Vegan Sweet Potato Curry Recipe (2024)

Last modified: November 5, 2023. Originally posted: November 5, 2023 By Sophia DeSantis

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Vegan sweet potato curry made with simple flavorful ingredients in a rich and creamy coconut milk tomato base. Filled with vegetables and served over rice!

This recipe is perfect for prepping ahead and freezing for easy meals later in the week. You can add extra veggies and serve over grain of choice!

This post was originally published on February 8, 2020.

This is a cookbook review written by me on behalf of Jennifer Sebestyen, for which I received a free copy of the book. All the opinions and text are all mine.

This rich and satisfying sweet potato curry recipe is mild in flavor, but comforting and delicious! You can also check out my coconut curry soup and pumpkin curry!

Ingredients

Who knew sweet potatoes could do so many things?! They play a key role in this Thai curry recipe, not only for flavor but also for structure. They also give a little creaminess to the end result!

Coconut Oil - this is used for sautéing and adds extra flavor. Feel free to switch it for another oil of choice such as olive oil, or use vegetable broth to make the recipe oil-free.
Onion - yellow onions are best, but any other mild onion can be used in its place if needed.
Garlic - fresh garlic cloves give the absolute best flavor. Jarred minced garlic can also be used.
Thai Red Curry Paste - add more or less to adjust the spice level. You can find this at most grocery stores in the international aisle.
Sweet potatoes - I chose to use orange sweet potatoes, but yellow sweet potatoes may be used as well.
Diced tomatoes - a can of diced tomatoes help to create the sauce of the curry as well as add to the flavor.
Vegetable broth - low sodium broth keeps the salt content down , but if it's not a concern of your you may use any broth you prefer. Also, if you do not need this curry to be vegan feel free to use chicken broth instead.
Peanut butter - this sweet potato curry recipe was developed with smooth natural peanut butter. If you choose another type it may affect the outcome.
Coconut milk - lite coconut milk is my choice over the full fat kind. See below for tips on swapping this out.
Cilantro - fresh cilantro is added to the curry at the very end for a burst of bright flavor.
Lime - freshly squeezed lime juice gives you the best flavor, if you absolutely must you can use bottled lime juice.
Peanuts - these are added on as a garnish at the end for even more flavor and crunch!
Salt and pepper

How to Make Vegan Sweet Potato Curry

This is a fairly simple recipe to throw together and perfect for a busy weeknight dinner. Especially if you have everything prepped the night before!

Sauté the onions, garlic and curry paste.
Add the other ingredients to the mixture except for the peanut butter and coconut milk mix.
When the sweet potatoes are cooked, add everything else and mix well.
Serve over rice or any other way you prefer!

This recipe comes from the new cookbook, The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook, by a blogger friend, Jennifer Sebestyen. Jennifer is one of my OG vegan blogger crew and I am thrilled for her success! I love the concept behind this book, and this vegan sweet potato curry was easy and delicious.

The rich peanut butter combined with creamy coconut milk really pairs well with the tomato and curry paste. I was so surprised how much I liked it! Her book has over 100 other recipes that sounds delicious too!

Slow Cooker Instructions

In order to make sweet potato curry in the Crock pot here's what to do:

Sauté the onion, garlic and curry paste as directed.
Add everything with the exception of the peanut butter and coconut milk mixture into a slow cooker.
Slow cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 7-8 hours, or until the potatoes are tender.
Then add the peanut butter and coconut milk mix and continue on with the recipe as written.

What to Serve With Vegan Sweet Potato Curry

This sweet potato curry recipe is great served like a sauce over jasmine rice, but there are many other ways you could eat this depending on your personal choice:

Basmati rice
Brown rice
Cauliflower rice
Rice and cauliflower rice mix
Roasted veggies
Noodles like pad Thai or other Thai type noodles
Naan bread - gluten-free if needed
With sautéed greens
You can also garnish with more herbs, or even fresh ginger!

Tips for adding more/less heat

Because I am a curry whimp, I only added two tablespoons of curry paste which made this quite mild.

To make this spicier add more curry paste.
If you want even more heat, you can add some cayenne pepper in or even top with come sriracha.
Adding more lime juice will help tame the heat a bit as well.

Adding extra veggies

This sweet potato curry would be delicious over roasted or sautéed veggies. The flavors are so good and would go with so many things! Here are some ideas of other veggies you can serve this with:

Zucchini
Cauliflower
Carrots
Broccoli
Spinach, Kale or Chard
Peppers
Eggplant
Serve with cauliflower rice or a mix of regular rice and cauliflower rice
Make it a lentil curry for a boost of protein!

Tips for subbing the coconut milk

While light coconut milk is awesome in this recipe, you do taste it and some people are not coconut lovers. So if you fall in that category, you're in luck! This recipe would also be delicious with other dairy-free alternatives. Here are my top picks:

Another dairy free milk, but because it is much thinner you may have to cook longer to thicken.
Adding some vegan butter along with another dairy free milk
Mixing another dairy free milk with cornstarch to thicken it
A vegan cashew cream (like this homemade recipe)
A dairy free half and half

Do vegans eat curry?

Yes! As long as that curry doesn't have any animal based ingredients. There are so many recipe options out there for vegan curry!Yes! As long as that curry doesn't have any animal based ingredients. There are so many recipe options out there for vegan curry!

What are the best vegan Indian dishes?

This is truly an individual opinion, but for someone like me that is new to Indian recipes, I would say mild curries like this one are a perfect place to start. Some other good Indian dishes for newbies are dals, garam masala, and vegetable biryani (which is basically an Indian fried rice).

Do you peel sweet potatoes?

It depends on what you are making. For fries (like these homemade oven fries or twice-baked potatoes), I like to leave the skin on. But for dishes like this sweet potato curry, it's best to peel the skin off so that the end result is creamy smooth.

More Vegan Thai Inspired Recipes

This vegan sweet potato curry is one of our go to cozy meals, along with these other tasty plant based recipes:

Thai Chickpea Pumpkin Curry Recipe
Thai Vegetable Coconut Curry Soup
Easy Vegan Thai Peanut Noodles
Thai Chickpea and Veggie Pizza

Vegan Sweet Potato Curry Recipe

Sophia DeSantis

Ingredients

1½ tablespoons coconut oil , use broth for oil free
1 yellow onion , diced
2 cloves garlic , minced
3-4 tablespoons Thai Red Curry Paste
2 sweet potatoes , peeled and diced (about 3 cups)
15 ounces diced tomatoes , one can
1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
2 teaspoon sea salt , divided
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup smooth natural peanut butter
½ cup lite coconut milk
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
3 cups cooked jasmine rice , or rice of choice
¼ cup chopped peanuts , for garnish

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Instructions

Heat the coconut oil in a pot or large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and red curry paste and stir until fully incorporated with the onions.
Add the sweet potatoes, tomatoes, vegetable broth, 1 teaspoon of salt, and pepper. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 30 to 35 minutes until the sweet potatoes are fork tender.
Meanwhile, in a small cup or bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, coconut milk, and remaining 1 of teaspoon of salt. Pour into the skillet with the sweet potatoes and stir to combine.
Remove from the heat. Add the cilantro and lime juice. Serve with the cooked rice and garnish with the chopped peanuts.
Jasmine rice cooks in just 15 minutes, so you could easily make it while the curry is simmering.

Notes

Jasmine rice cooks in just 15 minutes, so you could easily make it while the curry is simmering. Or use frozen cooked rice.
You can also serve this with more vegetables for an even bigger dose of veggies.
See post for slow cooker directions

Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.

Nutrition

Calories: 459kcalCarbohydrates: 64gProtein: 12gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 1414mgPotassium: 668mgFiber: 6gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 11256IUVitamin C: 15mgCalcium: 100mgIron: 3mg

Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.

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Comments

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Jenn
February 11, 2020 at 7:12 am
Thank you for this wonderful review, Sophia! I'm so glad you love the curry!
Reply
- veggiesdontbite
  February 11, 2020 at 12:10 pm
  You are so welcome! Congrats on the book!
  Reply