I’ve been trying to brain storm up some easy plant-based meals lately, and this week’s creation was these Creamy Coconut Curried Lentils with Spinach, which are kind of like the creamy cousin of my Curried Chickpeas with Spinach. I swapped out the canned chickpeas for quick cooking lentils, and instead of a tomato-based curry sauce, I went with a super rich creamy coconut sauce, that pairs oh so well with the earthy lentils and heady curry spices.
As you can see in the photos, I paired these Creamy Coconut Curried Lentils with my Curry Roasted Carrots and some naan. The sweetness of the carrots balances perfectly with the earthy lentils. If you’re not up for making an entirely separate side dish, you can even just slice up a few carrots and let them simmer along with the lentils in the skillet!
Make it Spicy or Mild
This recipe is really easy to make either spicy or mild and tastes fantastic either way. Curry powder can be either hot or mild, so make sure you know which type you’re buying. If you have a mild curry powder and want your coconut curry lentils to be spicy, simply add a little cayenne pepper, or top the cooked dish with a few red pepper flakes. Or, if you’d like to try to make your own curry powder, try this recipe for Easy Homemade Curry Powder from Spiceitupp.com.
What Type of Lentils Should I Use?
Brown lentils are the best for this dish because they hold their shape through simmering, unlike red or yellow lentils, but still cook really quickly, unlike green lentils. Brown lentils are sometimes just labeled “lentils” in the U.S., so just check the recommended cooking time on the package. If it says simmer for about 20 minutes, you’ve got the right type of lentil!
Is There a Substitute for Coconut Milk?
Heavy cream or half and half can be used in place of the coconut milk in this recipe, although you probably won’t need quite as much as the coconut milk used. Stick to about 1/2 cup for the heavy cream or 3/4 cup for half and half.
Creamy Coconut Curry Lentils with Spinach
Servings 4 1.25 cups curry lentils + 1 cup riceIngredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.24)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger ($0.10)
- 1 small yellow onion ($0.21)
- 1 Tbsp curry powder* ($0.30)
- 1 cup brown lentils (dry) ($0.67)
- 2 cups vegetable broth** ($0.26)
- 1 13oz. can coconut milk ($1.99)
- 3 cups fresh baby spinach ($1.61)
For Serving (optional)
- 4 cups cooked rice ($0.60)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro ($0.15)
Instructions
- Mince the garlic, grate the ginger, and dice the onion. Add the olive oil, garlic, and ginger to a deep skillet, Dutch oven, or soup pot. Sauté the garlic and ginger over medium heat for 1 minute, or just until the garlic becomes soft and fragrant.
- Add the diced onion to the skillet and continue to sauté over medium until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the curry powder and continue to sauté for about one minute more to toast the spices.
- Add the dry lentils and vegetable broth to the skillet. Stir to dissolve any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Place a lid on top, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring the broth to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low, and let it simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- After simmering for 20 minutes the lentils should be tender and most of the broth absorbed. Add the can of coconut milk and stir to combine. Turn the heat back up to medium and allow the skillet to come back up to a simmer. Let it simmer without a lid for an additional 10 minutes, stirring often, to thicken the mixture.
- Once thickened, turn the heat off. Add the fresh spinach and stir gently until the spinach has wilted. Taste the mixture and adjust the salt or curry powder to your liking, if needed.
- Serve over a bowl of rice, and top with chopped cilantro if desired.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Video
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Creamy curried lentils – Step by Step Photos
Mince two cloves of garlic, grate about 1 tsp fresh ginger, and dice one small onion. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil, the minced garlic, and grated ginger to a deep skillet (a Dutch oven or soup pot will also work). Sauté for about one minute, or just until the garlic is soft and fragrant.
Add the diced onion and continue to sauté until the onion is soft and translucent. Once the onion is softened, add 1 Tbsp curry powder. Continue to sauté for one minute more to toast the spices.
Add 1 cup dry brown lentils to the skillet…
Along with 2 cups of vegetable broth. I use Better Than Bouillon, which contains a fair amount of salt. If your broth doesn’t have a lot of salt, you may need to add some to the dish at the end to help the flavors pop.
Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium-high, and let it come up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 20 minutes (with the lid on). After 20 minutes the lentils should be tender and most of the broth absorbed.
Stir in one 13oz. can of coconut milk.
Turn the heat back up to medium and let it come back up to a simmer. Let it simmer for 10 more minutes, without a lid, stirring often. This will break down the lentils a little more and reduce the coconut milk a little, making it thicker.
Turn the heat off and add about 3 cups (or three handfuls) of fresh spinach to the skillet.
Gently stir and allow the residual heat to wilt the spinach. Once wilted, give it a taste and adjust the curry powder or salt if needed.
And then it’s ready to serve! I like to serve my Creamy Coconut Curry Lentils over rice to soak up all that delicious creamy curry, but it’s also great with Naan and Curry Roasted Carrots.
And of course I meal prepped this. :)
Just as an FYI, most store-bought naan contains buttermilk and is not dairy free. If you’re allergic to dairy (as I am), be sure to check the label before buying. The linked recipe contains yogurt, and I have no idea if there’s a dairy free yogurt substitute that would work with it. It’s such a shame because naan is sooooo tasty.
Delicious! Even my meat loving husband enjoyed it. I served it with rice & roasted summer squash and mushrooms, it was really good!
Yay! Love the addition of the summer squash and mushrooms.
Delicious! Reminds me of the chicken divan my grandmother made for family dinners when I was little–I had no idea curry was the secret ingredient, so it happens that making this strictly to the recipe, using 1 T curry, gave it just the right flavor (distinct but not overpowering). Now, I prepared the onions, curry and lentils two days ahead of time to accommodate my weeknight schedule, reheating and then warming with the coconut milk the night of, so that may have affected the flavors, but midway through dinner my son turned to me and said, “We can have this again!”
This is so good! I used frozen spinach, which I put in after the lentils cooked for 20 minutes. I also threw some sliced carrots in at the beginning and was very happy. Next time I will need to pay more attention to the broth because it was a tad too salty…not a fault of the recipe, but with my handling of concentrated broth.
This was great! I added a squeeze of lemon and subbed in red lentils, since that’s what I had on hand. Using red lentils meant the cooking time was decreased and made the dish more on the mushy side, but still so, so, delicious. This will definitely be a go-to recipe.
Hi Beth – thanks for the recipe, it was great, and enjoyed by the whole family for supper! Your instructions are really clear and precise, always appreciated. I did not measure the spinach, just put in a full chopped bunch. I made it with roasted cauliflower, rice/barley, and a chopped salad, and there is some remaining – but next time I am going to double or triple the recipe so that we have enough for the week and to freeze :) Take care!
This was so good. I doubled the spices at the beginning and added a can of rinsed and drained kidney beans when the lentils were almost tender. I used swiss chard instead of spinach because it’s growing in my garden. And I did half the amount of rice with some frozen peas and carrots and a head of cauliflower I roasted with lemon and turmeric, and I meal prepped it all and made myself four seriously fantastic and filling lunches for the week. Thanks for another hit!
I really enjoyed this dish. It was easy to make and the flavors were wonderful!! I did have to cook the beans longer than 20 minutes but that happens sometimes…I just kept checking the doneness every 5 minutes. The beans finally softened at 30 minutes. I feel like it tasted better the next day when I took it to work for lunch. Thank you for this recipe 😁
This was soooooo good! I also made the carrots. I will be making this again. Love you websites. I’ve been looking for cheap great tasting vegan/vegetarian meals!
I looked at my grocery store for brown lentils but could only find dry red and green ones. I know you spoke to the fact that the green take longer to cook and the red lose their shape, but if you had to choose one instead of the brown which would you go with?
Thanks!
Definitely green. And check the cooking instructions on the label for those green lentils. “Brown” lentils actually look kind of army green. If it says to boil for anywhere near 20 minutes, they’re what I’m calling brown lentils. If it says to cook closer to 45 minutes, they are indeed French green lentils.
Hey Beth, would this recipe freeze well?
I think it would. :)
This was so good! I will add more carrots next time, and I will continue to make tofu in a small fry pan and add curry paste, vege broth, and a dash of maple syrup yum yum yum yum yum!
Very good. I added 4 or 5 sliced carrots per Beth’s suggestion and will probably add the whole pound next time because they’re so good with the lentils and the sauce. I like this recipe even more than the curried chickpea one it’s based on–and I make that one most weeks.
I made this as written, and I used my Instant Pot. (5 minutes pressure). It is awesome! Tastes so good! Looks OK, but the flavor is great, it is filling, and it is great for meal prep! I used about 3/4 cup brown lentils and 1/4 cup of the small french green lentils and they were just perfect. Thank you!!
My 12-year old son and I love to experiment with new recipes, and I was looking forward to trying this one out. I got a little worried when he had a cousin come over for a last minute dinner and sleepover, because we’re a very rural area with not much exposure to anything more than the typical standard American diet. Believe it or not, this was the first curry for all three of us, and we all went back for seconds! Our young guest even asked for the recipe, which I promised to send to his dad :) I used McCormick curry powder, which is all I could find around here and added some extra of that and salt for more flavor, and a little cayenne for some heat. Delicious and easy!