This recipe for Curried Lentils is a spin-off of the ever-popular Quick Curried Chickpeas. It always amazes me how a recipe with so few ingredients can have such big flavor! For this version, I subbed out chickpeas for lentils, added some diced carrot for color and sweetness (and because my New Year’s resolution is VEGETABLES!), and increased the curry powder. The result, although not exactly pretty, was so good that I couldn’t stop piling forkfuls into my mouth while I took the photos. Seriously, I couldn’t stop.
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There are so many ways you can eat these Curried Lentils that I decided to present the recipe as the lentils themselves. They’d be great as part of an Indian platter with some creamed spinach and naan. You could stuff them into a pita as sort of a sloppy joe-like sandwich (but vegetarian, of course), or you could build a “bowl” meal with brown rice, a fried egg, and maybe even some spinach. Options, options, options!
This recipe made about four cups and depending on how you serve it, that should be at minimum four servings. Pretty stinking cheap. If you happen to have any left over, these lentils should freeze quite well.
Curried Lentils
Servings 4 1 cup eachIngredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 medium onion ($0.32)
- 3 medium carrots (1/2 lb.) ($0.55)
- 1 cup uncooked brown lentils ($0.68)
- 2 Tbsp curry powder hot or mild ($0.60)
- 15 oz can tomato sauce* ($0.59)
- Salt to taste ($0.02)
- 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro (optional) ($0.40)
Instructions
- Spread the lentils out on a baking sheet to make them easier to see. Pick out any stones or debris. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a sauce pot, then add the lentils. Allow the pot to come back up to a boil, then turn the heat to low, place a lid on top, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. Drain the cooked lentils in a colander.
- Meanwhile, mince the garlic and finely dice the onion and carrots. Sauté the onion, garlic, and carrots in a large skillet with olive oil over medium heat until the onions are transparent (about 5 minutes). Add the curry powder and sauté for one minute more.
- Add the cooked and drained lentils to the skillet, along with the tomato sauce. Stir and heat through (about 5 minutes). Turn the heat off, taste the lentils, and add salt if needed (I added about 1/2 tsp).
- Top with fresh cilantro and serve over a bed of rice, with naan, or crusty bread.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Curried Lentils – Step by Step Photos
For this recipe I used brown lentils because they cook quickly and hold their shape. Brown lentils cook in about 20 minutes, whereas French or green lentils take closer to 45 minutes. Red and yellow lentils also cook quickly, but they tend to break down and turn into mush when cooked. I definitely wanted the lentils to stay whole.
To cook the lentils, bring a pot with about 3 cups of water to a boil (the amount of water isn’t so crucial, just as long as there is enough for the lentils to move about freely, kind of like when cooking pasta. It will be drained off later). Once boiling, add 1 cup of dry lentils. Let the pot come back up to a boil, then turn the heat down to low, place a lid on top, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, test a lentil to see if it’s tender. If not, let it simmer for about 5 more minutes. Drain the lentils in colander once finished cooking.
Meanwhile, prep and cook the vegetables. Mince two cloves of garlic and finely dice one medium onion and three medium carrots (about 1/2 lb.).
Add the garlic, onions, and carrots to a large skillet along with one tablespoon of olive oil. Sauté over medium heat until the onions become transparent, about 5 minutes.
Add two tablespoons of curry powder and sauté for one minute more (this toasts the spices and helps bring out their flavor). All curry powders are a little different, so you can start with one tablespoon and increase it to your liking.
Add the cooked and drained lentils, plus one 15oz. can of tomato sauce. Stir to combine and then heat through (about five minutes). Taste the lentils and add salt if needed. I added about 1/2 teaspoon.
Serve them hot topped with fresh cilantro (if you’re a cilantro person).
There are a lot of different ways you can eat these Curried Lentils, this yummy bowl being one of them. I added a bed of brown jasmine rice, the lentils, a fried egg, and some fresh cilantro. SO GOOD.
I love this site. I’m a college student living with my parents, and they don’t like me using up all their food for my lunches (unreasonable, I know.) So I’ve been taking the weird stuff that I know they’ll never use, a lb of lentils for instance, and using recipes from this site. I guess I just want to let you know that your work is well apreciated!
So much yum! I just used an entire bag of Goya lentils and just added the sautéed vegetables to the pot of lentils (more beans, same water amount—>no need to strain). I have a lot of lentils now that I’ve been eating for lunch and dinner almost every day but they’re still delicious.
I can’t believe how amazing this recipe is! And so hearty, too!
I added a huge pinch of garam masala to the tomato sauce before I mixed it in.
Phenomenal!
I made this a week ago and it was delicious. I froze the leftovers and reheated them last night with some coconut milk and some Thai chili peppers from the garden, I served it over yellow jasmine rice. Fantastic! Thanks for the great recipe.
I made this tonight and just finished eating it a minute ago. It was delicious. As I was prepping the vegetables I realized I didn’t have enough carrots so I added some cauliflower in addition, which turned out really well. Very easy to make, portions turned out larger than I expected, which I was happy with. I’m pleasantly full now.
Luv this recipe with red lentils. thank u so much.
I’ve made so many of your recipes Beth (your website is so amazing!) but this has got to be my favorite recipe I’ve tried yet! It’s so delicious and tastes so authentic! The most recent time I made this I used red lentils (I like their texture better), I used one Tbsp of curry paste along with 1 Tbsp curry powder (the paste is pretty inexpensive at my local grocery stores and it lasts forever, so if you plan on making any more curries you should definitely invest in some) and added some sausage that was nearing its expiration date. My favorite iteration of this recipe yet. Thank you so much for your website!
I made these for lunch today because I needed something vegan AND something I could use in my pressure cooker. The PC is a new toy for me;) SO SO good. My curry powder ended up being just a little spicy but no matter because I had to use some diluted tomato paste instead of tomato sauce and the spice kept the sauce from tasting too bland. I’ll definitely try it over rice with a fried egg. Maybe even for dinner tonight!
You should look into buying/using a pressure cooker if you dont have one. You have such great recipes on this website including this one that would benefit greatly (through time mostly) if you used one :)
Can’t wait to try this recipe this week. I am making the dragon noodles and fried rice for dinner tonight and I am so excited!
These were great! The spice was a great complement to the sweetness of the tomato sauce. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Wait, drain the water? What? No, make a very thick soup – start with sauteing the onion, garlic, carrots in olive oil, then add the lentils and water, cook, then add some finishing veggies whatever you like, zucchini, celery, etc, and some spices, simmer another 10 mins, and add some greens at the last 2 mins. Simmer till desired thickness. Same recipe, just different order, and you have the yummy broth.
Hi, when in the recipe you say ‘tomato sauce’ is a US only thing, I think the equivalent in the UK is ‘tomato passata’ – basically pureed tomatoes that you can get in a carton or jar.
Tomato sauce is also called marinara sauce, or even simply “pasta sauce”.
Tomato passata would be very simialr, but the sauce normally has italian spices in it.
I made this last night and am enjoying leftovers for lunch today! I added a a half a zucchini to the onioin/carrot mixture that needed to be used up and it’s a nice touch of green. Served this with the cashew rice pilaf and my house smelled amazing.
I’ve already made this twice! I added two chicken breasts cut into chunks, one cubed sweet potato and a can of diced tomatoes. The first time I served it over rice but the second time I served it over spaghetti squash. It was delicious!!
Nice and simple. I used canned lentils, as raw (?) ones are hard to come by where I live and expensive when you can find them. Turned out great!