If you're a peanut butter lover, then you absolutely MUST make my peanut butter curry! It's creamy, delicious, and basically the ultimate in comfort food. This recipe is packed with goodness, and pretty darn easy to whip up!
If you're here, I'm guessing you love peanut butter as much as I do! My peanut butter tofu stir-fry and my peanut tofu bowls are a couple of my favorite dinners. When the weather is cold I really LOVE making my African peanut soup, and that dish was the main inspiration for this peanut butter curry. I wondered how would it turn out if I added some spices and switched up the veggies. The answer: absolutely incredible!
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This curry is incredibly satisfying and comforting, thanks to creamy peanut butter, coconut milk, hearty chickpeas, and veggies. It's pretty easy too, and one of those recipes that keeps really well and is arguably better the second day, after the flavors have had time to meld.
Ingredients You'll Need
- Vegetable oil. You can use your favorite neutral high-heat oil for this. Canola oil, corn oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil will all work.
- Garlic.
- Spices. You're going to need curry powder, garam masala, and ground cumin, all of which can be found in the spice aisle of most grocery stores.
- Light coconut milk. Use coconut milk from a can, and not a carton. I went with light coconut milk, because the peanut butter provides plenty of richness, but you're welcome to use full-fat coconut milk if you'd really like to splurge.
- Diced tomatoes.
- Canned chickpeas.
- Peanut butter. Creamy peanut butter works best for this recipe, since it's a creamy curry. I definitely recommend using natural peanut butter, as processed varieties will add too much sweetness to the dish.
- Brown sugar. Use organic brown sugar. Conventional brown sugar may have been processed using animal bone char.
- Broccoli.
- Red bell pepper.
- Salt.
- Peanuts.
- Fresh cilantro. You can skip this if you're not a cilantro person. Fresh basil, scallions, chives would all work as substitutes.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Do your prep work first. Chop the onion, mince the garlic, prepare the veggies, and crack open all the canned goods!
Step 1: Heat the oil in a large pot, then add diced onion. Cook the onion until it starts to soften, stirring occasionally to prevent it from burning.
Step 2: Add minced garlic and your spices to the pot. Cook them briefly with the onion, stirring the whole time.
Step 3: Add the coconut milk, tomatoes, chickpeas, peanut butter, and brown sugar to the pot. Stir it up and bring it to a simmer. Let the mixture cook for about ten minutes.
Step 4: Stir in the broccoli and bell pepper, then cover the pot. Let the curry simmer for a few minutes with the lid on, just until the vegetables are tender.
Step 5: Take the pot off of heat and season your curry with some salt. Adjust any other seasonings to suit your taste.
Step 6: Serve your peanut butter curry! Top each portion with some fresh cilantro and chopped peanuts, and serve it with rice. This curry would also be delicious with my vegan naan.
Variations
- Switch up the vegetables. Cauliflower, carrots, sweet potato, kale, and snap peas would all be great in this curry.
- Switch up the beans. If you have a can of kidney beans, black beans, lentils, or something similar on hand that you want to use up, feel free to use them in place of the chickpeas.
- Add tofu. You can replace the chickpeas with tofu, or use tofu in addition to them. Try my fried tofu or pan-fried tofu.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes it is!
It's very mild. If you'd like it to have some heat, try adding a bit of cayenne pepper or some hot sauce.
Sure it can! It won't be peanut butter curry, but it will still be delicious if you replace the peanut butter with cashew butter or almond butter. You may also want to consider giving my cashew curry a try.
More Curry Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Peanut Butter Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 (13.5 ounce/398 ml) can light coconut milk
- 1 (14.5 ounce/411 gram) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (15.5 ounce/439 gram) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- â…“ cup creamy natural peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons organic brown sugar
- 1 medium broccoli crown, broken into florets
- 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
- Salt, to taste
- ¼ cup roasted and salted peanuts, chopped
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- Cooked rice, for serving
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a large pot with the oil and place it over medium heat. Give the oil a minute to heat up, then add the onion. Cook the onion for about five minutes, stirring occasionally, until it becomes soft and translucent.
- Stir in the garlic, curry powder, garam masala, and cumin. Cook the mixture for about one minute, stirring constantly, until it becomes very fragrant.
- Stir in the coconut milk, tomatoes, chickpeas, peanut butter, and brown sugar. Raise the heat and bring the liquid to a boil, then lower the heat so that it's just at a low simmer. Simmer the mixture for ten minutes.
- Stir in the broccoli and bell pepper. Cover the pot and let the curry continue to simmer for five minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
- Remove the pot from heat and remove the lid. Season the curry with salt to taste.
- Serve the curry with rice, topping each serving with a sprinkle of cilantro and peanuts.
Notes
- This recipe makes four very generous servings. You could get as many as four smaller servings out of it.
- Nutrition information does not include rice.
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Delicious! Benefits from lime juice at the end.
I coincidentally had all the ingredients, so thought I’d try this. It was perfect.
This is SO GOOD! The spices mixed with the sweetness of the pepper and the oomph of the peanut butter made this meal really craveable. Not to mention how easy and fast it came together. Peanut Butter Curry is being added to my regular rotation for sure! Thank you!
Instant pot friendly?
I'm sure you could make this in an instant pot, but I haven't tried, so I can't tell you the exact steps at this point. If I have a chance to try it out I'll update the recipe card with instructions!