This Vegetable Korma recipe is rich and creamy with plenty of spices. Made with cashews and coconut milk and ready to enjoy in about 30 minutes. Dairy free and gluten free!

korma curry in a reddish bowl with cilantro and naan

What is vegetable korma?

Korma is an Indian curry dish, usually mildly spiced with a rich, creamy sauce. It’s often made with yogurt, nuts, coconut, spices, chicken or vegetables and has become wildly popular around the world.

This non-authentic vegan version gets its creaminess from blended cashews and coconut milk. If you want to make a more authentic korma recipe, check out this Veggie Kurma from Vegan Richa.

My recipe makes quite a lot of food, perfect for meal prep or freezing. The leftovers are just as incredible, so enjoy korma all week long!

Don’t forget to make a batch or basmati rice and vegan naan.

pan full of yellow vegetable korma

How to make vegetable korma

This is an overview with photos of the process. For the complete, printable recipe, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom.

First, get your cashews soaking in hot water so they soften and boil the vegetables in a large pot. While they cook, prepare the curry sauce.

Add the canned tomatoes, onion, ginger and garlic to a blender or food processor. Blend until a smooth puree forms.

blender with tomatoes, garlic and ginger

Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and the tomato puree to a large sauté pan and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for a few minutes.

red sauce in pan

Now add the spices, stir and cook for another few minutes.

spices being added to pan with red sauce

Blend the soaked cashews and coconut milk in a blender (no need to even rinse out your blender if you don’t want to). Pour into the pan.

cream added to tomato sauce in pan

Add the frozen peas and stir.

creamy and peas added to tomato sauce in pan

Once the vegetables are tender and cooked, drain and add to the pan with the korma curry sauce.

cooked potatoes and veggies added to sauce on stovetop

Stir and cook on low heat until ready to serve. Serve with chopped fresh cilantro, naan and rice. Enjoy!

pan on the stovetop with curried vegetables

How long will leftovers keep?

Leftovers will keep for 4-5 days in the refrigerator, stored in a covered container. Re-warm on the stovetop or the microwave. It makes a great meal prep for the week with a batch of rice.

Can you freeze korma?

Yes, it freezes beautifully! My favorite way to freeze it is in individual small containers that are freezer friendly. That way I can just pull it from the freezer and warm it up whenever I want a delicious, cozy warm curry.

You can freeze larger portions in containers as well.

plate with naan and a bowl with curry on it

Want more vegetarian Indian-inspired recipes?

 

close up of yellow curry in pretty reddish bowl with naan
4.72 stars (52 ratings)

Easy Vegetable Korma

This Vegetable Korma recipe is rich and creamy with plenty of spices. Made with cashews and coconut milk and ready to enjoy in about 30 minutes. Dairy free and gluten free!
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Total: 40 minutes
Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients 
 

Vegetables

  • 1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick
  • 1 1/2 pounds red or gold potatoes, peeled and chopped in 1 1/2 inch chunks
  • 1 medium head cauliflower, chopped into florets
  • 1 cup chopped green beans

For the puree

  • 14 ounces canned diced tomatoes, fire roasted preferred
  • 1 onion, quartered
  • 1 inch fresh ginger
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

The rest

  • 1 cup raw cashews
  • 13.5 ounces full fat coconut milk
  • 1 tablespoon garam masala
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried coriander
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, more or less depending on spice preference
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 1-2 teaspoons salt, to taste

For serving

Instructions 

  • Soak the cashews: Add 1 cup of raw cashews to a small bowl, and cover with boiling hot water. I use my tea kettle to warm the water up. Let them soak while you get the vegetables boiling.
  • Boil the vegetables: Add the carrots, potatoes, cauliflower and green beans to a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain and set aside.
  • While the vegetables are boiling, make the puree: Add the canned tomatoes, onion, ginger and garlic to a blender (or food processor). Blend until a smooth puree forms.
  • Transfer the puree to a large saucepan (big enough to hold all the vegetables when they're done cooking!) with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, and bring to a boil. Simmer over low-medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Now add all the spices (garam masala, curry powder, coriander, turmeric and cayenne pepper) and stir, cooking for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
  • Drain the cashews. Add the cashews and the can of coconut milk to your blender (no need to rinse it out from the tomatoes), and blend until smooth. Pour the cashew/coconut mixture into the pan with the tomato puree.
  • Add the frozen peas, stir and cook for a minute. Now add the cooked carrots, potatoes, cauliflower and green beans. Stir until combined and warm, about 5 minutes. Add salt to taste.
  • Serve with cooked basmati rice, chopped cilantro and vegan naan. Enjoy!

Notes

  1. If you have a cashew allergy, you can omit the cashews or use almonds/sunflower seeds instead. Or use two cans of coconut milk in place of the nuts.
  2. This recipe makes quite a lot, but it freezes well! I like to freeze individual portions in small freezer safe containers. 
  3. Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
  4. Feel free to switch up the vegetables if you’d like. Sweet potatoes, broccoli, asparagus or chickpeas could all be added with good results.
  5. Nutrition calculation is only for the korma, and does not include rice or naan.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 487kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Sodium: 592mg | Potassium: 1448mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 13219IU | Vitamin C: 89mg | Calcium: 125mg | Iron: 6mg
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Indian-inspired
Author: Nora Taylor
Did you make this recipe?Mention @nora_cooks_vegan_ or tag #noracooks!

This recipe has been reposted with new photos and a better recipe, though it was originally published in 2018. I increased the curry powder and added cayenne pepper for more spice. I also added green beans to the vegetable mix. Otherwise, it is unchanged.

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Comments

  1. I just made this, and though i wasn’t sure if i would like it, i loved it! YUM! Admittedly I had to take some liberties because I thought I had cauliflower in my freezer but I did not! So what did I do? I improvised. I cut up zucchini and threw it in, cut up a sweet potato along with the red potatoes, some regular old mixed vegetables and even a little bit of chopped spinach. Of course the thing that makes this dish is the sauce and it was outstanding! Like other people I added in a little extra Cayenne to give it a little more heat and it just really hit the spot on a cold winter day. I will say prep time is always longer for me maybe because I’m slow at cooking? I don’t know but I went down the rabbit hole making this recipe and I don’t regret it —it is so good!

    1. I’m so glad you enjoyed the korma, even with substitutions. Sounds great to me! It is flexible in terms of what vegetables you add, what makes it great is the sauce. 🙂 Thank you!

  2. I’ve been trying to incorporate more plant-based recipes and this looks fantastic! It’s going on my menu this week.

    I have to ask, what app or software or website are you entering your recipes into that they come out so printable and include nutrition information? It would make nutrition tracking so much easier!

    1. Hi Lexa, I’m glad you are enjoying my recipes, thank you! My website is run on Wordpress and I use a paid plugin called WP Recipe Maker, which has a nutrition calculator.

  3. I was impressed that this dish had the same consistency as my favorite korma from our local Indian restaurant! Great flavor and instructions even for a beginner 🙂 I added a sprinkle of cayenne pepper for some heat and doubled the peas.  Next time I’ll add additional curry powder.  I look forward to the leftovers!

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe, Jessica! Thanks so much for sharing your review and comments! Enjoy those leftovers!

  4. I was wondering if you could save a step by cooking the potatoes, carrots, and cauliflower in the simmering sauce instead of separately in water… Perhaps giving them a start in the pan on a saute to soften and then pour the sauces over and simmer to finish?? Maybe even add a bit of water to cover at the start that would evaporate during simmer???

    1. It might work, but I’ve never tried it. I’m afraid the sauce might burn on the bottom by the time the veggies get cooked.

  5. This was delicious, but not as quick to make as the recipe stated. It makes a lot of food, so it’s great that it can be frozen. I din’t rinse out my blender in between the puree and the cashew cream because it was all going into the same pot, so I din’t see the point. Thanks for a great recipe!

  6. I am looking forward to trying this recipe. How will it work to use a couple fresh tomatoes diced instead of canned?

  7. Really good, though personally I would add a little heat.
    I could find all the ingredients and I understood the measurements.   

  8. I’m not vegan or vegetarian, but I do like to eat healthy and try new and unique things. This was fun to make, and it did make A LOT, which was fine. I failed to season my veggies so I think I was too light on the salt. The cashew and coco milk puree was way more creamier than I expected. I’ve also taken a fancy to Paratha bread, so I had that instead of Naan. Overall it was great! Trying soy curls next!

  9. This recipe has the makings of something really good, but was a bit too bland for us. We had to add at least the full 2 tsp of salt (more like 3) to get the flavours to begin to shine. I also found that my potatoes had disintegrated into mush by about 13 minutes, so clearly should have been watching them more closely, and would reduce the boil time to not more than 10 minutes next time. And there will be a next time. But I’ll adjust the curry powder from 1 tsp to 1 TBSP, to see if I can get more flavour without going off the deep-end with salt.

  10. This was delicious! Served with gluten free vegan naan. Family wasn’t wild about red potatoes. Do you think subbing sweet potatoes would work?

  11. This is so, so good! I’ve tried and loved so many of your recipes, and my family is always very excited when we make a new recipe of yours because we know it will be outstanding. Since going vegan years ago, I’ve tried to replicate the dairy laden vegetable korma served at our favorite Indian restaurant. No other recipe has come close. I was so excited when I realized you had a korma recipe. Your spice blend  is very similar and it’s the first korma I’ve had which we will definitely enjoy regularly! I used full fat coconut milk. My husband loved it and doesn’t want me to change a thing, but I think next time I will try the lite coconut milk option or reduce the cashews as it was plenty rich. The dairy in our old favorite used to give us indigestion and put us to sleep. It’s so nice to enjoy a wonderfully spiced, rich korma again and feel great after eating  :).  Thanks so much for all you do!!

    1. Hi Allison. I’m so glad you and your family are loving my recipes! Thank you for using them, and thank you for sharing your wonderful comments!

  12. I just made this tonight and it was delicious. My whole family raves about it. I added some paneer and it was amazing. It was my first attempt at a Indian food and I’m excited it was a success. 

      1. I made this recipe exactly except put some butter in the sauce instead of just olive oil. Absolutely fabulous, and the coconut flavor was almost unnoticeable (I was worried about that). I did also add 1 tsp cayenne. We like a little more spice. Served with a great gluten free naan recipe and everyone raved.

        Also to the author: you did a really good job of organizing the ingredients by purpose and time-arranging the steps. I really appreciated it and it made this recipe easier than most to follow. Thank you for putting in the extra time!

        1. Thank you so much, this means a lot to me! I really appreciate the feedback, and I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe.

  13. This was wonderful!! I used daikon radish instead of potato. Had to keep from finishing the pot so I’d have some for tomorrow.

  14. Super yummy! Used gold potatoes instead of red and substituted the cashews for almond milk since we were super low! Such an easy and delicious recipe

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