This Instant Pot Coconut Chickpea Curry recipe is an easy and delicious vegan recipe that's SO very good. Make it easily right in your pressure cooker or slow cooker.
What Makes This Coconut Chickpea Curry Recipe So Good
- Fast. Made in only 40 minutes with the help of your Pressure Cooker or Instant Pot.
- Easy. Just a few easy steps to have a fantastic Vegetarian meal on your dinner table.
- Vegan. This recipe uses coconut milk to make it one of my favorite Vegan main dishes.
- Healthy. Chickpeas are a great source of fiber and protein.
When most people think of a curry recipe, they think of lots of ingredients you don't have and crazy long cook times.
Good thing for you, my specialty is making traditional meals in non-traditional ways to make them with #ruthlessefficiency.
Is This Chickpea Curry Vegan?
Yes. It's made with coconut milk instead of real cream, so it's a vegan chickpea curry and delicious.
How To Make Coconut Chickpea Curry
- Purée. In a small blender container, purée coconut, cilantro, ginger, garlic, serrano pepper, and water until you have a rough, gritty mixture (about 30 seconds).
- Sauté. Heat the Instant Pot on SAUTÉ. Add oil. When the oil is hot, add the coconut spice mixture and cook for 2 minutes until the mixture has toasted a little.
- Spice. Add tomatoes, salt, cayenne, and turmeric and cook until the tomatoes have softened a little (about 2 minutes).
- Chickpeas. Add chickpeas and water and close the lid.
- Cook. Press CANCEL to turn off Sauté. Press PRESSURE COOK and cook on HIGH for 30 minutes for chickpeas with a little chew and 40 minutes for super soft chickpeas.
- 10 mins NPR. Allow the pot to naturally pressure release for 10 minutes, release the remaining pressure and serve.
Can I Use Canned Chickpeas?
Not really because if you try to pressure cook those in this chickpeas recipe, they will turn to mush.
If you shorten the cooking time, the coconutty spice mix won't cook as well.
Use dried chickpeas and soak them overnight or for an hour under hot water, to help them soften a touch so you can cook them to perfection faster.
If the chickpeas and garbanzo beans seem very similar, it's because they are indeed the same thing.
They have simply been given different names in different cultures. "Garbanzo" is the Spanish term while "chickpea" is the English one.
Yes, as a matter of fact, they are. I think unless you are super carb sensitive, beans and legume recipes can be a tasty part of your everyday diet.
Chickpeas are a great source of many vitamins and minerals, and a single cup can provide around 40% of your daily value of fiber, around 22 of your daily value of iron, not to mention they are a great source of protein, especially if you are living a vegan lifestyle.
Chickpeas can also help manage your blood sugar levels.
Since they have a low glycemic index, your body digests them slowly. This helps keep your blood sugar and insulin low, which is particularly beneficial for those with diabetes.
First, soak the chickpeas overnight or in hot water for an hour.
Next, for every cup of dried chickpeas, use about 2-3 cups of water. Then, add to slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low.
Tips And Tricks For Chickpea Curry
- Make sure you soak your chickpeas so they cook completely.
- Serve over rice for a great curry and rice recipe that's hearty enough for a full meal.
- Stir the spice blend constantly as it is sauteeing in the Instant Pot. Do not over toast the spice mixture before adding the tomatoes. This will give your chickpea curry recipe a bitter flavor.
Other Easy Chickpea Recipes
There are lots of yummy ways to enjoy chickpeas. Aside from my Coconut Chickpea Curry, here are a few more delicious ways to enjoy them:
- Instant Pot Moroccan Chickpea Soup - A hearty, vegan recipe that's full of spice and flavor you'd expect from Moroccan food!
- Indian Chickpea Salad - A no-cook vegan salad made in 30 minutes.
- Chana Masala Recipe - A delicious and traditional Indian recipe made with chickpeas.
- Slow Cooker Chana Masala- No Instant Pot? No problem. Make this recipe easy with the help of your slow cooker.
- Chickpea Soup - Filled to the brim with chickpeas, rainbow chard, and yellow summer squash.
Whether you're a long time fan of easy chickpea curry or this is your first time enjoying it, you're sure to love my Instant Pot Coconut Chickpea Curry recipe. Make sure to share this recipe with your friends on Pinterest and Facebook so they can enjoy it as well!
Equipment
Ingredients
For The Coconut Paste
- 1/2 cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut, unsweetened
- 1 cup Cilantro
- 8 Garlic Cloves
- Fresh Ginger Root, 2-inch piece, sliced
- 1 Serrano peppers
- 1/2 cup Water
For The Chickpea Curry
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric
- 1/2-1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- 1.5 teaspoons Kosher Salt
- 1 cup Tomatoes, diced
- 1 cup Dried Chickpeas, soaked in water overnight and drained
- 1.5 cups Water
Instructions
- In a small blender container, purée coconut, cilantro, ginger, garlic, serrano pepper, and water until you have a rough, gritty mixture (about 30 seconds).
- Heat the Instant Pot on SAUTÉ. Add oil. When the oil is hot, add the coconut spice mixture and cook for 2 minutes until the mixture has toasted a little.
- Add tomatoes, salt, cayenne, and turmeric and cook until the tomatoes have softened a little (about 2 minutes).
- Add chickpeas and water and close the lid.
- Press CANCEL to turn off Sauté. Press PRESSURE COOK and cook on HIGH for 30 minutes for chickpeas with a little chew and 40 minutes for super soft chickpeas.
- Allow the pot to naturally pressure release for 10 minutes, release the remaining pressure and serve.
- Use unswseetened coconut for this. If you can't find it, soak sweetened coconut shreds in hot water adn change out the water 2-3 times to get the sugar washed out of the coconut.
- You cam't really use canned chickpeas for this. The sauce needs more time to cook.
- If you just CAN'T wait for thsoe chickpeas to soak, just add another 1/4 cup of water and cook for an additional 10 minutes,
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Nutrition
Don't forget to check out my other Best-selling Instant Pot Cookbooks!
Indian Instant Pot, Keto Instant Pot, Instant Pot Fast and Easy, Healthy Instant Pot & Vegetarian Instant Pot.
Valerie L.
My vegetarian daughter loved the flavour of this recipe, but ooohhh..... the garlic was too much for us. Reducing the garlic by half next time will make this a much more work friendly lunch up here in Canada. Still a great and easy recipe. Xoxo
Liz Hensley
Hi! I will make the Instant Pot Coconut Chickpea Curry for the first time this week. I hope someone can answer two questions.
(1) The intro mentions coconut milk, but the ingredients list does not. Should I add coconut milk? How much?
(2) In the section "How to make chickpeas in the slow cooker", every cup of dried chickpeas uses about 2-3 cups of water. The instant pot recipe uses 1.5 cups of water. Is that the difference between a slow cooker and an instant pot?
Thanks very much!
URVASHI PITRE
Yes the instant pot is a closed environment so less water evaporates. As to coconut milk if you’d like to add some I’d put in about 1/2 cup to the finished dish. But if you want more? Add it. You get to choose!
Amy
Considering this recipe for a family vacation, we all pick a night to cook and a theme- I have chosen Indian. Some of these notes are for myself so that I will remember what I did. Really good- I doubled the recipe overall but only did 3/4 tsp Cayenne and 1 Serrano pepper, good spice for me but I am a wimp, my family is not and I may increase both. I cooked for 35 minutes and NPR for 10 - chickpeas were perfect. I am doing a chicken, beef and legume and this dish may have clinched it for the legume vote.
Amy N
WOW!!! Followed recipe as directed which was super easy and quick. The flavors are fantastic! This recipe and the Black Daal recipe are definite keepers! When in London, we usually put up with the hour plus wait to eat at Dishoom for Indian food, but my husband says that my Indian food is better!!! 😃
URVASHI PITRE
Yay you!!
Barbara
Would i be able to successfully substitute the shredded coconut with coconut cream...? i have plenty of it, but no shredded one..
Steve Field
OK. For the hybrid soaking, is it BOIL-Simmer for an hour, or just boil the water to make it hot and let the beans soak off heat? It's been years since I've done dried beans. (smile)
I think I over-liquefied the paste, and though I added 5 minutes, the beans were still on the firm side. (I live at 5000+ altitude.) Sadly, even with seeding and de-veining the Serrano, it was HOT! LOL!
Tasty and lots of leftovers. I really need the 1-cup Souper Cubes!
URVASHI PITRE
Good question! It's use boiling water, pour that boiling water into a bowl of dried beans and then walk away. Not keep boiling the water, if that makes sense.
Karl
So for the "didn't plan ahead crowd" (me!) that are starting with dried chickpeas from scratch . . . would just cooking longer make up for the lack of soaking? Say go for the 40 minute full cook time with a complete NPR?
URVASHI PITRE
Yes I think it would!