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! 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 sautéing 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.
Table Of Contents: Slow Cooker Lamb Curry
Note: 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Mutton has a lot more fat content making it ideal for slow cooking. The fat keeps the meat juicy and tender throughout the long cooking process, making it ideal for stews and curries. However, with proper cooking time and adding enough liquid, you can easily cook lamb in the slow cooker to achieve similar results as mutton.
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.
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.
- Even though this recipe takes 6 hours to cook, I would recommend taking it as the base and then checking 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!
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.
Hurrem says
I must say this is hands down the most authentic flavoured curry meals we've ever eaten. We both oohed and aaahed whilst we downed this meal. I love a bit of veg with my meals so i added a simple salad of onion, cucumber (deseeded), mint & coriander dressed in cumin, salt and lime juice which i'm so glad i did because it helped to cut through the fatty richness of the lamb shanks used in the recipe (rec lamb shoulder but our butcher only had shanks) and we checked many places for the Meat Masala (never heard of it!) but i'm so glad we finally found it and didnt have to omit or substitute it because I feel this dish wouldn't be what its meant to be without it. This receipe is definitely going into our arsenal of recipes to come back to again and again! It was sooo yummy and the spice kick was just perfect for us.
Neal says
Hi Richa,
I’ve made this at the firehouse a few times and it’s been a huge hit!
I’m at a bigger firehouse with more firefighters and a slow cooker won’t work for these hungry men. Any recommendation for throwing this in the oven?
Richa says
Hey Neal, this sure is a great way to feed some hungry firefighters. I've never made curry in the oven, but you could cook it in the oven at 180°C/350°F. Cover with aluminium foil and leave inside for 2 hours. Then remove the foil and cook for another 45 minutes till the lamb is super tender. You might have to adjust the water/stock amount because how it cooks in the oven will be different from how to it cooks in the slow cooker
Hurrem says
My partner cooked this for tonight's dinner and we can honestly say its the most authentic Indian cuisine meal we've eaten cooked from home ever. It certainly beats all those packet and jar ready made sauces that claim to be authentic, by a mile! We visited four different stores to find the meat masala, i think it is so important to not omit that ingredient, i'm so glad we found it in the end. We served it on basmati rice with garnish of coriander (but i made a onion and cucumber salad with mint and coriander, lime juice, salt and cumin powder as a side and it really helped to cut through the fatty richness of the lamb as we used shanks. Loved it, and will keep this recipe in our stash to cook again and again. highly recommend this recipe and thank you Richa for sharing this creation with us. Its definitely gonna get a shout out on my IG and FB 🙂 🙂
Shibani says
Hello again!
If I'm to use 2kg, do I just double up the ingredients?
Thanks 🙂
Darren says
Was this answered?
Richa says
Yes, its in the comments
Anna says
Absolutely delicious and so easy! Tasted like a fancy restaurant dish and only took a few minutes to prepare before throwing everything into the slow cooker. Will be making often!
Jack Griffin Raines says
I was looking forward to this recipe and so disappointed. First I thought I got it wrong, heck I had even left the seeds with the green chiles, then I was afraid I had COVID...it is bland, so bland. I added more Garam Masala, Red Chile, salt and black pepper. Still disappointed. Asked my oldest daughter to try it and she said it is bland. Guess our taste profile is different.
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 🙂