Easy Slow Cooker Dal Makhani
on Nov 28, 2016, Updated Nov 26, 2024
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Easy, slow cooker Dal Makhani recipe, cooked overnight in a crockpot and tastes just like restaurants and dhabas. This black dal is perfect with rice and tandoori rotis!
This Slow Cooker Dal Makhani is another easy-peasy slow recipe you need to try! It’s creamy, flavorful, and so luxurious – I promise you won’t want to stop eating.
Traditionally, dal makhani is made over an open wood fire, where it’s slow cooked all night to attain those delicious smoky flavors and creamy, melt in your mouth dal. But for this recipe, we are trying to achieve the same results – except this time in a slow cooker!
Slow cooking this dal makhani all night or all day, and keeping it warm in the slow cooker till you are ready to eat is an absolute genius way to make it. You’ll be amazed at how little work goes into it, and the results will blow your mind!
jump to section: Slow Cooker Dal makhani
Ingredients Overview
The ingredients list for this slow cooker dal makhani is long. But everything is either pantry staples or easily available both online and in stores.
Since this a dump-and-go recipe that also requires no chopping, the only prep you need to do is remember to soak urad dal and rajma overnight (approx 6 hours).
The next morning, all the ingredients (except cream and kasuri methi) to the slow cooker, along with water and cook for 8-12 hours until the lentils are super tender. Finish it off cream and kasuri methi, cook for another 20 minutes and done!
Richa’s Top Tips
- Usually a dal makhani recipe would have lot of onions, but in the slow cooked version the lentils cook so long that they break down and add their own flavor without needing onions to boost it up. So I’ve skipped them, but feel free to add one chopped onion to the recipe if you like.
- It’s important to soak the lentils overnight to achieve the creamy texture we want from this recipe.
- All slow cookers are different, so the cooking time may vary slightly. I would recommend checking for doneness after about 6 hours and then cooking longer if needed.
Serve this creamy, smokey goodness with my Instant No Yeast Naan, lachha paratha, or good ol’ rotis and Bombay Potatoes for a wholesome, warming meal. It’s pureeee perfection that combination.
Check out my slow cooker lamb curry and slow cooker chicken tikka masala recipes. They are such good non-vegetarian recipe to make in your slow cooker.
As always, send in your pictures over on my IG @my_foodstory if you happen to make this recipe. I LOVE seeing your recreations.
Easy Slow Cooker Dal Makhani
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup Urad dal, whole black gram lentils
- 1/2 cup Rajma, kidney beans
- 1 Bayleaf
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 3-4 Cardamom Pods
- 3-4 Cloves
- 1 tablespoon Ginger, finely chopped
- 8 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped or minced
- 2 Green Chillies, slit lengthwise
- 1 tablespoon Coriander Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- 4 Tomatoes, diced (large)
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 2 tablespoons Butter , + extra
- Salt , to taste
- 1/4 cup Cream
- 1 teaspoon Kasuri methi, optional
Instructions
- Soak both the lentils (urad dal/whole black gram and rajma/kidney beans) in water overnight or at least for 6 hours. This needs to be done only if you are using dry lentils.
- Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker (except cream and kasuri methi) along with four cups water. Stir well. Cook on high for 8 hours or low for at least 12 hours till the lentils are cooked through and can be easily smashed between your fingers.
- Mix well and lightly mash everything with the back of a ladle or spoon. Add the cream and kasuri methi if using and cook on low for another 20 minutes. Top with more butter and serve hot. If serving later, you can keep this on warm for up to 3 hours. Just thin with a little water or milk before serving if it’s too thick.
Notes
- This slow cooker version has flavours similar to the authentic dal makhani that is slow cooked over a wood flame overnight. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can try my stovetop version. Click here for the recipe -> https://myfoodstory.com/dal-makhani-recipe/
- Dal Makhani is traditionally made with whole black urad dal (black lentils) and rajma (kidney beans). Avoid using canned kidney beans.
- But if you are vegan or lactose intolerant, use ¼ cup cashew cream or ¼ cup coconut milk in the end in place of cream. The coconut milk might add a milk coconut-ty flavour, but the quantity is so small that you’ll barely notice it.
- Kasuri Methi is dried fenugreek leaves that help round up the flavors in the dal makhani. Its available on amazon, and is used in many Indian recipes (on this blog), so stocking it won’t be a waste.
- Don’t skimp on the cream and butter in the recipe. These give the dal makhani its distinct texture and flavour.
- Feel free to adjust the spice levels based on your tastes by reducing or increasing the green chillies.
- Also, if you are making some slow cooker dal makhani, make sure to try my Instant No Yeast Naan and Bombay Potatoes to go with it.
Hello, I’m going to try this at the weekend, can I use tinned lentils and kidney beans instead of soaking overnight?
Absolutely you can!
Brilliant, thank you! Would the measurements stay the same?
Lentils and beans double in volume after soaking, so you’ll have to use them keeping that in mind.
I made this exactly to recipe, cooked on slow for 12 hours and all I made was a watery soup! The lentils were cooked after 12 hours and I soaked them over night too but there was way too much water even though I used 4 cups! What did I do wrong? It looked nothing like yours unfortunately!
Hey Emily, I’m sorry this didn’t work out well for you, i have cooked this a multiple times and it has turned out perfect.
I can’t wait to try the recipe. I soaked the beans overnight and everything has been cooking in the slow cooker for about 12 hours. It smells wonderful! When I checked on the lentils this morning they were still a bit hard. Should I just let them continue coooking in the slow cooker?
Hey Janet, The beans can take extra time based on how old or new they are. Please let them continue cooking till they become tender. Feel free to add a little water if required.
Great recipe. Needed help for slow cooker Dal makhani. Everybody loved it including very critical 92 year old guiding light of family MIL(I love her) she’s taught me everything the good old way. Time and labor was an issue as well as number of guests. Wow magic. Thank you.
So so glad you liked this dal makhani so much! Thank you for sharing your feedback
So my recipe turned out being very liquidy and the dal didn’t mash quite well either.. almost felt like the water was separate from the dal. Although I used the exact quantities and methods.. I did use the slow cooking mode in my instant pot on high. Does your recipe call for a traditional slow cooker or an instant pot in a slow cooking mode should work fine?
Hey Divita, honestly the slow cooked function on the instant pot doesn’t work well for this recipe. I have an instant pot version of this recipe on the site. please give that a try: Dal Makhani – The Ultimate Recipe for Stovetop and Pressure Cooker
Made this yesterday. It was amazing: I’ve been craving Dal Makhni for a while and this totally hit the spot!!!! Now going to go try some other recipes…
So glad you liked it Mallesh!
Can i use instant pot’s slow cook option too? If yes, how does it vary from the timings mentioned here?
Thank you.
Hey Aditi, the slow cooker function on the Instant Pot doesn’t work very well. You can try this recipe instead which gives specific instructions to make dal makhani in the instant pot: https://myfoodstory.com/dal-makhani-recipe/
Absolutely loved it!
The slow cooker version of making this Dal Makhani is pure joy. Easy to prep, cook and it turned out so delicious. I just followed the recipe as is (I did use onions).
Thanks for sharing Richa 🙂
Thanks so much for your feedback Anu!
Hi how big is the cup you are using to measure the ingredients?
I used a standard cup size for this Karen. The same ones I would use to measure baking ingredients.
What size or capacity is the cup? I want to try this recipe but don’t want to get measurements wrong!
Karen
I live in Colorado, USA. Water boils at a lower temperature here, so recipes must be adjusted accordingly. Also tomatoes here tend to be harder and not as sweet as they are imported. Any suggestions on how I can achieve tasty results?
Hey Willard, I’m not super familiar with these substitutions. For the water, you might just have to cook this for longer. With tomatoes, just use canned and they should work really well.
I tried this over the weekend and it turned out so well! It was super easy to put together and so yummy, totally restaurant style. I love love love this recipe. And it has now become my go to recipe! Thanks so much for sharing this.
Yaaaay thank you!