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
Literally just made this and super excited for dinner!!! I left out the cayenne in deference to my kiddos and used 2 more ounces of spinach since I buy it in bags of 6oz. Otherwise I followed the recipe faithfully and it is sooooo good! Thank you so much!
My family enjoys so many of your recipes and while I don’t always remember to comment, we are truly thankful! I’m making your butternut squash and lentil soup for Thanksgiving. It’s one of our favs!!! Oh! And I have eaten a rather disturbing amount of caramel corn since you ladies taught me how to make my own in the microwave. I add a tsp of pumpkin pie spice this time of year and it disappears in minutes!
Thank you for making me look good in the kitchen! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Made this last night – fantastic! We don’t have a grocery store nearby with a bulk food section so I got the red lentils off of amazon for a decent price (using amazon mom and subscribe and save).
Maybe it’s because I forgot to roughly chop the spinach, but the texture of mine seemed kind of strange. I went ahead and threw it all in the blender after cooking. Seemed to go over pretty well here to do that. Thanks for a yummy dish… this is definitely going in the rotation. Hubby said, “ooooh, all this needs is some lamb!”
One of my favorite recipes from you guys 🙂 so so good!
This was yummy!!! It was the first time I’ve ever cooked lentils, and I will say I was surprised it was so mushy. Very hard to distinguish the lentils at all. Just wondering, is that how it’s supposed to be, or did I cook it in the crock too long? But the flavor was soooo good!
This is in my slow cooker now! Excited to try it for dinner tonight. Used green lentils because I was out of red, but next time I’ll try going with the red ones. Love the idea of more vegetarian dishes, and another slow cooker meal is even better! (I’m pregnant, and if I don’t make/prep majority of dinner by the middle of the day, there is a good chance we’re going to Cafe Rio instead. Just too stinkin’ tired!) Anyway, thanks again for all you do! This is the only blog I consistently follow, and get excited to read Monday/Wednesday/Friday! 🙂
First of all, so simple. Secondly, so tasty.
I left out the sugar (unnecessary, especially for those of us watching our calories, etc…) and used kale instead of spinach for extra goodness! I also used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. As a meat eater/lover/needer, I didn’t even feel like I was lacking anything in this recipe, as it is spiced perfectly and is very hearty!
I ladled over a little bit of sprouted quinoa, YUM.
Yum. Thanks for posting!
I doubled it too and was scared it wouldn’t fit!! I will be freezing this along with a bag of rice that I froze for an easy microwave meal at the hotel while our family is on vacation! 🙂
I read your post and I really appreciate your experience. I will get good knowledge from there as well. Keep posting…
After watching an Indian cooking show, I decided to turn the empty cooker on high and add a little oil at the beginning of the process in order to ‘blossom’ the seasonings which I added before anything else. I also added a little garam masala. Towards the end of the cooking I also added about 1/3 – 1/2 cup canned coconut milk, and left the cover ajar so the liquid would evaporate a bit. Delicious!
Ginger could be ground with a little water into a thick paste and stored in the freezer in tiny ice cube trays.
That’s how it is done in indian homes.
You could just pop a cube or two and add to the pot while cooking.
The other use of ginger is to strain the ginger liquid and use it with seltzer water or club soda with lemon for a sugarless ginger ale. Sweeten it if you like.
Ginger soaked overnight in sugar solution and put in a dehydrater makes excellent ginger chews.