Easy to make Vegan Thai Peanut Curry recipe made with fresh vegetables cooked in creamy coconut milk and peanut butter sauce. Make this creamy, veggie-loaded Peanut Curry in just 30 minutes and enjoy a hearty and flavorful meal for lunch or dinner. This healthy vegan dish is totally delicious and gluten-free too!
Easy and delicious Thai Peanut Butter Curry Recipe
You know me, I can never resist a good curry recipe! They are fragrant, filling, and fuss-free- you only need a pan and simple ingredients. Plus, they are easy to incorporate into your weekly meal prep. You can make a batch of my vegan Thai Red Curry or Vegetable Chickpea Curry or Green Curry over the weekend and just heat them up on a busy weeknight. This vegan Thai Peanut butter curry will blow your socks off with its robust flavors and super creamy texture.
Allergic to nuts? No problem – I have a great alternative to peanut butter that will still allow you to enjoy this scrumptious meal in all its glory!
A Nut-free Curry Version
Ok, I know it sounds odd but hear me out first. This recipe is just so, so good I do not want our nut-allergic friends to miss out! To make this recipe nut-free, you can use tahini instead. If you have not heard of this, tahini is a condiment made of toasted ground hulled sesame seeds, also called sesame paste. So you get rich, nutty taste but none of the bad reactions!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Aromatics: this flavorful dish starts with a savory and fragrant base of sauteed red onion, garlic, and ginger.
- Vegetables: I used carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, green princess beans, and scallions for this recipe. You can use red and orange bell peppers, depending on what you have. If you can not find green princess beans, you can also use snap peas, or broccoli cut into bite-sized pieces.
- Curry paste: you can use any type of curry paste you like, depending on how spicy you’d like the dish to be. Thai yellow or red curry paste are great options.
- Paprika powder: this adds a slightly sweet flavor to the curry sauce. If you do not have this, add some chili powder plus coconut or brown sugar instead.
- Peanut butter: If you like a smooth sauce, use creamy peanut butter. But if you prefer it with little chunks of nuts, use chunky instead.
- Coconut milk: this will make the vegan Thai peanut curry sauce have a richer flavor and thicker consistency.
- Vegetable Broth: used as a savory liquid base for the sauce.
- Tamari: this will add tons of savory and umami flavor! You can also use soy sauce (not gluten-free) or coconut aminos as a soy-free option.
- Coconut oil: for sautéing.
- Basmati rice: you can use other types like jasmine, arborio, or brown rice.
- Toppings: garnish your curry with fresh parsley or cilantro toasted peanuts or sesame seeds, chili flakes, and lime wedges
How to make Thai Peanut Curry
As always, I recommend checking out the recipe video and these step-by-step instructions first. Then you’ll the full recipe with exact measurements in the recipe card below!
Step 1: Sauté vegetables
Start by heating the coconut oil in a large deep pan or wok. Sauté the onions, ginger, and garlic for about 1-2 minutes. Add curry paste and sauté briefly. Then add the carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, green beans, and white parts of the scallions and sauté for 4-5 minutes.
Step 2: Season and cook
Add paprika powder, tamari, vegetable broth, coconut milk and peanut butter and stir to combine. Put a lid on the pan and let the curry simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until it is nice and creamy and the vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, cook the rice in a medium pot according to package directions.
Step 3: Serve!
Serve your vegan Thai peanut curry sauce over rice in a bowl and garnish with the green parts of the scallions, parsley, peanuts, sesame seeds and chili flakes. Drizzle with lime juice and enjoy! 🙂
Tips and recipe variations
- Have all your ingredients prep and nearby before starting! You do not want to overcook your aromatics because you are still chopping the veggies.
- Bulk your dish up and add more protein like legumes such as cooked chickpeas, kidney or cannellini beans, and lentils. You can also add crispy tofu or tempeh cubes at the end.
- You can use other vegetables like cauliflower, eggplant, mushrooms, leeks, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, asparagus, and baby corn, among other things. Just make sure to cook the hard potatoes longer.
- Give the dish sweet and fruity tones by adding pineapple, mango, or oranges.
- Make a kid-friendly version by omitting the paprika and using a mild curry paste.
How to store and freeze peanut butter curry sauce?
Leftover curry will keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator and 3 months in the freezer. If you are making this part of your weekly meal plan, divide it into individual serving-size containers, so you can quickly reheat the portions you need.
This Vegetarian Peanut Curry recipe is:
- Dairy-free
- Meatless
- Fragrant
- Creamy
- Easy to Make
- Gluten-free
- Warm-spiced
- Flavorful
- Nutritious
- Versatile
- Perfect for weeknights!
Popular Vegan & Vegetarian Curry Recipes
- Red Thai Curry with Crispy Tofu
- Yellow Vegetable Chickpea Curry
- Thai Green Curry with Vegetables
- Sweet Potato, Chickpea and Coconut Curry
- Pumpkin Chickpea Curry
- Vegan Black Lentil Curry
- Lentil Meatballs in Indian Curry Sauce
- Indian Chickpea Curry
- Cauliflower Tikka Masala
- Creamy Cauliflower Korma
- Jamaican Pinto Bean Curry
- Red Lentil Dahl
If you try this peanut curry recipe, feel free to leave me a comment and a star rating! And if you take a photo of your dish and share it on Instagram, please tag me @biancazapatka and use the hashtag #biancazapatka because I love seeing your creations! Enjoy! 😊
The Best Thai Peanut Curry (Easy & Vegan)
Author:Ingredients
- 8.8 oz (250 g) basmati rice or another variety
- 1 tbsp coconut oil or sesame or peanut oil
- 1 red onion diced
- 3-4 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 piece of ginger chopped
- 1-2 tbsp curry paste depending on variety and taste
- 1-2 carrots sliced
- 2 bell peppers e.g. red and orange, cut into strips
- 1 zucchini halved & sliced
- 7 oz (200 g) green princess beans or snap peas or broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 scallions white and green parts sliced separately
- 2 tsp paprika powder or chili powder to taste 2-3 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
- ½ cup (120 ml) vegetable broth
- 14 oz (400 g) coconut milk 1 can
- 3 tbsp peanut butter or tahini, if nut-free
Toppings (optional)
- fresh parsley or cilantro
- 3 tbsp toasted peanuts or sesame seeds only, if nut-free
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
- chili flakes
- limes
Instructions
*Note: Check out the recipe video + step-by-step instructions above!
- Heat the coconut oil in a large deep pan or wok. Sauté the onions, ginger, and garlic for about 1-2 minutes. Add curry paste and sauté briefly. Then add the carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, green beans, and white parts of the scallions and sauté for 4-5 minutes.
- Add paprika powder, tamari, vegetable broth, coconut milk and peanut butter and stir to combine. Put a lid on the pan and let the curry simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until it is nice and creamy and the vegetables are tender.
- Meanwhile, cook the rice according to package directions.
- Divide the rice and peanut curry into bowls and garnish with the green parts of the scallions, parsley or cilantro, peanuts, sesame seeds and chili flakes. Serve with lime wedges on the side and enjoy! 🙂
Notes
- You can swap out the vegetables as you like, such as broccoli, snow peas, cauliflower, eggplant, mushrooms, leeks, etc.
- For more protein, you can add legumes such as cooked chickpeas, kidney or cannellini beans, lentils or top your dish with crispy tofu or tempeh cubes before serving.
- If you like, you can add a fruity, sweet component like pineapple, mango or oranges.
- Leftover curry will keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator and can also be frozen for 3 months.
- More helpful tips and information about the recipe are mentioned in the blog post above!
IF YOU HAVE PINTEREST, YOU CAN FIND ME HERE AND PIN THE FOLLOWING PICTURE, IF YOU LIKE! 🙂
©Bianca Zapatka | All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please link back to this post for the recipe. More info here. Thank you for supporting biancazapatka.com!
Disclosure for affiliate links with asterisk (*):This page may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you. You can find more information here.
This was absolutely delicious!
Great! Thank you. ♥️
The curry is very delicious!!
Thank you! 🙂
This was easy and delicious! A great weeknight meal. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Super simple recipe. delicious and changeable. We love it
Great! Thank you ☺️