Tofucado wouldn’t be tofucado if there wasn’t at least one curry recipe published every month. I just love curry so much. I am not a big fan of green curry, more of a red, yellow curry person myself. There is something about the green curry that doesn’t really… appeal to me. But hey, maybe one day I will love it. Till then, I will continue to feature my own version of yellow and red curry. Last month I featured my delicious 20 minute chickpea curry recipe, and today I wanted to present to you my lazy Instant Pot Lentil Curry with Spinach recipe.
N’oubliez pas la recette en français tout en bas du post!

Instant Pot Curry: the 10 ingredients
For this recipe you will need 10 ingredients:
- Lentils (I used “blonde” lentils)
- Spices: Curry (I have an already made curry blend that I really like, but you can choose your favorite type), curcuma, paprika (Usually, I go for cayenne pepper but I didn’t have any, and I have been going too hardcore at the spice game lately, so I am toning it down for a while).
- Onions
- Garlic
- Some spinach
- Canned tomatoes
- Plant-based milk (Most people use coconut milk in their curries and I usually do that as well, but I didn’t have any left so I used soy-milk).
- The usual friends: Veggie broth & olive oil.

How to make this brown lentil curry ?
As per most Instant Pot recipes, we will just dump everything and forget about it. However, I like sautéing my onion& garlic a bit before we close the Instant Pot and that’s what we are going to start with.
Select sauté and add some olive oil, cook the onion and garlic for like 2 to 3 minutes then add the lentils & spices. Cook for a couple of minutes then turn off the sauté function.
Add the bouillon and tomatoes and then close the lid. We will go for 8 minutes at high pressure. Do the whole Instant Pot parade: close the lid, seal the valve, set the timer at 8 minutes and now all good. It will take 15 minutes-ish to reach pressure then 8 till the timer goes off. Once done, do a 5 minute natural release followed by a QR (As usual, careful when releasing the steam!).
Add the spinach and milk and mix well. The residual heat will cook it all and mix it all with the rest.

To enjoy this amazing Instant Pot curry, I suggest eating it with some white rice or naan bread. We were too busy (these lunches are usually prepared during our “lunch breaks”) to make naan from scratch so we went with rice! (still, super good)
Alternatives to the Instant Pot Curry
Curry is a pretty versatile meal, it can be done with many other ingredients, here some ideas:
- Other beans: I used lentils for this curry but you can totally try and switch for some chickpeas, or any other lentils, like red lentils.
- Japanese style: You can also try to cook it with the japanese curry blocks, I had already used them in the past for a vegetarian curry recipe and they really add a different curry flavor than this one.
- Beans alternatives: And if you don’t want to use lentils or any other beans, you can try making it with sweet potatoes or just plain potatoes. Timing should be around the same in the Instant Pot (if you cut them in medium chunks)

Instant Pot Lentil Curry With Spinach Recipe
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups Blonde lentils Brown lentils
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 and 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 and 1/2 cups veggie broth
- 1 can peeled tomatoes
- 2 handfuls spinach
- 1 cup plant-based milk Coconut, almond, soy, …
Instructions
- Select the sauté function on your instant pot and add the olive oil. When the olive oil is hot, add the onion and the spices. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the lentils and mix well. Turn off the sauté function. Add the veggie broth and the tomatoes.
- Close the lid of the instant pot, set the valve to sealing and click on manual. Set the timer to 8 minutes. The instant pot will take 15 to 20 minutes to reach pressure. Then, it will take 7 minutes to come to 0. Do a 5 minute Natural Release (NR), then a full Quick Release (QR).
- Turn the sealing valve to venting carefully and let the steam come out. When it’s safe to open the lid, open it and add in the milk and the spinach while stirring.
- Serve with some rice or naan bread and enjoy!
Instant Pot Curry de lentilles blondes avec des épinards – Recette en français
Ingrédients pour 3 portions – 40 minutes au total (5 de préparation, 35 de cuisson)
Ingrédients
Ingredients
- 300g lentilles blondes
- 1 cuillère à soupe d’huile d’olive
- 1 oignon (coupée en dés)
- 2 cuillère à soupe de curry
- 2 gousses d’ail (émincées)
- 1 cuillère et demi à café de curcuma
- 1/2 cuillère à café de paprika
- 620 ml de bouillon végétal
- 1 boîte de tomates pêlées
- 2 grosses poignées d’épinards
- 250ml de lait de coco ou boisson végétal.
Instructions
- Sélectionner le mode “sauté” de l’instant pot et ajouter l’huile d’olive. Quand il est bien chaud, ajouter l’oignon et les épices. Cuire pendant 2-3 minutes.
- Ajouter les lentilles et bien mélanger. Eteindre le mode “sauté” de l’instant pot. Ajouter le bouillon et les tomates.
- Fermer l’instant Pot, vérifier que la sealing valve est bien sur Sealing. Sélectionner le mode “Manual/Pressure cooker” et ajouter le timer à 7 minutes. L’instant Pot prendra entre 15 et 20 minutes à arriver à la pression maximale.
- Quand le timer est terminé, attendre 5 minutes puis effectuer une Quick Release. Bouger la sealing valve de “sealing” à “venting” pour permettre la vapeur de sortir. Quand la floating valve est descendue, vous pouvez ouvrir l’instant Pot.
- Ajouter le lait de coco ou boisson végétal et les épinards et mélanger bien.
- Déguster avec du riz ou des naans.
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