Coconut Lentil Curry
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This easy-to-make creamy coconut lentil curry is a vegan recipe that makes a perfect meatless Monday dinner. It takes less than an hour (mostly hands-off time) to make and is packed full of delicious Indian flavors. Make extras, and you’ll have a giant smile on your face at lunch the next day.
One reader, Rae, says, “This is one of my staple recipes. So easy to make and delicious. Everyone likes it! ★★★★★”
This lentil curry recipe has been a reader favorite for years. And with almost 1500 reviews, you can bet it will be your favorite, too! It’s a flavorful vegan recipe made with kitchen-staple ingredients and is one of my family’s favorite dinner recipes.
You guys, this is what curry dreams are made of. This beauty is made in one pot, and it’ll take less than an hour to reach coconut curry heaven. The flavor starts with toasted cumin and coriander seeds, along with plenty of garlic, ginger, turmeric, and a touch of cayenne. Brown lentils (though you can also use green) simmer in tomatoes and coconut milk until tender and creamy, then fresh cherry tomatoes and cilantro are stirred in at the end to brighten everything up. It’s simple, satisfying, and the kind of recipe you’ll find yourself making on repeat.
We eat this curry year-round. No matter how hot it is outside, it’s always a good time for a bowl of hot curry. It’s stinkin’ hot in India, and peeps there eat curry all the time. They must be onto something.
Years ago, while backpacking around India for a few months, the locals would always say that eating hot food on a hot day would cool you down. Whether that’s true or not, if you put a bowl of hot curry in front of any of us and it’s a bazillion degrees outside, we’ll still eat it. And really, how could you not?
The original lentil curry recipe
The original recipe comes from a well dog-eared cookbook called, Vij’s at Home. We’ve made a few changes to the original recipe so it suits our taste:
- Coconut oil replaces the cooking oil (and we use MUCH less of it)
- Coriander seeds replace ground coriander as we love the little pop of crunch they give.
- Crushed tomatoes replace fresh tomatoes (so we can be lazy and not blend them)
- Harder to find mung beans take a hike and are replaced with brown lentils
- Cilantro gets piled on high.
- Cherry tomatoes get thrown in during the last few minutes of cooking (because heck, why not?)
Lentil curry variations
While my family loves this recipe exactly as written, it’s also very versatile and easy to play with. Here are some additions that we’ve tried, and a few that our readers have tried:
- Add some more veggies: Sweet potatoes, mushrooms, red peppers, or broccoli are great. And spinach stirred in at the end is nice, too.
- More protein: Cubed chicken or tofu is a wonderful addition.
- Skip the coconut: iI you’re not a coconut fan, you can use whipping cream instead.
- Make it into soup: Add some extra water or some chicken or vegetable stock to turn this into soup.
What to serve with lentil curry
Like most curry recipes, this one is great served with basmati rice. You can also serve it with cauliflower rice to get some extra veggies on your plate!
And while this is absolutely a one-pot dinner, if you’d like a side dish, try one of these:
Store, reheat, and freeze
This is one recipe that tastes even better the next day, AND it freezes excellently. We’ll often make a double batch just so we can freeze half of it. And if you have little ones at home, freezing small portions of this curry is a great way to have quick meals on hand.
In the fridge – This curry will keep well for up to 4 days in a sealed container.
In the freezer – Transfer the cooled curry to freezer-proof containers and keep it in your freezer for up to 4 months.
To reheat – We like to reheat this curry on the stove over low heat, adding a splash of water as it thickens overnight. But you can also warm this up in the microwave.
Watch the lentil curry video
This coconut lentil curry recipe is ridiculously simple to make. Five bucks says that you’re going to look at the recipe and think, “No way THIS recipe could be one of the BEST curry recipes.” But it is. For real. It’s so simple to make that we made a video so you can see just how easy it will be to sit down with a big bowl of lentil curry.
Creamy Coconut Lentil Curry Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 head garlic (chopped – 10-12 cloves)
- 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons ginger (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon turmeric
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 cup dried brown lentils (see notes)
- 1-2 teaspoons cayenne powder (optional)
- 2 cups water
- 15 ounce can coconut milk
- A few handfuls of cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet (I love using my braiser) over medium-high heat. Add the cumin and coriander seeds and toast until they start to brown, about 45 seconds. Add the garlic to the pot and let it brown, about 2 minutes.1 tablespoon coconut oil, 1 tablespoon cumin seeds, 1 head garlic, 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- Add the can of crushed tomatoes, ginger, turmeric, and sea salt to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the lentils, the cayenne powder (if using), and water to the pot and bring it to a boil.28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes, 2 tablespoons ginger, 1 tablespoon turmeric, 2 teaspoons sea salt, 1 cup dried brown lentils, 1-2 teaspoons cayenne powder, 2 cups water
- Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and let it simmer for 35-40 minutes, or until the lentils are soft. Stir the pot a few times to prevent the lentils from sticking to the bottom. If the curry starts to look dry, add an extra ½ – 1 cup of water.
- Once the lentils are soft and the curry is thick, add the coconut milk and cherry tomatoes and bring the pot back to a simmer. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the cilantro.15 ounce can coconut milk, A few handfuls of cherry tomatoes, 1 cup chopped cilantro
Last step:
- After you make this recipe, take a picture with your phone and share it in the comments section below. I love seeing it when you make my recipes!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
Omg this was so easy, so cheap but tasted amazing. All 4 kids and hubby asked for seconds. This being our first lentil meal gives me the confidence to try more lentil recipes.
This is one of my go-to recipes when I want something simple and easy but delicious. For those of you who said that the curry turned out watery – use tomato sauce instead of crushed tomatoes. That’s what I always do and that way, the curry is even creamier and thicker.
That’s a great tip!
Hello, how would you go about making the sauce up the lentils are already cooked? Add 1 cup of water, with all the spices, bring to boil then let it simmer for some time? Thanks
You probably don’t need to add any water at all. Just keep an eye on the sauce and add water if it starts to look too thick or dry.
I did it last night and it was soooo good! I just added more coconut milk!
No such thing as too much coconut milk!
Do I have to soak the lentils in water the night prior to cooking it?
Nope. You can use them dry.
I absolutely love CURRY & LENTILS! I have made similar recipes, but this one by far is the simplest…. I make it every Sunday for my lunches for the week with a good serving of Greek yogurt and some mini Naan AMAZING! Thank you so much, the attributes to my meal planning and if I cut back on the Cayenne pepper my kids enjoy it just at much as me. 🙂
That is so great to hear!!!
Made the lentil curry & yam fries. Both easy & fabulous
What a great idea to serve yam fries with the curry!
Amazing recipe! Can it be frozen?
It freezes very well!
Wow- so stinkin’ good! Followed recipe pretty much exactly and it came out perfectly. Definitely a keeper. I never write reviews but I had to for this one.
Awww well thank you so much for coming back to review the recipe! I appreciate it!
I don’t usually like curry but my husband loves it. I made this recipe tonight for him however I had to make a couple of changes since I didn’t have everything I needed. I didn’t have seeds so I used powdered cumin and cilantro and only used half. And since it’s powdered, I opted not to try to toast it. (I burned it the first time). I didn’t have any cherry tomatoes so I just chopped up an heirloom tomato. Oh, and I only used 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. My husband absolutely loves it. And me, I loved it too. Thanks. It’s a new favorite.
I’m so happy to hear you both enjoyed the recipe!
So this is one of my new favorite recipes. I used red lentils instead of brown, and subbed veggie broth for the water. I also browned my ginger after my garlic bc I like to make my curry kind of like a base. So I put the seeds in, then the garlic, then the ginger, then the cayenne and turmeric. I let it toast together just a bit then I added the tomatoes and let that reduce a bit. Then I added the lentils, cooked it til pretty done, but still not quite there. Added the coconut milk. Reduced it another 20 minutes or so. Then I added the cilantro and let it steep in for about 5 minutes of simmer. Turned off the heat and added juice of half of a lime bc it seemed like a good idea. It was really good and I’m making it again tonight, this time with the cherry tomatoes I forgot last time. ? Thank you again!
I’m so happy it was a hit!!!
Loved it, thanks for the recipe
You’re so welcome!
I was very excited to make this recipe, but now that I’m eating it, I have to say it’s disappointing. I’ll see what I can do to fix it because I don’t want to waste it.
First off, I read other reviews and I noted to add the salt at the end (plus my Trader Joe’s lentils note as well to add salt at the end), which I did. My lentils cooked up nice and tender in 35-40 mins, no problem!
I had coriander seeds, but only powdered cumin, so I used both. I really with I would have crushed the coriander because now I keep crunching on them in the finished product – I wish they were more integrated. I would suggest grating the ginger, same issue – I chopped them (not minced) and so I’m getting big bites of ginger. I didn’t have tumeric, so I used curry powder.. it’s a curry right, so it should have curry in it?! I would call this recipe a work in progress that needs more testing.
I’m sorry to hear you didn’t like the coriander seeds. The little crunch is my favorite part of this curry!
Recipe was very watery (more like soup), lentils completely overcooked, hardly any structure left. Quite dissappointing.
I’m sorry to hear you didn’t love the recipe.
Delicious!!! Thank you for the recipe!
You are so welcome!
can you use red lentils? if so, cook for how long?
You can. They cook a little faster so you’ll want to reduce the cooking liquid and time.
This was amazing!!! I did feel like a little something was missing at the end so I added about a 1/2 tsp. more salt and about 1.5 tbsp. of curry powder. That did the trick and now it’s perfect! Thanks so much for sharing, Kristen! Definitely going to be making this again.
Yay!!
This recipe is so simple and DELICIOUS! I’ve made it a number of times and actually have a double batch bubbling away right now! This has become a regular in our house. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful animal/dairy/nut free recipe!
You are so welcome!!