This slow cooker lamb curry is pretty much a dump and cook kinda dinner. You can add everything to your slow cooker and come home to your house smelling of curry and a delicious dinner ready to eat by evening!
This recipe is a must make if you own a slow cooker and love lamb. I've been experimenting with a lot of curries in my slow cooker lately because OMG so convenient. My first success was the slow cooker chicken curry that is one of the most popular recipes on the site today! And for good reason. Indian food can be time consuming and can involve some stirring and grinding spices etc. But my slow cooker curries are really dump and go. And the results are fantastic! No boring, dumbed down flavors here. These are packed with flavor and you won't believe how little effort goes into them.
The only pre-cooking I ask you to do for this slow cooker lamb curry is sauteing onions, garlic and ginger. This helps get rid of the raw flavor that sometimes doesn't go away completely in the slow cooker and helps you start off with aromas that help cook the lamb along the way.
Our go to meat of choice in India is goat, which is why this one is a slow cooker mutton curry. But whatever you use - sheep or goat meat, this recipe is a winner!
Best cut for lamb curry
Because this curry is slow cooker, the cut of meat you use doesn't matter as much. But I really love using shoulder to make lamb curry. It has some fat, tender meat and enough bones to give this curry what it needs. And yes, don't get rid of the bones. They stew and add to the curry so totally worth keeping some.
Top tips for making lamb curry in a slow cooker
- You can use any cut of meat, though we recommend shoulder. Ask your butcher to cut it up for you
- Don't add any more liquid than what's specified in the recipe. Many slow cooker recipes will turn out watery with way too much gravy that dilutes the flavor. You really don't need a lot of liquid here. The meat leaves some liquid as it cooks, and because the slow cooker doesn't let a lot of steam escape, the food cooks in its own liquid.
- This lamb curry takes 6-8 hours on high in the slow cooker. But depending on the quality of meat you have, you can add or subtract an hour. Take 6 hours as the base and then check from there. Since its lamb, even if you leave it for a little longer, it'll stay just as tender!
I really love serving this with some plain steamed rice because the curry already has so much flavor. Sliced onions help cut through the rich fatty curry and a squirt of lime really takes it to the next level!
More Indulgent Curries You Might Like:
- Slow Cooker Chicken Curry
- Mughlai Chicken
- Dhaba Style Chicken Curry
- Mutton (Lamb) Kofta Curry
- Goan Prawn Curry with Coconut
- Kerala Mutton Stew
Watch how to make slow cooker lamb curry recipe video
Slow Cooker Lamb Curry
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 kg Lamb Shoulder cut into pieces
- ½ cup Yogurt
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 4 tablespoon Oil
- ½ cup Onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon Garlic chopped
- 1 teaspoon Ginger chopped
- 2 Green Chillies / Serrano Peppers finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons Meat Masala store bought meat curry powder
- 1 tablespoon Red Chilli Powder
- 2 tablespoons Coriander Powder
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1 teaspoon Fennel Saunf
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 ½ cups Tomato Puree Tomato Passata
- ¾ cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Coriander / cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Marinate the lamb in yogurt, turmeric and salt and set aside for half an hour.
- In a pan, heat a tablespoon of oil and saute onions, garlic and ginger till the onions are soft and light golden brown.
- In a slow cooker, add the marinated lamb, cooked onion mixture, three tablespoons oil, green chillies, meat masala, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, fennel, salt, tomato puree and water. Mix well and cook on high for 6-8 hours till the lamb is fork tender. Top with chopped cilantro and serve hot with rice/ parathas/ naan.
Poorna says
What do I do if I want to make it in the pressure cooker
Richa says
Start by pressure cooking on high. After the first whistle, reduce the heat to low and pressure cook for 25 minutes
DeelightFull says
I tried this recipe. Didn't have all the spices, so I substituted a couple. It came out SOOO BAD!
Richa says
LOL! Because you substituted spices. The end result won't be the same if you don't use the ingredients mentioned. What did you sub?
Candida says
Currently bubbling away on my stove and it smells divine!! Thank you so much for sharing! I didn't have meat masala so substituted with panch phoron. If you don't have meat masala, a simple sub is equal parts fenugreek, brown mustard seeds, celery seeds, nigella seeds and fennel seeds, I used whole seeds, but I think meat masala would be ground.
Richa says
Thanks so much for the tip Candida! It'll help so many other people
Shibani says
Hello, Richa! Can I add some diced potatoes to this curry or will I need to increase on the liquid/passata? Also, if I don't have fennel seeds, can I just put the same amount of cumin seeds in instead? Thanks ☺️
Richa says
I think you can use the potatoes with an additional 1/2 cup liquid. And cumin instead of fennel will work!
Nilesh Kanjaria says
Awesome recipe, and so easy to follow
Richa says
Thanks Nilesh, glad you liked this lamb Curry
Sukhi says
This was amazing! My guests loved it. Thank you for making me look good - again, be abundantly blessed for sharing such joy!!
I tweaked this with minute changes (added whole spice, marinated the meat overnight in all the spices & used goat meat) and honestly, it was SO good.
You’re amazing.
Sukhi says
Hi there,
Can I still add the (big & small) elaichi, laung, cinnamon, and bay leave to this?
Richa says
Yes you can
Leonard Griffiths says
Fantastic meal but l changed the shoulder of lamb for chopped kneck end of lamb the result we enjoyed eating the kneck end with our hand..
Richa Gupta says
Wow, you went all in, Leonard! Glad you liked this lamb curry! Have you tried our Dhaba Style Chicken Curry yet?
Karl-Heinz Meister says
Great curry. Very tasty and easy to prepare. I used locally sourced mutton which was so delicious. I might next time add some roasted vegetables.. Definitely cook this one again.
Richa Gupta says
Hi Karl, we're thrilled you liked this lamb curry! Let us know when you try other recipes 🙂