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
This was so delicious I can’t even explain! Everything came out perfect even after accidentally putting 3 c of lentils instead of 2 lol. Thank you for this delicious recipe, new favorite meal prep dish
Made this the other night and it’s amazing!!
Any idea how many calories/serving?!
Love this recipe! I’ve made it twice already and it’s come out amazing both times. One suggestion that I would make though, add juice from one lemon at the very end of cooking. It adds a wonderful flavor and gets rid of the need to add salt (I used homemade broth with no salt and with the lemon juice there was no need to add any extra).
I made this dish for my boyfriend and I for Valentine’s Day and it was a huge success! Got a little na’anghty afterwards. Highly suggest!
Really tasty, even though i realized my lentils were actually split peas, and i used paste instead of diced tomatoes (sorry its all i had in the house!) and it was Still really good! I will definitely make this again. Even my partner professes to not like sweet potatoes but he didn’t even notice them muahahaha!
Just made this last night! I subbed red lentils for brown and it came out with a great texture. I added probably 1/8 cup of sugar to cut the acidity and it was absolutely delicious!
I probably already commented but i just defrosted a surprise meal and worked out it was this – the flavors are somehow even richer. THANK YOU!
I was wondering if you could freeze portions of this…sounds like you did and it was great! I plan on trying it.
haha! I love defrosting surprise meals. Is it stew? Soup? Chili? Bolognese sauce? Who cares, lets eat!
This meal is the PERFECT meal for any college student- I don’t have to be at home while it’s cooking, it makes a ton, and it freezes well. For the past three semesters I have made it the first week of classes and portion at least half of it to freeze for later in the semester when I just don’t feel like cooking. It’s easy and CHEAP!
Can this be made in an instant pot to reduce cooking time?
Yes, this recipe would probably convert very well. I would probably try the bean/chili setting.
Can I make this on the stovetop? If so, how long do you think it should cook for?
Yes, you can basically just simmer them until the lentils, sweet potatoes, and carrots are tender. The type of lentils I use cook quickly, in about 20-30 minutes. :)
I’ve seen a lot of comments saying the lentils never cooked. On my brown bag of lentils, the cooking instructions were to boil them, then simmer them for an hour! Those are some slow cooking lentils. I keep seeing it said that they only take twenty minutes. I did mine in the slow cooker for 3 hours and there wasn’t much of a dent made in them. Then I simmered them on the stove for an hour and it was perfect. Not too mushy, perfectly cooked. I’m glad I saved the recipe! I really liked it, I’ll do it stovetop from now on.
Yes, unfortunately there isn’t a lot of consistency when it comes to labeling lentils, so sometimes they’re called green, sometimes they’re called brown, sometimes the package will simply say “lentils”. The brown lentils I use cook very quickly in about 20 minutes (boiling or simmering), and are the kind that are most often found in major US grocery stores. But there are many, many varieties of lentils out there and some do take a long time to cook. I try my best to describe what type to get, but with there being no consistency in the labeling, it can get really confusing for people. :(
I made this today and accidentally mixed in the coconut milk with everything else. It still came out tasting awesome.
We didn’t have curry powder but had a red Thai curry paste so it came out a little different than intended but still a total hit in our house.
Thank you!!
Lentils never softened, after leaving the slow cooker on high for 10+ hours… Reading around it seems better to cook lentils separately then add them.
Annoying you don’t provide that suggestion!
Uh, yes. Exact same thing happened here. Very frustrating. It’s 5pm and it’s been cooking since 8am. Lentils are nowhere near ready. I guess I’ll have to figure something else out for dinner.
In mine the lentils were fine after a few hours on high, but I left it cooking overnight (on low) for the sweet potato pieces to soften.
This is what keeps happening to me, but I LOVE this dish so much that I am trying to figure out how to fix it! Usually, I just end up so hungry I eat crunchy lentils. I think I may try just cooking it on the stovetop this time and see if that works better. Curious to see if anyone has a better fix.
Weird, just finished same recipe with no problem… Check your slow cooker temps?
Not sure if lentils react like beans do when slow cooking but I just made this recipe and cooked it on low for 8 hours. The lentils were soft between 6 and 7 hours. So that is weird they wouldn’t be soft yet. I know with beans if you cook them with salt it drastically slows down the cooking process. I dont know if you people having this problem used salt prior to cooking but if you did I would try cooking without amd add at the end and see if that helps for ya! Good luck!
Every slow cooker is different. If you had yours on high for 10 hours and your lentils weren’t soft, your cooker temps are way off. Never had an issue with lentils in my slow cooker, personally.
This is an excellent dish! I have been trying to hunt down a really tasty vegetarian curry recipe that I can enjoy on chilly winter evenings. We made this for Christmas Eve this year and it was such a hit! I omitted serving with rice and instead just serviced with fresh homemade garlic naan. What a wonderful dish, thank you!
I am a very huge fan of coconut. When I cook with coconut milk, I try to allow the flavour to come through as much as possible. I’m worried that adding the tomato sauce might overpower the flavour, because coconut is quite a a delicate flavour, and I know a lot of recipes are subdued in that regard because I know most people don’t like coconut as much as I do. Can anyone tell me something I could maybe substitute for half of the tomato sauce? Or even just let me know if you are a fellow coconut fan and felt like the flavour came through nice and strong in this recipe? Thanks in advance!
I tried this out, but the store only sold quick-cooking red lentils. Had to improvise a bit, and added the lentils and coconut milk together at the end of cooking. Was still too watery so I added a bit of basmati rice, and chickpeas bc red lentils seem to be a lot less hearty than brown. But it came put tasting amazing! Will attempt again after I hunt down brown lentils.