Slow Cooker Beef Curry

This slow cooker beef curry couldn’t be easier to make and tastes so good – meltingly tender chunks of beef in a mild curry sauce.  Serve with basmati rice, poppadoms and warm Naan bread for a low-effort family meal.

I love making curries in my slow cooker. It’s just so easy and hands-off. We’re talking maximum reward for minimum effort. You throw all the ingredients in the slow cooker and in just a few hours, dinner is ready to be served.  My slow cooker chicken curry and slow cooker butter chicken curry are also just as easy!

This recipe is an old-fashioned beef curry I’ve been making for years. It’s adapted from an old book called “slow cooking properly explained” by Dianne Page. If you’ve never tried making beef curry in a slow cooker, I highly recommend it! It makes the meat incredibly tender.

How hot is this beef curry? 

This is a fairly mild curry recipe. It has a slight kick from the chilli powder, but it isn’t blow-your-head off spicy by all means. It’s perfect for people who dislike very hot curries.

slow cooker beef curry ingredients

please scroll to the bottom of the post to find a printable recipe card in the recipe card with ingredient amounts

• Vegetable oil
• Beef stewing/braising steak, cut into cubes
• garlic and fresh ginger
• Onions and Red or Green bell pepper
• spices – ground cumin, gound coriander, ground turmeric and Garam Masala
• Beef Stock (I use a stock cube, but the stock pots are also fine)
• Canned chopped Tomatoes (I like the Mutti brand)
• tomato puree
• Mango Chutney adds a little sweetness to the curry sauce. My favourite brand is Geeta’s – I use it so much for curries and making Coronation chicken it’s cheaper to buy a huge tub!
• optional – cornflour (cornstarch) mixed with water, to thicken the sauce

recipe notes

• I use braising/casserole/stewing beef in this recipe. This is a tough cut of meat (usually from the neck and shoulder blade) that requires a long, slow cook to break down the connective tissues and fibres. It’s perfect for slow cooking (also see my recipes for old fashioned beef stew and slow cooker beef Stroganoff).

• You can use fresh red chilli or ground chilli powder in this recipe. I don’t always have fresh chillies on hand, but I always have chilli powder in my spice cupboard. If you’re using fresh chillies, I recommend adding one “standard” supermarket red chilli (read more information on the different varieties of chillies you can commonly buy in the UK here). The seeds and membrane are the hottest part, so if you prefer a mild curry it might be a good idea to remove these!

• sauces and gravy don’t thicken in a slow cooker, so I like to thicken the sauce just before serving by making a cornflour slurry (cornflour and water mixed together).

do I have to brown the beef?

If you have the time and you want to add an extra layer of flavour to the dish, you could brown the beef in a little oil in a hot frying pan before transferring it to the slow cooker. I used to do this all the time, but I like to make my life a little easier these days. After making this recipe countless times and comparing the results when browning vs not browning, I couldn’t detect a significant amount of difference in the end result. I will leave the decision up to you!

can I add different ingredients?

Absolutely. Sometimes I add peeled and diced potatoes or baby new potatoes, babycorn or mushrooms. A handful of fresh spinach leaves, added just before serving to wilt down the leaves, is also a good addition.

serving suggestions

Rice and Poppadoms are the classic accompaniment to curry – but I also love it with chips! (I’ve been told this is a Scottish thing!)

Fluffy Naan or Chapati bread is essential for mopping up all the lovely curry sauce. If you don’t detest it, a sprinkling of freshly chopped coriander is nice but I know that’s a love or hate thing!

make slow cooker beef curry ahead of time

Store the cooked and completely cooled curry in a lidded airtight container in the fridge and use within three days. Beef curry is great for making in advance and re-heating another day – the flavour will only improve over time! Take care not to boil the curry while re-heating or the beef will turn tough and dry out.

freezing

Place the completely cold curry in freezer-friendly tupperware boxes or thick freezer bags and freeze for up to three months. Defrost overnight in the fridge before re-heating over a moderate heat in a saucepan, making sure the curry is piping hot before serving.

want to see more curry recipes?

• Thai Green Vegetable Curry

• Chickpea and potato curry (vegan and gluten-free)

• Quick Red Thai red prawn curry 

looking for more slow cooker recipes?

• Slow Cooker Hunters Chicken 

• Slow Cooker Beef and Chorizo casserole

• Slow Cooked Bolognese Sauce

For more slow cooking inspiration, take a look at my slow cooker recipes archive!

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Slow Cooker Beef Curry

Yield: Serves 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 5 hours

Total Time: 5 hours 15 minutes

This mildly spiced slow cooker beef curry is warming, hearty and makes a perfect easy family meal that can be made ahead of time. Serve with boiled rice, poppadoms and Naan bread for mopping up all that delicious curry sauce.

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Ingredients

• 750g Lean stewing/casserole beef, cut into bite sized cubes
• 2 onions, peeled and chopped finely
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• a thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 fresh red chill, deseeded and chopped finely OR 1/2-1 teaspoons chilli powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 red or green bell pepper, deseeded and roughly diced into chunks
• 150ml beef stock
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato puree
• 2 tablespoons mango chutney
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornflour mixed with 3 tablespoons of cold water, to thicken the sauce (optional)
• Chopped fresh coriander for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the slow cooker.
2. Place the beef cubes, onion, crushed garlic, ginger, fresh chilli, all of the spices apart from the Garam Masala, bell pepper, beef stock, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and mango chutney in the bowl of the slow cooker. Stir well to combine all the ingredients.
3. Put the lid on and cook on HIGH for 4-5 hours or LOW for 6-7 hours, or until the beef is tender. 30 minutes before serving, stir in the Garam Masala.
4. If the sauce is too thin for your liking, thicken with the cornflour and water slurry. Stir it into the sauce, stirring well until thickened.
5. Serve the curry with rice, Naan bread and poppadoms.

Notes

For a creamy sauce, stir in 150ml natural or coconut yoghurt in the last 30 minutes cooking time.

To save a little time, you could use ginger and garlic puree instead of fresh.

Serve the curry with boiled rice, Naan bread, poppadoms and mango chutney. A fresh onion and tomato salad (literally finely chopped onions and tomatoes with a tiny amount of vinegar) is really nice with curries.

A sprinkling of freshly chopped coriander is also nice - but that will divide opinion!

Make ahead of time -

Store the cooked and cooled curry in an airtight container in the fridge and use within three days. Beef curry is great for making in advance and re-heating another day - the flavour will only get better. Be careful not to boil the curry while re-heating or the beef will toughen.

To freeze:

Place the completely cold curry in freezer-friendly tupperware boxes or thick freezer bags and freeze for up to three months. Defrost overnight in the fridge before re-heating over a medium heat in a saucepan, making sure the curry is piping hot before serving.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 199Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 947mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 5gSugar: 13gProtein: 10g

Calories and nutritional information are provided by a third party application and should be viewed as indicative figures only.

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