Instant Pot Curry
Published 9/19/2022
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If you’re looking for a quick and healthy dinner to make, you will love this Instant Pot curry recipe made with sweet potatoes, lentils, and kale.
Instant Pot Curry with Sweet Potatoes, Lentils, and Kale
We are huge fans of healthy Instant Pot recipes because they’re fast to make, easy to prepare, and a great way to meal prep for the week.
Get your veg in with this delicious and flavorful Instant Pot Curry. It packs in all the veggies, protein, and fiber all thanks to sweet potatoes, lentils, and kale.
For this recipe you only need less than 30 minutes from start to finish and you’ll have a healthy dinner ready for you and your family.
Featured Ingredients
Spices
- Curry powder: you’ll need a full tablespoon of curry powder for this recipe.
- Ginger powder: we used dried ginger powder, but you can also use freshly grated ginger.
Veggies
- Sweet potato: sweet potato is a complex carb and adds so much flavor and texture. You can also use normal potatoes or butternut squash instead,
- Onion: onion is a great base flavor for curry.
- Kale: kale is a great green to add to Instant Pot curry.
Legumes
- Lentils: dried lentils add both protein and fiber. You can also use dried split peas as well.
Other
- Coconut milk: full-fat coconut milk compliments ginger and curry quite nicely and is the liquid base of this curry.
- Hot sauce: hot sauce is optional, but adds a great amount of heat to every bite.
- Maple syrup: a splash of maple syrup adds just the right amount of sugar to bring out all of the yummy curry flavors.
How to Make Instant Pot Curry
Saute
Add olive oil to your Instant Pot and turn on the saute feature. Next, add in diced onion and spices and saute until fragrant. Turn off saute feature.
Add and Cook
Add water, sweet potato, carrots, ,and lentils and mix.
Then seal your Instant Pot and turn to high pressure. Set timer for 1 minute. Let your Instant Pot build up (this might take a few minutes). Once it starts counting down, you’ll hear it beep after just one minute…it’s almost done! Let it naturally release for 3 minutes before manually turning the valve to quick release.
Add Final Ingredients & Serve
Open your Instant Pot and give it a quick stir. Add in your kale and full-fat coconut milk and stir one more time! Serve on your favorite grain or cauliflower rice!
Storage
Store leftover curry in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-5 days.
How to Freeze
Let the curry cool completely. Then, transfer it into an airtight container and seal it. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Instant Pot Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 cups water
- 2 sweet potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup red lentils or dried split peas
- 1.5 teaspoons fine sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1 cup chopped kale, stems removed
- optional: 1/2 tablespoon Frank’s hot sauce
- optional: 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup
Instructions
- Press Sauté and add the olive oil to the Instant Pot. Once the oil is hot but not smoking, add the onion, curry powder, and ginger and stir just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Press Cancel to stop the cooking cycle.
- Add the water and use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape the bottom of the pot, making sure nothing has stuck. Add the sweet potatoes, carrots, lentils, salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Stir well to ensure the lentils are covered in water, then secure the lid and move the steam release valve to Sealing. Select Manual/Pressure Cook to cook on high pressure for 1 minute.
- When the cooking cycle is complete, let the pressure naturally release for 3 minutes, then move the steam release valve to Venting. When the floating valve drops, remove the lid and add the coconut milk and kale. Stir until the kale has wilted, about 2 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed, adding the hot sauce or maple syrup if you want it hotter or sweeter!
- Serve the curry warm over the grain of your choice and garnished with the cilantro. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 1 week.
Tips & Notes
- Red lentils cook much faster than other varieties, so I don’t recommend swapping them for green or brown lentils here. You would have to increase the cooking time, which would overcook the other vegetables.
- Nutrition does not include grain of choice.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Fresh & Healthy Instant Pot Cookbook
This recipe was first seen in the Fresh and Healthy Instant Pot. Megan is the queen of vegan and paleo recipes and her cookbook for sure doesn’t disappoint! All 75 of these recipes are gluten-free and refined-sugar-free, making for 75 easy recipes for light meals to make in your Instant Pot!
We chose to make her sweet potato curry recipe because 1. we are sweet potato obsessed and 2. I never say no to curry! (I mean have you made our coconut curry chicken yet?). I also know that a lot of you have been looking for more vegan Instant Pot recipes to make and this one fits the bill perfectly!
Before we jump into the recipe, check out The Fresh and Healthy Instant Pot Cookbook on Amazon, Target, and Barnes and Noble!
Split peas take a LOT longer than red lentils too.
Hiii!!! I’m not a great cook and am new to the instant pot. If I wanted to cook the rice in the same pot do I need to do anything differently? 🤦🏻♀️ Thanks in advance
Such a yummy recipe! I would say to not use as much water and use all the juice from the can of coconut milk. Also I thought the 1 minutes timer wasn’t enough so I did 4 with a natural pressure release then blended everything and it was amazing!
Good basics but could use some more spices. I added some massala, red pepper flakes and cumin.
Made this and I’m in love!! I did however add a squeeze of lime juice at the end to cut through the creaminess and provide some freshness.
I did however want to ask if this freezes well?
What a great idea! Yes, this should freeze just fine. Here’s a great tutorial for how to freeze soup and chili: https://fitfoodiefinds.com/how-to-freeze-soup/
I was dubious of the 1 minute instant pot time but lo and behold they were tender 🙌🏻 Thanks Lee!
YAY!!
I believe the nutrition facts apply to 1/4 of the recipe as opposed to 1/4 cup so I think it is a lot more than 1/4 cup!
Looks delicious but like someone else said I’ll had additional spices to it. Have to be careful eating it though with 8 grams of fat, almost 300 calories for 1/4 of a cup.
OMG. I just finished making this in my Dutch oven as I do not have an instapot. It is insanely easy and flavorful. Meal prep for the week is done and delicious!
This recipe is awesome! My two children and I have recently gone vegan and just bought an Instant Pot…so it is all new to us! We absolutely loved the recipe and found it very easy to follow. My children can be picky eaters and thought it was deliciouso! Thank you sooo much!
Gah I LOVE that!!