These Indian-Spiced Lentils are hearty and delicious and loaded with comforting flavors. If you’re not familiar with red lentils, they’re rich in fiber, protein, and nutrients and super quick cooking. This meal can be on the table in under 30 minutes when made on the stove top, or tossed in a slow cooker for later if you prefer that method. It’s delicious on its own, or served with some steak, chicken, or shrimp on the side. We love it over hot white rice with a dollop of plain yogurt. My kids all love it scooped up with Naan or these Easy Yogurt Flatbreads.
Ingredients Needed
- Red Lentils – find these in the dry goods near things like dried beans and peas
- Fresh spinach
- Canned diced tomatoes
- Onion
- Garlic
- Fresh ginger – you can sub dried if you need to
- Chicken broth – feel free to use vegetable broth for a vegetarian option
- Curry paste and/or powder – my favorite combo is both yellow curry paste and curry powder, more info below
- Spices: mustard seeds, coriander, cumin, cayenne pepper
- Sugar – just a tiny touch to balance flavor
- Salt and pepper
- Fresh lemon or lime
- Cilantro
- Optional for serving: white rice, naan flatbread, plain greek yogurt, olive oil
How to make Indian Spiced Lentils
- Start by sautéing onions and garlic in a large pot.
- Add garlic, ginger, and spices. Sautéing your spices brings out the flavor!
- Add your canned tomatoes and broth and then stir in the lentils.
- This mixture will cook quickly. It only takes about 10-15 minutes.
- Finish off the dish by adding some fresh spinach to wilt, then some fresh cilatro and a squeeze of citrus to brighten the whole dish.
- You can eat these plain or over rice. We also love it scooped up with naan or another type of flatbread. It’s also great with a scoop of plain yogurt on top with a drizzle of olive oil.
Which curry should I use?
This recipe is flexible depending on your tastes. You can use a variety of curry pastes, or a curry powder. I actually like to add both! I do find you get an incredibly full, well-rounded flavor when using a curry paste, but I’ve been burned (literally haha) many times not realizing the curry paste I’m buying holds the heat of a thousand suns. My personal favorite is this dish is a yellow curry paste, and I’ve been buying this one from Amazon. Though sampled straight out of the jar you can feel a lot of heat, I sense zero spiciness when added to my dish. Here’s some tips:
- Start by adding just a little bit. Even like 1/4 teaspoon. You can then add more at the end to taste. I usually add about 2 teaspoons total, in addition to a teaspoon of curry powder.
- I like to put a cup full of my finished lentils in a small bowl and slowly add curry paste to dissolve completely and then add back into the pot. This helps not accidentally leaving a blob of paste in there.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for 2-3 days or freeze in individual portions for a quick meal later. I love my Souper Cube containers for layering rice with lentils on top for a ready-to-go freezer meal.
It can be spicy if you like spice. If you want it heat-free, omit the cayenne pepper and make sure to not choose a curry paste with a high spice level.
You can but green lentils tend to hold their shape and have a little more texture than red lentils. They won’t melt into the soft texture that red lentils will. But they do stand up to extended cooking times, making them a good option for the slow cooker.
Yes! Feel free to replace some of the broth for coconut milk, or simply making the recipe as written and adding coconut milk at the end. It’s a very flexible dish.
Slow Cooker Indian Spiced Lentils
Equipment
- Slow Cooker optional
Ingredients
- 2-3 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 2-3 teaspoons yellow curry paste see notes
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 4 cups chicken broth more if desired
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups red lentils
- 5-10 ounces spinach fresh and chopped or frozen and thawed
- juice of ½ lemon or one lime
- handful of chopped cilantro
For Serving (optional as desired)
- white rice
- additional chopped cilantro
- dollop of plain greek yogurt
- drizzle of olive oil
- naan or other flatbread
Instructions
- Pick through lentils and discard any shriveled ones. Rise well with cool water and strain.
- Heat a large stock pot on the stove top to medium heat. Add 2-3 teaspoons oil to coat bottom of pan and add onions. Saute for 4-5 minutes until tender.
- Add garlic, ginger, curry powder, curry paste (feel free to start with just a little curry paste and add more to taste later), coriander, cumin, cayenne, and mustard seeds. Saute for 1-2 minutes, stirring often.
- Add diced tomatoes (do not drain), chicken broth, sugar, salt, pepper, and lentils.
- Bring pot to a boil and reduce to a low simmer. Cover pot and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes until lentils are softened. (tip: this is super flexible, if you need more liquid, add some. If it's not thick enough, just simmer longer)
- Add spinach and stir to wilt. You can add as much or as little spinach as you want. If you don't like large pieces of wilted spinach, just tear or chop it before adding.
- Finally add cilantro and lemon or lime juice and season with additional salt and pepper to taste. You can also add more curry paste if desired, I suggest dissolving it in a small cup full of the warm broth from your pot first and then adding back in.
- Serve over rice with naan on the side with a dollop of yogurt drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled withe additional salt, pepper, and cilantro.
Notes
- Start by adding just a little bit. Even like 1/4 teaspoon. You can then add more at the end to taste. I usually add about 2 teaspoons total, in addition to a teaspoon of curry powder.
- I like to put a cup full of my finished lentils in a small bowl and slowly add curry paste to dissolve completely and then add back into the pot. This helps not accidentally leaving a blob of paste in there.
Questions & Reviews
Thanks for the great recipe. This is just what I’ve been looking for…new recipes to use while my husband and I are trying to lose some pounds. It sounds really good as well, and I have every single ingredient except the lentils.
This is going to be dinner tonight! Adding some chicken to the crockpot though….I have a hard time giving up on meat at dinner time 🙂 That’s MY problem though. Thanks for the variety! I like introducing my kids (and husband ha!) to different foods.
I am literally so excited to see this! Just bought bulk red lentils this week and was thinking soup, until I saw this recipe, which not only combines all my favorite flavors, I ALSO HAVE THEM ALL ON HAND! Yippee, thanks so much, can’t wait to try it this weekend!
Love the looks of this recipe. Even if it would add some points, I would probably stir in a can of lite coconut milk – i am partial to the smoothness the coconut milk adds.
Hugs to both of you and your families!
Ooh, good idea! I have some lite coconut milk leftover from making German chocolate cake frosting yesterday and just happen to have another pot of these lentils (yellow split peas, actually) going downstairs. Did you try it? And if yes, did the coconut flavor come through? Thanks!
This looks and sounds delicious! I have everything on hand except red curry paste, so I’m going to give it a go with green. 🙂 Thanks in advance for tonight’s dinner!
This looks so good! Thanks for keeping it easy on us!
This is very similar to another lentil recipe I make, I put it over rice but could never make it without making homemade naan bread! Spread with a little garlic butter, it is SO good. You can definitely adjust the spices to make it hot or not, I don’t make it hot at all and it’s still very flavorful with the other spices in it.
This might sounds like a silly question but would it we ok to use green lentils? I have some at home and was wondering if I could use that. I’m not very familiar yet with all the kinds of lentils / difference in texture
I *imagine* they’d be totally fine–this recipe is SUPER forgiving! 🙂
Thank you! I’ll try it over the week-end. Experimenting in cooking is half the fun so… 🙂
Actually, green lentils may taste fine but they won’t ever cook down into the rich, wonderful stew that red lentils so happily disintegrate into. Red lentils are truly worth looking for. Try Bob’s Red Mill on-line (or local if you live in the Pacific Northwest).
I GET RED LENTILS AT TRADER JOES
This might sound silly, but what do you do with the ginger? I have bought fresh ginger more than once, but I’ve ended up wasting it each time because I don’t know what to do with it. Do you guys have any tips or tricks? Also, you have mentioned that you’ve been losing weight recently so I would like to share that, with LOTS of recipes from you two, I am down 75 lbs! Please keep healthy recipes like this coming!!
Amy – When I buy fresh ginger, I peel the whole piece and then keep it in my freezer. Then, when I need it, I just grab it, grate the amount necessary and stick it back in the freezer when I’m through with it. I just store it in a freezer ziploc bag.
I do the same thing with my ginger! Peeling, then freezing, it makes grating SO easy, plus the ginger doesn’t go to waste if you forget about it in the fridge! 😀
Amy you can put the fresh ginger in a ziplock Baggie at put it in the freezer. Then when you need it just take it out (no thawing) use a peeler to take off the skin on the area you think you will need and the grate what you need with a fine grater or micro plane. I use ginger just on occasion so I just break off a smaller piece of ginger at the store or if you ask your produce manager they will cut you a piece. Hope this helps.
Personally I break off about exactly what I need while at the store and do not buy the whole ridiculously large pieces they have set out. I think quite a few people do this because you can see the breaks on the ginger.
However, if you’re not comfortable doing that you can put your remaining ginger in a ziploc baggie and close it up and pop it into the freezer and it will last you a good long time and be ready for you whenever you next need some ginger. HTH!
Personally, I enjoy a few thin slices of ginger in my green tea. I also enjoy mixing it with cucumber slices and carbonated water, so I have a healthy fizzy alternative to soda. It also goes great if you are doing a stir fry.
Store it in the freezer. It lasts a lot longer.
Looks delicious! Is it spicy? My mom is crazy for lentils but cannot handle any spiciness whatsoever.
The cayenne adds the heat, so you could either omit it or cut way back on it.