Slow Cooker Curry Tips - A Slow Cooker Recipe for Success

Aug 29, 2022

Slow Cookers are cheap to buy, economical to run and a great way of making the most out of budget ingredients. Soups, stews and curries especially work well as a slow cooker recipe as they benefit from the slow gentle heat to bring out the flavours.

A slow cooker recipe is also a healthy, low fat and efficient method of cooking. For instance you don't need any oil and you really can just throw all the ingredients in - so minimal time and effort required! Additionally, slow cooker meals are incredible energy efficient. They don't use much more energy that a traditional light bulb, making them one of the most energy efficient ways of cooking.

Here's our top tips on making a slow cooker chicken curry or other easy slow cooker recipes.

Prepare the night before if you can and place all the ingredients in the slow cooker dish and store in the fridge overnight. This acts as a marinade too. Leave for 20 minutes to come to room temperature before switching it on in the morning.
You can cook the onions before if you wish, but we found it doesn't really matter if you put them in raw (one less step!)
For a slow cooker recipe, there is no need to brown the meat beforehand either. Yes it gives it colour, but it's not essential.
In the bottom of the slow cooker, whisk together the liquid (coconut milk, tin of tomatoes and / or stock) with the spice mixes and salt (quantities as per the recipe but we recommend about 2 teaspoons per person of the curry powder). Add the meat, onions and vegetables and gently toss together to ensure everything is evenly coated. The liquid or sauce should just be enough to cover the meat and veggies. Don't overfill the slow cooker or it may leak or become too 'saucy'. Half to two-thirds full is ideal.
Use cheaper cuts of meat such as chicken thighs, lamb or pork shoulder or beef brisket. The slow cooking really tenderises the meat and extracts its full flavour.
Bulk up with veggies to get more out of the meal. We love potatoes cooked this way especially in our Goan Beef and Lamb Bhuna curries.
If you can, place hard or root vegetables like potatoes and carrots at the bottom of the slow cooker as they take slightly longer to cook than meat.
Add fresh herbs towards the end of the cooking time.
Keep the lid on! Don't keep stirring or it will take longer to cook.
In terms of timings many of our recipes take less than 30 minutes on the hob. If doing in the slow cooker, cook for 6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high. For our lamb and beef curries we would recommend 8-10 hours on low so the meat is super tender.
You can easily adapt any of our other easy curry recipes to make in the slow cooker. Check the slow cooker conversion chart below for advice on general cooking times.