A collection of 45 easy vegan Indian recipes that anyone can make, whether you are a beginner or a seasoned cook. These include popular Indian restaurant-style recipes as well as lesser known but equally delicious and plant-based condiments, salads, breakfasts, dinners and desserts gleaned from the country's diverse cuisines.
Indian food, with layers of complex flavor and a heady aroma, is some of the best in the world. But it is not an easy cuisine to master immediately because you need a basic understanding of spices to balance out recipes, especially when you veganize them.
That's why I've collected for you a few diverse and easy Indian vegan recipes that need just a few simple ingredients. Not only are they delicious, but they will give you a strong foundation to build upon when you tackle slightly more complex dishes like my vegan butter chicken, chickpea curry or vegan malai kofta.
I haven't included Indian bread recipes here because with these there is a learning curve. But if you want to try your hand at making them, you can dive in here for all of our Indian bread recipes, including vegan naan and roti.
Also read this comprehensive post to learn more about how to substitute vegan products in Indian recipes.
Table of Contents
Breakfast
We Indians love a hot breakfast. Most homemade breakfasts are wholesome, with lots of whole grains and legumes as well as healthful spices to start the day right! Here are some of our favorite--and easy--vegan breakfast dishes.
Salad-style dishes
Most Indian salads tend to be simple, with few ingredients and seasonings. Serve raw salads, like raita and kachumber, with spicy curries, and cooked salads with dal.
Condiments
Serve condiments like pickles, chutneys and poppadums with dal and rice to add more zing and flavor to the meal!
Curries
Indian curries are loaded with vibrant flavor and are usually extremely healthy, with lots of veggies and sometimes coconut milk or nuts. The curries in this selection are reader-tested and so easy to make!
Dals
Dals, made with a variety of legumes, including lentils and beans, are at the center of the Indian dinner plate. These simple dal recipes will get you started on a delicious journey of exploration of countless Indian dal recipes. Serve dal with rice and/or roti, a sabzi (see sabzi recipes below) as well as a condiment like a pickle or chutney.
Vegetable sabzi
Most Indian meals include a cooked vegetable dish, called a sabzi in Hindi or a curry in south India. While you can make complicated sabzis like baingan bharta and bhindi masala, the simple sabzis below are great for weeknights or for a beginner.
Rice dishes
Rice is eaten every day across India, particularly in the southern and eastern states. While plain rice, like the basmati rice below, is served most often in homes, you can spice things up a bit by serving a pilaf-style rice or biryani.
Dessert
Indian desserts, with just a few exceptions, use oodles of ghee, cream and milk. Veganizing Indian sweets takes some understanding of their original flavors and textures. The vegan Indian dessert recipes below need just a few ingredients and they will give you a good grounding before you try more complex desserts, like vegan gulab jamun.
Drinks
Learn how to make delicious but easy Indian drinks like masala chai, mango lassi and golden milk. These can be had by themselves or with a snack or meal.
Terri
Oh my goodness! I am SO grateful to you for this! Just exquisite and such a treasure trove of fabulous recipes. Thank you SO much! ❤️
Vaishali
Hi Terri, you are so welcome. ❤️I hope you will enjoy making these.
Iain
Morning Vaishali just to let you know that I love your recipes and have been trying many of them over time. I am not a vegan yet but a fully fledged vegetarian for the past 30 plus years and I am now 72 (had my last meat meal the day before my 40th birthday) - vegan is still fairly hard to follow, but thank you for wonderful recipes
Vaishali
Hi Iain, thanks for your kind words about the blog and for sharing your inspiring story of vegetarianism. I'm so happy you've found the recipes here useful. ❤️