This vegan chana masala is so tasty! It’s mildly spicy, loaded with flavor and ready in 30 minutes or less! A perfect weeknight meal.
You will love this vegan chana masala. It is SO quick and easy and the perfect meal for when you barely have time to cook, but still want something delicious for dinner.
It’s rich, mildly spicy and so flavorful it will soon be one of your go-to dinner recipes.
And if you love this recipe, then you’ll also love our vegan chickpea curry, our red lentil dal and vegan dal makhani.
What Goes Into Chana Masala:
Ingredient Notes
- Chickpeas – we used four 15-ounce (425g) cans of chickpeas. Once drained and rinsed this works out to around 6 cups of chickpeas. If you’d prefer to use cooked chickpeas (not canned) then just use 6 cups.
- Coconut cream – we used canned, unsweetened coconut cream. You can also use canned, full fat, unsweetened coconut milk.
- Coconut sugar – is just for flavor balance and doesn’t make this dish sweet at all. You can also use light brown sugar.
How To Make Vegan Chana Masala
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add onion, garlic, ginger, green chili and fresh cilantro to a food processor with an S blade and process into a paste.
- Add olive oil and the paste to a pot on medium heat and cook until the paste has softened. About 5 minutes.
- Add chickpeas, garam masala, turmeric, cumin, ground coriander and cayenne pepper and gently toss together. Cook for a couple of minutes to lightly toast the spices.
- Add crushed tomatoes and coconut cream and bring to a simmer. Then reduce the heat and leave to simmer for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add coconut sugar and salt and mix in.
- And your chana masala is ready to serve!
Serving Suggestions
This vegan chana masala is divine served with rice. We love basmati rice, because it’s so quick to cook.
Top it with some fresh cilantro, ground black pepper and lemon wedges.
Some vegan naan on the side always goes down a treat.
Storing and Freezing
Keep leftovers stored in the fridge for 4-5 days and reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
It also freezes very well. Thaw overnight in the fridge and then reheat in the microwave or on the stove.
More Delicious Indian-Inspired Vegan Recipes
- Vegan Tikka Masala
- Vegan Butter Chicken
- Vegan Korma
- Vegan Potato Curry
- Vegan Cauliflower Curry
- Vegan Biryani
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Chana Masala
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 Medium Onion White, Yellow or Brown, Chopped
- 4 Cloves Garlic Crushed
- 1 Tablespoon Fresh Ginger Minced
- 1 Green Chili Sliced
- 1 cup Fresh Cilantro
- 4 (15-ounce) Cans Chickpeas Drained, or 6 cups cooked chickpeas
- 1 Tablespoon Garam Masala
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Cumin
- 1 teaspoon Ground Coriander
- ½ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- 28 ounces Crushed Tomatoes (800g)
- 1 cup Coconut Cream Canned, Unsweetened
- 1 Tablespoon Coconut Sugar
- Sea Salt To Taste
Instructions
- Add onion, garlic, ginger, green chili and fresh cilantro to a food processor with an S blade and process into a paste.
- Add olive oil and the paste to a pot on medium heat and cook until the paste has softened. About 5 minutes.
- Add chickpeas, garam masala, turmeric, cumin, ground coriander and cayenne pepper and gently toss together. Cook for a couple of minutes to lightly toast the spices.
- Add crushed tomatoes and coconut cream and bring to a simmer. Then reduce the heat and leave to simmer for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add coconut sugar and salt and mix in.
- Serve over basmati rice, topped with fresh cilantro and a sprinkle of ground black pepper, with lemon wedges on the side.
Notes
- Chickpeas – we used four 15-ounce cans of chickpeas. Once drained and rinsed this works out to around 6 cups of chickpeas. If you’d prefer to use cooked chickpeas (not canned) then just use 6 cups.
- Coconut cream – we used canned, unsweetened coconut cream. You can also use canned, full fat, unsweetened coconut milk.
- Coconut sugar – is just for flavor balance and doesn’t make this dish sweet at all. You can also use light brown sugar.
- Storing: Keep leftovers stored in the fridge for 4-5 days and reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
- Freezing: It freezes very well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and then reheat in the microwave or on the stove.
- Nutritional information excludes rice.
I made this tonight for dinner and added tempeh for some extra protein. This recipe is incredible!!! Can’t wait make it again
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Lea! Thanks for sharing and for your great review!
Absolutely delicious! This recipe was a rare win for our family- my chickpea hating spouse liked this and somehow BOTH of my children ate it (I left out the chili and cayenne). Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks so much for your great review Amanda!
thank you for this recipe… i make it a lot for dinner when I know I won’t have the energy to cook much. it’s yummy healthy and quick.
Happy to hear you enjoy the recipe and thanks so much for your great review!
In Google searching for a Chana Masala recipe I stumbled upon this one. I love a local family owned restaurant but they don’t open until 5pm and the traffic is horrible in the evenings. I had all the ingredients and decided to give it a try. I didn’t use exact measurements because I only had 1 can of chickpeas but it was still delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe!
This recipe is excellent! I have made it several times for family and friends!
Thanks so much Veena!
I made this tonight and it is delicious and so easy! Definitely saving this as a favorite!!
So happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for the awesome review Abigail!
I am born and raised in India. Still I found your recipe perfect. I will definitely try this. We generally use heavy cream in place of coconut cream. We also add little bit of kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) at the end of the process.
Thanks for sharing Amisha! So glad you like the recipe! 🙂