Ohhh my lentils. I just love me somma them beans. Especially when they’re in a big crockpot full of red curry lentils.
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Yummmy! Made half recipe and still plenty. I’m always struggling to find tasty vegan slow cooker recipes for a family of 4. Thank you for the work you do.
Megan
This week I went to a Filipino grocery store and bought 2 giant bags of lentils. Yep, you’re right. Definitely not Filipino, and totally still a good purchase.
One bag is brown/green and it’s called masoor. Just try saying that out loud once. You’ll feel fancy. The other one is cute, little, and red. It’s called dal and it’s delicious. I’m just warning you right now. If you don’t like lentils, you might want to go ahead and click that little red x in the corner. With these two bags of lentils burning a hole in my kitchen counter, these next few weeks are going to be lentil mania.
HOW TO MAKE OUR RED LENTIL CURRY:
To be fair, there are cookies coming, too, so… just… stick around, wouldya? Maybe I can get you to like lentils along the way.
Sometimes people ask my what my favorite recipe of all time is, and even though I know I’ve made other things that I’ve also reallyreally liked, it’s like everything else fades away in that moment and all I can think of are those saucy, spicy, perfect-as-leftovers, healthy, cheap, and easy Red Curry Lentils from way back when. <– That one over there.
So when my mom suggested that I bring some lentil something to the cabin for our annual family vacation (eee!), I got an amazing idea: Red Curry Lentils, for my whole family, in the crockpot. Because I’m now making lentils in mass quantity and forcing my bean love on others. They WILL like it. They will.
Is it weird that my original name for the Red Curry Lentils is sort of backwards? because who really calls them “Red Curry Lentils?” It would be a lot more normal to call it a Red Lentil Curry. Right? Or am I just totally confused here? Yes to both.
I basically took everything that I loved about the beloved backwards-named Red Curry Lentils and made them into forwards Red Lentil Curry, lazy girl style. Er, I mean crockpot style. Same ingredients, same red curry taste, same beautiful saucy-thick-lentil-loaded texture, extra turmeric because I’m getting more brave and I like the color. Annnd more free time for me to make 3 batches of chocolate chip cookies, which is honestly what I did. Food cookin’ in the crockpot means I have more time to make food. Foodie food food. Forever.
I hope you have a crowd to feed or else you reeeally like red lentil curry. Cause this never runs out.
Crockpot Red Curry Lentils
- Total Time: 8 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
Description
Red curry lentils is one of my favorites! This version is so simple – just toss everything in the crockpot. Easy, healthy, and full of flavor.
Ingredients
- 4 cups regular brown lentils (I used maasor lentils this time)
- 2 onions, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 4 tablespoons butter (optional)
- 5 tablespoons red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- a few good shakes of cayenne pepper
- 2 cans tomato puree (29 ounces each)
- 1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
- 1/2 cup coconut milk or cream
- cilantro for garnishing
- rice for serving
Instructions
- Rinse the lentils and place them in a large crockpot. Add the diced onions, garlic, ginger, butter, curry paste, garam masala, turmeric, sugar, and cayenne. Stir to combine.
- Pour just 1 can of tomato puree over the lentils. Re-fill the can with water twice and add to the crockpot. Stir to make sure that the lentils are covered with liquid. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 7-8 hours.
- Check once or twice during cooking to add more water or tomato puree if the lentils are soaking up all the liquid. The amount of water or tomato puree you add depends on how soupy your want your lentils to be. For me, 1 1/2 cans of tomato puree plus the two cans of water was perfect. Taste and season with salt. Lentils will be soft when they are done cooking.
- Stir in the coconut milk and sprinkle with cilantro just before serving. Serve over rice or naan bread.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 8 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Indian
Keywords: red curry lentils, crockpot curry, crockpot lentil curry
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our all-star slow cooker recipes page. Check it out!
How would you go about incorporating chicken thighs into this? Should they be cooked and added after the hours of cooking process? Or is adding them raw with the lentils and slow cooking then better?
Thank you, I can’t wait to try these recipes!
Hi, I just wanted to ask. 1 can of tomatoe puree sounds like it’s soooo much. Can I justbuse a tin of shopped tomatoes?
curry lover
Would you please tell me what kind of red curry paste to use? Indian red curry paste or Thai red curry paste? There are also different kinds of curry powder. Which do you use?
Which brand of red curry paste do you personally prefer for this recipe?
Usually whatever we can find at the store! Either Thai Kitchen or Mae Ploy.
This looks delicious! Dumb question -why do we use brown lentils instead of red lentils in this dish?
Red lentils cook a lot faster than brown lentils and would end up mushy.
What is an approx serving size? 1 cup? 1.5?
Thanks!
Hi, Kate! We don’t typically measure serving sizes for our recipes, so it’s hard for us to say. You’ll likely get ~16 servings of these lentils though, so you could portion 16 servings out to know for sure.
I love this recipe! Curious if this time I can add celery and carrots to add more veg? Would they cook down too much or be just fine?
Love that idea! We’d probably suggest adding them about halfway through so they don’t get too mushy. Hope this helps!
Very healthy recipe
LOVE this recipe! Every year I wait for the coldest week and make a HUGE pot. There are not many dishes I can eat for EVERY meal of the week, but I can eat this!!!
Hi, what is the serving size please? I’m doing macros and do not see the serving size listed. Thanks
Hi Nicole! We’d estimate the serving size to be around 3/4 cup.
Looks good. Can this be frozen? It would take a long time to eat so many lentils.
Yes, you can freeze leftovers!
This is one of my favorite recipes that stays in rotation! I typically use red lentils, serving over basmati rice with sliced avocado. I have begun halving the recipe, and this still make at least two large meals for my husband and I!
Hello- When your recipes call for coconut milk, like this one, do you mean the canned kind or the drinkable kind?
We use the canned variety!
I wonder Can I freeze the leftover?
Yep, that should work just fine! Enjoy! 🙂
Yummy taste! Could not wait to cool down to eat! Delicious! This recipe is a keeper! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed this curry, Thamine!
Can I substitute curry powder for curry paste?
Yep, you can. The dish might have a bit of a different taste.
Cooked this overnight, and had my first helping alongside eggs this morning. Prep couldn’t be any simpler, nor could the dish be any more delicious. Thank you for the great recipe!!
Glad you enjoyed the curry, Paul!
How long should I cook this in a pressure cooker?
Hi, Jerris! We have a recipe for making this in the Instant Pot here including cook time. https://pinchofyum.com/instant-pot-red-curry-lentils
Hi just wondering if you can freeze this?
Yep!
Love this recipe. Can I freeze them?
Yep, definitely!
Does this freeze well?
Yep, it does!
Just made this recipe with honey instead of sugar- am loving it!!! Does it freeze well?
This freezes wonderfully!
Looking to make some of these for my daughter . Can they be frozen? Thanks
Leftovers here should freeze just fine. Enjoy, Karen!