It’s HOT outside, so I’m experimenting a lot with my slow cooker this week. Slow cookers are awesome not only because they’re mostly hands-off, but also because they contain their heat well and don’t cause that dreaded ambient heat rise in your kitchen. So, while I totally could have just boiled these Coconut Curry Lentils on the stove top, I saved myself some steam and sweat by cooking them in my slow cooker.
How to Serve Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Lentils
My only issue with using my slow cooker a lot in the summer is that slow cooker recipes are often warm and heavy, more like winter recipes. To freshen these Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Lentils up a bit, I topped them with finely diced red onion and a liberal sprinkle of chopped cilantro. If you don’t like cilantro, you can add some sliced green onion for a similar effect. For even more freshness, try adding a dollop of plain yogurt and a squeeze of lime juice.
Can I Freeze Coconut Curry Lentils?
This recipe makes a lot but luckily it freezes well–rice and all! Just portion everything out into single-serving freezer-safe containers, chill completely in the refrigerator, then transfer to the freezer.
What Size Slow Cooker Should I Use?
This makes a super big batch of lentils, so I would suggest using a 6-quart slow cooker. I use a very basic slow cooker from Hamilton Beach, which is so old that it’s not in production anymore, but you can find a similar slow cooker here. (affiliate link)
What Kind of Curry Powder Should I Use?
You can use either a hot or mild curry powder, depending on whether you prefer your lentils to be mild or spicy. People often ask me what brand curry powder I use, and I have enjoyed both the 365 brand curry powder and Sharwood’s curry powder. Or you can try making your own curry powder at home with this recipe for Easy Homemade Curry Powder from Spiceitupp.com
Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Lentils
Servings 10 cupsIngredients
COCONUT CURRY LENTILS
- 1 yellow onion ($0.37)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 2 cups brown lentils ($1.36)
- 1 sweet potato (about 3/4 lb.) ($0.98)
- 2 carrots ($0.22)
- 3 Tbsp curry powder (hot or mild) ($0.45)
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves (optional) ($0.03)
- 1 15oz. can petite diced tomatoes ($0.65)
- 1 15oz. can tomato sauce ($0.99)
- 3 cups vegetable broth* ($0.39)
- 1 14oz. can coconut milk (full fat) ($2.47)
FOR SERVING
- 10 cups cooked rice ($0.99)
- 1/2 red onion ($0.40)
- 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro or green onions ($0.40)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Peel the sweet potato and carrots. Dice the sweet potato (1/4-1/2 inch cubes) and slice the carrots.
- Add the onion, garlic, sweet potato, carrots, lentils, curry powder, cloves, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and vegetable broth to the slow cooker. Stir to combine. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7-8 hours. Once cooked, the lentils should be tender and most of the liquid should be absorbed.
- Stir the can of coconut milk into the lentils. Taste and adjust the salt or other spices as needed (the amount of salt needed will depend on the type of broth used and the salt content of the canned tomatoes).
- To serve, add 1 cup cooked rice to a bowl followed by 1 cup of the lentil mixture. Top with finely diced red onion and fresh cilantro.
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Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Slow Cooker Curry Lentils – Step by Step Photos
Dice one onion (it’s under all that stuff) and mince two cloves of garlic. Peel one sweet potato (3/4-1 lb.) and peel two carrots. Dice the sweet potato and slice the carrots. Add the onion, garlic, sweet potato, and carrots to the slow cooker, along with 2 cups uncooked brown lentils.
Also add one 15oz. can of petite diced tomatoes, a 15oz. can of tomato sauce, 3 Tbsp curry powder (mild or hot–your preference), and 1/4 tsp ground cloves. I’ve decided that I really like cloves in my curry, but if you’re not a clove person you can leave it out.
This is the curry powder I use, BTW. It’s just something I picked up at the grocery store, but it has pretty good potency. Curry powders can vary quite a bit from brand to brand in both flavor and potency, so you might have to experiment to find one that you like. I like to buy mild curry powder and then just add cayenne to dishes when I want things spicy.
Finally, add 3 cups vegetable broth to the slow cooker and give everything a good stir.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7-8 hours. If your slow cooker runs extra hot or doesn’t hold in moisture well, keep an eye on the cooker to make sure the lentils are not drying out. If they begin to look dry or burned on the edges, add more water. After cooking the lentils should be tender and most of the broth absorbed.
Stir in one 14oz. can of full-fat coconut milk. Give the lentils a taste and adjust the salt or other spices if needed. The amount of salt needed will depend on the salt content of your vegetable broth and canned tomatoes. Mine had plenty of salt, so I added none. If you find the lentils to be bland at this point, add a 1/2 tsp of salt or so to see if that makes the flavors pop.
To serve the lentils, add 1 cup cooked rice to a bowl, followed by 1 cup of the coconut curried lentils. Top with finely diced red onion and fresh cilantro (or green onions if you’re not a cilantro person). Other optional toppings include: plain yogurt, a squeeze of fresh lime, or thinly sliced jalapeños.
These Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Lentils are sure to fuel ALL of your summer adventures! :D
Delicious! And I forgot to buy diced tomatoes, so I made it without them the first time! I’m making it again today- I will add a little extra curry, but that’s a personal preference. So tasty, and it has been great during “quarantine” because I can stock up once at the store and make it much later!
Shoot! I added the coconut milk to the slow cooker with all of the other ingredients at the beginning. Did I just ruin dinner?
Sorry for the delay Jenny but you should be just fine!
Jenny, I did the same. How’d it turn out?
I love how hearty and healthy this is but it tasted a little tomato-heavy when I made it with the diced tomatoes and sauce. I’d like to cut out the can of tomato sauce but I’m worried less liquid will affect how well everything cooks. Can you recommend a substitute?
I think I would just replace it with an extra cup of vegetable broth. :)
Where is the nutrition info ?
I can not see it anywhere.
We only recently brought on a Registered Dietician to our team. She’s working hard behind the scenes to update the entire recipe database, over 1500+ recipes, with nutritional information. She’s working her way from the newest recipes back and it takes some time to update them all. Stay tuned!
Greetings from Texas,
I do not have a slow cooker available for this recipe. Is there a modification to use a instant pot, or just cook on stove top.
I am to have this ready for dinner tonight. I will wing it if need be, but would like do use the instant pot.
I would appreciate advice or suggestions on which method to use.
By the way, I do very much enjoy your website and have recommended it to several friends.
Ron
You can do this on the stove top in a pot just by bringing it up to a boil (with a lid) and then once boiling, reduce the heat to low. Let it simmer until the lentils and the potatoes are tender. It should only take 30 minutes or so. You can let it simmer longer if you like, but brown lentils usually cook pretty quickly. :)
My Instant Pot has a slow cooker setting. I bought the slow cooker lid for it and use it just like any other slow cooker. Saves space in my tiny kitchen!
I made this last night and I was REALLY impressed by how cheap it was to make sooo much food. I was pretty satisfied with this meal but was a little disappointed in the flavor. Mine was a little… bland? Is it just because I use generic brand curry powder that may not be of the best quality? Or that I didn’t have fresh cilantro on hand? How can I amp up the flavor next time?
I found mine bland as well. I added a bit of cayenne and drizzled lime on individual bowl.
Oooooo.. drizzled lime sounds perfect!!!
Fast, easy, cheap ingredients, yummy!! I ran out of time so slow-cooked for only an hour then finished it in the instant pot on high pressure for 5 minutes.
Thanks Heather!
Do I use canned unsweetened coconut milk? Or is canned sweetened coconut milk ok?
Unsweetened. Use the type of coconut milk that comes in a can, not the type that is supposed to be a dairy milk substitute.
Love it, such a simple, tasty, healthy meal. Just a few minutes of prep (if you have the time, I recommend sauteing the onion, garlic, and spices in a splash of oil, then adding to the slow cooker), and I’ve got dinner taken care of. I didn’t have tomato sauce, so I used a can of tomato paste and added another cup of water – seemed to work fine.
I’ve been nervous about trying this recipe because I love curry so much, but this was so good. I blended the tomatoes because I hate tomato chunks and only used a small can of tomato sauce. I put everything except the coconut milk in my instant pot for twenty minutes with a natural release of ten minutes as recommended by another reviewer. I also used a few dashes of cloves. My two year old even ate this. This makes a lot so I plan to freeze a bunch of it.
Hooray!!
Would there be a big difference using red lentils? Thanks!
Yes those would be okay.
Red lentils kind of “dissolve” more than green lentils when cooking. I love the flavor and dissolving part of red lentils, but I also like that green lentils keep some firmness and shape when cooked. I like to use a combination of the two, so the result has the creaminess and taste of the red lentils, and the firmness of the green. Adding some other, firmer veggies, like diced potatoes, garbanzo beans, and diced carrots make it heftier, if that’s what you are looking for.
Tastes great but lentils will not get tender. I put in slow cooker on high for 4 hrs, trying another 4 hrs now. Maybe it’s my cooker?
The same thing happened to me! I cooked it on high for almost 10 hours and they were still not tender. I ended up having to finish in a large pot on the stove.
Delicious! My only changes were that I did his in the instant pot instead of the slow cooker and I used crushed tomatoes instead of the diced and paste but that’s only because it’s all I had in the cupboard. Instant pot was 20 min manual, 10 min npr. I stirred everything together except the tomatoes, put them on top, then added the coconut milk after it cooked. Served with cauliflower rice and it was delicious!
I made this in my Instant Pot using the Bean/Chili function for 15 minutes and it was delicious! Anytime I need to stock my freezer or feed a crowd I’ll make this again.
I use this recipe so much, very easy, cheap, healthy and tasty! It has it all. I have recently got a pressure cooker to help speed up meal time, any tips for converting these recipes to use in the instant pot?
Hello from UK! What do you mean by tomato sauce? Is that the same as Passata? Thanks
Passata is probably the closest thing to what we call tomato sauce here in the U.S. I think our tomato sauce may have a little more salt, and sometimes a little onion or garlic in it, but barely any. It’s mostly cooked and puréed tomatoes.
Thank you. I’m making this for my kids and nieces tomorrow.