Vegan Chickpea Curry Stew
This healthy vegan curried chickpea stew with rice, spinach, and coconut milk takes just 30 minutes to make in 1-pot with basic pantry ingredients.
Recipe Features
- quick and easy – you’ll need 1-pot and a little over 30 minutes
- dietary restriction-friendly – this recipe is vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, low-fat and no added sugar
- pantry-friendly – made with pantry items like chickpeas, rice, canned tomato, spices, onion, and garlic
What You’ll Need
- onion, garlic and ginger – you’ll need these 3 stew basics to start things off, if you’re missing fresh ginger, a pinch of ground ginger works
- spices – you’ll need curry powder, turmeric, cumin and optional red pepper flakes
- canned diced tomatoes – any canned diced tomatoes work but fire-roasted are the best!
- chickpeas – canned chickpeas are great but you an can use home-cooked too
- coconut milk – I recommend light coconut milk for this recipe as full-fat was a bit heavy, however, you can use it if it’s all you have
- rice – use basmati or jasmine rice
- spinach – you’ll need 10 oz of fresh spinach or about 8-9 small handfuls
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1. Saute the onions, garlic and ginger for 5-6 minutes until soft and fragrant.
Step 2. Add the spices, stir well and cook for a few more minutes. It should be smelling amazing!
Step 3. Add everything else and simmer away until the rice is tender. This should take 15-20 minutes depending on the type of rice you use.
Step 3. Stir in the spinach and lime, turn the heat off and let sit for 5 minutes. That’s it!
Serve your stew right away, topped with fresh cilantro and another squeeze of fresh lime juice.
FAQs
Can I freeze this?
Yep! This recipe freezes well, just make sure you let it cool completely before sealing and freezing.
How long does this keep?
Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months.
Do I have to add spinach?
If you’re in a pinch and missing fresh spinach, no big deal, you can leave it out or replace it with finely chopped kale.
Related Recipes
If you’re loving the looks of this stew, you’ll want to try these ones too:
- Curried Butternut Squash Lentil Stew
- Vegan Chickpea Quinoa Stew
- Vegan Sweet Potato Peanut Stew
- Easy Vegetable Chickpea Curry
- Butternut Squash Curry
- Sweet Potato Lentil Curry
Did you try this recipe?
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I’d love to hear about it! Click here to leave a review and be sure to tag me @runningonrealfood if you post it on social media.
Vegan Chickpea Curry Stew
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Stew
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This healthy, hearty curried chickpea stew with rice and spinach takes just 30 minutes to make in 1 pot, is packed with nutrition, and keeps well for healthy meals all week.
Ingredients
- 1 medium white onion, finely diced (about 2 cups)
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced (about 1.5 tbsp)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional, adds some spice)
- 1 x 28 oz. can diced tomatoes with the juices
- 2 x 19 oz. cans chickpeas, drained and well-rinsed (about 4 cups, doesn’t need to be exact)
- 1 x 400 mL can light coconut milk
- 1.5 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup uncooked jasmine or basmati rice
- 1 x 10 oz. bag baby spinach (8–9 small handfuls, doesn’t need to be exact)
- 1–2 tbsp fresh lime juice, optional
- salt and pepper, to taste
- finely chopped cilantro for topping, optional
Instructions
- Add the onion, garlic and ginger to a soup pot with 1 tbsp oil, vegetable broth or water for cooking. Saute for 5-6 minutes until softened and fragrant.
- Add the salt and all of the spices and cook for 2-3 more minutes, stirring often.
- Add the diced tomatoes, chickpeas, coconut milk, broth and rice.
- Simmer uncovered over medium heat for 15-20 minutes, or until the rice is tender.
- Stir in the spinach and a squeeze of lime juice, turn off the heat and let sit for 4-5 more minutes until the spinach has wilted and mixed into the stew.
- Season with salt and pepper, if needed, and serve right away topped with finely chopped fresh cilantro.
Notes
If storing leftovers, let them cool then store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 310
- Fat: 6 g
- Carbohydrates: 52 g
- Fiber: 9 g
- Protein: 13 g
Keywords: chickpea stew, chickpea curry stew, curried chickpea stew
UPDATE NOTE: This recipe was originally published August 20, 2015. It was updated on May 5, 2020 with new photos and text.
Can I do this in the instant pot and can I use dried chickpeas?
You can but I’m not sure on timing because I haven’t tested it. Let me know if you try it.
This was SO good! It pleased all four of us – the carnivore, the vegetarian, and the two finicky kids.
★★★★★
Absolutely beautiful curry.
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The most delicious curry dish I’ve ever had! I didn’t have curry so I used a tandoori spice which is almost the same thing, and I didn’t use rice! The stew by itself was INCREDIBLE. Definitely my go to feel good food. Thanks for the recipe Deryn ❤️
★★★★★
This is my favourite recipe to date! Simple and FULL of flavour!
★★★★★
Even my picky 4 and 6-year olds kids ate this! Easy to make, I didn’t add the red pepper flakes so it wasn’t spicy for the kids. This will be in our regular rotation for sure! Thank you.
★★★★★
Made this last night. Super easy to put together and really tasty. Didn’t have any spinach, but still tasted great. Thanks.
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed it, Jen!
This is delicious! My husband and I love it. We’ve made it several times now. He says it’s the “best vegan meal you’ve ever made” haha 🙂
★★★★★
haha, that’s awesome! So glad you guys enjoyed it.
Amazing Taste!
This looks amazing! I was thinking of maybe using quinoa instead of rice? Would that work out?
Thank you!
Yes, I think that would work!
Made it and it was FANTASTIC! Thank you!!!
Awesome!! So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for letting me know.
Has anyone tried freezing this recipe?
★★★★★
I haven’t but it should be no problem to freeze for up to 3 months in an air-tight freezer safe container. Let me know if you try freezing!
For a second I thought this was from a new Isa book. May want to fix your source.
This recipe is so delicious! I’ve had trouble make curry taste good at home, but this was amazing! Thank you for sharing:)
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Ohhhh I love the combination of flavors here! And yes- I totally agree. One pot meals are the best! I live in a house with a bunch of other girls, so there’s often a lot of dishes/people in the kitchen. It makes it hard to clean up!
haha oh gosh, I have no tips because I’m the same way. It’s a problem! I have to be early to everything… I’m trying to work on it but we’ll see 🙂
And this look delicious by the way!
Yesss, please. This contains all of my favourite ingredients – chickpeas, lots of Indian spices, coconut. Even though I’ve yet to try this particular dish I agree it might very well be happiness. Or at least really delicious.
This looks delicious! I love chickpeas because they’re so filling and versatile!
How many onions ate required for this recipe and how should they be prepared- chopped?
Been following your blog/recipes for 2 months now. Thanks.
It says 1 onion in the recipe. I imagine they need to be chopped small to mix well with the rest of the ingredients.
Sorry, my mistake. It should be finely chopped, yes. Thanks for pointing that out! 🙂
My mom passed down her “get there super early” traits to me. I am the one who gets to there 8am lecture at least an hour before 😛 I can’t be late!
Chickpeas are my most favourite thing to eat. This looks a really lovely recipe. I will be pinning this. Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★