When I finished cooking these Curried Chickpeas with Spinach I took a look at my notepad to make sure I had written down all the ingredients. I looked it over a good three or four times thinking that I had surely forgotten something. The list was just too short. How did I just make so much yum with so few ingredients?!
That’s how food should be. Uncomplicated, fast, and super tasty. I couldn’t stop sneaking spoonfuls of this dish as I photographed it—it was just that flavorful. The simple tomato sauce is kicked up a few notches with curry powder (hot or mild, your choice) and would probably be good poured over just about any vegetables. I like this combo of spinach and chickpeas because it’s filling, very nutritious, and just down right pretty.
Use Fresh or Frozen Spinach
I used fresh spinach because I bought a HUGE 2.5 lb. bag of fresh spinach the other day and now I’m committed to using it all before it goes bad, but you can sub frozen spinach to fit your budget. Just add 8 oz. of frozen spinach to the skillet in place of the fresh and sauté until thawed and warmed through, then proceed with the recipe as usual. I also used a very large can of chickpeas, but if that’s not available in your area, just use two regular 15-oz. sized cans. Not a fan of chickpeas? Lentils would also be great here!
How to Serve Curried Chickpeas with Spinach
I served my curried chickpeas with spinach over rice, but it would also be awesome with some naan to soak up the sauce instead. NOM.
What Kind of Curry Powder Do You Use?
You can use either hot or mild curry powder, depending on how spicy you’d like your curried chickpeas to be. I’ve enjoyed both 365 brand curry powder and Sharwood’s curry powder. You can also try making your own curry powder using this recipe for Easy Homemade Curry Powder from Spiceitupp.com.
Curried Chickpeas with Spinach
Servings 4 1 cup eachIngredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.26)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.47)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 inch fresh ginger ($0.16)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder ($0.45)
- 8 oz. spinach (fresh or frozen) ($1.49)
- 1 15oz. can tomato sauce ($0.59)
- 2 15oz. cans chickpeas ($1.10)
Instructions
- Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and grate the ginger on a small holed cheese grater. Sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger in a large skillet with the olive oil over medium heat until the onions have softened (3-5 minutes).
- Add the curry powder and continue to sauté with the onion mixture for one minute more. Add about 1/4 cup of water to the skillet along with the fresh spinach and continue to sauté until the spinach has wilted. The water will help steam and wilt the spinach (no water needed if using frozen spinach).
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Add them to the skillet along with the tomato sauce. Stir well to distribute the spices in the sauce and heat through (5 minutes). Serve over rice or with bread.
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Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Curried Chickpeas with Spinach – Step by Step Photos
Start by dicing one onion and mincing two cloves of garlic. I used a small cheese grater to grate one inch of fresh ginger (or you can mince it). I usually use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin from the ginger before grating it. Sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger in a large skillet with olive oil until they are soft (about 5 minutes).
Add 1.5 Tbsp of curry powder and continue to sauté the mixture. You can use either hot or mild curry powder. Continuing to sauté after adding the spices will toast them just slightly and increase their flavor.
Next, add a little water to the skillet (about 1/4 cup) and 8 oz. of fresh spinach. It will likely fill up the skillet, so stir carefully until it wilts down. Most fresh spinach is sold in either an 8 or 16 oz. bag, so use the label to help you estimate 8 oz. The water will help steam and wilt the spinach. If you’re using frozen spinach, you don’t need to add any water, just warm it through in the skillet.
Drain and rinse a large 29 oz. can (or 2 15oz. cans) of chickpeas then add them to the skillet along with a 15 oz. can of tomato sauce. If you don’t have tomato sauce in your area, strained tomatoes or tomato purée is a good substitute (although you may need to add a little salt at the end).
Then just stir it all together well and let it warm through. How easy is that? I say “Pshhhhftfttfft.” to all boxed skillet meals.
Hi, I live in Ecuador and I love your site. However , I’m confused when you say “tomato sauce”. Here, salsa de tomate is ketchup. Is the tomato sauce you refer to like spaghetti sauce or what?
It is cooked puréed tomatoes with a small amount of salt and other seasonings. It’s not as seasoned as spaghetti sauce, and doesn’t have sugar like ketchup.
I LOVED this recipe! Simply, delicious, and plentiful. I’ll admit that I threw in some fresh mushrooms at the spinach stage, and it definitely works well. This will quickly become one of my staple recipes. Thank you!!!
The addition of mushrooms sounds YUMMY! I make this as a rotation for my meal prep to work, and you just gave me another option! This was on the list to make tonight, and I am adding some fresh mushrooms since I have them in the fridge! Thanks for sharing!!
YUM! I made this last night for dinner and it was wonderful. I just wished I had visited our local Indian market and bought some curry powder, since the one I had didn’t give it the flavor I wanted. I added extra turmeric and curry powder to taste, but overall this is a keeper. This will definitely be going on the dinner/lunch rotation!
My hubby and I have found that chickpeas cooked in the pressure cooker taste way better than canned ones. We cook up a biggish batch of them about twice a month and then divide them into various sizes of bags or containers and freeze them, some IN their cooking liquid (aquafaba) and some drained. It’s so easy to just get a bag of them when we are making a curry or a soup. They are very good toasted in the oven with some Indian spices and used as an appetizer, too. Chickpeas are our favorite dried vegetable to use in so many plant based recipes. We also really love lentils, too, and pressure cook the green or brown ones (but NEVER the red ones) since they are nasty when they are too crunchy in recipes. The red ones just take 20 minutes or so to cook with water in a saucepan. Right now our daughter is making vegan sloppy joes with red lentils, grated zucchini and carrot and spices. They are really tasty and have almost the texture of sloppy joes with meat. Tomorrow I am absolutely going to make these chickpeas with spinach and a batch of naan! Yum!
This became a favourite “fast-food” meal at our house when you first published it. Simple, delicious, healthy, and budget friendly. I like to add a dollop of plain greek yogurt on my dish, and I use a medium hot curry powder for warmth during preparation.
I loved this dish, though I did have to add an extra tablespoon of curry to get the taste I was expecting. Very good and if you time the rice right it takes no time to prep. Love it.
Hi Beth! Love the blog – it’s helping me get back into a cooking/healthy routine. I wanted to see if at some point you can feature this recipe in your meal prep column (which I am also loving), maybe served with something other than rice. Thanks!
Great idea! I need to make this again sometime soon anyway. :)
This looks delicious and I plan on making it tonight! Is there a calorie count for this meal?
I love this site, but cannot find calorie or nutrition counts anywhere.
Followed the recipe almost exactly and it was perfect. The only thing I added was some frozen peas as I had some in the freezer and wanted to use them up :-) definitely saving and printing this recipe and it will be my go-to chickpea curry recipe.
Does this meal freeze well?
This one does, yes! :)
This is so good!!! I added ground turkey and black beans, then used chicken stock instead of water. I didn’t put it on rice (didn’t want the carbs). 🔥🔥
Made the recipe exactly as it is described and it is amazing! Reheats well, too.
Hi! I made this yesterday and it was delicious. Im a bit of a cooking beginner and had a question regarding substitutes. The meal was great but I occasionally get bad acid reflux so I was wondering if there were any possible substitutions for the tomato sauce or maybe something similar?
You could maybe do coconut milk instead? It will be a really creamy dish instead of tomatoey. Just make sure to use full fat coconut milk so that it’s not watery.
this recipe was super good the first time I made it, when I use the canned chickpeas. Then tonight, I tried to use the dried chickpeas, following the quick soaking method on the bag of chickpeas, that called for boiling for two minutes and soaking for two hours, not a good idea. The chickpeas will not fully cook in this dish, you go that route.
Chickpeas even after using the quick boil and soak method, still need to be cooked/simmered for 60-90 minutes before using.
You might find the following information helpful.
http://toriavey.com/how-to/2012/10/how-to-soak-and-cook-chickpeas/
This was lovely as is! When I want to add meat I pan fry some seasoned and cubed chicken thighs before I add the onion, ginger and garlic. Today I had some zucchini and bell pepper left and it goes great with it as well! This has been a lovely staple food for me, thanks!