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This chickpea curry is the ultimate healthy and easy weeknight dinner! It’s done in 20 minutes, totally plant based, and full of flavor.
Everyone is always asking for easy weeknight dinners. Guess what: so are we! Even though we love to cook, there are always nights where Alex and I need to get dinner on the table fast. The two of us are always experimenting and on the lookout for the best concepts for quick and easy dinner ideas. So we present: our new favorite easy weeknight dinner: this chickpea curry! It takes only about 20 minutes to make! Warm spices and coconut milk make it one the most tastiest things you can make in that short time window—hands down.
Other great curry recipes? Quick Vegan Curry, Vegetable Curry, Butternut Squash Curry, or Lentil Curry.
Why it’s the best chickpea curry recipe
This chickpea curry is made for weeknights. That is: it’s 100% designed to get dinner on the table fast. At the same time, there are no shortcuts. You’ll saute real onion, garlic and fresh ginger, then add tomatoes, chickpeas and coconut milk to make a thick sauce. The way it comes together, you’ll be hooked on it as a go-to fast dinner. Here’s why this is the best chickpea curry for weeknights:
- It takes about 20 minutes to make. Of course, this depends on your ability to chop a few veggies quickly. But the cook time is only 12 minutes, making this a super fast meal!
- It’s a healthy dinner full of plant-based protein. Chickpeas and spinach bring loads of nutrients, along with the veggie-based sauce. It makes for a filling, healthy dinner.
- It’s got big flavor. Onion, garlic and ginger make an aromatic base, and cumin, coriander and curry powder put it over the top. It’s got a swirl of coconut milk at the end for creamy body.
- Fire roasted tomatoes shortcut the cook time. This type of tomatoes tastes sweet right out of the can, so it shortcuts some of the cook time.
Need a sub for coconut milk in this curry? See all our best ideas!
Is this an authentic Indian curry?
Is this chickpea curry authentic Indian cuisine? It’s actually similar to chana masala, the traditional Indian curried chickpeas. While this isn’t a 100% authentic Indian curry recipe, it uses the flavors of Indian cuisine to make a fast weeknight dinner.
If you’d like an authentic Indian dinner recipe, head to our Masoor Dal (Indian Red Lentils). This recipe was shared with us directly from Asma Khan, an Indian chef with a popular restaurant in London. You’ll love these creamy flavorful lentils, and you can serve with basmati rice as well! Another great resource for authentic Indian recipes is chef and author Madhur Jaffrey.
What to serve with chickpea curry
How to serve this weeknight chickpea curry? We like it with long-grain basmati rice. Here’s what we’d suggest for serving:
- Basmati rice: Here’s our method for how to cook brown or white basmati rice: white takes about 15 minutes total and brown takes about 20 to 25 minutes. Brown rice is a bit more nutrient dense than white rice, which is why we like to take the extra time when we have it. You can also make Instant Pot Basmati Rice.
- Naan bread: If you’re in a rush, store-bought naan bread is a great quick side dish for this chickpea curry. Or, try our homemade Garlic Naan or Vegan Naan.
What else do you like to serve with curry? Let us know in the comments below.
What if I can’t find fire roasted tomatoes?
Fire roasted tomatoes are key in this recipe, because of their sweet flavor right out of the can. These tomatoes have been charred over an open fire, then canned. Other tomato varieties can taste bitter out of the can, and need to be cooked for longer.
Want to order them online? If you love online shopping like we do, here’s a link to buy Fire Roasted Tomatoes on Amazon.
If you can’t find fire roasted tomatoes for this recipe, you can substitute any high quality variety of canned tomatoes. You may find you have to cook the sauce a little longer to remove the bitterness. Take a taste before you add the coconut milk at the end, and see if it needs a little extra love. In this recipe, there’s a lot going on flavor-wise, so you may be ok with the cook time as printed depending on the quality of tomatoes you use.
Do kids like curry?
Our son Larson is 2 years old, and Alex and I have made it our goal to expose him to lots of flavors! He’s very open minded about foods, but when things have lots of spices he sometimes says that it’s too “spicy”. When we served him this chickpea curry, I was wondering how he’d like it. I could see the “spicy” comment being prepped and ready in his mind.
But he took one bite and said, “It’s good!” Then he proceeded to eat an entire bowl of this chickpea curry with some basmati rice on the side. So, we can’t speak for your children, but ours absolutely loved it!
More easy weeknight dinners
If you’re in the market for easy and healthy weeknight dinners (like we are!), we’ve got many ideas on this website! But here are a few of our top recipes for when we’re in a rush on a weeknight. Since we have a 2-year-old, they have been tested on him and are absolutely family friendly.
- Epic 5 Minute Tacos: One of our favorite quick dinners is this 5 Minute Tacos recipe! Featuring spiced eggs that taste like meat (we call them “chorizo eggs”) and topped with quick toppings.
- Easy Creamy Gnocchi: This is basically gourmet fast mac and cheese, made with just Pecorino Romano cheese, butter and pepper. With doughy gnocchi dumplings, it’s to die for.
- Cilantro Lime Shrimp: This 10-minute recipe pairs with rice, chips and salsa, or guacamole to make a fast and easy dinner. Or throw it on a salad!
This chickpea curry recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.
Easy Chickpea Curry
This chickpea curry is the ultimate healthy and easy weeknight dinner! It’s done in 20 minutes, totally plant based, and full of flavor.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Indian Inspired
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil
- 6 cups (5 ounces) baby spinach leaves (or chopped spinach)
- 28-ounce can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon coriander
- ¾ teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas
- ½ cup full fat canned coconut milk
- White or brown basmati rice, to serve
Instructions
- If you’re serving with rice, start the basmati rice.
- Mince the onion. Mince the garlic. Peel and mince the ginger (or grate it). Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
- In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, and spinach and saute for 2 minutes until the spinach is fully wilted.
- Carefully pour in the tomatoes, then add the curry powder, cumin, coriander, salt, and chickpeas. Cook for 5 minutes until bubbly.
- Stir in the coconut milk until fully combined, then remove from the heat. Serve with basmati rice.
I have two people that are not fond of chickpeas, do you think I could substitute with great northern beans or do you have another recommendation?
That should work!
Hi, looks delicious! I am wondering if I can freeze this please :)
Yes, it should freeze ok.
I love this recipe in many ways – easy, quick, nutritious, and tasty!
I was wondering about the greens…I always manage to have a bag of arugula that needs to be used. Do you think that would work? I guess it’s not my favorite green but would like to find other ways to use it.
A little would be ok but it gets pretty bitter! We LOVE this arugula salad and it couldn’t be easier: https://www.acouplecooks.com/easy-arugula-salad/
Hi. I love your recipes! I am a diabetic, so having the nutritional information on each meal allows me to make sensible, healthy choices. Keep up the great work.
What can I substitute for coconut milk please?
Many thanks
You can substitute 1/2 cup heavy cream or cashew cream! Here’s our cashew cream recipe: https://www.acouplecooks.com/cashew-cream-recipe/
This recipe is a winner! Even my husband who was doubtful loved it! Even without ginger, which I didn’t have, it was super delicious! This has earned a place on my meal rotation!!!
Hi Sonja & Alex, What kind of coconut milk do you use for this recipe? The kind in a can or the kind you can drink that comes in a carton? I would love to make this recipe!! It sounds perfect for dinner and for my husband’s lunches.
Great questions Jan! This would be the kind in the can: full fat canned coconut milk! Thank you so much for asking and we’ve clarified this in the recipe.
This is such a delicious recipe! It’s the 2nd time I’ve made it on the 21 day Daniel fast and it’s going to be part of our rotation now. Thank you!!
So glad to hear it!
I made this tonight and it was so delicious! I’ve been looking for more vegetarian meal options and this was a hit! I served in on Basmati rice.
Any suggestions for a side dish if this were the main dish? I need to serve 10 people during the holidays and want to offer other dishes to accompany this. Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it! Great question. We’d serve with rice — you could also add flatbread or naan (linked to our recipe). You could also add some frozen samosas! We also have some fun holiday side dishes here.
AMAZING!!! Doing the Daniel Fast and this was night 1 meal – a big hit and I can only hope the rest of our food is this good!!
I’m making this tonight, it looks awesome. Do I drain the tomatoes or just add the can as is?
Use the whole can!
Could I add shrimp to this at the end of I wanted? Looking forward to trying to tonight! Thanks!
Yes, that would taste great!
This was super good and super easy. Normally prep times given are lies, but this one wasn’t. So glad I found this! Thank you :)
This was a fast and delicious meal!
Fast and tasty. Served with basmati and naan. Yummy dinner. Is going on the make again list ;)
We started WFPB about 3 months ago. It was a bit of a struggle at first but I’m convinced now that to be successful I need to amass a library of recipes. I happened across your page while looking for some dinner ideas. I made this recipe tonight and it was easy and delicious! Everyone loved it. I’ll be following you guys for more delicious ideas. Thanks so much.
Thank you! So glad you having been enjoying.
lol
So amazing and easy to make! This recipe is a keeper!
This dish is absolutely delicious. I’ve made it a few times and it’s a huge hit in my family, including my picky 10-year-old.
Thank you for posting this!
I’m a big fan of your website :)
Can this curry be made a day in advance
Yes! Leftovers heat up well.
This is an awesome recipe. So easy and delicious. We will be making this often. One question, you didn’t state that the chickpeas needed to be drained. I drained them but should I have included the Aquafaba?
You can discard the aquafaba.
Wow! This recipe was fantastic. We are definitely going to add it to our rotation. I made a couple of adjustments. I used Lite coconut milk to cut down on calories, and I used 1 cup of the leftover coconut milk to make 1 cup of dry white rice in my rice cooker (coconut rice).
It took less than 30 minutes to make including mincing, grating, and opening cans. One of the best easy recipes I’ve made in a long time.
So glad you enjoyed!
Love this recipe! My fiancé and I aren’t vegan but wanted to try something different. This recipe delivered and is going to be one added into our dinner rotation.
This was so good. Very flavorful…the spices were perfect without being overpowering. My boyfriend is requesting it again–2nd week in a row.
So glad to hear it!
I usually love curry’s and the simpler the better, but this was very bland. It was missing the complexity of curry. Thought I’d share since I so appreciate comments left by others which helps me determine which recipes to try. I’m glad folks liked it so perhaps I’m so accustomed to Indian food that it didn’t resonate for me.
Delicious! Recipe needs updated showing to drain chickpeas…says it’s been done, but not on my computer!
Hi! Excited to make this for dinner tonight!
Is the rice included in the nutrition facts calculations?
It is not included. Hope you enjoyed!
Just made this for my family tonight and they loved it!
Awesome! Thanks for making it.
Loved this recipe !!!
I didn’t have any spinach left, so substituted with capsicum and zucchini. As I can’t get fire roasted tomatoes, I simply simmered for a lot longer, so as to sweeten the tomatoes.Everyone loved it!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Loved it! Super quick and easy. I did add an extra teaspoon or so of curry powder. I replaced spinach with kale. And I didn’t have crushed tomatoes so I used tomato purree.
But we loved it!
Would this work well/pair well with sweet potatoes?? Sweet potato instead of rice that is..
Was absolutely delicious over brown rice!!
Hello! I want you to know that I really enjoy reading your recipes and choosing ones I want to try. So many of them sound good.
However, when I go to print them, I often (almost every time) have a very difficult time getting to the point where I can click print and be on my way. I don’t know if there’s anything you can do at your end to make the printing more user friendly, but I thought I’d let you know this is happening. Sincerely, Laurie
Hi! Are you using the print button on the recipe card?
I combined your vegie curry recipe with this one and it was great. I used the tomatoes rather than the broth base.
Very good and easy to put together. I stayed with the current recipe this first time – but I’m a spice guy so I’ll be tweaking the curry on the next go ‘round. And there will be another go ‘round for sure! First bowl was with naan. Plenty leftover and basmati will be teed up next.
Can you freeze the leftovers?
You can! Freeze in a freezer safe container for a few months — it does pretty well frozen!
Do you use unsweetened coconut milk (like you would use in a smoothie) or canned, sweetened coconut milk?
Unsweetened!
I made this recipe in my slow cooker! 3 hours on high. Served it over quinoa. It was soooo darned good my husband asked me to make more the minute we finished the batch!
SO so so glad to hear this! Excited to hear that it worked in a slow cooker too! Love it. Thank you for making it!!!
This recipe is perfect for the Daniel Fast! It’s super easy, quick to make and it tastes great! I e made it twice over the past couple of weeks. Great comfort food for chilly days; reheats well for an easy lunch.
So delicious! Can’t wait to make it again! Just passed on the recipe to many friends! Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This is absolutely delicious! I love chickpeas and this is a great way to showcase them. I did not have any spinach on hand, but promptly added to my grocery list for the next batch. I did add some cauliflower and a pinch of red pepper for some heat. Can’t wait to take this to work for my lunch. I skipped the rice and ate it with a piece of Naan bread. So yummy and comforting.
Subbed fire tomatoes for regular crushed toms, had neither spinach nor ginger, but still surprisingly turned out lovely- and I am Indian. Thanks, will make again.
So glad you enjoyed it!
For the calories, it’s it just the chickpea or rice included?
Just for the curry on this one.
Oh my goodness; how can this be so yummy? Wow, just amazingly delicious, in every way. In fact, every recipe on your site is so freaking great!! This is one of my all time favorite food blogs/sites. Plus you two are such a cute couple :) Thank you, thank you for all the superb meals I’ve been making!
Haha! You’re welcome.
Love this recipe! To double it, should I just multiply everything by two, including spices and chickpeas, etc? Thanks!
Yes, that will work for this one.
So good! I loved it with less coconut milk but that’s just me! Perfect and simple recipe. Thank you!!
Is that a cilantro garnish, or parsley?
Cilantro!
Absolutely delicious! Have a question please – I used canned chickpeas and drained it but they were still pretty firm even after I let it cook for 15-20 minutes longer. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Mary
Hi Mary! We’re a little stumped on this one…canned chickpeas are already cooked, so they should be perfectly tender right out of the can! Maybe you got a brand that’s more firm? We suggest trying out a few new brands and taste them right out of the can: they should be fully cooked through when you buy them canned.
This was my first attempt at curry. Recipe was simple and straightforward. I did, against I’m sure other’s opinion, a 1/8 tsp or so of brown sugar to offset the tartness of tomatoes…turned out delish..even my hubby, the majority meat eater enjoyed!
No to mention it is delicious!
I love this recipe- so easy, so quick and so healthy! It’s become one of my weekly go- tos! My 20 month old loves it too! Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed
Hello! I have frozen chopped spinach. How can I best use this please? Should I thaw it or just mix it right in? So excited to try this.
Thank you
Hi! I’d thaw it first. Hope you enjoy :)
We’d thaw the frozen spinach in warm water and squeeze it dry before adding to the curry. Hope you enjoy!
Wow just made this. So flavorful and yummy!
This is absolutely amazing! I precook for my family and this is the first recipe that everyone loves. My mom and daughter are funny about textures and didn’t care for the chickpeas, so I made a batch without. I can’t wait to try this over gluten free pasta.
So glad you enjoyed it :)
This was fantastic! I could eat this once a week, easily! Also easy to have all the ingredients in the pantry.
Loved this quick, easy, and delicious meal! Next time I’ll make the garlic naan to accompany it. Thanks so much!
Hi! I made this recipe cause I was craving something comforting and it was so good!! My favorite quarantine meal :) I’m also 16 and not the best at cooking but it was really easy to make! Thanks for the recipe
Love this! So glad you enjoyed :)
I tried this with 2 cups of oat milk instead of coconut milk since I didn’t have any. It was still very good!
Hello, I couldn’t find curry powder at my small local grocery store. I do have red and green curry paste. Any recommendations on how to substitute that in? Thanks!
A tablespoon of red curry paste would be delish!
Thanks for the easy and delicious recipe! Good to have bean recipes for #Stayathome.
Giving this a try for dinner tonight. It looks and smells delicious! what should I substitute for coconut milk? Thanks,
We have a whole post just for you! https://www.acouplecooks.com/substitutes-for-coconut-milk-in-curry/
Thank you so much This recipe is “deeeliciousssss” as my 3 year old grandaughter exclaimed
Wow – so easy and delicious!! One question – if we wanted to add heat to the dish how would we do that?
I would go with an 1/8th teaspoon cayenne pepper and work your way up from there.
Made this three times now and it’s Delicious every time.
Do you think I can freeze it?
Yes, it should freeze ok!
I add red pepper flakes to everything, this recipe included. Depending on how spicy you like it, just toss some in. We used about 1 tablespoon and it adds a balanced amount of heat that isn’t overpowering.
this is really good I used kale, so yummy
Made this for my family and it is a hit! This is now my go-to need dinner fast recipe. THANK YOU. I boosted the coconut milk (3/4 can), 2 tbsp. curry and added 1/2 head of chopped cauliflower. THANK YOU FOR THIS WONDERFUL, VEGETARIAN, FAST recipe.
So glad you nejoyed!
Love this recipe! I made this last night and my husband said it was very tasty!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Do you need to drain the chickpeas?
Yes! Recipe updated.
This was so quick and delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Just made this for dinner! Going to add it to my quick favorites because this was perfect for wanting something delicious but also simple.
So glad you enjoyed it!
This meal is so quick and easy to make and is absolutely DELICIOUS! I can’t believe I made this myself- it tastes like I got takeout. I used ginger spice and minced garlic in a jar instead of fresh which helped me make this a little quicker. I also bought a microwaveable steam bag of basmati rice. This will definitely be a new staple for me!
So glad you enjoyed it! :)
This was super fast to make and really tasty! I didn’t have cans of tomatoes by I had a jar of passata so I used that instead and cooked it a little longer. Perfect for a weeknight dinner.