Thai curry puffs are flaky hand pies filled with curried chicken, potatoes, and peas, and they disappear off a plate faster than almost anything else I make. Sinking a fork into that crisp, golden crust is only half the appeal. The spiced filling—potatoes, green peas, curry, onions, garlic, and ground meat—is the part people ask me about.

Thai curry puffs are made of flaky puff pastry filled with a flavorful mix of ground chicken, onions, garlic, potatoes, peas, and spices

It’s no secret I love Thai food. Honestly, the snacks in Thailand alone are worth the hefty price of airfare and hours trapped on a plane (though I’ll take the sparkling beaches and warm ocean waters too). Lucky for me, there’s a Thai grocery near me that sells all kinds of prepared Thai food: noodle dishes, salads, soups, rice crisps, sweet puddings. Home cooks bring in trays of it to sell, especially on weekends. Curry puffs are always in the mix, and they’re the thing I keep coming back for.

Mine aren’t the deep-fried, made-from-scratch-dough version you’d get from a street vendor. I use store-bought puff pastry and bake or air fry, which means you can have a batch ready in under an hour with almost none of the usual effort of laminated dough. This recipe is so easy you could reasonably drop everything and make it right now — though I’ll admit it’s a lot less of a commitment than the $900 and 36 hours round trip it takes to snack my way through Bangkok. They still taste like the ones I ate in Thailand, just faster to get on the table.

Ingredient Notes

Puff pastry. Store-bought puff pastry (thawed if frozen) works fine here and is what makes this version so much faster than the traditional short pastry or hot-water dough. Dufour is the brand I reach for when I can find it — the butter content holds up better in the oven than most supermarket puff pastry — but any all-butter puff pastry will do.

Curry powder. A basic Indian-style curry powder, the kind sold in the spice aisle labeled simply “curry powder,” is what gives these their color and flavor. Look for one without added salt if you can find it, since the fish sauce and salt in the filling already do that job. Madras-style curry powder works well too if that’s what you have.

Ground chicken. Ground turkey, pork, beef, or lamb all work as a straight swap if that’s what’s in your freezer.

Fish sauce. Soy sauce is a fine substitute if you don’t keep fish sauce on hand, though fish sauce gives the filling more depth.

Bowl of curried vegetable filling with peas and a spoon, next to rolled dough and round dough cutouts on a wooden surface—perfect for making homemade Thai curry puffs.

Round dumpling wrappers on a wooden board next to a bowl of curried filling with peas and a spoon, with one wrapper being filled—perfect for making homemade Thai curry puffs.

How to Make Thai Curry Puffs

Start the filling by softening onion, garlic, and diced potato in oil, then add the ground chicken and cook until browned. Stir in curry powder, fish sauce, salt, sugar, and cayenne, then add a splash of water and the frozen peas and cook until the peas are heated through and the liquid has mostly cooked off. Let the filling cool slightly while you roll out the puff pastry and cut it into rounds.

Spoon filling onto each round, fold over, crimp the edges with a fork, and brush with egg wash before baking until golden—or skip the oven altogether and air fry them for an even crispier crust.

Five Thai curry puffs, one cut open to reveal a savory vegetable filling, are arranged on a green plate with a sprig of cilantro; bamboo steamers are in the background.

What to Serve With It

I serve these on their own as a snack most of the time, but they also make a nice starter for a full Thai meal. Try them alongside Thai Green Papaya Salad, Thai Chicken Curry, Thai Beef Curry, or Thai Pineapple Fried Rice. For a sweet follow-up, serve Thai Black Rice Pudding with Coconut Milk.