Madras Lentils Crock-Pot Recipe - Peas and Crayons Blog (2024)

Crock-Pot Madras Lentils make a delicious side that doubles as a main dish. Whip up this delicious vegan comfort food with zero effort at all! Simply break out your slow cooker and let dinner make itself!

My typical grocery shopping routine is quick andconcise thanks to my finely tuned cart-stuffing systembut sometimes I just want to wander!

I recently spent a little extra time playing in the ethnic food aisle and found myself gawking at all the colorful Indiansauces and fancy packaged meals.

I glanced at a random pouch of Madras Lentils that looked oh so tasty and decided to play a little game of copycat.

The result? “This dish is INSANE!It was love at first bite!!!!! MAKE IT NOW.“

Much like mycrockpot black beans, I like to cook up a big batch of lentils, portion them into 1-2 cup servings and then pop them in the freezer to enjoy all month long.

This works perfect with both brown and green lentils – whichever you prefer! I haven’t had a chance to try it with canned lentils but I imagine they would work great as well!

Lentils are ridiculously simple to cook. Here’s a rundown if you’d like to join me in my lentil meal prep shenanigans:

How to cook a bag of dry lentils

The instructions on the bag should tell you sort and rinse the lentils while you bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a pot. Once the water is boiling, add the lentils and reduce to simmer, in about 15-25 minutes you’ll have a pot of lentils to play with! Drain the water from the pot, portion them out and make this recipe! Then makelentil-veggie tacos or Lentil Tortilla Soupwith the rest!

Now of course you can add your lentils straight up to this recipe as well.

Simply add 1 cup of raw dried lentils to your crock-pot and increase the amount of tomato sauce used to two 15 oz canstotal of sauce, plus add 1/2-1 cup of veggie broth to the mix. The lentils will soak up the extra liquid as it cooks.

Madras Lentils Ingredients

• brown or green lentils
• canned tomato sauce
• onion
• potato (russet or yukon gold)
• unsweetened coconut milk
• butter(vegan or regular)
• garlic
• salt and pepper
• crushed red pepper flakes
• oregano
• cumin

Be sure to use either brown lentils or green lentils since red lentils (while delicious) won’t maintain their shape and fall apart.

I didn’t have red kidney beans handy when I first developed this recipe but have tried them some of the other times we had this and it’s a GREAT addition! They add a great extra punch of fiber and protein. I always use canned when I have them handy as cooking from dry can be a bit finicky.

Garnish these crock-pot madras lentils with a sprinkle of parsley or basil and serve over a bed of fluffy rice, quinoa, or alongside a big green salad

Looking to amp up the flavors even more? I’ve added a spoonful or so of curry powder to these luscious lentils and LOVED IT! It’s also crazy delicious with Thai red curry paste too.

Slow Cooker Madras Lentils Recipe

This deeeeeelish slow cooker dish yields 6 larger portions (add some rice, pita, and/or naan bread and make it a meal!) or 10 vegetarian side-dish sized servings.

It’s one of those super versatile recipes that doubles as a main dish and a side dish.

Leftovers freeze marvelously if needed and it’s AMAZING the next day — I always get so excited knowing I have some in the fridge for lunch the following day.

You can even add this deliciousness to your meal prep rotation as it makes the most flavorful heat and eat lunches! I always feel so great having this in our meal rotation. It’s a nutritious whole food powerhouse and full of flavor.

So pictured above is the blog photo shootversion obviously; my fancy schmantzy attempt to make this delish dish easy on your eyes… but I could never eat such a teeny portion!

After all, I thoroughly devoured all 4 servings by myself over the course of two days.

Here’s what my plate looked like once the photoshoot was complete, pre-faceplant:

Sometimes I’ll add red kidney beans for extra protein. It’s DELICIOUS!

This dish will also pair marvelously with lamb/beef/poultry if you’re of the t-rex variety.

umm… I think I need to make this again; STAT!

I even made a soup version inspired by my beloved madras lentils: Easy Lentil Soup

Looking for More Healthy Lentil Recipes?

• NEW! Slow Cooker Lentil Taco Chili
• Lentil Minestrone (just made this last night – so good!)
• Instant Pot Lentil Tacos
• Mediterranean Lentil Salad via Recipe Runner
• Italian Lentil Soup (Instant Pot + Crock Pot)
• Vegan Lentil Chili (Instant Pot + Crock Pot)

If you get a chance to try these Slow Cooker Madras Lentils, let me know!

You can leave me a comment here (LOVE checking those daily!) or tag @PEASandCRAYONS on Instagram so I can happy dance over your creations. I can’t wait to see what you whip up!