Over the past year I’ve become OBSESSED with curry flavors. Don’t ask this Puerto Rican girl why, but I think it’s because there is a Thai neighborhood just up the block. The spices are aromatic and wander in and out of the streets. In a way, the smells are inviting me to come in a try something I’ve never had before, which is often what Tony and I try to do when we go out.
Lately, it’s been all about that curry life. I love slurping up a big bowl of coconut curry from our local Vietnamese restaurant Tank Noodle, or trying a spicy version over rice; not only is it comforting, but I feel like there’s something really healing about a good curry.
Last week I’m sure some of you noticed via Instagram stories that I came down with an awful sore throat & cold that made me lose my voice completely. Besides pumping my body with probiotics, kombucha, tea, lemon, ginger and vitamins, I knew I needed a little something with all the good spices for dinner. Perhaps even something reminiscent of the neighborhood Thai and Indian restaurants from down the street. AKA CURRY LIFE.
Whenever I’m sick, I love eating vegetarian. I know people say you’re supposed to have chicken noodle soup, but there’s something magical about eating plant based for a few days and feeling nourished. So anyway, I decided to make an incredible vegetarian tofu curry recipe, which I can somehow get Tony to eat. Told you it was magical.
Everything you’ll need to make the best tofu curry
This beautiful vegan curry recipe is filled with veggies that simmer in a light coconut and tomato curry sauce. It’s rich, creamy, and packed with flavor. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Vegetables: we’re adding sweet potato, carrots, cauliflower, red bell pepper, and a jalapeño to this vegan tofu curry.
- Coconut oil: you’ll need a little coconut oil to cook down those veggies.
- Tofu: because it’s tofu curry, of course! The tofu cubes add a lovely texture and a wonderful boost of plant-based protein. I recommend using firm or extra firm tofu so that it holds up in the curry.
- Herbs & spices: this curry dish has tons of flavor thanks to fresh garlic and ginger, curry powder, turmeric, cumin, a little ground cinnamon, and a pinch of salt to taste.
- For the broth: simmer it all together in lite coconut milk, tomato sauce, and some vegetable broth.
- Mix-ins and garnishes: I love adding ground roasted cashews straight to the pot, and then garnishing with fresh cilantro and extra chopped cashews. Feel free to add a squeeze of lime juice at the end for a little acidity.
Don’t forget these steps before cooking with tofu
You’ll want to remove as much of the excess water in the tofu as possible so that it holds flavor and gets nice and crispy:
- Wrap your extra firm tofu block with a dish towel or paper towels and place it on a plate.
- Place a wooden cutting board on top.
- Put something heavy on top of the cutting board like a pot of water, books, etc. so that the water begins to squeeze out into the towel.
Customize your tofu curry
This easy tofu curry recipe is even easier to customize with what you have on hand! Here’s what I can recommend:
- Pick your protein. While it is tofu curry, you could always swap the tofu for a can of chickpeas. If you’re not vegan or vegetarian, feel free to add chicken or shrimp.
- Choose your veggies. This recipe is great for using up any veggies you have in your fridge. I think mushrooms, an onion, and spinach would be great in here!
- Kick up the heat. If you like spicy flavors feel free to add in some sriracha, red chili paste or your fav hot sauce.
Our fav ways to serve this curry dish
This vegan tofu curry is delicious on its own, but I also love serving it with:
- Basmati rice, jasmine rice, or my famous Coconut Rice
- Cauliflower Rice for a grain free option
- Naan for dipping (typically for an Indian curry recipe rather than Thai curries, but still delicious dipped with this wonderful sauce!)
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: store any leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
- To freeze: be sure to not overcook the vegetables. Let the curry cool completely before transferring it to a freezer safe bag or container. Freeze for up to 2 months, and reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop after thawing it in the refrigerator.
More vegetarian recipes you’ll love
- The Best Dal Ever
- Mom’s Authentic Puerto Rican Rice and Beans
- 30 Minute Vegan Stir Fry Sesame Noodles with Chickpeas & Basil
- Healing Lemongrass Chickpea Thai Green Curry with Toasted Coconut Brown Rice
- One Pot Vegan Coconut Curried Brown Rice with Tofu
Get all of my vegetarian dinner recipes here, and all of my tofu recipes here!
I hope you love this vegetarian tofu curry recipe! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Vegetarian Tofu Cashew Coconut Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 jalapeño, diced
- 1 medium sweet potato, diced into 1 inch cubes
- ½ head of cauliflower, cut into small florets (about 2-3 cups)
- 1 bell yellow or orange pepper, diced
- 2 carrots, thinly diced or chopped
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 (15 oz) can lite coconut milk
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- ½ cup vegetarian broth
- ¼ cup roasted cashews, ground
- 1 package firm or extra firm tofu, cubed
- To garnish: Cilantro and extra cashews
Instructions
- Add coconut oil to a large pot and place over medium high heat. Add in garlic, ginger, jalapeno, sweet potato, cauliflower, bell pepper, and carrots. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until carrots start to soften.
- Next stir in curry powder, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon and salt.
- Add in coconut milk, tomato sauce, vegetarian broth and ground cashews. Stir until smooth.
- Gently add in tofu and stir. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes or until sweet potatoes and carrots are fork tender. Serve immediately with cilantro.
I’d like to try this recipe, but I have a rather silly question: HOW are the cashews supposed to be ground up, and to what texture? Just putting them raw into a blender chops them into crumbs, or adding milk or cream might make it something more like a cream if you have a good enough blender, What texture are we looking for? Thanks!
You can grind them in a food processor or coffee grinder, or simply sub cashew butter!
This recipe has been one of our go tos for years now. It’s delicious. My food processor is broken though and the cashews didn’t ground up finely enough in my blender the last time I made it, so it was kind of gritty. I was wondering if I can sub cashew butter? If so how much?
So glad you love this one! Cashew butter would be great for creaminess, but the recipe will still be delicious without the cashews 🙂
This recipe is so delicious! I made it exactly as is…not sure how much the cashews really added to it…made it a little grittier texture, which I didn’t mind but I feel like folks who are weird about texture may not like that as much and I really don’t think they were necessary, so I probably will leave out next time. I also included the mushrooms…yum! I actually think this same recipe would be GREAT as a soup too…any thoughts on how I might be able to made some adjustments to serve as a soup?
Glad you enjoyed! Hmm I haven’t tested it as a soup but you’ll want to increase both the broth and spices to get that texture. Let me know if you give it a try!
I love this curry! Could you please give an estimate of how much each serving weighs? Keep up the great work. Thank you very much!
So happy to hear that! I don’t typically weigh the servings out after cooking so I can’t be sure. I’d recommend diving it into servings and using a kitchen scale if you have one!
Don’t such a good site since can’t print ingredients and instructions
Hi! When you’re on the recipe card, click “Print Recipe.”
PS – I should’ve added that I don’t use any oils, and I made this by water sautéing the vegetables and it turned out great. 😋
This is the MOST delicious curry recipe. I absolutely love it. I have made it twice not, and it will be a regular in my household. I cannot tell you how much I love it. It is a must try. The spices are just perfect and the tofu and cashews…I like it with steamed kale also. What a wonderful recipe. Thank you so much!
Loved this curry. So so delicious. I will definitely be making this many times over. The whole family loved it. What a great recipe. Thank you!
Could I substitute cashew butter for ground cashews? Would you suggest a 1 to 1 substitution? 1/4 cup cashew butter in place of 1/4 cup ground toasted cashews?
I have not tested this recipe with cashew butter, but I am sure it could work and still be delicious. It might change the texture a bit. If you give this a try, let me know how it works out for you.
Excellent!!! So easy. I substituted broccoli for cauliflower and added onions and frozen peas and pineapple chunks. Wowza!
I made this for dinner last night and it turned out perfect. I added a little more heat to it, and it was so tasty!
So glad you enjoyed it, Audrey!!
This was so delicious! You outdid yourself again! I used cashew butter instead of the nuts, and I subbed garam marsala instead of the cinnamon. Yum!
Aw thanks so much! SO thrilled to hear you loved it. Garam masala’s a great sub, too!
This is honestly the most delicious, crowd pleasing meal in my repertoire of vegetarian recipes! Super hearty, wholesome and most importantly EASY to make. I substituted tofu for chickpeas instead as it was perfect. Love going through and trying out your recipes…each one comes out a total success. Thank you!!
So thrilled to hear that everyone loves this one, Lani. Yay!! Chickpeas are an excellent sub 🙂 Hope you can try more of my vegetarian recipes soon!
When you say tomato sauce what do you mean? Do you mean passata?
Canned tomato sauce! Like this 🙂
This was so delicious, my husband (who grew up eating Indian food, and also isn’t easy to wow) looked me straight in the eye and said “PLEASE make this again.” I don’t like using coconut milk, so I used about 1/3 cup soy yogurt and 15 oz soy milk to replace it. And my cashews were raw instead of roasted. But otherwise followed to the letter and it was amazing. This is going in the rotation!
Ahh best review ever! Thank you! Happy it came out amazing 🙂
Also reduce the spices atleast by half. Will still taste good. And less oil. Toasted spices very little has to be added.
You have to toast the curry powder or most spices before adding. You can do it dry or in little oil. Takes less than 1 min.
This is done in any small pan.
Thanks for sharing, that’s a great idea!
We are trying to eat more plan based meals and this was a great tasty dish! Thanks Monique as the fam jam enjoyed it (even my more pickier veggie eater!) 😂
Aw yay! I’m so glad!
Disgusting. Just tastes of coconut milk
Sorry you didn’t love it! I find it really flavorful with all the spices. Do you not like coconut milk?
So much flavour we did this Christmas Eve and all family members loved even though only 1 out of four of us was vegetarian it was a hit! Thanks we will make every week for sure yum!
Delicious recipe. But 15 minutes prep is a gross underestimation.
Thanks for the feedback, we can update that!
Absolutely phenomenal. Wouldn’t change a thing. Make this right away!!
Aw thank you!! I’m so happy you loved it, Laura 🙂
So flavorful and a great way to have a meatless dinner! Added some chickpeas and replaced cauliflower with broccoli!
I came home from work exhausted and not wanting to make dinner, I checked the fridge and typed “tofu and sweet potato” into Google and came up with your recipe. I didn’t have cauliflower and made a few improvisations (sunflower seeds instead of cashews, for example) and made the best dinner! Thanks for the morale boost. Putting dinner on the table after almost 40 years of cooking for my family is sometimes a real chore. This was really good. And only one pot to wash!
Aw I’m so happy you found this one, Dale! Glad to hear you loved it 🙂 Lots more one pan meals here if you want to browse!
This was an excellent Tofu Curry. The ground Cashews really made a creamy tasty sauce. The only thing different I did was to use Garam Masala to replace the spices as I was out of Curry powder. I certainly will be making this again. Thanks.
Yay! So happy to hear you loved them! Great idea to use garam masala in here 🙂
Just made the vegetarian tofu coconut peanut curry !!! Absolutely amazing !!!! 🙏 I love love love your food !
Yay! I’m so glad that you loved it, Pauline! 🙂
This was great! I took another poster’s suggestion and added 1/4 cup of dried, chopped apricots. I also marinated the tofu for while in in oil, curry powder, cumin, paprika, and garlic powder. Delicious! Will definitely make again.
Sounds amazing! SO happy you loved it, Natalie 🙂
Tastes good, but cook times are way way off. I had to cook this for 2 full hours over medium heat to get the sweet potatoes fork tender. I anticipated this problem so I diced them smaller than I usually would, but it still took that long. Also needs salt, and throw in a fistful of raisins.
Hi, Jacob! That’s so strange, I haven’t heard of that issue before! Was the curry simmering and did the carrots cook well? Whenever I make soups and curries the sweet potatoes generally take no more than 30 minutes max. Always feel free to add salt to taste, too, and raisins sound great!
This was delicious! I was opening the lake house for the season and had a limited set of ingredients handy, but luckily fell upon this recipe that I had most everything needed to make. I didn’t have ginger so I added a little tandoori spice blend and some cayenne. I also didn’t have cashews, so I used sliced, toasted almonds and they added a great crunch to the dish. I had half a can of full fat coconut milk and chicken better-than-bouillon instead of vegetarian broth. I’m never disappointed in your flavor profiles. So much depth. Thanks for another great recipe ❤️
Amazing! This one’s perfect for customizing. So glad you enjoyed!
This is one of the first AK recipes to not do it for me. I found this to be pretty bland. Next time I would add a lot more curry powder and either some soy sauce/tamari or way more salt.
Sorry to hear that! If your broth was unsalted I would recommend adding some more to taste. Soy sauce would be great, too!
I loved it! It was so easy to make, though I had a little kitchen incident occur… I ended cutting my finger with one of my new professional knives and slicing it pretty much all way down to the bone so that wasn’t good but I’m a nurse so thankfully I was able to get myself all fixed up… the recipe is wonderful though and I’m pretty sure you can play around with different vegetables as well.
Oh no!! So sorry that happened – hope it’s healing up okay! Glad you enjoyed the recipe, too, despite the injury!
This took me about 30 minutes prep time but it is so worth it. Delicious!!!
So glad you enjoyed!
This recipe is super easy to follow, you can’t really go wrong and it tastes delicious. Love it!!!
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!
Great!
Perfect dinner!
Have you used beef instead of tofu?
I haven’t tried it!
Excellent!
Glad you liked it!
This recipe is a keeper! My husband is now on a mostly plant-based lifestyle for health reasons, and he loves this recipe. Thanks for making my life a bit easier! 😊
…And I forgot to mention that I bake the tofu before adding it to the stew on STEP 4 (for crispy tofu bites).
Love it! So glad you both enjoyed!
There is clearly a reason this is such a highly rated recipe – so simple yet so delicious!
I hadn’t seen a curry recipe call for ground cashews before… I think thats part of what makes this one special, so don’t leave them out if you’re making this!
Thanks Monique!
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!