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 This Slow Cooker Beef Curry is mixed up in just 5 minutes. A tasty ‘fakeaway’ it also happens to be light and healthy.

Slow Cooker Beef Curry recipe with spinach

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.

You’ll love this Slow Cooker Beef Curry because:

✅ It’s packed with vegetables and a tasty sauce.
✅ Hardly any preparation, no need to brown the beef.
Freezes brilliantly, cook once, eat twice!

Easy slow cooker beef curry recipe with spinach and tomatoes

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?

Raw ingredients ready to be cooked with meat tomatoes and spices

I don’t have any curry paste, can I use curry powder?

Yes, depending on your curry powder and your taste, you’ll need to use 3 – 4 tbsp of curry powder instead of the paste.

I would say, I think the paste does work better than powder in this recipe though as unlike in a Slow Cooker Chicken Curry, beef does need a really robust flavour to complement it.

What can you serve with Beef Curry?

You can serve all of the usual curry accompaniments with this Beef Curry.

Rice, poppadums, yoghurt with some mint mixed through and a salad of tomatoes and cucumber works really well.

My easy flatbreads would be soooo amazing dunked in!

Slow Cooker Beef Curry Recipe

Fancy some other easy Slow Cooker recipes ?

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.
4.95 from 506 votes

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.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 5 minutes
Servings: 6 People

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: 353kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 40gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 103mgSodium: 684mgPotassium: 920mgFiber: 4gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 9184IUVitamin C: 20mgCalcium: 155mgIron: 7mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Family Food
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Sarah Rossi founder of TamingTwins.com and author of 'What's for Dinner?' books.

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96 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    possibly the easiest and most delicious curry I have ever made and loads to freeze so another curry night – thank you Sarah

  2. 5 stars
    Love this recipe.
    It’s the best home made curry I’ve ever made and so simple.
    Often recipes are expensive to follow and turn out disappointing, but not this one.
    I used hot curry powder as I did not have curry paste
    Neither did I have Garam Masala or cumin powder but the outcome was superb.
    I will purchase and use all suggested ingredients next time I make this ,which will be super soon as it was fabulous.

  3. 5 stars
    Best beef curry ever and so easy . I used a tikka Marsala curry paste as that’s all I had ! So delish thanks .

  4. 5 stars
    Absolutely LOVE this recipe. I use Massaman paste. We find it quite spicy though, are there any recommendations to tone down the heat?

  5. 5 stars
    Delicious fail safe curry every time! My family love this recipe… perfect balance of heat and spice. Perfect in every way! I’ve cooked reach version. 1x 2x and 3x and all have been brilliant!

  6. 5 stars
    This was my first ever slow cooker meal! It came out great! I substituted guava jelly for the mango chutney (it’s what I had) and it was yummy!
    Thanks!

    1. 5 stars
      Easy quick but no coconut milk, or natural yoghurt? Is this normally the case in beef curry or can you add it

  7. 4 stars
    Super simple to make. Made this for 12 servings but used Patak’s Balti paste instead. I found the suggested 400g of paste a little too overpowering so next time I will try 300g. I will also try making with the madras or jalfezi pastes. Otherwise, it has great potential. Thanks for sharing.

  8. 4 stars
    Made this for New Year’s eve! Absolutely delicious. Beef not as tender as I hoped so might leave in for longer than 4hrs next time. Family loved it.

  9. I’ve loved your chicken curry and have batch cooked so it’s a real time and money saver and just delicious I’m making the beef curry this morning and no dought it will be just as nice thankyou

  10. This recipe was fab! Made a Rogan Josh paste and followed the recipe! Tasted fab and froze half for another meal. Love all these recipes. Thank you.