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!
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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.
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:
More recipes to try
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🥳 Get the Full Recipe
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.
Hey guys ! What should you add if it comes out watery ?
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
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 😂 !!!
HAHHA I love it!
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!
So glad you enjoyed it!
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 🙂
So happy that you enjoyed it Gita!
I absolutely love this lentil dish! Thanks for sharing Mr. Bernard! I’ve recently became aware of your YouTube channel and I’m in complete adoration of your style and flavor. I added fresh cilantro for garnish, otherwise did everything to the T. Yummy!
So glad you enjoyed it!
What a delicious meal for a cool autumn night! I actually made this with chicken drumsticks because I didn’t have lentils on hand. I served it with rice, so the extra sauce was soaked up by the rice. The addition of peanut butter gave it an extra flavour kick! My husband had his with the chilly pepper cut up in his bowl…let’s say he was dancing around the kitchen for a few minutes !!
It was super easy to make, and will definitely add this to my meal rotation. Thank you for sharing this recipe 🙏
So glad it was a hit in your house!
This is the second recipe of yours I’ve made ( also made the Black bean and sweet Potatoe stew) – again, 10/10! The flavor and texture combos are out of this world. I’ve eaten plant based for a couple of years now and so glad I found your website, these recipes are definitely bringing some joy back into my cooking. Thank you!
So happy to hear that