Creamy Cashew Kale & Chickpeas

I have a treat for you today – a perfect little recipe that can be made from pantry staples or typical weekly groceries: Creamy Cashew Kale & Chickpeas!

Creamy Cashew Kale & Chickpeas - Vegan & Gluten-Free

As much as I’d like to, I don’t get the chance to visit a farmer’s market each week. The truth is that I tend to do most of my shopping at regular grocery stores. In Sydney, this means Woolworth’s (Woolie’s for short) or Coles. While they don’t stock every vegan ingredient, they do carry most of the staples that I use in my day-to-day meals. Last week, I came across this awesome Winter Leaf bag of fresh greens containing kale, spinach and baby beet leaves. It was promptly added to my shopping cart (or trolley, as they’re known down here).

Coles Winter Leaf - Kale, Spinach, Baby Beet Leaves
Coles Canned Chickpeas

Today, I needed to come up with something to make for lunch. I decided to make something with the bag of greens, as well as a can of chickpeas I had in the pantry.

A Google search lead me to Cara’s version of FatFree Vegan Kitchen’s Cosmic Cashew Kale and Chickpeas with Confetti Quinoa. Even though quinoa takes next to no time to make, I decided to go with Cara’s version simply because I was really hungry and needed to get food in my belly ASAP.

As per the original recipe, I ended up using more cashews. The kale in the recipe would have to be my kale+spinach+baby beet leaves, and the red bell pepper would have to be a julienned carrot since I was all out of peppers, but hey, sometimes you have to make due with what you’ve got, right?

Creamy Cashew Kale & Chickpeas - Vegan & Gluten-Free

Oh, and I didn’t have any basil on hand so I had planned on using cilantro (fresh coriander), which I pretty much always keep on hand. In the end, I forgot to add the cilantro, but this was still really great.

This warm salad is creamy, comforting and very filling. I initially  planned on eating the whole thing, but was fully stuffed after eating just half of it. Go chickpeas + kale!

Updates — Creamy Cashew Kale & Chickpeas

December 11, 2013 – Readers have been asking me how I get perfect Julienne-cut vegetables. It’s not handy knife work on my part! I use this OXO Good Grips Julienne Peeler. You could also use a mandoline – but watch out that you don’t slice your fingertips off! A Microplane Cut-Protection Glove is a great way of preventing that from happening!

Creamy Cashew Kale & Chickpeas - Vegan & Gluten-Free

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Creamy Cashew Kale & Chickpeas

This creamy cashew kale with chickpeas recipe is packed with healthy greens and fiber. It’s vegan and naturally gluten-free!

  • Author: Angela @ Vegangela.com
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 25 mins
  • Total Time: 40 mins
  • Yield: 2 1x
  • Category: Mains
  • Cuisine: Vegan

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked in warm water for at least 20 minutes
  • 1/2 cup hot water
  • 1 cup reduced sodium vegetable broth
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 12 carrots, julienned (or medium bell pepper, diced)
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (or one 15-ounce can, rinsed and drained)
  • 1 bunch kale, central stems removed and leaves thinly sliced, or a 10oz package of chopped kale or other hardy greens
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 2 to 4 tablespoons fresh basil or cilantro, minced (optional)

Instructions

  1. Drain the cashews and place in high speed blender or food processor with the broth and garlic. Blend until completely smooth, and set aside.
  2. Heat a large nonstick skillet or dutch oven over medium-low heat and cook the onion and carrots (or pepper) for 5-7 minutes, until softened. Stir in the chickpeas. Increase heat to high, and add the greens and 2-3 tablespoons of water, stirring to combine everything. If using kale for the greens,cover and cook for 5 minutes, or until it’s tender.
  3. Stir in the cashew sauce, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper. Cook, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes, until sauce thickens. If using, garnish with basil/cilantro before serving.

Notes

Keywords: australia, bean, capsicum, carrot, cashew, chickpea, easy, favorite, food processor, gluten-free, julienne, kale, low-carb, one-pot, spinach, spiralizer, stove top, sydney, tapas, under 30 minutes, vegan

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71 thoughts on “Creamy Cashew Kale & Chickpeas”

  1. So delicious!!! Going to be making this a lot. Quick, easy and yummy. Cashew cream was maybe a little grainy but maybe I needed to process it more.

    Reply
  2. Thank you for sharing this recipe, its absolutely amazing and full of energy. The best recipe ever with plenty of flavor taste and sweetness. Please send us more recipes like this.

    Reply
  3. Hello,

    My wife and have been changing our eating choices for the last 6 months.

    We have found “The Abascal Way” eating plan to work for us.

    We found your site while looking for cashew and kale recipies.

    We both agree that many of your recipies sound great, and from the comments, we can’t wait to craft several.

    Thank you for sharing this outstanding information!

    Paul and Linda in Seattle

    Reply
  4. This is a great recipe! I just tried adding some roasted tempeh at the very end instead of chickpeas and this variation also turned out delicious! Thanks!

    Reply
  5. This recipe was absolutely delicious, and a total godsend when feeding my gluten free vegan friends something other than chips 🙂 they both loved it and so do we. Today I’m making it again to have tomorrow with other friends, and I wanted to ask if you think it would be best to keep the sauce separate overnight, then quickly heat and mix everything tomorrow, or if you think it will keep ok in the fridge if I cook from start to finish today? I think it will keep fine but worry it might get a bit thick or claggy if I leave overnight. Questions questions…

    Anyway, thanks for this, solid recipe!

    x

    Reply
  6. Just made this, substituting tahini for cashews (because it`s what I had) and Chard for Kale (same). VERY delicious and hearty! I served it on whole grain pasta! yum!

    Reply
  7. I love this recipe! It’s easy to make, tastes great, and keeps well. I’ve made it twice, both times I subbed shallots for the onion. They cook down nicely in a stir fry and go well with the peppers. I also like to throw in some no-meat chicken (I get the whole foods kind), and it’s delicious! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!

    Reply
  8. This was delicious!
    My boyfriend and I tend to have the problem of recipes making entirely too much food for us. This was perfect. We added Field Roast’s Apple and Sage sausages just to give it a little more oomph. Have I mentioned that this was perfect yet?
    And I know all the sauce had in it was cashews and veggie broth but it was a great addition to the whole thing.
    Now time to go explore what else is on here that we will be trying.

    Reply
  9. Hi
    I would just like to say thank you soo much for this recipe it has now become a weekly addition to our menu, and is loved by the whole family from 10 to 50yrs olds
    =0) tes x

    Reply
  10. This is a very good recipe. I added some bell peppers, wild rice, and some oj to the sauce. We really enjoyed this, the colors are beautiful, but I will use more cashews to give the sauce more body next time.

    Reply
  11. Delicious recipe! If I hadn’t made it myself I would never believe it didn’t have cream in it. Thanks for this recipe!

    Reply
  12. This dish is amazing so much flavour for such little work ! I added julienned carrots,capsicum and zucchini to it plus I had I cup of left over cooked quinoa so that went in as I added the sauce ! Thank you for a taste bud delight Vegangela 🙂

    Reply
  13. I can’t get enough of this delicious dish! Who needs recipe books when they have your website!! I have made a handful of your recipes so far and we have loved every singe one. You rock!

    Reply
    • That’s so kind to say, thank you Katie! I like to think of this website as my own personal recipe box… I make recipes from it all the time myself. I don’t post every week, and sometimes I go months without posting anything. Because I try to only share the very best. Anyway, thanks for those kind words. They made my day 🙂

      Reply
  14. WOW! I am blown away by how delicious this recipe was. It’s so creamy and delicious and so healthy too!

    This will be a weekly meal at my house for a while. 🙂

    Thank you for all your delicious recipes.

    Reply
  15. I love this recipe. I happened across your website a month or so ago when looking for kale and chickpea recipes.
    I am allergic to a lot of nuts so I used ground almonds, which had the added benefit of no blending for the dressing- and it tastes fantastic!
    I’ve been vegetarian for around 14 years (I’m 25) and have been cooking your recipes and therefore been eating mostly vegan lately.
    Although I’ve been weighing up going vegan for a few years, you’ve really swayed me towards becoming vegan (partly because it looks so good my carnivore wife wants ME to cook!) . Thank you. 🙂
    (I feel cheated of the hours I spent looking for vegan cheese sauce. Your is better.)

    Reply
    • Hi Rebecca – Thanks for all the kind feedback! I like the idea of using ground almonds – great idea! Glad to hear that your wife likes the recipes! Glad you like the vegan cheese sauce too! Take care and thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂

      Reply
  16. For a little variation, I looked no further than the Middle East to find another variation: Instead of stirring in black pepper, I sprinkled cinnamon powder (as a garnish) over the chickpeas.

    Reply
  17. It was 102 degrees here this past Friday. So I tried the same basic recipe with (plain) yogurt.

    It turned out luscious, and I’m looking forward to just eating it “straight from the refrigerator.”

    Reply
      • The reason I asked about the Goya chickpeas is that I used them in this recipe (along with adding rice, about 2 T’s of cut-up stewed prunes). Even after rinsing the chickpeas well, they smelled slightly of fish.

        At any rate, in the future I’m going to try rinsing them with water and salt, to see if this reduces the previously-mentioned smell.

        Reply
  18. Last night for supper,
    I made your chickpea and kale salad. Wow it is excellent. From now on I am going to eat kale on a weekly basis using your recipe. Thank you so much.

    Reply
  19. I loved it! I added a little more garlic (because I am garlic obsessed) and some more red pepper since I love spicy. I also threw in some extra spinach and greens as well as the kale! I ate with some really good bread and have lots left over for lunch tomorrow! super easy to make and very filling! Thanks so much for posting!

    Reply
    • That bag is awesome but normally we can’t even get bunched kale at the grocery store here (only on the rare occasion at farmer’s markets). So that one is a great find! I go through 2-3 bags of baby spinach and/or rocket a week. You’re right, it tastes great and it’s just so easy to use. I put it on everything!

      Reply
  20. I must also add my apologetic voice to the chorus of We Who Shop at Coles/Woolies Despite Preferring Farmers Markets In Our Heart of Hearts. Coles is across the road from me, and as a result those chickpeas are a staple in my cupboard! Thank you for the link to this recipe; I’m constantly on the look-out for meals I can serve my tomato/wheat/capsicum/everythingunderthesun-allergic mother to prove that vegan can be filling!

    Reply
    • Yup, same here. The grocery stores are closer – and you don’t have to be there at 7am to get all the good stuff. Glad to heat that this may be a good recipe for your mom. Let me know if you try it and what you both think 🙂

      Reply
  21. Sounds like a great lunch and I love your subs – I was actually struck by the pic of the coles chickpeas – I don’t get to farmers markets as much as I would like either and have three supermarkets within walking distance

    Reply
    • Hi Johanna – Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I’m happy to be in touch with a fellow Aussie veggie food blogger. I’m adding you to my RSS reader now 😉

      Reply

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