Vegan Chickpea Curry
This easy vegan chickpea curry is made with rice, potatoes, and all the right seasonings. It’s a perfect weeknight vegetable curry because it’s an easy one-pot recipe with a creamy, spicy sauce.
Be sure to serve some baked vegan naan on the side.
It’s easy to make this chickpea curry extra creamy by using coconut milk. Combining chickpeas, coconut milk, and rice makes this curried chickpea recipe so creamy and delicious!
Why This Recipe is a Winner
- Cooking rice with coconut milk and chickpeas creates a creamy combination of textures and flavors.
- Potatoes are a secret ingredient, adding creaminess (thanks to its starches) to just about any dish
- Carrots add color, texture, and flavor, making every bite scrumptious!
What You Need
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe:
- Coconut milk — You’ll need a 15-ounce can of full-fat coconut. Or you can substitute lite coconut, but it will yield a less creamy experience.
- Basmati rice — You can use white rice or brown basmati.
- Garlic — You’ll need 3 to 4 cloves.
- Carrots — We’ll be using about 1 cup of chopped/sliced carrots.
- Potato — Just about any potato will do here, including red, white, gold, or even a sweet potato.
- Chickpeas — You’ll need a 15-ounce can.
- Curry powder — I really like McCormick’s curry powder because of the blend of ingredients it uses.
- Tamari or soy sauce — I like using tamari because it’s a gluten-free version of soy sauce.
- Lime — You can use either a fresh lime to make juice or bottled juice.
- Cilantro — Fresh is the most flavorful, but you can use dried cilantro or substitute fresh parsley.
- Frozen corn — I highly recommend frozen or fresh corn over canned corn.
- Frozen peas
- Other ingredients — You can add steamed broccoli and/or cut cauliflower florets
How to Make Vegan Chickpea Curry
- Prepare the base by adding the coconut milk, water, rice, garlic, carrots, potatoes, and chickpeas in a large pot and simmer (low boil) for about 20 minutes, until the carrots are tender and the sauce has thickened.
- Stir in the frozen corn and peas.
- Immediately before serving add the curry, tamari, lime juice, and the chopped cilantro. Stir to combine and it’s ready to be eaten!
Marly’s Tips
The coconut milk combines with the spices to make a deliciously creamy vegan curry sauce that is best when served with naan bread.
Storage Tips
Store chickpea curry in an airtight container. It will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze it in a freezer-safe container for up to 2 months. To thaw, transfer the dish to the fridge overnight or use the defrost setting on your microwave.
Can you freeze chickpea curry?
A chickpea curry freezes beautifully! Simply cook the recipe and then allow it to cool before transferring to freezer-safe containers. It will keep in the freezer up to 3 months. To reheat, cook in the microwave until heated through.
Are chickpeas the same as garbanzo beans?
The chickpea and garbanzo bean are different names for the same thing. Whatever you call it, it’s a popular legume used in a variety of recipes, from salads to hummus, soups, and more!
What is curry powder made from?
Most curry powders are made from a mixture of spices, including turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, and coriander (the seeds of the cilantro plant).
Marly’s Tips
Use these tips to make this vegan chickpea curry perfect every time:
- Try adding some chopped cauliflower florets while the curry is cooking
- Sprinkle the finished chickpeas curry with sesame seeds
- Serve vegan chickpea curry with steamed broccoli
- Curry powders vary greatly in the ingredients they have. In addition, if it has been sitting for a while, it may have lost some flavor. Taste your curry before serving and add 1 to 2 additional tablespoons of curry powder for even more flavor.
- Serve chickpea curry with vegan naan bread and steamed broccoli. Also having additional tamari and sriracha is nice, too.
More Stews
I hope you like this vegan chickpea curry as much as we do!
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Vegan Chickpea Curry
Ingredients
- 15 oz can coconut milk
- 3 cans of water fill that coconut milk can 3 times
- 2 cups basmati rice
- 3-4 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 1 cup carrots finely chopped
- 1 potato chopped into small cubes
- 1 15 oz can chickpeas drained
- 1-3 tablespoons curry powder
- 1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
- 1 lime juiced
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro fresh is best but dried will work too
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 cup frozen peas
- Other ingredients: Steamed broccoli and/or cauliflower florets
- Serve with Baked Naan
Instructions
- Combine the coconut milk, water, basmati rice, minced garlic, chopped carrots, potato cubes and rinsed chickpeas in a large pot over medium-high heat. Bring the pot to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for about 20 minutes. The basmati rice should be tender at this point and the sauce should be very thick.
- Add the frozen corn and peas and stir until combined.
- Before serving add the curry, Bragg (or soy), the juice of one lime, and the chopped cilantro. Stir to combine and this One Pot Wonder is ready to be eaten!
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Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This post was originally published in 2019 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2021.
Marly, what you’ve captured in pixels brought me straight over from Instagram for a closer look. My word! Every element sings flavor harmony. Excellent tip about using the can of coconut milk to measure the liquid – every trace counts. Kids sure have a way of seeing things simply, don’t they?
Thanks, Brooks! This means a lot coming from you! My mom always used to use the can to measure additional water into a recipe. One thing I like about that is that it ensures getting every last drop of ingredients from the can!
I love this! Also, you’re a genius. I’ve tried so many times to do a one pot wonder and I always fail. Props.
Thanks, Karen! I’m a big fan of this chickpeas curry as a one pot wonder way of cooking now – it makes things SO easy!
I love one pot wonders.. they always make great weeknight meals! Definitely will be creating your chickpea and coconut curry, looks and sounds delicious!
This looks so comforting and cozy!
Tonights dinner, cannot wait! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Made this tonight! It was delicious, I’m thinking next time I would want something to add more spice, maybe cayan. Great recipe, so easy to make.
Hi Chloe! So glad you liked this chick pea curry recipe! I completely agree with you that a little extra spice would be great, but not everyone in my family agrees. 🙁 That’s why I keep a bottle of Sriracha (aka Rooster sauce!!) on the table!
One pot meals are the best! This looks so good!
Thanks, Jessica! So glad you love this easy chickpea curry recipe too!
This was my first time making curry. It looked beautiful, but was extremely bland. Not sure what happened…. I ended up adding a lot more seasonings, which helped a bit.
dont use cans! baaaad!
Oh yum! On top of my must try list for sure!
Allergic to coconut milk. What can I substitute? Would love to try.
You don’t have to put any kind of cream as a substitute – you could just use water. However, if you wanted a creamy flavor, you can use any variety of plant-based milks that work for your diet – like soy, almond, hemp, etc.
Do you cook this covered or uncovered? Can’t wait to try it.
I cook this uncovered. It works like a charm!
You mentioned curry seasoning….are you talking about the spice curry…Thank you…cannot wait to try this
Hi Jenny. Thanks for your comment. Yes, I’m referring to curry. Because curry is made with a variety of spices I thought it might be easier to refer to it as a seasoning, but you raise a good point. So, I changed it to curry powder. Hope this helps to clarify…and I hope you enjoy it!