This creamy vegan lentil curry is super easy to make, hearty, filling and high in protein and fiber. It’s also naturally gluten-free.
This hearty vegan lentil curry is the perfect weeknight meal.
It’s wholesome, super delicious and high in protein and fiber. All that good stuff.
It’s super easy and pretty quick too, and you can have dinner on the table in less than an hour with this meal.
If you have leftovers, you’ll be happy too because leftovers are divine for lunch the next day.
And making this is a walk in the park.
Even if you find cooking a bit of a challenge this recipe will be easy for you. It’s super forgiving and even if you make a few mistakes, it’ll be okay!
How to make vegan lentil curry
Fry up some onions and garlic with some olive oil and spices, then add dried lentils and toss them up with the onions and spices.
Then you add a couple of cans of chopped tomatoes and some vegetable stock along with a can of coconut cream and let it simmer until the lentils are soft and cooked.
Then you add in some fresh basil until just wilted, some coconut sugar for flavor balance and salt and pepper as needed and you’re ready to go.
How to serve your lentil curry
Serve with or without basmati rice, as you like it! I’m a fan of the rice, so rice it is for me. Cauliflower rice would be great with this too.
Some fresh basil leaves and slices of fresh lime are also great to serve with this.
This recipe easily serves 6 for a filling and delicious meal.
It keeps extremely well so you can have leftovers in the fridge for a few days and reheat them as you like.
I really think you are going to love this vegan lentil curry and it will likely be on regular rotation in your kitchen soon! It’s:
- Creamy
- Hearty
- Filling and Satisfying
- High in protein and fiber
- Easy
- Naturally gluten-free
Keep leftovers in the fridge and reheat as needed. Leftovers keep very well for 4-5 days in the fridge.
More vegan lentil recipes
- Our vegan lentil soup is an ultra simple 6-ingredient recipe that is so creamy you will wonder if there is actually cream in it, but there isn’t!
- Our creamy coconut red lentil dal is ready in around 35 minutes and super delicious and satisfying.
- Our vegan bolognese sauce is made with lentils, walnuts, tofu and mushrooms and makes the most divine bolognese!
- When you want to feed a crowd, then you need our vegan pasta bake, with lentils in the sauce, and our vegan sweet potato curry uses lentils along with sweet potatoes to create a super delicious curry.
Let us know in the comments what you think of this vegan lentil curry and please rate the recipe too. Thanks.
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Vegan Lentil Curry
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
This creamy vegan lentil curry makes a perfect weeknight meal. It’s super easy to make, hearty and filling, and high in protein and fiber. Gluten-free.
Ingredients
For the Lentil Curry:
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Onion (Chopped)
- 1 tsp Crushed Garlic
- 1 Tbsp Mild Curry Powder
- 1/2 tsp Cumin
- 1/2 tsp Coriander Powder
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) Dried Brown Lentils
- 2 14oz (400ml) Cans Chopped Tomatoes
- 3 cups (720ml) Vegetable Stock
- 1 14oz (400ml) Can Coconut Cream
- 2 cups Fresh Basil*
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Sugar
- Sea Salt and Black Pepper (to taste)
For Serving:
- Basmati Rice (or sub Cauliflower Rice)
- Fresh Basil
- Fresh Lime
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a pot with the onion, crushed garlic, curry powder, cumin, coriander powder, turmeric and cayenne pepper and sauté until the onions are softened.
- Add in the dried lentils and toss them with the onions and spices.
- Add the cans of chopped tomato, the vegetable stock and the coconut cream. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat, cover the pot and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are soft and cooked – around 35-40 minutes.
- When the lentils are cooked add in the fresh basil and stir in until just wilted. Add the coconut sugar and stir in. Add sea salt and black pepper to taste.
- Serve with rice, fresh basil and some slices of fresh lime.
Notes
*You can switch the fresh basil to baby spinach if you prefer.
*Nutritional information is for the lentil curry only and does not include rice.
- Category: Entree, Savory, Gluten-Free
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Serve (of 6)
- Calories: 412
- Sugar: 8.3g
- Sodium: 625mg
- Fat: 19.9g
- Saturated Fat: 12.4g
- Carbohydrates: 45g
- Fiber: 18.5g
- Protein: 15.9g
Keywords: vegan lentil curry
Amazing recipe we have made it twice already! We do a little less spice, no sugar and green lentils and it’s become a weekday staple! It also does keep in the fridge well and reheats perfectly. Thanks so much!
★★★★★
So glad you like the recipe Elizabeth! Thanks so much for posting and the awesome review! 🙂
I’m making this tonight and I’m very excited! I have some coconut milk lying around, do you think I could use that instead of the coconut cream? Maybe if I use a little less veggie stock to balance out the amount of liquids?
Hi Kirsten! Coconut milk will be fine, no other changes needed. Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Thank you! It was delicious!!
★★★★★
Wonderful! Thanks Kirsten! 🙂
Can this be made with red lentils? Thank you!
Sure! That will be fine. 🙂
Awesome! Quick follow up: do you think it would be OK to mix and match the lentils? Like use some red and some green? Thank you!
Hi Vivi, the issue is they can cook at different speeds, so it’s usually best to stick to one color for that reason. 🙂
Hey, thank you for this great recipe – two questions. Can you give the serving size? I tried adding up all of the large ingredients and dividing by 6, and got roughly 1.5 cups, would that be correct?
Also, I’m trying to track calories, and when I calculated all the major ingredients, I ended up with only about 378 calories per serving, just wondering if I am under-estimating somewhere?
Olive Oil 80, Onion 40, Garlic 10, 1.5 cups Brown Lentils – 1020, 2 x 14oz chopped tomatoes – 145, 3 cups vegetable stock – 60, 14oz coconut cream – 850, 1 tbsp – coconut sugar – 45, fresh basil 10, lime juice – 10 = 2270 / 6 = 378 calories.
Hi Chris, I don’t measure the volume like that, I just go with what a serving would be based on how many servings we get out of it. And calorie counts are going to be different based on the ingredients used and the calorie software you’re using. I calculated it based on my specific ingredients and I use cronometer.
This curry was incredibly spiced, hearty, and so so flavorful. I used green lentils and it turned out amazing. You always make the best recipes!
★★★★★
Thanks so much Vivi! xoxo
Really easy to make, minimal fuss, a good and healthy dish. Quite a subtle taste in comparison to other dahl recipes I use but sometimes that’s just what you want! I have only used spinach in place of basil when I have made it. This recipe makes LOTS – enough to feed 6-8 people.
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks so much for posting and the great review! 🙂
Awesome recipe and you can make spagbog or cottage pie with this as well.
★★★★★
Yes definitely! Thanks for sharing Mia and the great review! 🙂
2 of my favorites Lentils and curry awesome
Love it my new go to meal had it with Farro
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks so much for the great review. 🙂
Delicious!!!!!!!!!!
★★★★★
I love your blog and recipes! Thank you so much! 2 questions please can any part of this be done in a pressure cooker? I just bought one and I’m dying to try it haha. Also if I opted to use fresh tomatoes what amount for the substitution please?
★★★★
Hi Meryl, sorry I have exactly zero experience with pressure cookers! But if using fresh tomatoes, then you would be using around 4 large tomatoes. So happy you like the blog, thanks so much! 🙂
Absolutely delicious! It was my first time cooking dry lentils and I am in love. Thank you so much! I didn’t add the basil because I didn’t have any. Also tried it with rice and macaroni and i think both are amazing. Non-vegan boyfriend loved it.
★★★★★
Awesome! So happy to hear that, thanks a million for the review! 🙂
I just made this dish as I am new to Curry’s. The smells, wow! I made the recipe exactly as written and it was super delicious. I am so happy I made this and since it’s 2 of us, we will have plenty of leftovers. Thank you!
So happy to hear it was good! Thanks so much for sharing Tina! 🙂
Hi, can i use normal sugar instead of coconut sugar?
thanks!
★★★★
Yes definitely!
Hi, this recipe looks delicious and I am anxious to try it. I am wondering, is there something else I could use instead of coconut cream?
I haven’t tried it with anything else, but I guess you could try using a plant based milk instead.
OMG! Im definately going to make this. I love lentils, but I think I will add some veggies to this mix to make it extra special with some bay leave and herbs from the garden. Thank you, this looks amazing!
Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
This recipe is soooo good. And it was really easy to make.
Mercy for the animals
Allison,
I love just looking at the pictures of the food you display on your website, every bit as beautiful as any sceneries a person observes in nature.
So many recipes I want to try, haven’t yet, don’t know what to make 1st!! ?
You mention trying out different flours, different this and that. How much time does it take to perfect a recipe?
(Just a side comment, my mother’s maiden name is Andrews!!)
Hi Montana! Oh that’s interesting, maybe we’re related! 🙂 Sometimes recipes are easy, the easy ones might be tested once and then we’ll do the photo shoot for them after that, so they’re made at least twice by the time I post them, and then if we make a video then we’ll make it again, so 3 times. That’s the easy ones. Sometimes if I’m trying different things in a recipe or am having a struggle getting it right then I can test it 10 times or more! Haha, so it depends. And then if I’ve tested something 10 times or more and it is still not right, then sometimes I just have enough and leave it to come back to in a few weeks or months with a fresh perspective. Thanks for posting and hope you’ll try a few of the recipes soon. 🙂
Any chance I can use red lentils ?!
Yes definitely! Brown is just what we used but any color dried lentils will work great!