instant pot chickpea curry

Today’s recipe for Instant Pot chickpea curry is one of those recipes that I keep in my back pocket for whenever I Just Can’t Even. It’s made mostly out of items are pantry staples — canned chickpeas, canned diced tomatoes, canned coconut milk, an onion, a couple of carrots, a variety of spices and cilantro. My kids are obsessed with the creamy tomato sauce, the chickpeas and the heaps of steamed white rice that I serve with it. With the Instant Pot, it’s even faster to make than on the stove, which really leaves zero excuses not to make it a part of your weeknight rotation.

This Instant Pot chickpea curry frequently finds its way to our dinner table on Monday nights. Do you find Mondays the hardest day of the week to plan meals for? I do. I try to make one big dinner for our whole family on the weekends, and by Mondays I’m already spent from a weekend full of running around and trying to keep up with our two very rambunctious, very overeager kids. In a perfect world, I’d roll into Monday with some amazing meatless meal, my house would be sparkling clean and I’d be well on my way to figuring out the secret to world peace.

But yeah…that’s not usually the case. Mondays are the days when I’m just getting my head around the start to another week. That’s when this Instant Pot chickpea curry saves the day. I throw in all of the ingredients into the pot and hit the “soup” function just before I head out to pick the kids up from school, and by the time we get home all I have to do is spoon it out onto bowls of rice (or, if I’m feeling extra, super lazy, I just pull naan out of the freezer and toast it in the oven).  The kids also love this chickpea curry with dollops of Greek yogurt on top; the yogurt is a nice, cool contrast to the zesty chickpeas. I love this dish because it makes me feel like I haven’t just thrown my hands up and said, “You know what? Whatever,” at my family. It’s the minimal effort + maximum output that really makes this dish worth it.

Never mind that I may have worn sweatpants all day…

For other kid-friendly recipes I’ve made in the past, click here or check out these recipes:

Cauliflower and ground turkey pie

Ground pork noodles (Chinese zha jiang mian)

Wild garlic (ramp) pasta

5.0 from 2 reviews

instant pot chickpea curry

 

Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 cans (14 oz) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes
• 1 small onion or ½ large onion, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 can (14 oz) full fat coconut milk
• chopped cilantro, for garnishing
• white rice, for serving (at least 1 cup uncooked)

Instructions

1. Heat your Instant Pot using the "Saute" function. Pour in the olive oil and let it heat to a shimmer.
2. Add the onions and carrots and saute for 7-8 minutes, stirring constantly and cooking down until the carrots are soft and the onions are slightly translucent. Add the spices (cumin, ground cloves, turmeric, ground coriander, and salt) and continue cooking the onions until soft.
3. Add the garlic and ginger, stirring and cooking for 1 additional minute. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes and coconut milk, stirring to combine.
4. Put the lid on the Instant Pot and hit the "soup" function. Let cook, then either use the natural release to let the steam out gradually, or use manual steam release (letting the Instant Pot automatically switch to the warm function for 10 minutes, then releasing the steam and opening the Pot).
5. Remove the lid and stir again. If the chickpea curry is too watery, switch to the saute function again and let the curry reduce a little, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes.
6. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately over white rice or naan, with chopped cilantro (as an added option, try adding a dollop of plain Greek yogurt on top for ultimate creaminess).

3.5.3229