This vegan coconut curry is a quick and affordable way to enjoy your favorite takeout flavors at home. I love how you can make it with just a few ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry!
Vegan Curry with Coconut Milk
The key to the creaminess in this recipe is using coconut milk as the base. I use full-fat canned coconut milk to make it as creamy as possible, but you could use pretty much any type of coconut milk that you like. (Just keep in mind that “light” coconut milk simply has water added to it to reduce the fat– which makes me feel like I’m not getting my money’s worth!)
How to Make Vegan Coconut Curry
Making your own vegan coconut curry at home is as simple as stirring together some coconut milk, spices, and vegetables. You can make it heartier by adding some lentils, like in my Lentil & Sweet Potato Curry recipe, but the recipe below is entirely vegetable based.
I love serving it over cooked quinoa as a complete source of protein for the meal, but you can serve it over white or brown rice, too.
When I’m in a hurry, I’ll use a bag of frozen vegetables instead of chopping fresh ones (frozen tend to cook faster, too!). This recipe is easily adaptable, so feel free to use whatever you have on hand.
Vegan Coconut Curry (an Easy Weeknight Dinner!)
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 yellow onion , chopped
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 4 teaspoons curry powder (or more, to taste)
- 1 14 oz. can coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon tamari , or soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (or more, to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 sweet potato , chopped
- 1 pound assorted vegetables , chopped
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over high heat, and sauté the onions until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and stir for one more minute.
- Add in the coconut milk, curry powder, tamari, maple syrup and salt and whisk well to combine. (Since curry powders can vary by brand, feel free to start with only 3 teaspoons and add more to your taste.)
- Taste the sauce and adjust any other flavors as needed (keep in mind that the addition of veggies will dilute the saltiness), then bring the sauce to a simmer and add in the chopped sweet potatoes. Cover the pan, and allow the sweet potatoes to steam in the sauce for 5 minutes.
- Remove the lid and add the rest of the vegetables, since non-starchy vegetables will cook faster than the sweet potatoes. Stir the vegetables to coat them in the sauce, then cover the pot again. Lower the heat and cook until the sweet potatoes and vegetables are fork-tender, about 8 to 10 more minutes.
- Serve the vegetables and curry sauce over cooked rice, quinoa, or cauliflower rice. Leftover curry can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Per serving (not including rice): Calories: 280, Fat: 3g, Carbohydrates: 56, Fiber: 12g, Protein: 10g
Recipe Notes:
- For the vegetables in the photos here, I used a red and yellow bell pepper, plus two large handfuls of chopped kale. I also love this dish with cauliflower florets, or a pound of frozen assorted vegetables.
- I call for curry powder in this recipe because it’s a dry pantry staple that I always have on hand, but you can use curry paste if you would prefer a little more depth of flavor. (It’s usually sold near soy sauce at your grocery store.)
- I use tamari to keep this recipe gluten-free, but you can use soy sauce if you don’t need to be gluten free. For a soy-free recipe, try coconut aminos instead, and add a little extra salt, if needed.
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite type of take-out food? Thai food had been ours up until recently, but now we hardly have the need for it!
loved this. was exactly what i was looking for. thanks! i had some extra limes laying around so i squeezed them in and it was quite a nice addition.
I have made this dish twice now and it has become one of my favorites. It is so good – I want to lick the plate when I’m done.
Thanks for posting this recipe! I’ve linked to the method on my blog 🙂
Sooo yummy!!!! And it came out great! The ingredients are perfect, delicious and it makes ur tummy feel better after eating it. It is my boyfriends fav dinner now! We enjoyed it and making it was really fun, now we know how to eat Quinoa too. lol. thank u for this super yummy recipe!!
This was awesome!!! So easy and yummy! Love that it’s clean eating. Can’t wait to make again. I skipped the onions due to a food sensitivity and used fish sauce instead of soy sauce since I’m avoiding soy. I don’t believe it changed the outcome of the original recipe much, if any. I did it the busy mom way and put everything together, brought it to a simmer, turned on the oven to 300 and once it hit 300, turned off the oven, put the covered pan in the oven and let it sit in there and slow cook for 2.5 hours. We had a birthday party to go to. When we got home it was perfectly cooked and ready to eat. I used sweet potatoes and cauliflower for the first run and LOVED it. Posted this to Pinterest and sharing with my vegan co-workers. Thanks for the recipe.
I made this last week and it was delicious! It was my lunch to work I added crushed red peppers to make it spicy.
I was searching for a healthy and easy curry sauce. This is it!! Thank you! I used Almond Breeze Unsweetned Almond Coconut Milk to reduce the fat. The sauce was thinner than normal curry but it was still excellent. Next time I might throw a few raw cashews in and then toss the sauce in the Vitamix.
I made this and it was very bland very unflavorful I followed the recipe to a T too
Maybe your curry powder is stale.
When I got home I was thinking i want a curry but with quinoa and I found this. Not only do I have everything needed but I have a sweet potato I need to use up! Yay pretty jacked to try this!
This recipe is so good! I have made it several times and my family really likes it! Thank you and thank you for reposted it in your weekly menu post today so that I could make it again tonight. I tell so many people about your recipes.
Maybe one could use miso or liguid amino acids to make this even more healthy
Wow I’m so pumped on this recipe! I’m trying to branch out and get a little more experimental with my cooking.. I have never made curry before (honestly, I’ve only eaten it once or twice!) It was so soul warming and delicious. The only thing was that the sauce was quite thin.. I did not change how delicious the dish was, but in hindsight, I will simmer it for a bit longer. Thanks for sharing this, looking forward to leftovers for lunch 🙂
This was a good base recipe for what I did. It came out so delicious and was my first time making it. I added 1/2 tablespoon of ground ginger, 1/4 tbsp of cumin,and an extra 1/2 tsp of salt. I didn’t use sweet potatoe instead I used a can of Chick Peas (remove skin), a red bell pepper and carrots. And instead of quinoa I used white rice made with 2 garlic boullions. This will be my new go to recipe for coconut curry. Thank you so much.
Delish! I used white potatoes because I was out of sweet and added some crushed cashews and nutritional yeast for extra protein! Turned out great.
Used sweet and white potatoes and added some red pepper flakes. I also used rice. Love it and it was easy to make. Thanks for the recipe.
I followed the the recipe exactly, except i used Jasmine rice instead of quinoa and it was also VERY bland.
I love this recipe! I made it last night and my husband thought it was delicious too. It truly is easy, quick, and delicious. I can’t wait to make it more. Thank you!
It’s a tasty one. If you change the order around slightly by mixing the maple syrup, soy sauce and curry powder in to a paste and frying this with the onion and garlic, then adding the vegetables and the coconut milk, this slight shift really ramps up the flavour in this dish.
Great recipe that is easy to execute (and to modify as needed). I didn’t have coconut oil but just used vegetable oil instead. In addition to the sweet potato, I used eggplant and tofu (to give it a bit more protein). Also, instead of maple syrup I chopped a Medjool date. I’d used that successfully as a sugar substitute in Indian rice pudding, and it worked again here.
This is a consistent feature of my weekend cooking: make it with coconut aminos and the soy-based tamari is gone (Whole30) and instead of maple syrup, add a chopped apple to the veggies. It’s plenty sweet!
Add a teaspoon of cumin and chickpeas! Awesome!
Made this tonight and it was delicious. Put it over cauliflower rice and had broccoli and bell peppers. I did as Tal suggested by sautéing the onions with the curry paste, but can’t say whether it made a difference.
It has already broken into our rotation and can’t wait for it again!
I tried it tonight and YUM!!!! I added broccoli, cauliflower, peas/carrots (frozen then thawed) and at the very end, a small can of chickpeas. It did take a while to cook down and I was worried the milk would curdle but it didn’t. So tasty! Definitely making this again – thank you for the recipe!
Can the curry sauce be frozen?
Yes, I like to freeze it in ice cube trays for easy portioning when you want to thaw them later. Take a look at this post for an example: https://detoxinista.com/2013/09/healthy-freezer-meals/
This is my first attempt cooking a curry dish. So easy to make! This turned out great—followed the recipe exactly. Family loves it! Thank you!!
I just made this with cauliflower and red pepper instead of brocci and sweeT potato! Sooo good. Sayce was amazing! Thank You
I LOVE this recipe!!! It is so easy and yummy and inexpensive! Even my toddler and baby will eat this meal. It’s a real winner. I like to add chickpeas to this dish as well, it’s super filling.
Love receipts.coconut curry turn out great. Is there anyway I can thicken up sauce
You could add arrowroot starch, or blend it with some steamed sweet potatoes for a thicker sauce.
By far my favorite curry dish. Do you happen to have any nutrition info on this?
Wonderful curry recipe. Led overs today. Yay! Thank you for sharing.
***** I have made this numerous times. It is a hit in my house and with my friends. *****
I just made this! I’ve been put in a strict diet which is very restrictive and was so excited when I came across this flavourful recipe! For my own dietary needs I left out the quinoa and the maple syrup, and swapped the soy sauce for coconut aminos. I added sweet potato and broccoli. Absolutely fantastic! I’m not an experienced cook, so I was so happy that it was easy to follow. Anyone would love this recipe!
This is absolutely one of my favorites that I’ve been making the past couple of years. I add cut up chicken breast to mine when I put in the sweet potato. It’s absolutely delicious and my family loves it. One bit of advice – double the recipe as the leftovers make a great lunch the following day! Thanks you this recipe Detoxinista!
it was delicious! Thank you!
We tried this recipe last night and it was simple and delicious! So good that even the kids loved it! Thanks for sharing.
Love this recipe. I doubled everything and used delicata squash instead of potato because I didn’t have any. Incredible. Used eggplant, pattypan squash, carrots, banana pepper, and purple peppers. I even used some chopped up beet stems and snap peas from my garden. It’s wonderful to use up stuff from the garden in a hearty, healthy recipe. Now we’ll have leftovers too.
Hi Megan! You got me at “former fast food junkie”, because even though vegetarian, I still manage to go over board on the fast food. Anyways, this recipe is absolutely fantastic! I even shared it to my Facebook page. I’ll be looking forward to trying more recipes that are so simple, delicious, and affordable. I’m so happy I came across this gem of a recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Such a great recipe! Thanks for the easy and healthy weeknight meal!
Has anyone tried making this in the Instant Pot? If so, how would I do it? Thanks!!
This meal was a favorite for my very picky little ones. And was really easy to make, thanks so much for the recipe!
This recipe is delicious and so easy to prepare. A keeper!
Trying this for dinner tonight! I’ll let you know how it goes! 💚💚💚
s there an alternative to coconut milk? Perhaps a nut milk? I can’t tolerate coconut milk! Thank you!
I prep my meal for the week and this one was one of the dishes for this week. I followed the recipe without changes and it was to die for!… Thank you so much for sharing!!
Excellent and quick to make. The veggies we used were white fingerling potatoes, smashed peas and onions. We mixed in a spoonful of ground flax seeds at the table. My teenage son immensely enjoyed it with brown rice. Highly recommend this to everyone!
I made this tonight and it was FANTASTIC! So quick too. Thank you!
Seriously awesome recipe. So easy. Completely shelf stable and versatile for veggies. I’ve never commented on a recipe before but this was great. I doubled the curry base and added a pound of veggies and two blocks of pressed baked tofu. I ate it with brown rice as the week’s meal prep and it was fantastic day one and day five. Great recipe.
I’m glad you love it! Thanks for letting me know.
Loved this recipe! Par cooked quinoa and finished in pot, so ready and incredibly tasty, great for lunch prep! Thank you so much!
LOVE! This is the easiest and yummiest recipe of all time. I’ve made it a zillion times. I just add some chili powder for some heat and use whatever veggies I have around.
Made this last night, my family loved it, everyone went back for seconds.