This meltingly tender slow cooker lamb curry with coconut milk is easy to make and delicious! You can make it in advance; it is even better when reheated.
This rich slow cooker lamb curry with coconut milk is probably the best Indian lamb curry recipe Iโve ever cooked. The meat is incredibly tender, and the coconut milk sauce is full of flavor.
Making your own curry paste and frying it with the onions before adding it to the crock pot is worth the time: this slow cooker lamb curry beats any other similar dish Iโve cooked before.
Are you looking for more lamb in the slow cooker recipes? We have lots of them: Lamb Shanks in the Slow Cooker or Slow Cooker Lamb Ragu.
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Recipe ingredients
Meat: Lamb leg or lamb shoulder. These tougher cuts of meat are perfect for slow cooking. Generally, the shoulder is fattier and tenderer than the leg, but when testing this recipe, I didnโt notice any difference between the two cuts. The leg curry was just as tender as the shoulder lamb curry.
You will need 2.5 lbs/ 1.2 kg of boneless meat. If you can only get a bone-in piece (like I did), it should weigh about 3.5 โ 4 lbs/ 1.6 โ 1.8 kg.
Curry paste ingredients and other spices
Liquids: One cup of coconut milk (preferably full-fat) and ยฝ cup of lamb, beef, or chicken stock (preferably low sodium).
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to make coconut lamb curry in the slow cooker?
- Prepare the meat: Remove the excess fat (1), debone the meat (if required), and cut it into even-sized cubes (2). Dry, flour, and season the pieces (3).
- Brown them in a heavy skillet, searing them in several batches on medium-high heat, adding a little oil when necessary (4,5,6).
- Curry paste: Blend chopped onion, garlic, ginger, and spices in a food processor (7). Add a few tablespoons of water and scrape the machine a couple of times in between. The mixture should be smooth (8).
- Prepare the onions: Halve and thinly slice the onions. Cook them in a large pan on low heat for about 10 minutes or until soft and lightly browned. Give them a good stir regularly (9).
- Curry: Add the onion-spice mixture to the sliced onions in the frying pan (10).
- Pour the coconut milk and the stock, and stir to dissolve the paste clumps (11).
- Pour the sauce over the meat pieces in the slow cooker, add bay leaves and cinnamon stock, and stir to combine (12).
- Adjust the taste with a bit of salt if necessary; it depends on the saltiness of your stock.
- Slow cook on HIGH for 30 minutes, then on LOW for 6 hours or until the meat is very tender (13).
Good to know!
Cooking times: Start by cooking the curry for 30 minutes on HIGH to give it a head start. After that, turn the machine down to LOW and cook the food for 6 hours. Check; the meat should be very tender.
Remove the bone: Use a sharp boning knife to cut straight down the leg, then carefully separate the meat from the bone, leaving as little meat behind as possible. Slide the knife tip under the bone and cut toward a joint. Once you reach it, cut around to loosen it, then repeat toward the other joint and remove the bone. Use the bone to make lamb stock.
How to store and reheat?
Refrigerate leftover slow-cooker lamb curry with coconut milk in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
Freeze for up to 3 months and defrost in the fridge.
Reheat the slow-cooked lamb curry in the microwave or on the stovetop. Add a splash of stock or milk to loosen the sauce, and frequently stir while reheating.
Slow Cooker Lamb Curry with Coconut Milk
Equipment
- Slow cooker or crockpot
Ingredients
Lamb:
- 3.5 - 4 lbs bone-in lamb leg Notes 12, 3
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ยพ teaspoon fine sea salt or Kosher
- ยฝ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil more if needed
Onions:
- 2-3 onions 9 oz/ 250 g, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil + 1 tablespoon later
Curry paste:
- 6 large garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 1 medium onion 4 oz/ 120 g chopped
- 1 oz ginger peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon coriander
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- 2 teaspoons turmeric
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes Note 4
- ยฝ teaspoon fine sea salt or Kosher
- a bit of water
Lamb curry:
- 1 cup coconut milk
- ยฝ cup lamb stock or chicken/ beef stock, low sodium
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- sea salt or Kosher to taste
Instructions
Lamb:
- Remove the fat layer from the leg of the lamb.3.5 - 4 lbs bone-in lamb leg
- Debone lamb: Use a sharp boning knife. Cut straight down the length of the leg. Cut away the meat from the bone, trying to leave as little meat on the bone as possible. Get the knife tip under the bone and cut towards a joint. When you reach the joint, cut the meat around it to loosen it from the joint. Repeat in the other direction (towards the other joint). Cut around it and remove the bone.
- Chop the meat: First, remove the hard connective tissues found where the joints were. Chop the meat into 1.5 inches/ 4 cm chunks.
- Pat the cubes dry with a paper towel.
- Season lamb: Place them into a large bowl, and sprinkle them with flour, salt, and pepper.2 tablespoons all-purpose flour + ยพ teaspoon fine sea salt + ยฝ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Brown the meat in batches: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large heavy-bottom pan or Dutch oven. Fry the lamb chunks in 3-4 batches depending on the pan size; the pan should not be overcrowded. This will take 4-5 minutes per batch; keep turning the pieces in the pan so that they can brown all over. Add more oil when necessary between the batches.2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- Transfer the meat to the slow cooker.
Onions:
- Cook them while the lamb pieces brown.
- Slice: Halve the onions and slice the halves thinly.2-3 onions
- Fry onions: Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onions on low heat for about 10 minutes or until soft and lightly browned. Stir often. If necessary, add 1-2 splashes of water during cooking to prevent the onions from sticking to the pan and browning too much.2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Curry paste:
- You can start preparing the paste while the meat and the sliced onions cook.
- Chop the onion and the garlic, and peel and chop the ginger. Place them in a food processor, and add all the spices and 2 tablespoons of water. If the food processor is small (like mine was), process the paste in two batches.6 large garlic cloves + 1 medium onion + 1 oz ginger + 1 tablespoon coriander + 1 tablespoon cumin + 1 tablespoon sweet paprika + 2 teaspoons turmeric + 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds + 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes + ยฝ teaspoon fine sea salt + a bit of water
- Process the mixture to a smooth paste scraping the walls of the food processor a couple of times in between. If necessary, add one extra tablespoon of water to help the spices blend.
Lamb curry:
- Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the onions in the pan.
- Add the curry paste and 2 tablespoons of water. Stir to combine and cook gently for 5 minutes, stirring very often until the mixture just begins to darken.
- Pour the coconut milk and the stock and stir well to dissolve the paste clumps into the sauce. Check for salt; I added another ยฝ teaspoon of fine sea salt, but it depends on the saltiness of the stock.1 cup coconut milk + ยฝ cup lamb stock + sea salt
- Slow cook: Pour everything over the meat in the slow cooker and add the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Cook on HIGH for 30 minutes and then on LOW for 6 hours. Check the meat; it should be very tender.2 bay leaves + 1 cinnamon stick
Notes
- Boneless meat: 2.5 lb/ 1.2 kg left after removing the bone.
- Bone: Donโt discard the bone; it makes excellent lamb stock. You can debone the leg in advance, make stock with the bone, and use the stock for the lamb curry.
- A shoulder of lamb can be used instead.
- Hot curry: This recipe is very spicy but not particularly hot. You can make it hotter by replacing the red pepper flakes with cayenne pepper (ยฝ - 1 tsp) or with 2-3 chilies, which you will blend together with the paste ingredients.
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