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.
These curried lentils are the bomb! I had half an onion chopped up with bell pepper leftover in the fridge and I added extra carrots and lentils (and quinoa, since there wasn’t enough left to really use on its own) also added extraaaa curry powder and some sliced serrano that I had hanging around and it is astounding.
So thankful for this recipe! I am a new vegan and also a college student, and not only is this recipe delicious but it’s so so quick and easy to make, and also soooo cheap!! Great for meal prepping too!!! I use fire roasted diced tomato instead, and some extra Cayanne pepper cause I like things spicy! This recipe will be a staple of mine for years! Thank you!
What if I wanted to add ground beef to this recipe? At what point would I add it?
I would probably brown the beef first, then continue by adding the garlic, onion, and carrot and proceed as usual.
I just made this tonight for me and my husband- delicious! I ended up doubling the recipe for left overs and I’m so glad I did!! My husband likes it a little spicy so he added a touch more curry plus shirracha to his while i added sour cream to mine (I’m a wienie when it comes to heat :) We just made some yeast less naan to enjoy with it and it was a simple but delightful meal! So glad I found your site and can’t wait to try more of your recipes! :)
Is the tomaro sauce passata or puree or jetchup?
It’s not exactly the same as passata, but definitely more similar to passata than ketchup. Ketchup has way too much sugar to use in this recipe.
This has been my go-to comfort food! Made it probably a half-dozen times, always a hit.
I found this recipe very bland. It was good to get me started cooking lentils but thats it.
This was a huge hit! It was our first time boiling our own lentils (rather than purchasing them canned), and oh my goodness, it turned out brilliantly. Thank you for being a constant source of inspiration and yummy meals on a shoestring! This recipe is excellent and so filling. We added spinach to get in some leafy greens and it turned out great. :)
Didn’t taste like traditional curry, but whatever it was tasted amazing. It came out super fresh tasting with a tomato forward flavor.
If you like lentils, like I do, I invite you to try this recipe. It’s super easy and I just made it minutes ago. It tastes soooo good! I tend to use what’s on hand so there were a few substitutions – I used red lentils instead of brown ; added only another clove of garlic (cuz we love garlic and I say only because we will be around people later), did half Turmeric and half Curry powder; used diced tomatoes because I didn’t have tomato sauce and because I love more texture in my food anyway; and used fresh parsley as we didn’t have fresh cilantro on hand. Oh and a fresh squeeze of lemon before eating it (well, because everything just goes better with a fresh squeeze of lemon!). I will be making this regularly.
Hi Beth! I’m a big fan of this recipe, but like anybody else I dislike cleanup and prefer to condense multiple cooking sessions into one whenever possible. I was wondering if I could do this recipe using three times the ingredients used here, and cook it in a big 10 qt. pot (or whatever else will hold it, I don’t own a pan big enough for that much). Have you tried this, or can you comment on any changes that might be needed? Thanks!
Yep, if you have a pot big enough you should be able to just triple it without making any other major adjustments! :)
Oh man…these were freaking delish! I have had this sad jar of lentils in my pantry for so long because I just can’t find that many recipes I like for them (other than the lentil/feta salad in your cookbook, haha!). SoOoOo glad I tried these. Definitely going in the regular rotation!
This turned out so delicious
Soooo good. I used red lentils which turned super mushy but apart from that were absolutely fine. Added some garam masala and cayenne pepper to give it a bit more of a kick. Came out to maybe 50 Euro cents per portion. Amazing!
Delicious! Thank you for the recipe :)
I’m a novice at cooking, so if I can make this, anyone can.