Featured comment
I have made this recipe at least 5 times. It is delicious! It is PERFECT for meal prep! I add in some spinach and serve it over rice!
Elizabeth
Guess what’s for dinner? Creamy, spicy, delicious red curry lentils, made in the Instant Pot.
It’s almost embarrassingly easy: lentils, cooked with a can of tomato sauce, some warm spices, and the essential onion-garlic-ginger trifecta, and made creamy with a little bit of coconut milk and/or butter and/or ghee.
Scoop it over a pile of steamy rice and throw some fresh greens on there and you’ve got a serious comfort food situation that is hard to quit.
It’s amazing for dinner and more amazing for leftovers.
Here’s how it goes:
Put everything in the Instant Pot.
Cook it up. Mix it with something creamy (hello, coconut milk).
Annnd you’re done.
LOL.
This is so good on so many levels.
This recipe was based off of the original red curry lentils of way back when – a tried and true favorite that does not require an Instant Pot!
And here’s a big-batch crockpot version which freezes super well for those who are as obsessed with these humble little lentils as I am.
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Instant Pot Red Curry Lentils:
Instant Pot Red Curry Lentils
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Guess what’s for dinner? Creamy, spicy, delicious red curry lentils, made in the Instant Pot. This is the BEST easy, filling, healthy dinner!
Ingredients
Into The Instant Pot:
- 1 1/2 cups brown lentils
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- one 1-inch knob of ginger, minced
- a few good shakes of cayenne pepper
- 2 cups water
- one 14-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt (more to taste)
And Then:
- 3/4 cup coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons butter or ghee (optional)
- cilantro for garnishing
- rice for serving
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in the Instant Pot. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. Natural pressure release (meaning just let it sit) for 10 more minutes.
- Stir in the coconut milk and butter. Taste and adjust seasonings.
- Serve with rice, top with cilantro, and be amazed at the yumminess of the humble little lentil.
Notes
What to serve with: I often serve this with some extras – like, whatever produce we have hanging around in the fridge. Roasted bell peppers, slices of mango, avocado chunks… this is a very flexible recipe and works great as the base of a healthy and delicious fridge-clean-out bowl!
Crockpot Version: Follow this recipe.
Stovetop Version: Follow this recipe.
Freezing: This recipe freezes super well, cooked OR uncooked. I froze mine, uncooked, without liquids (just lentils, onion, garlic, ginger, spices) and then added the water and tomato sauce when I cooked it. Timing should be the same either way!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Thai-Inspired
Keywords: instant pot red curry lentils, red curry lentils, red curry recipe
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our best Instant Pot recipes page. Check it out!
I am in Australia and can not find brown lentils, only Puy (French) lentils, red lentils, black lentils, green lentils. Any help on which to use?
Also assume this recipe is with dried lentils and not tinned?
Green would be great! And yes, dried lentils.
Is this recipe assume this is made with dried lentils and not tinner lentils?
Also I can’t find brown lentils, only black, French (puy) lentils or whole green lentils, can I use any of these? And same cooking time?
Yes, dried! You can use green, but will likely take longer to cook.
THESE ARE SO GOOD. I used 2T of ginger garlic paste instead of the ginger and garlic, and I think it would be good even without the yummy coconut milk. I may add a diced carrot next time. Thank you so much for the recipe!
I plan to make this tonight, but don’t have enough lentils. Can I add quinoa or rice to the recipe?
Hi! We haven’t tested that.
I can’t wait to try this! I’m just wondering if I need to soak the lentils before hand.
Nope!
The flavors of this are fantastic and it is so easy I can hardly believe it! Prep to on the dinner table in under an hour.
However, my lentils were still a tad too firm in my opinion. Would bumping the cook time by a few minutes do the trick? I don’t want to overcook!
This is really delicious and I recipe I make often. It’s hearty enough for plant based diets as well as “regular” eaters. I leave out the butter to keep it plant based and it tastes great. I have successfully doubled it in my instant pot with no problems.
When you say 6 servings, how much is one serving? 1 cup? 100grams? Etc.
This is delicious BTW.
This was easy to make and so delicious. A little spicy and very filling! Thanks for the recipe.
Can whole milk be used in place of coconut milk?
I am so glad to have found this recipe! WE have tried it with different lentils (black, green moog for examples) and it is always amazing! So simple, so delicious and always satisfying! Excellent with forbidden rice as well.
This is my go to about once a week, especially when I am short on prep time.
I highly recommend this one! So easy to make…
Amazing! First instant pot recipe I made and it was SO delicious
Excellent! Just the right amount of heat yet extremely flavorful at the same time. I used green lentils, which I find interchangeable with brown, and it came out perfect. Got to love a dump and go Instant Pot recipe.
Thank you for this recipe.
Love this recipe and have made it many times. Made it tonight and realized I was out of red curry paste and only had green! I’ll let you know how it goes, lol, but the recipe is fabulous when you actually follow the instructions!
Is the recipe for one 14 oz can of tomato sauce or 114oz tomato sauce? 114 oz does not seem right.
One 14-oz can! Just adjusted the recipe to make that clearer. 🙂 Thanks!
Wow, delicious! We are huge fans of Pinch of Yum’s Cilantro Lime Chicken and Lentils recipe for the Instant Pot, and this is another big winner that will be going on the rotation! Made it vegan by just drizzling in olive oil at the end rather than butter or ghee. Paired it with quinoa for even more nutrition/protein.
Delicious flavor profile, healthy, easy to make, makes a large batch, freezes well. All the things we love! Thank you!
Loved this dish exactly as written. I do love me some lentils. Questoin, would this worth with chickpeas?
Has anyone tried that?
Lovely and easy recipe – a keeper.
I’m new to instant pot and would like to add some potatoes – Any idea how much more water/time I would need to add?
Delicious! I used light coconut milk and it worked perfectly. Next time I’ll add spinach like another reviewer.
No tweaks needed, this was scrumptious. The flavor is outstanding. My non-vegan family loved it. Thanks, this is a keeper!
“Place all ingredients in the Instant Pot…” – perhaps you could change this ( for the stupid like me ) to what you really mean to say…
This was so easy and so flavorful, and wholesome too!! Discovered this blog recently and so far everything i have tried making has been easy to follow and turns out perfect with tons of flavor.
Delicious and super easy! I did use broth instead of water, but not sure it was necessary.
Hi! I was just wondering if you soaked the lentils first?
No soaking required!
This is sooo delicious. I do strongly recommend using brown lentils rather than red. It freezes and defrosts very well making it perfect for meal prepping.