Chickpea Curry Recipe

This Chickpea Curry Recipe is full of a warm curry flavor, has the perfect balance of sweetness and heat due to the honey and sriracha sauce — plus it’s vegetarian! It’s easy to prepare and healthy! This Indian dish is the perfect way to spice up your dinner menu. Be sure to try our Chickpea and Spinach Curry recipe as well!

I love Indian food and experimenting with different flavors and spices. Some of my favorites are Indian butter cauliflower (another great vegetarian option!), Indian butter chicken, Massaman curry, and Thai red curry noodle soup — and don’t forget the must-have side of homemade naan!

Why This Recipe Works

• A nice bonus to this recipe is that I use canned garbanzo beans (AKA chickpeas). It speeds up the process and helps this recipe come together in just over 30 minutes. Once you make this recipe you’ll quickly agree that chickpeas turn out to be the perfect vehicle for curry.
• It’s vegetarian! Although I do use meat in my cooking, it’s refreshing to have a dish that is vegetarian and still something packed with protein that will fill me and my family up. This is a great refreshing vegetarian take on the classic meat curry dish.
• This recipe takes only 30 minutes to cook — making it a quick and easy dinner recipe for those weeknight meals.

Ingredients

• Garbanzo Beans: Using canned garbanzo beans (which are the same as chickpeas) is a great way to speed up the dinner making process, utilize a vegetarian option, and still create a meal that will fill your families’ tummies!
• Coconut Milk: I love the coconut flavor this dish has — it isn’t overbearing, it’s just enough to give it a coconut chickpea curry touch.
• Curry Powder: Just enough to get that delicious curry flavor saturated throughout the dish, but not too much that it’s over the top.
• Honey: The touch of honey is a delicious way to make the dish a touch sweet, and it adds a depth of flavor so you aren’t just blasted with only curry flavoring.
• Sriracha: The sriracha sauce is a great way to add flavor and a bit of zing!

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Heat a pan over medium heat. Add butter and chopped onions to the pan. Cook until the onions are browned and turn translucent.
2. Add the curry powder and garlic.

3. Add the chicken stock (or vegetable stock) and stir to combine everything.
4. Add the coconut milk, chickpeas (or garbanzo beans), honey, and sriracha to the pan. Bring everything to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 15 minutes. Simmering it will help the flavors meld together.

5. Adjust seasonings by adding salt and pepper or more sriracha sauce if you want a spicier dish.
6. Serve the chickpea curry over rice and top with cilantro. This dish would also be great served with naan!

Recipe Tips

Feel free to add additional vegetables to this dish. Great options include spinach (add it after the chickpeas) and/or chopped potatoes or carrots (add the potatoes or carrots to the onions and cook until the potatoes are just about done).

If you don’t have coconut milk, some possible substitutions include Greek yogurt (a bit tangier than coconut milk), sour cream (contrary to the name, sour cream has a sweeter taste than Greek yogurt), Soy milk or almond milk. If you have coconut extract you’re welcome to add a dash of that if you’re still wanting the coconut flavor.

This isn’t a crockpot or instant pot curry recipe because it’s already really quick to make and whip up in no time!

FAQs

More Easy Dinner Recipes

• Massaman Curry
• Curry Chicken and Rice
• Sesame Cilantro Noodle Bowl
• Bowtie Festival
• Reverse Stuffed Peppers and Brown Rice

This recipe was originally published on Aug. 28, 2018. It was republished on July 8, 2021, to include additional information and photos.