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If you are a fan of easy, low-effort, delicious dinners with incredible flavour - make this Baked Mushroom Curry! Just dump everything in a pan and bake in the oven for a creamy, delicious weeknight curry that everyone loves. Can't get any simpler than that!

Baked Mushroom Curry in a copper pan with a tea towel resting underneath.
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🍄 Secret to a good Mushroom Curry

This recipe is unlike any curry recipe I have ever cooked or shared on the blog. It is a great example of modern cuisine and the way we cook and eat now. A one-pan baked mushroom curry recipe that is cooked entirely in one pan and entirely in the oven but one that produces the most luscious creamy curry with perfectly cooked mushrooms and loads of flavour without any effort at all. The secret to that creamy sauce? A bit of coconut milk and a dollop of store-bought mango chutney.

One might argue that this dish is Indian but I would place it firmly in the modern fusion category. One of the reasons is that the recipe uses curry powder which is more prevalent in the Western world as is the process of baking it in the oven. Therefore mushroom curry of entirely vegan origin is a mish-mash of cultures, cuisines and ingenuity.  Just like another one of my favourite dishes from the British colonial era - Smoked Salmon Kedgeree!

To make a great curry, there are a few simple rules I like to follow. A curry that requires a shorter cooking time, benefits from the use of leek rather than onion. This is because leek cooks much faster and softens almost instantly as opposed to onion which needs a longer cooking time to soften and caramelise. I also love leek more because of its inherent sweetness and the gentle texture it brings to the dish.

Baked Mushroom Curry served in a pan.

📝 Ingredients & Substitutions

Here are some simple, everyday ingredients you will need to make this mushroom curry,

Baked Mushroom Curry - Cook Republic #vegan #glutenfree
  • Mushrooms - Mushrooms take centre stage in this beautiful fragrant mushroom curry. I love to use a mix of mushrooms. Big, meaty Portabello mushrooms sliced thickly along with small white button or cup mushrooms and Swiss brown mushrooms. Each mushroom has slightly different flavour profiles and together they provide a great variety of sizes and mouth feel.
  • Alliums and Aromatics - I use leek for my curry base. Leek cooks very quickly and has a sweet taste without being overtly spicy. You can substitute with white onion but you must remember to cook it down until softened and caramelized. I use fresh ginger and garlic. These can be substituted with ginger and garlic pastes. I always use fresh young ginger in my recipes. Young ginger is planted in spring and harvested in late summer and early autumn. It has pale white juicy flesh with green and soft pink hues and a milder but sweeter taste. It is fantastic for grating and needs no peeling. The ginger that is not harvested is left in the ground to mature and is the ginger with thicker darker skin that is available year-round. If you only have old ginger on hand, make sure you peel the skin before grating to avoid getting fibrous lumps in your curry.
  • Whole Spices - I use black mustard and fenugreek seeds along with fresh chillies. Black mustard has a warming, pungent flavour whereas fenugreek adds earthy bitterness. Toasting or frying the spices is a guaranteed way to get a fragrant and beautiful curry. The flavours that develop as a result are unreal.
  • Curry Powder - This is the star of this gorgeous mushroomcurry. Curry powder is a colonial-era invention created by Indian merchants to be sold to the British. It was designed to embody all the flavours of a complex curry. It comprises turmeric, coriander, chillies, mustard, ginger, cumin and fenugreek. There are many different brands available - Keen's, Clive Of India and Bolst's. My favourite is the Bolst's Hot Curry powder, a truly authentic and delicious curry powder created by the Bolst family of Bangalore in India.
  • Mango Chutney - This is the secret ingredient that adds that wow factor to my Mushroom Curry. You will find this sweet, sour and tangy mango curry in the relish section of the supermarkets. Beerenberg, Masterfoods, Goan Cuisine are all good brands. This delightfully tangy mango chutney is a non-traditional relish made with raw mango, apple, onion, capsicum, ginger, sugar, lemon, vinegar and spices.
  • Tomatoes and Coconut Milk - I use fresh tomatoes but you can substitute with diced canned tomatoes. Coconut milk makes a beautiful dairy-free base sauce for this mushroom curry. Use full-fat is possible for a creamier curry.

I have been known to throw in all kinds of things (within reason of course!)  in my mushroom curry to intensify and create a more complex flavour. But the idea for adding mango chutney to my curry came from a recipe in Jamie magazine that this recipe is adapted from. It is a genius idea really! The mango chutney is already an amazing combination of sweet, sour, spicy and salty. A dollop of that in the curry rounds it off nicely, adding just that touch of sweetness and tanginess to balance the creamy nature of the curry. Plus it also thickens the sauce as the curry bakes in the oven. This recipe has instantly gone from experimentation to most cooked in our home. I hope you love it too.

🍛 How to make a Baked Mushroom Curry?

  1. Saute leek, garlic, ginger, chilli and whole spices in oil in a wide shallow oven-proof pan on medium heat.
Baked Mushroom Curry - Cook Republic #vegan #glutenfree

2. Add mushrooms and ground spices. Cook for a couple of minutes until mushrooms start to soften.

Baked Mushroom Curry - Cook Republic #vegan #glutenfree

3. Add tomato, coconut milk, mango chutney and salt. Mix and bake in the oven until done.

Baked Mushroom Curry - Cook Republic #vegan #glutenfree
Baked mushroom curry served with steamed rice.

🍽️ Serving Suggestions

Serve this Baked Mushroom Curry with some steamed basmati rice and pappadums. Jazz up your meal with some more Indian recipes like

🧡 More Delicious Curry Recipes

Recipe

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Baked Mushroom Curry - Cook Republic #vegan #glutenfree

EASY BAKED MUSHROOM CURRY

4.92 from 24 votes
Print Recipe Rate / Comment
Author: Sneh
Course // Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine // Gluten Free, Vegan
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 leek, thinly sliced (white only)
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon grated ginger
  • 1 red chilli, sliced
  • 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
  • 500 g mixed mushrooms, portobello, button and Swiss brown, thickly sliced
  • 1-2 teaspoons hot curry powder
  • 3 tomatoes, diced
  • 300 ml coconut milk
  • 1 tablespoon mango chutney
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt flakes, or to taste
  • extra chilli slices, to serve
  • fresh coriander leaves, to serve

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 200°C.
  • Place 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a 30cm ovenproof casserole/sauté pan. Add leek, garlic, ginger, chilli, mustard and fenugreek seeds to the pan. Mix and place in the oven for 5 minutes until spices are crackling and leek is starting to caramelize.
  • Remove from oven. Add the mushrooms to the pan along with 1 tablespoon olive oil and curry powder. Mix well and return to the oven for 10 minutes.
  • Remove from the oven. Add tomatoes, coconut milk, mango chutney and salt. Mix well and return to the oven to bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, until the curry is a shade darker and thick.
  • Remove from the oven. Garnish with chilli slices, coriander and serve with brown rice.

Notes

I often find that if I turn the oven off after the baking time of 25-30 minutes and leave the curry in the already hot oven for another 15 minutes, the curry gets a beautiful caramelised flavour and thickens quite a lot.
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