This sweet potato curry recipe with chickpeas makes an irresistible healthy dinner! It stars luscious coconut milk and Thai curry paste.
When it comes to healthy recipes, here’s a plant-based dinner that’s just as satisfying as a margherita pizza or chili cheese fries (we think). Try this Sweet Potato Curry! Tender sweet potatoes and bell peppers swim in a luscious broth of coconut milk and Thai curry paste, topped with fresh cilantro and crunchy peanuts. There’s so much flavor going on, you’ll want to take another bite before you’re finished savoring the first. Welcome to: your easy weeknight dinner soulmate!
The origin of curry
What’s the origin of a curry? The word “curry” is a Western invention to poorly describe the nuance of what colonizers observed in foreign cuisines (see Bon Appetit). Today, the term is pretty broad: it’s used to describe any dish with a spiced sauce and meat or vegetables, often eaten with rice or flatbread. It’s made in many countries with varying flavor profiles, including India, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, England and more.
This recipe is loosely based on a Thai or Southeast Asian-style red curry using red curry paste and coconut milk. After traveling in Southeast Asia, we fell in love with the flavors of ginger, garlic, galangal, lime and lemongrass. Sweet potato and chickpeas aren’t traditional ingredients in this type of curry (though pumpkin is); so this is a non-traditional spin on the concept.
Ingredients in this sweet potato curry recipe
This sweet potato curry is a fantastic easy dinner recipe that makes vegetables taste irresistibly rich and nuanced. The broth uses the shortcut of curry paste to infuse massive flavor into each bite. Here’s what you’ll need to have on hand:
- Sweet potato: find medium-sized orange sweet potatoes
- Yellow onion
- Bell pepper
- Garlic
- Spinach
- Red curry paste: we like Thai Kitchen brand because it’s flavorful yet not too spicy! See below for more notes
- Coconut milk: Use only full-fat or regular here for the right richness and body
- Peanut butter
- Lime juice (optional)
- Olive oil
Red curry paste: what to know
Red curry paste is a shortcut for Western kitchens, not an authentic ingredient: it’s a jarred paste that takes all the flavor of a Thai curry and concentrates it! Curry paste is made with chili peppers, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, cumin, coriander, and more. It brings a massive amount of flavor and lasts for months in the fridge. A few notes on this ingredient:
- The heat level varies based on the brand. We like Thai kitchen curry paste because it’s very mild (and works for our 4-year old!). There are many great brands to try: just make sure to taste your curry paste and if it’s very spicy, use a little less than the recipe specifies.
- Find it near the Thai products in most grocery stores. It keeps for months in the refrigerator. You can also buy it online: Thai Kitchen red curry paste.
Ways to serve sweet potato curry
This sweet potato curry is a Southeast Asian-style curry, so it’s best served with rice. (Reserve naan for an Indian-style curry.) That makes it a vegan and gluten-free dinner recipe that’s packed with flavor. Here are the best styles of rice to serve alongside:
- Jasmine rice : Jasmine rice is also called Thai fragrant rice because of its popcorn-like nutty flavor. Here’s How to Cook Jasmine Rice
- Basmati rice: Basmati rice is more often used for Indian-style curries, but also works. Go to How to Cook Basmati Rice.
- Coconut rice: Try coconut-scented rice to complement the curry.
- Any long grain rice: Use white rice or brown rice. Here’s a tip for how to cook brown rice quickly!
More curry recipes
We could eat curry every night of the week! Here are a few more tasty curry recipes:
- Go for 20-minute Easy Chickpea Curry, a fan favorite
- Try this Coconut Tofu Curry, another favorite healthy vegan dinner
- Opt for Butternut Squash Curry
- Try stunning Shrimp Curry
- Go for Quick Coconut Lentil Curry or Quick Vegan Curry
This sweet potato curry recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.
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Sweet Potato Curry
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This sweet potato curry recipe with chickpeas makes an irresistible healthy dinner! It stars luscious coconut milk and Thai curry paste.
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), unpeeled or peeled and diced into 1/2-inch chunks
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 15-ounce can full fat coconut milk
- 3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (we like Thai Kitchen brand)*
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 4 cups baby spinach or chopped spinach
- ½ tablespoon lime juice, to finish (optional)
- Crushed peanuts and torn fresh cilantro, to garnish
- To serve: jasmine rice or basmati rice
Instructions
- If serving with rice, start the jasmine rice or basmati rice.
- Chop the onion, sweet potato, garlic, and bell pepper as noted above.
- In a large skillet, pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sweet potato and sauté for 5 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add the garlic and red pepper and sauté for 1 minute.
- Add the chickpeas (drained and rinsed), coconut milk, curry paste, peanut butter, 1 cup water and the kosher salt and bring to a simmer. Simmer until sweet potatoes are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Add the spinach and lime juice and cook until the spinach wilts, about 1 minute.
- Garnish with crushed peanuts and torn cilantro. Serve immediately with rice. Leftovers store up to 3 days refrigerated, or 2 months frozen.
Notes
*The heat level for red curry pastes varies based on the brand. The brand we like, Thai Kitchen, is very mild. Taste your curry paste beforehand and add a little less if you’re worried about the heat level.
- Category: Main dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Curry
- Diet: Vegan
Keywords: Sweet potato curry, sweet potato chickpea curry
really nice, and love that it features sweet potatoes along with all of the standard curry ingredients, so thank you!
★★★★★
I am so excited to try this! I have some extra shallots so I might use those instead of onions. Curious if a slow cooker version would work?
This sweet potato curry dish was amazing & super easy to make!! Thank you for the vegan love.
★★★★★
This was hands down amazing. I have been trying to find good vegan comfort food and wanted to try this recipe. Definitely add the cilantro, it makes a difference. :)
★★★★★
Thank you for making!
So delicious and very easy to make! Thanks so much for this recipe!
★★★★★
I appreciate the effort to create vegan curry dishes, but the flavor of this one is just too bland as written, and combined with the texture of chickpeas and cooked potatoes makes for a pretty mushy, nauseating meal. We ate a handful of bites and flushed the rest.
★
So sorry you didn’t enjoy!
Tried this tonight and it’s a solid 4 for me! May have to add it for a quick weekday meal more often.
★★★★
This recipe was quick, simple; and delicious! I used curry powder instead of red curry paste, and it worked really well. I’m not even vegetarian and I’m a teen, and I’ll definitely make it again!
Quick note – The curry sauce is on the liquidey side, so it isn’t rich nor heavy
★★★★★
This was SO delicious!! I’ll be making it often. I used a half a cup of coconut cream so it was even rich and creamier!
★★★★★
We made this for dinner and both gave it thumbs up. I didn’t think it needed all the water so just added 1/2 cup of broth with the coconut milk. We topped the curry with the cilantro and peanuts and also added chopped jalapenos and some tasty Aleppo chili flakes from The Deliciouser brand. It made a great dinner with some basmati rice.
★★★★★
I found this recipe to be rather bland.
★★