Easy Yellow Curry with Tempeh is a healthy bowl of goodness you can create in no time! With extra turmeric, loads of fresh vegetables and a creamy coconut curry sauce, it’s so delicious and so nourishing. Gluten free, nut free, dairy free.

Life feels pretty intensely busy right now and coming home to a warm, comforting bowl of veggie-loaded curry is one little thing I’ve been doing to bring some cosy, healing time back in. This easy vegan yellow curry is quick to make and packed full of all the simple, wholesome things. Broccoli, carrot, capsicum. Healing, tasty spices. Creamy, dreamy coconut milk. All stirred together in one big pot for a no-fuss, delicious meal.
Though I’ll always jam a load of vegetables into any meal I make, this recipe makes a completely vegan curry. Tempeh – a product made from fermented soy beans – is the protein in this meal.
Soy products do not make up a significant part of my diet; I have concerns about how highly processed some soy products are. But I’ll occasionally enjoy some minimally processed, whole food soy, namely tofu or tempeh. Depending on your preference / how much effort you want to put in, you can either pan fry or grill the tempeh first, or just chuck it straight into the curry.
For the images in this blog post, I chucked some in the curry, and then grilled a few slices for decoration.

Now, as this is an EASY vegan yellow curry, the recipe involves a store-bought curry paste. Curry-wizards, if you prefer to make your own, you can definitely do so! But, if you grab a good curry paste from the shops, this plant-based curry is of course much quicker to make and it’s how I’m rolling at the moment.
My favourite curry paste brand is Mae Ploy – they do a range of great curry pastes. In Australia, I’ve been able to find this in Asian grocers and some large supermarkets; when I was in the UK I bought it on Amazon. Their yellow curry paste contains no artificial ingredients and no animal products.
PLEASE be sure to *CHECK* your curry paste is vegan if you intend to have a vegan curry!
If tempeh isn’t your jam, go wild on the substitutions here guys. To keep it vegan, switch up the tempeh for firm tofu, chickpeas, brown lentils and/or black beans. Meat eaters; for a quick fix throw in some peeled prawns and continue to rapidly simmer the curry until the prawns are thoroughly cooked.


Easy Yellow Curry with Tempeh
Ingredients
Instructions
Prepare the ingredients
- Slice the tempeh into strips or dice, as you prefer. Slice the onion and capsicum into strips. Chop the carrot and broccoli into small, evenly sized pieces.
Make the vegetable curry
- Heat a large deep saute pan or a saucepan over a moderate-high heat on the stove. Add 1 tbsp coconut oil, onion and capsicum to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until the onion is translucent.
- Add the curry paste to the pan and cook for 1 minute, stirring the mixture to avoid it sticking and burning. Throw in the chopped broccoli and carrots and cook for a further 2 minutes. If the mixture starts sticking/burning, add a splash of water.
- Once the mixture is smelling lovely and fragrant and the veggies are well coated, reduce the heat slightly. Add the coconut milk, coconut sugar, tamari and turmeric. Allow the mixture to come to a bubbling simmer, stirring gently. Throw in the frozen peas.
Add the tempeh to the curry
- If you want your tempeh a little crispy on the edges, pan fry the tempeh separately before adding it to the curry. Cook for a few minutes in coconut oil in a fry pan. Otherwise, just add the tempeh to the curry now, without pre-cooking.
- Simmer the curry for about 10 minutes or until the veggies are softened to your liking. Stir occasionally as it cooks. If the curry is too thick, add a little water to thin it out. Squeeze in the lime juice once the curry has finished cooking, giving it a good stir to incorporate it.
Notes
Nutrition
p.s. Need some more plant-based goodness in your life? Make these Roasted Turmeric Cauliflower Buddha Bowls or try this Roasted Broccoli Guacamole Salad. Yum!


Great recipe!
This was my first time trying out tempeh actually, and turns out i’m not a big fan.
But the curry tasted great, so I will just replace the tempeh with regular tofu or beans or something.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with the internet 🙂
Hehello, ever since I developped a capsicum intolerance, I have found it hard to replace them in recipes. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks a bunch.
Hi Claudine, thank you for your message. If you’re just looking to substitute capsicum for another vegetable in a recipe like this, I would generally say you can use just about anything else! I would try zucchini or carrot cut into strips, or maybe some green beans or snow peas, or some sliced cabbage would be fine too. I know they’re not exactly like capsicum but as capsicum is not generally essential to the flavour or texture of lots of dishes like curry, stir fries, pasta sauces etc. then you can pretty much just use up whatever veggies you have around. I certainly do this when I don’t have any capsicum in the house. 🙂