Anyone for creamy black bean curry? This delicious vegan recipe began as an experiment a while back that turned out really, really well. Featuring store cupboard ingredients and flavourful spices, it provides a quick and easy weeknight dinner that's dairy-free, gluten-free, and high in protein.
Recipe originally written in 2021 and updated with minor tweaks in 2023.
While this recipe includes red pepper and spinach, you could swap these out for anything you like and add some chilli if you prefer a bit of heat. I'm a big fan of using homemade cashew cream for that creamy consistency, but it'll also work with coconut milk.
For more legume-based curry recipes, check out this vegan chana masala (chickpeas), vegan rajma masala (kidney beans), sweet potato dal (red lentils), and chickpea biryani.
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Jump to:
- Why I love it 💚
- Black beans 🌱
- Dried beans ☀️
- Make it creamy 🥛
- Ingredients 📋
- Step by step 📷
- To serve 🍽️
- FAQ ❓
- Variations 🔀
- Recipe 👨🍳
Why you'll love this recipe
- It's ready in just 30 minutes
- It uses several long-lasting store cupboard ingredients
- You can add any fresh veg you like or have to hand
- It uses both lime zest and juice for fragrance and zing
Can you make curry with black beans?
Absolutely. When you think about it, cooking with black beans is no different to using other legumes such as chickpeas, lentils, or kidney beans (all great sources of plant-based protein and popular ingredients in vegetarian curries).
While this recipe uses black beans, in reality you could swap these out for any tinned beans you like. Alternatively, try using black beans in soup, dip, burgers, tacos, sweet potato and black bean chilli, or breakfast black beans.
Can I use dried beans?
Canned black beans are great for convenience as they are already cooked and can be stored for a very long time. However, dried beans offer up an even cheaper alternative and require just a couple of extra steps before making this curry.
If using dried beans, you'll want to soak and/or pre-cook these until soft before using in this recipe. For more info, check out my beginner's guide to pulses.
Making the curry creamy
You could use either coconut milk or homemade cashew cream, which is simply a blend of soaked cashew nuts and water in different ratios depending on the desired consistency.
I find cashew cream to be a very handy ingredient in a plant-based kitchen and I use it in several dishes, including:
What you'll need
This black bean curry recipe uses an array of flavourful ingredients to create a well-rounded final dish. You'll need:
- Black beans as the star of the show
- Mixed spices in the form of cumin, turmeric, smoked paprika, fenugreek, and garam masala
- Homemade cashew cream to bring the curry together
- Lime juice and zest to really make it sing 🎵
How to make black bean curry
Heat the oil in a large pan on medium heat. Add the onion along with a pinch of salt and stir occasionally for 5-6 minutes or until soft and starting to turn golden.
Once the onion starts to soften, add the finely chopped garlic, ginger, and sliced pepper and cook for a couple of minutes (1).
Next, add the ground cumin, ground turmeric, smoked paprika, and fenugreek. Mix well and stir for a minute or so to help release the flavours of the spices (2).
After a minute, stir in the tinned tomatoes, drained black beans, and stock or water.
You can also rinse the tomato can with a splash of water and add this to the pan. If using tinned whole tomatoes, break these apart with a spoon.
Cook for 10 minutes, adding as much extra stock as you want to maintain the desired consistency (3).
After 10 minutes, add the spinach, cashew cream, garam masala, lime zest, and lime juice (4). If using fresh coriander, chop some of the stems and throw these in as well.
Cook for a few minutes until the spinach has wilted, adding extra liquid as necessary (the cashew cream will really thicken the curry).
Once the spinach has wilted down and you're happy with the consistency, adjust the seasoning and serve.
Serving suggestions
This black bean curry is great with sides such as basmati rice, pilau rice, or wholegrain rice. Alternatives could be quinoa, roasted cauliflower, roast potatoes, spinach couscous, or sweet potato mash.
Enjoy the curry as it is or top with the likes of lime juice, fresh coriander, sliced spring onions, fresh chilli, pico de gallo, or a drizzle of vegan lime crema.
Recipe FAQ
The curry takes just 30 minutes to prepare and cook since it uses tinned black beans (which are already pre-cooked as part of the canning process).
If you don't have black beans, you could swap these out for any other tinned beans that have been drained and rinsed (such as chickpeas, black-eyed beans, or kidney beans).
I've used red pepper and spinach, but you could use any other ingredients such as mushrooms, aubergine, or cooked potato cubes.
If you have a favourite curry paste you'd like to use, simply add a couple of tablespoons of this after softening the onions. Depending on the paste, you'll want to reduce the amounts of garlic, ginger, and other spices and adapt the dish to taste.
This curry is completely gluten-free provided you use a vegan stock that is certified or labelled as such (or just use water).
Store this black bean curry in the fridge for up to four days. Reheat in the microwave or in a pan with an extra splash of water.
Store the curry in the freezer in sealed containers or resealable bags for up to six months. Defrost and reheat thoroughly before eating.
Variations and tips for black bean curry
- Other cream: If using coconut milk or a different plant-based cream, you probably won't need to use as much stock or water.
- Consistency: If you want the black beans to break down more, mash the curry lightly with a potato masher before adding the spinach.
- Frozen spinach: If using frozen spinach instead of fresh, add this at the same time as the tomatoes and beans to ensure it's cooked through.
- Other ingredients: Feel free to add other ingredients such as mushrooms, aubergine, or cooked potato cubes.
- Heat level: This recipe doesn't include chilli, but feel free to add this for a bit of a kick.
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More vegan recipe ideas
If you liked this recipe, you may also enjoy:
You can also check out my full list of vegan mains.
Full recipe
30-Minute Creamy Black Bean Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil (or other cooking oil)
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and finely sliced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon fenugreek
- 2x 14 oz (400 g) tins tomatoes
- 2x 14 oz (400 g) tins black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup (240 ml) vegan stock or water (plus more if necessary)
- 3 oz (100 g) fresh spinach (approx. 3 cups)
- 1 cup (240 ml) cashew cream (or coconut milk – see notes)
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- Zest and juice of 1 lime
- Small handful fresh coriander (optional)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pan on medium heat. Add the onion along with a pinch of salt and stir occasionally for 5-6 minutes or until soft and starting to turn golden.
- Once the onion starts to soften, add the finely chopped garlic, ginger, and sliced pepper and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Next, add the ground cumin, ground turmeric, smoked paprika, and fenugreek. Mix well and stir for a minute or so to help release the flavours of the spices.
- After a minute, stir in the tinned tomatoes, drained black beans, and stock or water. You can also rinse the tomato can with a splash of water and add this to the pan. If using tinned whole tomatoes, break these apart with a spoon. Cook for 10 minutes, adding as much extra stock as you want to maintain the desired consistency.
- After 10 minutes, add the spinach, cashew cream, garam masala, lime zest, and lime juice. If using fresh coriander, chop some of the stems and throw these in as well. Cook for a few minutes until the spinach has wilted, adding extra liquid as necessary (the cashew cream will really thicken the curry).
- Once the spinach has wilted down and you're happy with the consistency, adjust the seasoning and serve with chopped fresh coriander leaves. This curry is great alongside boiled basmati rice or vegan pilau rice (see serving suggestions for more ideas).📸 Recipe steps >📖 Table of contents >
Notes
- Spicy Tofu Jalfrezi
- Lemony Butter Bean Stew
- Vegan Aubergine Curry
- Vegan Rajma Masala (Kidney Bean Curry)
- Hearty Black Bean and Potato Soup
- Chickpea, Cauliflower and Coconut Curry
- Crispy Roasted Black Beans
Nutrition
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Aaliyah
Thank you for such a delicious, nutritious and quick recipe to follow. I’m only starting to learn cooking. Could you please advise me on how to balance sour tomatoes taste? Are they any particular tomatoes type you recommend for this dish.
I’ll definitely do it again!
The Pesky Vegan
Hi there, yes tomatoes can be quite acidic so something sweet like sugar (or maple syrup / agave syrup) can help to balance out the acidity in dishes. I've also heard that a small pinch of baking soda works since it's alkaline, so that could be something to try too. Hope this helps!
Jules
Love this! I only had one can of black beans so I used a can of chickpeas and a yellow instead of red pepper, delicious! Thank you so much Pesky Vegan :0)
Also, I am now volunteering at Pigs in the Wood after seeing your link. Amazing place :0)
The Pesky Vegan
Wow that's amazing news, big smile on my face right now from hearing about this! Thanks for the kind words - we'll maybe see you at PITW soon!
john stewart
Absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I had the day off, and when my wife came home to this lovely meal i think i scored 110 points out of 100! We loved it, and so easy to make!
only change I made was coconut cream instead of cashew cream. Next time I will certainly do the cashew cream!
Again, ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! Thank you so much for this recipe!
The Pesky Vegan
Good stuff, thanks for the review and glad to hear you both enjoyed it!
Chris Roberts
Another winner, o pesky one! Clean plates all round. Very glad I found this site - recipes are all clearly presented and every one I've tried so far has been fantastic.
The Pesky Vegan
Clean plates are the highest form of praise! Thanks for the kind words – plenty more recipes where these came from.
Liz
Absolutely lovely! First time I've had a go at making cashew cream, did it the quick way and turned out great. Will definitely be making this recipe again. Keep them coming please.
The Pesky Vegan
Great to hear, cheers for the review Liz!
Renee Newell
Hi, I was really excited about this recipe using cashew cream. It was a huge recipe I was looking forward to eating and freezing some for other nights. But it tasted like soap. I've had this happen once before with spices. I don't know if it were the lime zest and the Indian spices. I don't know which spice this would be but it tastes exactly like soap and made me just as sick with only a little on the spoon. I had to throw this out and all those nice ingredients gone to waste.
The Pesky Vegan
Hi Renee, I'm sorry to hear that you felt you had to throw this all away! Are you aware that as many as one in five people think that fresh coriander (cilantro) tastes like soap? This is exactly the reason why my girlfriend hates coriander, and why people would simply omit that ingredient in a dish like this (it's listed as optional in the recipe). Did you try it before adding any fresh coriander? It doesn't go in until near the end, and if removed might have salvaged the dish for you. I made this recently and have no reason to believe that a combination of lime and ground spices would taste like soap. When cooking/eating out in future, I'd recommend avoiding anything with too much fresh coriander (cilantro)!
Aniara
Yes as pesky vegan says it’s coriander. I always omit it and parsley (they contain aldehydes) and 1 in 5 person gets this soapy taste. But without it it’s great . Please try it again and in future don’t use coriander 🤗
Steve
Delicious!
The Pesky Vegan
Glad you enjoyed!