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Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry with Chickpeas

Liz DellaCroce Avatar

LIZ DELLA CROCE

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Indian-inspired slow cooker vegetable curry is satisfying and comforting, packed with chickpeas for protein, warm spices and lots of hearty vegetables.

Garnishing slow cooker vegetable curry with chives.

Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry with Chickpeas is the perfect hands-off recipe for a busy weeknight. Warm, comforting, and jam-packed with nutrients, this vegetarian curry recipe well with just about any vegetables you have on hand. In fact, we rarely make it with the same ingredients twice for that very reason! The reason I fell in love with this recipe is because of its versatility, and the ease of it being a slow cooker meal! For added protein, I love adding chickpeas which I always keep on hand in my pantry to whip up a quick veggie tagine with chickpeas, a pan of crispy roasted chickpeas or a big bowl of Lebanese chickpea salad.

Why You’ll Love this Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry

  • Using a slow cooker, it’s perfect to set it and forget it!
  • This dish is vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free!
  • Can be easily customized to what is already in your fridge and pantry.
  • Makes great leftovers to reheat and eat all week long.

Ingredients

  • Cauliflower: Mild and a bit nutty in flavor, cauliflower is an excellent source of vitamins and nutrients.
  • Broccoli: A great source of Vitamin C, fiber, and many other nutrients.
  • Sweet potato: Hearty, creamy, and sweet, they are full of fiber and other nutrients.
  • Red pepper: The sweetest of the bell peppers, it also adds great color to the final dish.
  • Onion: I usually use a white or yellow onion for this curry.
  • Chickpeas: A great source of plant-based protein.
  • Tomato sauce: Acts as the base for the sauce of the curry.
  • Coconut milk: Makes the sauce a bit creamy, while helping to cut through some of the spice.
  • Broth: Use vegetable broth to keep this dish vegan/vegetarian, otherwise you can use chicken broth.
  • Spices: This curry is flavored with a delicious blend of cumin, curry powder, turmeric, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
  • Peas: Frozen peas are added towards to end to prevent them from getting mushy.

Easy Substitutions

  • Mix up the vegetables. You can use almost any vegetable you have! Use regular potatoes instead of sweet potatoes, throw in some carrots, or even Brussels sprouts!
  • Swap the spices. You can use red curry paste instead of curry powder, but I would use more of it. And if you don’t have cumin and turmeric, you could use garam masala!
  • Use frozen instead of fresh. Fresh would be best for a slow cook process. However, you can add frozen veggies to the slow cooker just an hour before eating. Slow cooking frozen veggies (that are already precooked) would make them really mushy.

How to Make Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry with Chickpeas

Step 1. Peel and dice your onion.

Step 2. Wash and cut your cauliflower and broccoli into florets.

Step 3. Peel and chop your sweet potato.

Step 4. Dice your bell pepper.

Step 5. Add all your vegetables to the pot of your slow cooker, along with the canned chickpeas. Then pour in the broth and coconut milk, and stir in the spices.

Step 6. Top with the lid, and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours. Add the peas the last 5 minutes or so before serving.

Top view of slow cooker vegetable curry with chickpeas.

Serve on top of a bed of rice or quinoa, garnish with fresh herbs, and enjoy your Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry with Chickpeas!

Frequently asked questions

What vegetables should not be added to a slow cooker?

It’s not like there are banned foods from slow cooking. But delicate or quick cooking vegetables, like peas, spinach, or asparagus, should be added towards the end so they don’t get mushy.

How to stop curry from being watery in a slow cooker?

Towards the end of the cook time, if your curry seems a bit watery, take the lid off and change the heat to high to let some of that excess water cook off.

How long is vegetable curry good for?

This curry will be good in the fridge for up to 7 days, and in the freezer for 3 months.

More Slow Cooker Meals

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Liz eating slow cooker vegetable curry.

The perfect weeknight dinner, or a great make-ahead recipe for lunches all week long, you’ll be sure to love my Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry.

Your fork is waiting.

Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry with Chickpeas

4.38 stars average
Satisfying and comforting Indian inspired vegetarian dish packed with protein and full of flavor thanks to warm spices.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 10 minutes
CourseMain Dish
Serves4

Ingredients
 
 

  • 4 cups cauliflower cut in florets
  • 2 cups broccoli cut in florets
  • 1 sweet potato peeled and diced
  • 1 red pepper diced
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 15 ounce can chickpeas drained
  • 15 ounce can tomato sauce low sodium
  • ½ cup light coconut milk
  • ½ cup chicken or vegetable broth low sodium or vegetable broth
  • 1 tablespoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder
  • 1 tablespoon turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne optional
  • ½ cup frozen green peas
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • plain yogurt cilantro, sriracha and scallions – optional garnishes

Instructions
 

  1. Place vegetables, chickpeas, tomato sauce, coconut milk, chicken broth and spices in the slow cooker and heat on Low for 8 hours or on High for 4 hours.
  2. Before serving stir in green peas to warm.
  3. Check for seasoning and adjust accordingly.
  4. Serve over brown rice or grain of choice (or on own) with yogurt, cilantro and scallions. Sriracha doesn’t hurt either.

Nutrition

Serving: 1.5cupsCalories: 283kcalCarbohydrates: 51gProtein: 13gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 1009mgPotassium: 1321mgFiber: 15gSugar: 14gVitamin A: 10143IUVitamin C: 112mgCalcium: 149mgIron: 6mg

Video

Liz’s Notes

This recipe is really versatile – feel free to use whatever veggies are in season or you have on hand. It freezes very well and will last up to 3 months in the freezer.

Have you tried this?

Let us know how it was!

4.38 from 269 votes (248 ratings without comment)

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135 responses to “Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry with Chickpeas”

  1. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    After seeing all the glowing reviews I look forward to giving this a try :)

    Quick couple of questions if you don’t mind…

    First, how do you think the recipe would hold up if I used 1 cup coconut milk instead of 1/2 coco milk and 1/2 stock? Would it throw the balance off, or just make the curry a bit richer?

    Second, do you think it’d be ok to buy froze Brussell Sprouts, Cauliflower, etc and let it thaw in the fridge before cooking, or do I need fresh?

    Thanks again for the recipe, and I shall come back to rate later :)

    1. Liz DellaCroce Avatar
      Liz DellaCroce

      Hi Chris – You can definitely add more coconut milk! Great idea! And yes frozen would work but you should add it just 1 hour before eating as frozen vegetables are already cooked so slow cooking them for an additional 4-8 hours would make them really mushy and you’d just end up with one big bowl of mush. Fresh would be best for a slow cook process. Enjoy!

  2. Hannah Edgell Avatar
    Hannah Edgell

    This was such a gorgeous curry, I’m so impressed. I’ve only used my slow cooker for a stew, but really wanted to make a good curry and found this recipe, I put all the ingredients in the slow cooker before work and half expected to get home and have to rustle something else up, I didn’t expect to get the spices right first time, but it was fantastic, me and my Hubby really enjoyed it, I’m vegan so I had some soya yogurt on top which worked perfectly. I can’t wait to make it again (also I’m in the UK so had no idea what the tomato sauce was so used tinned tomatoes and it was ace!!!) thanks so much for a fab dinner :)

    1. Liz DellaCroce Avatar
      Liz DellaCroce

      Oh I’m so glad you enjoyed this!! I’m really glad your husband liked it too!!

  3. Marla Avatar
    Marla

    This was so perfect and yummy after a long day at work. Thank you!

    1. Liz DellaCroce Avatar
      Liz DellaCroce

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it Marla!

  4. Gabby Avatar
    Gabby

    I didnt use the tumeric and still had wonderful results. Little yogurt, siracha and homemade naan !! Delicious

    1. Liz DellaCroce Avatar
      Liz DellaCroce

      Ahh that sounds amazing!!!

  5. Lauren Avatar
    Lauren

    Holy cow. I make recipes I find online all the time but have never felt compelled to comment until now. Followed the recipe exactly and it was absolutely delicious. Wow WOW! Thanks!!

    1. Liz DellaCroce Avatar
      Liz DellaCroce

      Oh my gosh thank you so much – that truly means the world to me! Let me know if you try any other recipes of mine Lauren!!

  6. bean Avatar
    bean

    I made this the other day, and when I left the crockpot, I was worried there wasn’t enough liquid in the mix, but it cooked down perfectly. I love the idea of adding brussels sprouts to the mix and would probably add an additional sweet potato next time.

    I followed the recipe to a T (which I don’t often do), and I found the spice mix just didn’t work well. I did the Tbsp each of cumin, turmeric and curry powder, as well as a heaping 1/2 tsp of cayenne, and it was just overly strong and bitter tasting. When I tried it, I re-checked the recipe to see if I mis-read Tbsp for tsp but no. I typically love the intense flavors of indian food but this one was strong in a not good way. I added a bunch of yogurt to the actual dish, served it over quinoa, added the garnishes, and then added some additional cucumber/dill greek yogurt dip that I had as a topping, and that improved things but still just didn’t have a balanced flavor at the end of it. I have no idea where I went wrong. I would love to try this again, because it was so easy, so veggie-filled, and a wonderful texture, but I will try with a different blend of spices next time. Maybe I should have gone with the garam masala replacement as suggested? We were gone all day so I ended up cooking it for 10 hours on low. I wouldn’t think that that would affect the outcome, though…? Everyone else seems to have loved it with this blend so I don’t know what happened.

    1. Liz DellaCroce Avatar
      Liz DellaCroce

      Hi There! I’m so glad you tried this recipe. You rarely need to add liquid to slow cooker recipes because unlike stove-top cooking, water doesn’t evaporate while cooking because of the lid/steam. With regards to the spice levels, one thing I’ve noticed that varies from person to person is the brand of spices you purchase. Specifically the curry powder. I know some curry powders are salted, some aren’t. Some are spicy, some aren’t. Perhaps that is part of the reason. Hope that helps!

  7. Jaime Avatar
    Jaime

    We’ve recently just turned to a whole foods lifestyle and was searching the Internet for a really good slow cooker curry recipe when I came across your website. This curry is amazing!!!! So good and something I’ll make again and again! Thank you!

    1. Liz DellaCroce Avatar
      Liz DellaCroce

      Oh I’m so glad Jaime!! My website is full of whole foods recipes- Let me know if you try anything else!

  8. Marcom Avatar
    Marcom

    Hello
    I just made this and was yummie. It taste great

    Marco
    Ridderkerk, The Netherlands

    1. Liz DellaCroce Avatar
      Liz DellaCroce

      I’m so glad to hear it Marco!!

  9. Jeff Avatar
    Jeff

    I’d love this in an actual vegetarian version, as it seems like it would be delicious, but this uses chicken broth, and the last time I checked, chickens were animals – so not vegetarian. Has anyone tried this with a slightly lower amount of vegetable stock, maybe? Sounds like it would be thinner with stock than broth.

    “Indian inspired vegetarian dish packed with protein and full of flavor thanks to warm spices”

    1. Liz DellaCroce Avatar
      Liz DellaCroce

      Hi Jeff – You can make this dish with equal parts vegetable stock. Enjoy!

  10. Linda Avatar
    Linda

    Thanks so much. I tried it- here in the rainy, cold UK -and it was warming and delicious. Will make the chicken curry next!

    1. Liz DellaCroce Avatar
      Liz DellaCroce

      Oh I’m so glad!!!