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.
Very good. Cooks up quickly and is so delicious. Served it over brown basmati rice. Yum!
★★★★★
Could I use full fat coconut milk?
★★★★★
Yes. Thanks. For next time, you can always read through the post for substitution notes!
Delicious meal! Very easy to make. Loved the touch of spinach in here. Must try!!
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
This recipe is so delicious and easy to make… I think I’ve already made it 4 times!
★★★★★
That’s awesome, Taylor! So glad you like it.
Delicious recipe! Will definitely be making this again, thank you!
★★★★★
Awesome recipe, made it as above. Thanks so much for sharing!
I made this last night and loved it lots its now in the power rotation
Thanks for sharing it
Mike
★★★★★
Delicious, fresh, spicy and filling, this will definitely be a regular meal in our home.
Excellent! So glad you enjoyed it, Kim. Thanks for the review.
I tried this recipe just a few hours ago. I didn’t have baby spinach and I have not acquired the taste of kale. Instead I just used other green vegetables. I like the recipe only that it was a bit tart, so i put some sugar to counteract the tartness.
Thanks, June. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for your feedback!
This is such an amazing meal. My mom cooked this for us while in quarantine. Other family members aren’t vegan but they still loved it too. Thank you for sharing!!
★★★★★
This is soooo good!! Definitely making this again! Easy and so tasty! I didn’t have fresh ginger so used about 1/2 tsp of ground ginger. My pack of coconut milk was only 200ml, so I just added 200ml water, and it was still nice and creamy. Thanks Deryn for this awesome recipe! Even my non-vegan hubby gave it the thumbs up!
★★★★★