This vegan curry recipe is packed with healthy veggies and great flavor — and it takes less than 25 minutes to make! The perfect quick and easy dinner.
We’re always on the lookout for quick and tasty dinners, and this one is a regular now. Try it out quickly Vegan curry! Here, coconut milk and curry powder make healthy veggies taste like a decadent treat. And it takes less than 25 minutes to prepare! It’s an ode to the simplicity of plant-based ingredients and excellent seasoning. This twist on our chickpea curry packs even more veggies and nutrients without sacrificing overall cook time…which we think is crucial on weekdays. This easy recipe is so delicious in such a short amount of time, it will have you feeling like a kitchen wizard.
What is a curry anyway?
Curry is a pretty loose term. Par bon appétit was a word used by the colonizers to simplify what they saw in foreign kitchens. Nowadays, the word “curry” usually describes a dish with a spicy sauce and meat or vegetables, often eaten with rice or flatbread like naan. The dish is prepared in many countries, including India, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and England.
Remember curry powder is a western invention! Curry powder takes the common spices of Indian curries and wraps them in a spice blend. Authentic Indian spices are blended by the chef and vary by region and household.
Fancy an authentic Indian dinner?
If you are looking for an authentic Indian dinner recipe, head to our Masoor Dal (Indian Red Lentils). This recipe was shared with us directly by Asma Khan, an Indian chef from a popular London restaurant. You’ll love these creamy and flavorful lentils, and you can serve them with basmati rice too! Another great resource for authentic Indian recipes is chef and author Madhur Jaffrey.
Ingredients for this vegan curry recipe
Making a curry is not part of our cultural heritage; It’s an ode to the flavors and techniques of a tomato-based Indian curry! We hope you find this a great way to eat lots of veggies fast! What you need to quickly prepare this curry:
- yellow onion
- Pepper: A medium-sized red bell pepper provides 169% of your daily vitamin C intake (source), so we always include bell peppers in our recipes!
- Garlic
- fresh ginger
- spinach
- Chickpeas: Chickpeas add plant-based protein, which keeps this dish filling
- Peas: Peas are also legumes and add a touch of plant-based protein
- olive oil
- Roasted Tomatoes
- curry powder and cumin
- coconut milk: While many Indian curries use dairy, some use coconut milk for creaminess, which is perfect for a vegan curry
Fire Roasted Tomatoes…and a Substitute
Canned Roasted Tomatoes are one of our quick dinner secrets. Why? These tomatoes are charred over an open flame, which softens their flavor straight from the can. Have you ever tried canned tomatoes with a metallic or bitter taste? Fire roasted tomatoes solve this problem. They’re a type of tomato, not a brand, and you can find them in many grocery stores across the United States these days.
Can’t find fire roasted tomatoes? No problem! Just use the best quality chopped tomatoes You can find. One thing we found while making this vegan curry is that some brands of mashed tomatoes can be very thick. If your tomatoes are very thick, simply add a little more coconut milk after simmering to balance the sauce.
Serve with rice or other cereal
This quick vegan curry tastes best with rice or another whole grain! We love it with basmati rice, a long-grain, aromatic-flavored rice traditionally grown in India and surrounding countries (Pakistan, Nepal, etc.). For this reason, it’s best served with Indian-style curries (while Thai curries go great with jasmine rice).
Of course you can serve this curry with any whole grain! If you want to give up rice, there are plenty of rice substitutes. Try quinoa, cauliflower rice, or even lentil rice (we get ours online).
Another side dish for a vegan curry
This vegan curry is so filling you might not need a side! But if you want another side Naan bread goes well with an Indian-inspired curry. You can easily find packaged naan bread in the supermarket, but it’s often not vegan. If you want, you can make our vegan naan bread: it’s warm, soft and full of garlic flavor.
Prepare and save information
Can you make this quick vegan curry ahead of time? Yes! For meal prep, you can easily do this 1 day ahead and keep in the fridge until ready to serve. Then simply reheat in a pan, being careful not to overheat so the sauce doesn’t evaporate. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for about 3 days.
Or you can prepare the rice ahead of time if you’re serving it with rice! This is especially useful with brown rice, which takes up to 40 minutes to cook. To warm up the rice, place it in a saucepan on the stove and add a little water. Heat gently for a few minutes until the water has evaporated and the rice is hot.
More curry recipes
This quick vegan curry is a favorite full dinner we make regularly! Here are some other great curry recipes that we love:
This vegan curry recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.
The description
This vegan curry recipe is packed with healthy veggies and great flavor — and it takes less than 25 minutes to make! The perfect quick and easy dinner.
- White or brown basmati rice for serving*
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 medium sized peppers (we used 1 yellow and 1 orange)
- 1 large clove of garlic
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 6 cups (5 ounces) baby spinach (or chopped spinach)
- 28– ounce can mashed, roasted tomatoes (or best quality mashed tomatoes)**
- 1 tbsp curry powder (or garam masala)
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 15 ounces chickpeas
- 1 cup frozen peas
- ¾ cup whole coconut milk
- Cook rice: If serving with rice, start with basmati rice (or use an Instant Pot).
- Prepare the vegetables: Chop the onion and peppers. (For super speed, you can skip to step 3 and mince the garlic and ginger while cooking.) Mince the garlic. Peel and finely chop (or grate) the ginger.
- Fry the vegetables: In a large pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Sauté onion and peppers for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger and spinach and sauté for 2 minutes until the spinach has completely wilted.
- Cook: Carefully pour in the crushed tomatoes and their juice, then add the curry powder, cumin, salt, chickpeas, peas and coconut milk. Cook for 5 minutes until boiling. Remove from fire. Add a little more coconut milk if you like (depending on the tomato brand*). Serve with rice.
Remarks
*Or prepare the rice in advance, which is useful for brown rice as it takes longer to cook. To warm up the rice, place it in a saucepan on the stove and add a little water. Heat gently for a few minutes until the water has evaporated and the rice is hot.
**Flame Roasted Tomatoes are a special type of canned tomato that are now widely available in most grocery stores. If you can’t find them, use the best quality tomatoes possible. All brands are very different: we found that some can be quite thick, so in this case we add a little more coconut milk at the end.
- Category: curry
- Method: Cook
- Kitchen: Indian inspired
- Diet: vegan
