Easy Slow Cooker Beef Curry Recipe

Oh hi new favourite Friday night dish! This fakeaway is the perfect throw in a slow cooker in the morning and come home to delicious smells by dinner time.

This Slow Cooker Beef Curry doesn’t use any cream or coconut milk so it’s also is lighter and lower in fat than your usual takeaway.

You have LOVED my Slow Cooker Chicken Curry recipe as it’s so simple to prepare, I decided it was about time to update my beef curry version to make it as easy as possible.

This recipe also freezes well, and you can adjust the spice level to suit all of the family. 

FAQs about the Slow Cooker Beef Curry recipe:

What is the best cut of beef for the Slow Cooker Beef Curry?

I use ‘Braising Steak’, which is the name supermarkets and butchers use for a few different cuts of beef that need slow cooking.

These include chuck, skirt, leg and flank.

It’s also sometimes labelled as Stewing Steak. Any of these cuts that need to be cooked slowly are fine for this recipe.

Do I really not need to brown the beef before cooking in the slow cooker?

If you want to get scientific, the reason we brown meat before slow cooking, is because it causes a Maillard reaction. The process of frying, heating it very hot until it browns, changes the flavour compounds in the meat, basically adding a depth of flavour.

Does it add something to most slow cooked dishes? Yes. Is it vital in this dish, which is packed with other flavour? No.

If you want to brown the meat, it will add another level of delicious flavour BUT I feel that sometimes we need a super quick preparation dinner and it’s worth sacrificing maybe 10% of extra flavour?

 

Fancy some other easy Slow Cooker recipes ?

• Super Simple Slow Cooker Chicken Curry – This is one of the most loved recipes on this site, over 175 reviews!
• Slow Cooker ‘Roast’ Gammon Ham – Such an easy and yummy Sunday roast joint.
• Slow Cooker ‘Roast’ Beef Joint – Another super simple and delicious roast joint, complete with gravy.

 

Hope you enjoy this recipe. I’d love to know how you got on and what you thought of it if you make this recipe. Please rate the recipe using the below!

Also, if you fancy showing me a photo by tagging me on Instagram (@tamingtwins) I LOVE to see your creations and try and share as many of them as I can.

 

 

This post was originally published on March 28, 2018 and updated on February 9, 2021.

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Slow Cooker Beef Curry

This Slow Cooker Beef Curry is mixed up in just 5 minutes, no preparation required. A tasty 'fakeaway' it also happens to be light and healthy.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Family Food

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 5 minutes

Servings 6 People

Calories 353kcal

Author Sarah Barnes

Ingredients

For slow cooking:

• 1 kg Braising steak
• 200 g Curry spice paste
• 2 Onions Peeled and chopped
• 4 Cloves Garlic Peeled and chopped
• 1 Inch piece Fresh ginger Peeled and chopped finely
• 2 tbsp Ground cumin
• 400 g Tin of tomatoes
• 2 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp Sea salt
• 1 Beef stock cube

Before serving:

• 100 g Spinach leaves
• 2 tsp Garam Masala
• 4 tbsp Mango chutney

Instructions

• Put all of the slow cooking ingredients into the slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on HIGH or 6 hours on LOW.
• Add the spinach leaves, remaining Garam masala and mango chutney before serving.

Notes

Note 1 - Beef Braising Steak

'Braising Steak' is the name supermarkets and butchers use for a few different cuts of beef that need slow cooking. These include chuck, skirt, leg and flank. It's also sometimes labelled as Stewing Steak. Any of these cuts that need to be cooked slowly are fine for this recipe.

Note 2 - Curry Paste

Any curry paste you like to your taste will work here. I like Patak's Jalfrezi or Madras.

Note 3 - Onions, garlic and ginger

I use pre prepared frozen, chopped here. An onion weighs about 150g so I replace the onions with 300g (2.5 cups) of pre chopped. Garlic is about 5g per clove so I use 20g (4 teaspoons). 1inch of Ginger equals about 5g (1 tablespoon).

Note 4 - Spinach

If using fresh spinach, I just stir in and the heat of the curry will wilt it. If you want to use frozen, defrost it first in a pan or microwave and then drain it and add it to the curry. A lot of water comes out of cooking spinach. You can also cook and drain the fresh spinach if you're very particular about your curry not being watery at all.

Nutrition

Calories: 353kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 40g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 103mg | Sodium: 684mg | Potassium: 920mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 9184IU | Vitamin C: 20mg | Calcium: 155mg | Iron: 7mg