Hydroxycinnamic acids and curcumin are compounds with great therapeutic potential, including anticancer properties. In this study,?p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid and curcumin were produced in?Escherichia coli. Their production was induced by heat using the?dnaK?and?ibpA?heat shock promoters. The ribosome binding site (RBS) used was tested and further optimized for each gene to assure an efficient translation.?p-Coumaric acid was successfully produced from tyrosine and caffeic acid was produced either from tyrosine or?p-coumaric acid using tyrosine ammonia lyase (TAL) from?Rhodotorula glutinis, 4-coumarate 3-hydroxylase (C3H) from?Saccharothrix espanaensis?or cytochrome P450 CYP199A2 from?Rhodopseudomonas palustris. The highest?p-coumaric acid production obtained was 2.5?mM; caffeic acid production reached 370?μM. Regarding curcumin, 17?μM was produced using 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (4CL1) from?Arabidopsis thaliana, diketide-CoA synthase (DCS) and curcumin synthase 1 (CURS1) from?Curcuma longa. Stronger RBSs and/or different induction conditions should be further evaluated to optimize those production levels. Herein it was demonstrated that the biosynthetic pathway of?p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid and curcumin in?E. coli?can be triggered by using heat shock promoters, suggesting its potential for the development of new industrial bioprocesses or even new bacterial therapies.