This Easy Red Lentil Curry is packed with veggies and protein! It’s full of flavor and perfect for a cozy dinner or a make ahead meal prep lunch!
I’m so excited about this Easy Red Lentil Curry! I have a habit of cooking food that’s in my comfort zone (I.e Mexican food) but this year I’ve made a goal of challenging myself more in the kitchen. I love eating other cuisines but I’ve never been very comfortable at making them, especially Indian food. Now, I can’t confirm that this Red Lentil Curry is 100% authentic, but it is delicious!
I’ve always incorporated a lot of legumes in my diet, but now that I’m on Weight Watchers I’ve been eating them even more than normal. They’re packed with fiber and protein, easy to cook and so versatile! I’ve been wanting to experiment with red Thai curry paste for a while and these red lentils seems like the perfect way to do that.
What You’ll Need For This Easy Red Lentil Curry Recipe
Below I have listed a few of the main ingredients that you may have questions about. See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients.
- Red Lentils – You will need to use dry red lentils for this recipe. I usually just buy them in the bulk section of the grocery store but you can also find them in the dry bean section. Red lentils are smaller than green lentils and disintegrate when cooked long enough. For this recipe I like to cook them until they’re super soft and disintegrated.
- Red Thai Curry Paste – You can usually find this in the Asian section at the grocery store, or you can order it here off of Amazon. It is a super delicious and fragrant blend of lemongrass, Thai ginger and fresh red chilis.
- Spices – I used yellow curry powder and garam masala in this Red Lentil Curry. I’m not quite sure if combining the Thai curry paste and (Indian) yellow curry is super authentic but it tastes really good so I went with it 🙂 . Garam masala is a traditional spice used in Indian food and is a mixture of cinnamon, coriander, cumin and cardimom.
- Coconut Milk – I used the canned coconut milk for this recipe. I opted to use lite coconut milk instead of full fat, just to cut down on the fat. I have also tested this recipe using 1/4 cup coconut cream and it worked great!
Red Lentil Curry for Meal Prep
I made this recipe with meal prep in mind. I love recipes that can easily be made for dinner or packed into meal prep containers for a week of lunches. All you need to do is line up four microwave safe meal prep containers and add in an equal amount of the curry and about 3/4 cup of cauliflower rice (or regular rice). I also like to add some fresh lime, cilantro and you could have our cashews on the side so they don’t get soggy.
Why I love This Easy Curry Recipe!
- It tastes amazing and it will make you house smell fantastic! All the warm spices really blend together well and create such great flavor in this dish. That’s one thing I just love about Indian food, the spices always smell amazing.
- It’s really easy to make! I’ve always been intimidated about cooking Indian food but you really just need to make sure you have the correct ingredients. The rest is just adding things into a pot, stirring and letting simmer until the lentils are cooked through. So easy and hands off! This recipe could probably also be made in the instant pot, but I haven’t tried it myself.
Check out more delicious vegetarian curry recipes below:
One Pot Coconut Curry Sweet Potato, Quinoa and Lentils
Curried Sweet Potato, Carrot and Red Lentil Soup
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Easy Red Lentil Curry
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This Easy Red Lentil Curry is so healthy and flavorful! Enjoy for dinner or a meal prep lunch!
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- 1/2 diced onion
- 3/4 cup small diced carrots
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup diced fresh tomato
- 1 1/2 cups red lentils, rinsed
- 1/2 cup light coconut milk (from a can)
- 2 tablespoons red Thai curry paste
- 1 teaspoon yellow curry powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- For serving: fresh lime juice, cilantro, cashews, Greek Yogurt, cucumber, naan bread
Instructions
- Heat a large pot over medium heat and add coconut oil, onion and carrots. Cook for 3 minutes and then add in garlic and tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Next, add in lentils, coconut milk, curry paste and all the seasonings. Stir well and then pour in vegetable broth. Stir, reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook until lentils are soft and most of the liquid has cooked out, 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Notes
The entire pot has 6 freestyle WW points. If you break it into 4 servings then each serving has about 2 points.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Indian
Just ate 3 bowls if this perfection. I added cubed tofu at the end. AMAZING!!!! will be making this again.
So glad you enjoyed it!!
I made it with green lentils I had on hand and it was great! And we have so much left over which is a plus.
Great recipe! I couldn’t find the Red Thai Curry sauce in my grocery store, but I was able to order it from Amazon. The only red lentils I could find were split, so I cooked the dish for less time. I will try to use whole red lentils next time. Thank you for your your fabulous recipes and blog. I have been following you for 6 months as I have switched to a predominantly plant based diet. You are my favorite blogger!
Aww, THANK YOU so much for the kind words!! That just made my day! 🙂
I made this last week and it was so easy and so delicious. Going to make it again tonight.
Thanks Izzy!
So glad you liked it!!
I made this the other day and it’s DELICIOUS. I managed to over cook it a little (completely my fault) and it is still divine. The flavours are beautiful, I highly recommend it.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Red Lentil Curry: I was a bit skeptical when I first read the recipe. I love lentils. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try. OMG! So easy and so delicious. It’s my new, favorite dish. It is absolutely fabulous. Hearty and delicate, spicy and smooth-it is satisfying and filling and a nutritional winner. Kudos to you, Izzy!
That is so nice to hear!! Thank you!
This sounds very good but am surprised that WW supports such high carb eating. My personal goal is to cut down carbs and increase fats, more in line with the Keto or Paleo diets, altho I prefer prefer vegetarian. I can say that Indian cooking is wonderful and there are several great Indian vegetarian cookbooks on the market with lots of recipes on line, too. Enjoy.
Every weight loss program is different