One bite of this vegan Jamaican lentil curry will have your taste buds begging for more! A family favorite here will turn into your next favorite meal!
You are simply going to love this vegan Jamaican lentil curry recipe.
It is a family favorite in our house and we know that it’s going to be a hit at yours as well.
While traditionally, Jamaican curries are made with meat, the lentils in this dish give the same mouth feel without needing to use animal products.
This dish pairs perfectly with our Jamaican Rice and Peas.
Never miss another post! Sign up for our weekly newsletter and get them all delivered easily! Plus, 15 easy recipes delivered immediately!
Sign Up For My Newsletter Today!
Jump to:
Why You’ll Love This Dish
- Flavorful – You’ll be amazed at how much flavor is in this dish! Each ingredient is thoughtfully picked out to have the most impact on the dish.
- Simple – Cooking is the longest part of this dish, which means you just have to wait but the dish itself is very simple.
- Allergy-Friendly – this dish is very allergy-friendly and with the minimal ingredients in with top allergens can be easily swapped
🥘Recipe Ingredients
Gather your ingredients!
- Lentils – We recommended using green or brown lentils for this recipe.
- Coconut Milk – this helps with creaminess and thickness of the curry
- Vegetable Stock – we recommend using a low sodium stock for this recipe to be able to control the salt level
- Vegetable Bouillon – this is helping with taste. You can use bouillon paste like in the photo above or use a bouillon cube
- Scotch Bonnet Pepper – the traditional pepper of Jamaica. This is a very spicy pepper, so you will want to make sure that you are careful with using it
See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Substitutions and Variations:
- Lentils – red lentils could also be used but be mindful that they will break down in this dish, not hold their original shape and thicken it more. You may need to add more liquid. Alternatively, lentils could be replaced with chickpeas or tofu crumbles in this dish
- Coconut Milk – a thick non-dairy milk like soy or creamy oat would be the best replacement
- Vegetable Bouillon – you could use a vegan poultry seasoning in place
- Scotch Bonnet Pepper – many US grocers don’t sell scotch bonnet peppers, so if you cannot find this, you could use habanero instead
- Spinach – kale can be used instead
- Other Vegetables or Additions – other things to add could be green beans, sugar snap peas, cauliflower, baby corn, broccoli, mushrooms, tofu, chickpeas, and more
Step by Step Instructions for vegan lentil curry:
Step 1. In a large saucepan, cook onions and peppers until softened. This will take about 3 to 4 minutes.
Step 2. Add in garlic, green onions, ginger, and thyme and let cook for 2 minutes. Mixture should be fragrant. Then add curry powder, bouillon, garam masala, cumin, paprika, and allspice. Stir together and cook for 1 minute.
Step 3. Add lentils, potatoes, and carrots. Stir together.
Step 4. Add the broth and combine. Bring to a boil, add the scotch bonnet pepper, then reduce heat to low. Cover with a lid and cook on simmer for 15-20 minutes.
When ready lentils should be soft and vegetables tender.
Note: If at any time you feel like there’s not enough liquid, you can add more stock.
Step 5. Remove lid and add in spinach, coconut milk, and peanut butter, if adding. Stir together well. Let cook for 5 minutes, spinach should be wilted.
Step 6. Curry should be thick; however, if your curry feels too thick, add additional broth to thin out. Remove from the heat. Remove pepper and thyme sprigs. Stir in lime juice as desired.
Recipe FAQs:
Sub the coconut milk for another creamy non-dairy milk like creamy oat. Make sure there is no soy in your other ingredients.
Yes. Once cooled completely, you can store in an air tight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Yes. Use a large skillet to cook this recipe.
Yes, you can make and freeze this recipe ahead of time.
Other Vegan Jamaican Recipes to Consider:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Did you make and love this recipe?
Click the 5 stars in the recipe card above or below in the comment section! This is a great way to support us so we can continue to bring great recipes!
Vegan Jamaican Lentil Curry
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- ½ red bell pepper, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 ½ tablespoon Jamaican curry powder
- 2 teaspoon vegetable bouillon paste (or 2 vegetable bouillon cubes)
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 cup dried brown lentils (or green lentils) (200g)
- 1 large russet potato, cubed
- 1 large carrot, cubed
- 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth (900g)
- 1 scotch bonnet pepper, left whole
- 2 cups spinach, packed (60g)
- 1 cup canned coconut milk (240g)
- 1 heaping tbsp creamy peanut butter, optional
- lime juice
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium high. Once hot, add onions and peppers and cook until soft, about 3-4 minutes. Add in garlic, green onions, ginger, and thyme, and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add curry powder, bouillon, garam masala, cumin, paprika, and allspice. Stir together and cook for 1 minute.
- Add lentils, potatoes, and carrots. Stir together. Add the broth and combine. Bring to a boil, add the scotch bonnet pepper, then reduce heat to low. Cover and cook on simmer for 15-20 minutes. Lentils should be soft and vegetables tender.
- Add spinach, coconut milk, and peanut butter, if adding. Stir together well. Let cook for 5 minutes, spinach should be wilted. If your curry feels too thick, add additional broth to thin. Remove from the heat.
- Remove pepper and thyme sprigs. Stir in lime juice as desired. Serve with Jamaican rice and peas.
sahar
Good morning,
Thank you for all the great recipes. What can I use instead of the coconut milk? It’s not available in my place.
Regards,
Larisha Bernard
Soy milk would be our first option, but any non-dairy unsweetened milk will work, just may take a bit longer to thicken
Alyssa
This was a delicious and comforting meal. Definitely will be part of the rotation!
Larisha Bernard
awesome, so glad to hear
PAT
Mañana la cocinare, homaje a nuestro gran Bob Marley, ya que fue su aniversario este mes de Febrero. Gracias me encantan las recetas
Larisha Bernard
Enjoy
Amy
Question, do I need to soak the lentils before hand? I have green lentils, dried. Do I soak them in water hours before? I am new to cooking lentils. I tried looking for the answer here but couldn’t find it (sorry if I missed it!) thanks!
Larisha Bernard
It is not necessary; however, it does help with digestion, so you can.
Dez
No need you can just throw them right in dry with this recipe. No need to soak them prior.
J
Yummy
Larisha Bernard
Glad you enjoyed!
Cherie
I made this dish tonight for dinner and OMGoodness! My family, who are not vegan or vegetarian, LOVED it including our 15 month old granddaughter. Don’t worry I substituted the scotch bonnet for a pinch of red pepper flakes and each person added more to taste to their own bowls. This has moved to the top of our fav list. TY!
Larisha Bernard
So happy to hear that everyone loved it!
Emma
Hey guys ! What should you add if it comes out watery ?
Larisha Bernard
Hi! Not sure if you did anything different, but you can let it simmer for longer with the lid off or you could add a little cornstarch to some of the liquid and then pour it back in
marisa
made this tonight and it was aooo delicious!! i made a few subs since i didn’t have jamaican curry powder, allspice or lentils instead using regular curry powder, pumpkin spice and some split peas but it still came out delicious! i’ve tried a few of your recipes so far and they have all been so good and delicious my husband still hasn’t noticed that i haven’t cooked anything with meat in the last few weeks 😂 !!!
Larisha Bernard
HAHHA I love it!
Kirsten V
Made this last night and it was so delicious! Couldn’t find a scotch bonnet so put a couple of whole habaneros in, probably could’ve used one more. Wished I’d thrown some peas into it at the end but it didn’t need it. Will be making this regularly now!
Larisha Bernard
So glad you enjoyed it!
Gita
Absolutely amazing curry. I am from India and make different Indian curries at home. I am trying to expand my culinary skills. I appreciate your style of cooking and the message of Peace. Thank you for being you 🙂
Larisha Bernard
So happy that you enjoyed it Gita!