Vegan Thai Lentil Chickpea Curry is an easy Thai curry made with lentils, chickpeas, curry paste, tomatoes, coconut milk, and ginger. This chickpea curry recipe is a vegan collection favorite and includes Instant Pot, slow cooker, and stove instructions.
Vegan Thai Lentil Chickpea Curry
This Vegan Thai Lentil Chickpea Curry recipe is a plant-based curry made for Instant Pot, Stove, or Crockpot. It's an easy vegan curry with garbanzos, Thai red curry paste, tomatoes, and coconut milk. It's so rich and creamy, it's hard to believe it's vegan! It's one of my favorite Thai meals that practically cooks itself!
Thai Lentil Chickpea Curry Ingredients
- coconut oil (or any oil)
- green onions
- fresh ginger
- fresh garlic
- red curry paste
- cherry tomatoes (or canned tomatoes)
- coconut milk
- dried brown lentils
- cooked chickpeas
- water
- Kosher salt
How to make Chickpea curry in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker?
- Chop veggies and open canned ingredients.
- Saute veggies in oil in the cooker on the saute setting.
- Add remaining ingredients
- Close/lock/seal lid, set pressure cooker button for 6 minutes on HIGH pressure.
- Allow 10-minute natural pressure release
- Serve warm
How long do you pressure cook lentils and chickpeas?
For this Thai curry recipe, you definitely do not want to overcook the brown lentils. So I use a manual time of 6 under high pressure with a 5-minute natural pressure release. Any longer than that, your lentils might resemble mashed potatoes.
What I love about this chickpea curry
- it's naturally vegan AND gluten-free
- budget friendly (because it uses everyday ingredients that can be cross-utilized with other ingredients)
- freezer-friendly...so you can have it on hand at all times
- easy to make
- almost hands-free
- packed with protein, fiber, and flavor
Want more healthy, plant-based comfort food recipes?
- Vegan Thai Coconut Vegetable Curry
- Southwest Vegan Tortilla Soup
- Sweet Potato Black Bean Quinoa Chili
- Instant Pot Vegan Tuscan White Bean Kale Soup
- 3-Bean Vegan Chili
- Thai Coconut Soup
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Vegan Thai Lentil Chickpea Curry
Vegan Thai Lentil Chickpea Curry is an easy Thai curry made with lentils, chickpeas, curry paste, tomatoes, coconut milk, and ginger. This chickpea curry recipe is a vegan collection favorite and includes Instant Pot, slow cooker, and stove instructions.
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Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 5 1-cup servings
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil, or preferred oil
- 2 med Green Onions, sliced; separate white stalks from green tops
- 1 Tbsp Fresh Ginger, grated
- 4 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp Red Curry Paste (or yellow or green)
- 12 Cherry Tomatoes, halved or 1 15oz can Diced Tomatoes
- 1 14oz can Coconut Milk
- 1 cup Uncooked Brown Lentils, rinsed and drained
- 1 ½ cups Cooked Chickpeas, or 15oz can (drained)
- ½ cup Water
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt
Instructions
Lentil Chickpea Curry Instant Pot Instructions:
- Select "Sauté" on the Instant Pot and heat the OLIVE OIL.
- When the display reads "Hot", add Add GREEN ONIONS (white stalks only), GINGER, and GARLIC; sauté a few minutes until slightly tender, stirring frequently.
- Add CURRY PASTE and TOMATOES; sauté a few more minutes until fragrant, stirring frequently.
- Add COCONUT MILK, LENTILS, CHICKPEAS, WATER, and SALT.
- Press the "Cancel" function on the Instant Pot. Secure the lid and turn the pressure release valve to the "Sealing" position.
- Select "Manual" or "Pressure Cook" and set the cooker on "High" pressure for 6 minutes.
- When the cycle completes, allow the pot to sit 10 minutes (undisturbed) for a natural pressure release (NPR).
- Then, release any remaining steam by turning the pressure release valve to the "Venting" position, using an oven mitt for protection.
Lentil Chickpea Curry Stove instructions:
- Heat OIL in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Add GREEN ONIONS (white stalks only), GINGER, and GARLIC; sauté (and stir) a few minutes until slightly tender; add CURRY PASTE and TOMATOES; sauté a few more minutes until fragrant, stirring frequently.
- Add COCONUT MILK, LENTILS, CHICKPEAS, WATER, and SALT; bring to boil, then reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 20-30 minutes (until lentils are tender and cooked through).
Lentil Chickpea Curry Crockpot Instructions:
- Heat OIL in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Add GREEN ONIONS (white stalks), GINGER, and GARLIC; sauté (and stir) a few minutes until slightly tender.
- Transfer sauteed veggies over to a 3+ quart Crockpot.
- Stir in CURRY PASTE, TOMATOES, COCONUT MILK, LENTILS, CHICKPEAS, WATER, and SALT.
- Cover and set Crockpot on HIGH 2 hours or LOW 4 hours.
Serving instructions, toppings, and storage
- Serve warm over quinoa or white rice.
- Serve warm over rice or quinoa, garnished with cilantro, green onion (tops), and lime.
- To store, allow to cool completely. Refrigerate in airtight containers up up to 5 days or freeze up to 1 month in freezer-safe containers.
Tried this recipe? I'd love your review!Visit the comments below and tell me how it went.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 177kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 242mg | Potassium: 482mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 745IU | Vitamin C: 13.1mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 3.4mg
Nutrition data provided as courtesy estimates using unbranded ingredients from a nutrition database. Please consult preferred resource for precise data.
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Wendy says
I may have already commented, but will again. This is our go-to recipe for easy curry, because of the simplicity and so many variations possible. Today, we used panang curry, used yellow pear cherry tomatoes and a red dahl rather than brown lentils. When my kid is here, we use the yellow curry with a dash of the red. Sometimes we use regular onions, sometimes green onions. We double the recipe and make rice on a weekend and pack all our lunches for a week. I brought this for a work potluck and had at least four requests for the recipe. Thank you! This is really a winner.
The Kitchen Girl says
Awww this makes me so happy to hear! Love the red dahl curry idea ... I need to try that myself. Thank you sooo much for taking the time to leave this detailed comment. Much appreciated!
Vickie says
Home run in my house of picky eaters.
The Kitchen Girl says
Yayy! So glad to hear it and thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated!
Courtney says
Help, the recipe says canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained in the ingredients. But the instructions say add the chickpeas ‘with juice’. Am I supposed to reserve the chick pea liquid and add it Making in an instant pot.
Thanks!
The Kitchen Girl says
Hi Courtney, omgosh ... good catch! Don't reserve liquid 🙂 I just fixed the recipe instructions. So sorry for confusion.
Squeekyboots says
Very good basic curry lentil recipe! If you want to kick it up a notch with more heat and more robust curry flavoring, don't replace but augment the Thai curry paste with a healthy tbsp of Patak's hot curry paste + two tablespoons of yellow curry powder.
And don't skip the green onions, like I did the first time: didn't have any so I used finely chopped red. The second time the green made a subtle but noteworthy difference in flavor.
Traci Antonovich says
Hey thanks for the review and the tips! So glad you liked it 🙂 I'm also crazy about green onions in this dish lol.
Katie says
I’m in love! One of my new favorites!
Traci Antonovich says
Yay Katie! So glad to hear it...thanks 🙂
Vanessa says
How should I alter the recipe if I am using dry chickpeas?
Traci Antonovich says
Hi Vanessa, you'll need to fully cook the chickpeas before making this recipe, otherwise, you'll overcook all of the other ingredients trying to get the chickpeas cooked. Does that answer your question?
Vanessa says
Yes, thank you! I’ve made this several times with canned chickpeas and I love it!
Traci Antonovich says
Awesome! So glad to hear it!
Caroline says
I was a little worried when it seemed like all your reviews said 'can't wait to try this,' lol.
But I just made it and it's DELICIOUS! I didn't have cherry tomatoes so I used a can of Rotel and I left out the 1/2 c. of water.
That probably made it a bit spicier, but we don't mind. Sooo good - I'm eating it without the rice!
FIY: I used full fat coconut milk and Maesri brand red curry paste found on Amazon.
Thank you for my new go-to lentil recipe. ❤️
Traci Antonovich says
Awesome Caroline...I'm so glad to hear your success with this one. It's a top fav of my IP recipes! I'm going to make some today, in fact! 🙂 Sounds like yours turned out perfect with those changes...thanks for the comment!
Jen says
This looks awesome. 2 questions 🙂 I normally only have dried lentils on hand do you know how this would affect the cook time? I also normally buy my chickpeas frozen so how much extra liquid would you estimate I add. This looks awesome.
Traci Antonovich says
Hi Jen, apologies for the delayed response (I usually have a 12-hour turnaround). Great questions! You want dried lentils (I just edited the recipe to clarify that) and since canned garbanzo juice yields about 1/2 cup liquid, you can add 1/2 cup water to the recipe since you're using frozen beans. You may feel you don't even need the extra liquid depending on your preference for consistency. Hope it helps...and hope you love the recipe like I do! 🙂