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This delicious chickpea and spinach curry is loaded with flavor and comes together in a flash! The perfect meal for busy weeknights!
This curry is officially my new favorite weeknight dinner. We all know how much I love a good curry, not just because they’re delicious, but also because they’re often pretty easy to whip up.
Well, I think this chickpea and spinach curry is just about the easiest curry ever. This recipe essentially my spin in chana saag, a traditional Indian dish, but with some shortcuts and modifications to make the dish totally vegan. It can be on the table in under 30 minutes and requires minimal prep work!
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- Ingredients You’ll Need
- How It’s Made
- Leftovers & Storage
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Spinach Curry Recipes
- Easy Chickpea & Spinach Curry
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Canola oil. Feel free to substitute your favorite high-heat oil, such as avocado, coconut, or corn oil.
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- Ginger.
- Spices. This recipe calls for whole cumin seeds, garam masala, and ground turmeric.
- Diced tomatoes. We’re using diced canned tomatoes. This is one of our shortcuts to make the recipe easy.
- Canned chickpeas.
- Coconut milk. The recipe calls for full-fat coconut milk of the canned variety. You can substitute with light coconut milk if you’d like to reduce the fat content of the dish, but the sauce won’t be quite as creamy.
- Frozen spinach. This is another shortcut. Frozen spinach works really well in a dish like this one! If you prefer to use fresh, be my guest. Chop it up very finely and keep in mind that you’ll probably need to add it to the curry in batches, because ten ounces of fresh spinach takes up a lot of volume. You also may need to let it simmer a little longer to fully cook.
- Salt & pepper.
- Fresh cilantro. This is totally optional, but adds a nice burst of flavor when sprinkled on top of the curry.
- Accompaniments. Serve your curry with some cooked rice or vegan naan.
How It’s Made
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you’d like to skip right to the recipe!
- Heat the oil in a medium skillet, then add diced onion. Sweat the onion for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until it starts to soften up.
- Add your aromatics and spices: garlic, ginger, cumin seeds, garam masala, and turmeric. Cook everything very briefly, just until the mixture becomes very fragrant. Stir the mixture constantly and keep a close eye on it to prevent burning.
- Stir in the diced tomatoes, chickpeas and coconut milk. Bring everything up to a simmer and let it cook for about 10 minutes, just long enough for the sauce to thicken slightly and the flavors to meld.
- Add the spinach. Make sure you’ve thawed it out and squeezed it a bit to remove any excess water, otherwise it will make your curry runny!
- Let the chickpea spinach curry simmer for about 5 minutes more.
- Take the skillet off of the burner and season the curry with some salt and pepper.
- Serve your curry with some basmati rice or naan. Or both!
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover chickpea and spinach curry will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 4 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this curry gluten-free?
It is!
Is this curry hot?
It’s very mild! If you’d prefer some heat, add a bit of cayenne pepper or your favorite hot sauce.
Can I substitute ground cumin for whole cumin seeds?
You can, but you won’t get the same results. Whole cumin seeds add a bit of texture and have a slightly different flavor from ground cumin. They make a wonderful addition to lots of curries, so it’s worth making a trip to the Indian market to pick some up!