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Try this easy Vegan Baked Chana Saag recipe! A fragrant Spinach and Chickpea Curry cooked in one casserole dish along with onion, tomatoes & warming spices. Such a comforting meal served with rice or any bread of your choice. Gluten-free Soyfree Nutfree.
Today we are cooking a baked version of this Indian classic. Chana Saag – an aromatic and perfectly spiced chickpea spinach/greens curry made in the oven!
We are taking a classic Indian curry normally made on the stovetop using chickpeas, spinach or greens, onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, and warm spices and turn it into an easy 1-dish casserole recipe. Making this in the oven means no standing around!
This is a great recipe you can make whenever you need to use up greens! Spinach is a quintessential ingredient, but other than that you can add any leafy greens you have in your fridge. Think chard or mustard greens.
You will love how easy this is to make and the recipe is totally adaptable to your taste. Served with warm bread or steamed basmati rice this really makes for a perfect weeknight meal.
This is not only the ideal dish for busy weeknights. Being a real crowd-pleaser recipe, this baked chana saag could also be made ahead, and stored in the fridge and will surely be a hit at gatherings and parties. Meal-prep win!
For variation, you can use other cooked beans of choice, or add some red lentils, or use tofu or soycurls!
More baked curries:
- Baked Sweet Potato Curry
- South Indian Eggplant Curry Recipe (Baked Casserole)
- Baked Tofu Curry (Easy Tofu Makhani)
- Vegan Baked Chana Pulao- Spiced Chickpea Rice Casserole
- Veggie curry casserole
- Lentil curry casserole
- Madras tofu curry
Vegan Baked Chana Saag
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/8 teaspoons fenugreek seeds, (or use 1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves and add with onion)
- 1 clove, optional
- 1 or 2 bay leaves
- 1 dried red chili, broken or use 1/4 teaspoon pepper flakes
- 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 inch ginger minced
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 ounces frozen spinach or chopped, (defrost if using frozen)
- 4 ounces chopped greens such as fresh chard, ,mustard greens or other baby greens, or use more spinach
- 8 ounce tomato puree, (or unseasoned tomato sauce )
- 15 oz can coconut milk, full fat or light or other non-dairy milk of choice , thicker cashew milk or oat milk work well
- 15- ounce can chickpeas drained or 1.5 cups cooked
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- pepper flakes,, lemon juice, and cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- In a 9×11 or similar size baking dish, add the oil and spread evenly. Add the cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, clove, bay leaves, and mix.
- Put it in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (205 degrees Celsius) to cook for 6-8 minutes or until the cumin seeds are fragrant. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.
- Remove the dish from the oven then add in the red chilies and mix in. Add in the onion, garlic, ginger, ground coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, and a generous pinch of salt and mix well. Add some splashes of water if spices aren’t sticking to the onion and mix
- Then put the dish back in the oven to bake for 11-15 minutes or until the onion is translucent.
- Take the dish out of the oven. Add in the spinach, greens, tomato puree, chickpeas, salt, coconut milk and mix really well.
- If using fresh greens, then they will take a minute to kind of mix in and get coevered in the sauce. You want the greens to be covered with the sauce otherwise they will get crispy. Cover with parchment.
- Put the dish back in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Mix once in between so that all the greens get cooked evenly.
- Take the dish out of the oven. Taste and adjust salt and spices and mix in. Garnish and serve over rice or naan, or flatbread.For creamier, mix in 2-3 tablespoons non dairy yogurt while still hot. For flavor variation, add in 1 teaspoon garam masala or Kashmiri garam masala or 1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves ( kasoori methi) while still hot.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients:
- we start by toasting whole spices in some oil: cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, clove, bay leaves and dried red chili. This step is called tempering
- chopped onion, garlic and ginger are added to the tempering
- ground spices: ground coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper
- greens: a mix of frozen spinach and chopped leafy greens such as fresh chard, or mustard greens
- tomato puree adds fruitiness and acidity
- coconut milk adds creaminess. You can use any other non-dairy milk or cream of choice
- chickpeas – I used canned drained chickpeas but you can cook the chickpeas yourself
Tips:
- Chana Saag tastes even better the next day when all the flavors had infused well, so go ahead and make a double batch
- Play around with the amount of tomato and coconut milk. You can easily make it creamier or more tomatoey to preference by adding more coconut cream or tomato puree as it bakes.
- You can make this dish with other proteins such as tofu or vegan chicken.
- To make with tofu, add pressed and cubed 14-ounce tofu along with the onion mixture so that the tofu can crisp up a little bit as well and then add the greens and the rest of the ingredients.
- To make it with the vegan chicken substitute, add the chicken sub with the greens. Use 3 oz rehydrated in stock soy curls or 4 oz seitan
- To make with split red lentils (masoor dal): add 1/2 cup red lentils and 1 cup water and continue with the recipe
How to make Baked Vegan Chana Saag:
In a 9×11 or similar size baking dish, add the oil and spread evenly. Add the cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, clove, bay leaves, and mix.
Put it in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (205 degrees Celsius) to cook for 6-8 minutes or until the cumin seeds are fragrant.
Remove the dish from the oven then add the red chilies and mix in. Add in the onion, garlic, ginger, ground coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, and a generous pinch of salt and mix well.
Then put the dish back in the oven to bake for 11-15 minutes or until the onion is translucent.
Take the dish out of the oven.
Add in the spinach, greens, tomato puree, chickpeas, salt, coconut milk and mix really well.
If using fresh greens, then they will take a minute to kind of mix in and get covered in the sauce. You want the greens to be covered with the sauce otherwise they will get crispy.
Cover with parchment and Put the dish back in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Mix once in between so that all the greens get cooked evenly.
Take the dish out of the oven. Garnish and serve over rice or naan, or flatbread.
Storage:
You can refrigerate the baked casserole for up to 3 days or freeze it for up to a month
What to serve with Chana Saag?
You can with warm pita bread, roti, or Naan or homemade parathas.For a gluten-free meal, serve with basmati rice or brown rice
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So so sooo good as always. I had not made a curry in the oven before and it did not disappoint.
I only realized I had no coconut milk during the process so used oat milk and coconut oil 👻. I’m sure the OG recipe is better but it was still delish.
good to know that it worked with the other 🥛 milk
I was not sure how this was going to turn out when I added the tomato sauce and coconut milk as it didn’t look anything like yours before baking that is, until it was baked.
Then wow my goodness tastes like something from the restaurant except healthier.
I don’t remember when if I used fenugreek before though I had it in the cupboard.
Thank you for sharing this.
Let’s see what the family think as I’m about to dish it up soon 😋
that’s great news =)
Just had this for dinner today, delicious and convenient to make while doing other things. Just take out of oven and add bits now and then. Was very rich due to the tomato paste I used. I wd use tinned chopped Tom’s with some extra paste next time just to reduce sweetness a bit. Loved the fenugreek flavour
Awesome! Yea adjust away based on ingredients you have!
I was excited to make this today and it did not disappoint! So delicious, thank you for these amazing casserole recipes. So great for weekday dinners!
Yay!
Another amazing Indian recipe, Richa!! I made it stove top in the interest of time, and I also added some garam masala and kasoori methi once everything was cooked. Delicious curry! Thank you!
This was a great after-work dinner option – I made on the stovetop – and it definitely had the comfort factor. Excited to try more of your blog and cookbook recipes!
Awesome!
Made this for dinner last night with extra firm tofu and all fresh spinach (had no frozen). We have enjoyed so many of your recipes and this one may be our favorite. Loved the subtle, rich flavors from the blend of spices, luscious gravy to perk up the brown rice. Look forward to making this again and trying different proteins (beans, tempeh) and veggies (cauliflower, potatoes, peas, green beans…). We are so glad to have your yummy recipes in our lives!
let me know how it turns out, so gglad you’re here too Gail
This looks so good. I am going to try it tonight. I don’t have any chickpeas, but do have red, green and yellow lentils, so am going to substitute. Thanks always for your tips.
Often I will use a recipe as inspiration, but use what I have on hand rather than make extra trips to the store.
Great! I have the lentil option in notes as well
Thank you! I realized after I posted that you had red lentils as an alternate, so I thought maybe you’d add which types of lentils would work – or any of them would work just as well. I don’t know if you ever mix lentils in a dish. Thank you!
Whole lentils like brown or green would need to bake atleast 50 mins.
I got lucky! I used the tiny red lentils. I used my Instantpot. Sauteed the first items for a few minutes, add the second group and stirred frequently. I didn’t have tomato paste so I used fresh tomatoes and cooked them down. Then the red lentils for a short pressure cook (probably did not need to do them separately) and then added 8 oz fresh “power green” mix from the market (Baby spinach, kale and mizuma) with Trader Joe’s coconut cream (30% fat vs. 26% in coconut milk – acc to an internet article), and with a short pressure cook then, it was done and everything so fresh!! It was delicious! I might try ckick peas next time, but I loved the red lentils. Now I understand why you said red and not the brown or green.Thank you!
Great! You don’t need separate cooking for the red lentils. Just pressure cook everything together for 3 mins
Another amazing Indian recipe, Richa!! I made it stove top in the interest of time, and I also added some garam masala and kasoori methi once everything was cooked. Delicious curry! Thank you!
Great additions!
So easy and flavorful. I made this to use up fresh spinach. Now I’ll be buying fresh spinach to make this again. So delicious! I served it with Jasmine rice. I did not have fenugreek so did not include it this time.
great to hear, I love spinach too
Are you supposed to completely defrost the frozen spinach before putting it in the casserole? I’m sorry if this is a stupid question but the recipe doesn’t indicate anything about this.
Yea defrost it. Added that info to recipe
For the nutritional values above, can you tell me what the actual serving size is?
1 1/2 cups
Looks great! Can’t wait to try it! One question. Do you defrost the frozen spinach completely before you put it in the casserole?
yes
I could only find Cardamon pods. Would you use green or black ones? Thanks!
Black cardamom is best for savory dishes like this recipe. Enjoy!