distinct, so use them when you can.

How Learnr builds your course

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Thai Cooking questions, answered

Can I use store-bought curry paste?

Yes. Many Thai home cooks use good commercial pastes. Fry the paste in coconut cream and add fresh aromatics like lime leaves and basil to brighten it.

What is the difference between galangal and ginger?

Galangal is related to ginger but is firmer, more citrusy and piney. It is central to tom yum and many curry pastes, and ginger is only a rough substitute.