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This simple, dairy-free coconut curry sauce is so tasty and savory that I could (and DO) eat it by the spoonful. This rich, flavorful sauce has everything you need: sweetness, a bit of tang from the lime juice, and an amazing curry flavor. Round that all out with a smooth, creamy texture and you’ve got your new go-to sauce recipe!
Instead of using curry paste, this recipe uses curry powder and has no added sugar. It’s SO sweet and packed with flavor - you’d never guess anything was missing!
How this recipe came to be
My husband and I love flavorful recipes. So when we started searching the internet for a flavorful (and simple) curry sauce, we always ended up adding a lot more flavor to make it what we wanted.
Eventually, I wrote down the recipe we had created so we could have this sauce on repeat. Perfection!
ALL THE TOOLS YOU NEED TO MAKE COCONUT CURRY SAUCE
- Saucepan - If your nonstick pans have started flaking, I recommend updating your nonstick saucepan to a cast iron or stainless steel option to make sure you don't ingest any toxic nonstick stuff on accident.
- Stirring spoon - I love these wooden spoons, and they are available for a great price right now too!
KEY INGREDIENTS TO MAKE THIS curry SAUCE recipe
- Coconut oil - Trust me and get the good stuff, like this brand (organic, extra-virgin, cold-pressed & unrefined).
- Curry powder - Grab a large tub of mild or hot curry powder and you won't need to buy more for a long time.
- Coconut milk - Grab the kind in the can, not the carton. I've really been loving this kind without guar lately.
- Turmeric powder - This kind looks awesome and is tested for heavy metals.
- Fish sauce - Grab this kind to make sure there's no gluten or sugar in your sauce.
- Lime juice - I recommend fresh-squeezed or this kind with only one ingredient.
Now that we've gathered our tools and ingredients, it's time to make some delicious coconut curry sauce!
HOW TO MAKE 5 MINUTE COCONUT CURRY SAUCE
Here's a quick tip before we get to the recipe!
My secret to cooking quick and simple, healthy meals is having a delicious sauce recipe that incorporates tons of flavor (without hours of cooking over the stove).
When I meal plan dinners for the week (with this template), they typically consist of:
- Protein (meat or beans)
- A couple of vegetables
- A small serving of carbs
- A delicious homemade sauce
I use the same basic ingredients in multiple meals throughout the week, and just change out the sauce for a completely different flavor. This formula works great for our family!
The sauce makes or breaks the meal!
In the case of this simple curry sauce….it’s a family favorite!
In a medium saucepan, heat the oil (we like coconut oil for this recipe) and curry powder until fragrant. Cook for about a minute and add the coconut milk and turmeric.
I like my curry sauce a little thin (for drizzling), so I don’t reduce it much. If you’d rather have a thicker curry sauce (without much liquid), just reduce it until you achieve your preferred consistency.
A word of caution: if you heat the mixture on too high of heat, the coconut milk may get a strange texture.
If you know you like REALLY thick curry sauce, I recommend buying coconut cream instead of coconut milk for this recipe.
Once you have the curry powder and coconut milk mixed together, turn off the heat, add the lime juice, coconut aminos, and fish sauce.
INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS
- Coconut Milk: We use full fat, unsweetened coconut milk - the kind in the can. If you're looking for a great brand, here it is on Amazon. Although we get ours at Costco. The canned kind (usually found in the Asian aisle of my grocery store) is thicker and will give you a creamier sauce than the kind in the carton. If you're on the AIP diet, or just avoiding gums, you can use this coconut milk that is made without guar gum and I've been super impressed with the texture, given there's no guar to hold it together.
- Coconut aminos: Coconut aminos is a great soy-sauce replacement. It's made from coconuts and has a sweetness that you just can't get with soy sauce. You can use soy sauce in place of coconut aminos in this curry sauce, but the flavor will be slightly different. We use this brand and love it!
- Curry powder: I always have curry powder on hand, so that's what this recipe uses. I have not tried using curry paste in this recipe, but I would imagine it would work well. If you try it, let me know in the comments below!
- Fish sauce: If you're looking for a vegan curry sauce, I recommend omitting the fish sauce all together. You can add extra coconut aminos, salt, or lime juice to taste at the end if the flavor isn't quite how you like it.
- Spice level: The spice level of this sauce depends on the curry powder you're using. I personally think it's pretty mild. If you're looking for more spice, I recommend adding your favorite hot sauce or cayenne powder, to taste.
WAYS TO USE THIS easy curry sauce recipe
Obviously, you can use this sauce in a traditional curry with rice, veggies, and meat (or beans). This coconut chickpea curry recipe uses this sauce.
You can also do a self-serve style and set the jar of curry sauce on the table at dinner.
Pour it over a bowl or plate of food and use as much as you like! This approach works great if you have picky eaters at the table! They can use as much, or as little, of the sauce as they’d like.
Looking for more delicious homemade sauces?
Easy Pizza Sauce With Tomato Paste
Best Homemade Peanut Dipping Sauce
How to save this recipe
To save this recipe digitally, you can save this recipe to Pinterest, to your browser bookmarks, or save to one of the many other amazing meal planning apps that you might use.
For my paper and pencil people, print it out and save it to your meal planning binder (or recipe binder).
5 Minute Coconut Curry Sauce
A sweet and delicious coconut curry sauce. Perfect for dinner tonight!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 2 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 13.5 ounce can of coconut milk
- 2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 tablespoon coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- juice of ½ lime
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan, heat oil and curry powder for about a minute.
- Add the coconut milk and turmeric and heat until reduced to your desired thickness. I typically only cook it for a few minutes before taking if off the heat.
- When it's as thick as you'd like, turn off the heat and add the lime juice, coconut aminos, and fish sauce. Stir until combined.
- Store in an air tight container in the fridge. It should keep for about a week.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: ¼ CAmount Per Serving: Calories: 144Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 269mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 1gSugar: 5gProtein: 2g
Don't forget to Pin & save this for later!
Jill says
My husband loves curry and eats it regularly... he said this is the best sauce he has ever had. I like how simple it is to make!
Megan says
What a great compliment. I'm glad you're enjoying the curry sauce!
Andrew says
I am a huge curry fan, but I had to give it up because the only version I knew of was made from a very processed packaged product. Then I found this homemade recipe. Not only was it extremely easy to make, but it was SOOO good. It is one of my favorite meals to serve for people since I like it so much and it makes me look good ;). I have used it a couple different ways: (1) With cauliflower rice and other stir fry veggies; (2) With chicken tenders... I dip the uncooked chicken in the sauce and then put it in my air frier (yum!).
Megan says
Thanks for your comment Andrew. I'm so glad you're enjoying this recipe. It's one of our favorites too :).
Mo Weber says
What could I use to substitute for the fish sauce as I'm vegan? Thanks!
Megan says
Hi there! I would recommend omitting the fish sauce to make this vegan, and adding a little more salt at the end until it tastes how you like it. Thanks for your comment. Hope you enjoy!
Angela says
You can buy vegan fish sauce. I get mine from either an Asian shop or a vegan store.
Megan Barrett says
Oh, great tip! Thanks!
Jennifer says
Way too much turmeric for me. It tasted so bitter! I'm going to add fix it by making another batch to combine it with, minus the turmeric. I knew I should have stopped at 1/2 tsp.
Otherwise it was not as good as other curry's I've made.
Megan says
Jennifer, If you want to balance out the bitterness, add more lime juice. When I make it it's not bitter because the limey-ness (not sure that's a word) really rounds it out. Hope that helps!
Renee says
So good and so happy to have found this! My husband loves curry and I used to use a packaged sauce, but due to my own diet changes could no longer eat those sauces and even if I could, I will never go back to store bought. This is so much better and so easy to make!
terry says
I couldn’t seem to get it thick enough, help?
Megan says
Hey Terry! What kind of coconut milk were you using? And how thick did you want it? A few ideas: sub coconut cream for coconut milk, or add a bit of thickener if it's still not thick enough. Hope that helps!
IBRAHIM MOHAMMED says
Greetings would like to learn more about coconut sauce
Michelle says
Hi! Coconut aminos mimic the flavor of soy sauce and is a great substitute, I hope that helps. ~michelle
Megan Barrett says
Thanks Michelle!
Cookery says
Too thin and kind of bland in my opinion
Megan Barrett says
Thanks for your comment! I hope you find a way to make it just how you like it! For more flavor, I'd recommend adding more lime juice, curry powder, or whatever you think it needs (you know your taste preferences best). For a thicker consistency, I'd recommend coconut cream or a thickener (tapioca, arrowroot, etc.). Good luck!
Kathy says
Hi! I was wondering something when you say Curry do you mean Indian curry or Chinese Curry. I have a pocket of dry yellow Chinese Curry can I use that?
Megan Barrett says
Hey Kathy! Thanks for your question. When I say "curry powder" I'm referring to the Indian curry powder. I'd be curious how the Chinese curry powder would taste, as I haven't tried it!
Lee says
Hi there,
Can i use soy sauce instead of coconut aminos and if so how much?
Rgds
Lee says
I am asking because my local supermarket does not have coconut aminos.
Thanks.
Megan Barrett says
Lee, You can definitely substitute soy sauce for the coconut aminos. Soy sauce is saltier, and coconut aminos has more sweetness. I'd start with using 1 Tbsp of soy sauce and taste it to see if it needs more salt or not. This will be a personal preference for you. Also, I'd add a bit more lime juice to account for the missing coconut aminos sweetness. Hope this helps!
R.E.DemickSr. says
Can this recipe be canned?
Arwen says
Comes together very quickly and everyone loved this curry, thank you!
Megan Barrett says
Thanks for your comment! Glad you enjoyed it!
Shelley says
Just made this. Love it! I needed to substitute the lime juice for some lemon and orange juice ( due to allergies) I used avacado oil ( no coconut oil on hand), used kikomen soya sauce ( sweeter than China lily), then added a bit more curry powder to taste. This comes out more savory than sweet but perfect for putting over left over vegetables and rice for my work food!! Thank you for a wonderfully quick sauce.
Megan Barrett says
I love that you made it your own :). Thanks for your comment!
Lea says
This is probably the 6th curry sauce recipe I’ve tried and the first one I’m saving. Hands down, it is the best one. Absolutely delicious, with layers of flavor I can’t get enough of. Thank you so much!!
Megan Barrett says
I'm so glad you liked it!
Kathy says
What about curry paste? Would that work?
Megan Barrett says
I haven't used curry paste with this recipe, so I can't say for sure. Sounds like a new recipe in the making for STB 🙂
Steph says
As the kids would say, this sauce SLAPS! I omitted the extra turmeric because my curry powder already listed turmeric as one of the first ingredients. I doubled the recipe to feed a crowd at a campsite on the night it was our turn to make dinner; I used about 2.5x the curry powder called for and doubled the rest of the ingredients. I used one can of canned coconut milk and one can of coconut cream and the texture was perfect. About 2.5 minutes of cooking time in I was concerned because it tasted pretty bitter. 2.5 minutes later, having reduced the sauce and added the lime juice, the bitterness was completely gone. Then I threw it in my vitamix to make sure it was really well combined and emulsified. I combined the sauce with roasted carrots, potatoes, chickpeas and onion as base vegetables (and served some curry-marinated chicken on the side for meat eaters). We froze the curry sauce with veg in vacuum sealed packs then did a very easy reheat by throwing the bags in a pot of boiling water before serving. It froze and reheated impeccably and was a nourishing and tasty meal for a bunch of weary campers at the end of a long day of desert adventures. 11/10 would make again - like, tomorrow night in fact!