I love making healthy vegan alternatives to classic lunches and dinners, like my Vegan Jambalaya, Crispy Orange Tofu, or Vegan Bolognese. It’s surprisingly easy to turn your favorite dish into a plant-based version, while also bringing all the protein you need! We make this chickpea curry almost every week, along with some of my Vegan Naan Bread. Trying it is loving it! This Vegan Chickpea Curry is an Indian-inspired meal where the meat is replaced with chickpeas. This simple vegan chickpea curry is the best easy vegan recipe to get all your plant-based protein in one meal. If you just started your vegan journey, chickpea curry is a must-try. It is easy to make even for beginners, it’s tasty, and everyone loves them.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Let’s see all the simple ingredients you need to make this creamy chickpea curry vegan and gluten-free!
Canned Chickpeas – a can of chickpea is about 15 oz, and it’s the fastest way to make an easy chickpea curry. Open the can, drain the chickpeas over a sieve and rinse quickly before using them in the recipe. If you want to use dried chickpeas, read my paragraph below on cooking dried chickpeas for a curry recipe. Canned Coconut Cream – not coconut beverage! Canned coconut cream or canned coconut milk is thicker and usually doesn’t contains additives like sugar or thickener. That’s why canned coconut products are the best option for making a thick coconut curry sauce. Onion – I tend to use frozen onions. It makes it so much easier for me. No need to cut an onion! Garlic – either fresh crushed garlic (my favorite option), or powdered garlic. Tomato Paste – this helps thicken the sauce. Canned Diced Tomatoes – one can is about 15 oz. Spices – the combination of spices is the key to a tasty, fragrant curry: Paprika, Cumin, Curry powder – you can swap the last one for garam masala for classic Indian curry flavors. Olive Oil – I use extra-virgin, low-flavor olive oil to avoid adding too much taste. Salt and Pepper or chili powder. Fresh Ginger – You can also use powdered ginger, but it’s not as tasty! Fresh Lime Juice – You can of course use bottled lime juice, if that’s all you can find. Fresh Cilantro – Or replace it with fresh Italian flat parsley if you don’t like cilantro flavor.
How To Make Vegan Chickpea Curry
The best vegan chickpea curry recipe is creamy, with a thick tomato coconut sauce, full of fragrant spices and soft chickpeas.
Adding Vegetables
Now that the sauce is ready feel free to add some optional vegetables. Add 1 or 2 cups of soft and hard vegetables following the recommendation below. Soft vegetables below cook well in the sauce and don’t require pre-cooking.
Spinach leaves – if they are large, roughly chop before adding or adding frozen spinach. Eggplant – peel, and chop into small cubes. Diced capsicum – any color works well. Peas fresh or frozen Mushrooms – feet removed, sliced.
If you want to add harder vegetables, make sure you steam or roast them before, or they won’t cook well in the sauce. Some of the best vegetables to add to curries are:
Cauliflower florets Potatoes – peeled, diced in small cubes. Sweet potatoes – peeled, diced in small cubes. Broccoli florets
Finally, stir in the canned chickpeas and continue cooking for 20-30 minutes or until cooked chickpeas.
Serving Suggestions
This easy vegan curry chickpea recipe is delicious served with about 1/2 cup of steamed rice like:
Basmati rice Jasmine rice Brown rice
Or healthier grain:
Quinoa – red or white quinoa Bulgur Farro Millet
Or low-carb vegetables:
Cauliflower rice – pulse fresh cauliflower florets into a rice-like texture in a food processor. Stir fry in olive oil and serve as a low-carb vegan side to the curry. Broccoli rice – same technique as above but using fresh broccoli florets.
Or flatbread: Below I listed my top 3 vegan flatbread recipes to serve with this curry. Choose the one that matches your diet requirement the best.
Gluten-Free Flatbread Paleo Flatbread Vegan Naan Without Yeast
More Vegan Dinner Recipes
If you love quick, easy vegan dinner recipes, I recommend trying one of my other recipes below.
