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Instant Pot Red Lentil Butternut Squash Curry. This Warming lentil butternut or pumpkin curry is creamy and comforting. 1 Pot, 30 Min make in a Pressure cooker or Saucepan. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free nut-free Recipe. Jump to Recipe
The weather is getting cooler (read pretty cold) out here and every day we feel like we need a bowl of hot, warming comforting soup or stew. This butternut squash and red lentil curry works out perfectly for every meal.
The spices are sauteed with onion and garlic, then just put the lentils and butternut all in a pressure cooker or saucepan with some coconut milk and broth. Cook and done. This dal soup takes 1 Pot and less than 30 minutes either way. Serve as is garnished with some toasted nuts or with a side of fresh bread or flatbread.
This recipe is a modified version of the popular Butternut Coconut Lentil Dal from my Indian Kitchen Cookbook. The Dals in the book are closer to traditional recipes. This one uses more common spices and ingredients. and is creamy and rich with the coconut milk. Red lentils (masoor Dal) go so well with butternut or pumpkin!
More Instant Pot Recipes for fall
- IP Mushrrom Bourguignon. GF
- IP Mushroom Wild Rice Soup. GF
- IP Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce GF
- Instant Pot Vegan Butter Chickin(soycurls). GF – Creamy, Delicious
- Japanese Veggie Curry. GF
- Instant Pot Lasagna Soup with Red lentils. – So Easy
- More Instant Pot Recipes!
If you make this recipe, do let me know in the comments below, rate it and tag me on Instagram #veganricha.
Instant Pot Lentil Butternut Squash Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 4 cloves of garlic, (finely chopped)
- 1/2 medium onion, (finely chopped)
- 1 inch ginger, (finely chopped)
- 1 hot green chili, (finely chopped)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp garam masala , (or curry powder)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper, (or cayenne, or both)
- 1 large tomato, (chopped small)
- 12 oz butternut squash, (or pumpkin) raw, peeled and cubed or frozen
- 1/3 cup red lentils
- 14 oz can of coconut milk
- 1/2 cup of water
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3-4 oz of baby spinach
- lime juice and cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Start the Instant Pot on sauté. Add the oil and once it has heated, add the mustard seeds and wait for them to sputter or change color. Add the chopped onion, garlic, ginger, chili and a pinch of salt. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the spices and mix well. Add the tomatoes and a quarter cup of water and cook for 2 minutes stirring occasionally to avoid sticking.
- Add the butternut squash or pumpkin, coconut milk, lentils, water and salt. Mix well to combine and pick up the tomato from the bottom of the pot. Close the lid and pressure cook for 4 minutes. Carefully quick release the pressure slowly once cooking time is done.
- Open the lid and fold in the spinach and mix thoroughly. Taste and adjust the amount of salt, heat and flavor. Add a good dash of lime juice. Garnish with pepper flakes or cilantro. Serve over rice or flat bread or with fresh dinner rolls.
Sauce pan instructions:
- Follow step 1 and 2 in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the butternut, coconut milk, lentils, salt and water. Partially cover and cook for 12-14 mins or until the lentil and squash are cooked through. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more water if the curry is too thick and simmer for a min. Taste and adjust the flavor to your liking, add a dash of lime juice and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi! Do you recommend lite or regular coconut milk? Thanks!
both will work. Regular for creamy result.
Yum! The toddler enjoyed it as well 🙂
awesome!
This is the second recipe of yours I’ve tried this week. Delicious! I’ve basically planned my week using your blog. So many yummy looking recipes. So glad I found you!
yay!
I loved the flavor of this recipe and will make it again but have two “concerns.” I used my Instant Pot and the time given in this recipe was much shorter than the actual time needed to prepare/cook it. It took the IP quite a while to get to pressure and the chopping of onions, garlic, ginger, sorting and rinsing of lentils, gathering ingredients, etc. was time-consuming, not 5 minutes. No way you could cook this in that amount of time in the IP. Recipe makers need to include the pressure build-up time so that we can properly plan our side dishes and time of dinner. And thank goodness I used already cut-up butternut squash from TJ’s. Next time I will have everything cut-up and ready prior to cooking and see if that shaves off a little time. I was disappointed at how little was in the Instant Pot when done cooking for all the work I had done, no left-overs. My young adult daughters liked it but said it needed more flavor, I used a heaping tablespoon plus of TJ’s fire-roasted green chiles but next time will add more spice. Loved the addition of half a lime juice. I really enjoyed the final result so sorry I’m giving a 4 star rating, not 5 but should be more accurate about time and portions. Will double the recipe next time. Thank you for sharing your delicious recipe!
it should have been 15 mins. not sure where the 1 disappeared. and i’ll add the coming to pressure time as a separate time heading.
Yes you can adjust flavor to preference. The flavor here is from the toasted mustard seeds and spices. If they arent roasted enough then they dont release flavor as much or if the spices are old, then they lose a lot of flavor as well. For everyday cooking, i usually add less than what i’ve mentioned, probably because my spices are fresh and very potent at times. You can adjust the flavor to preference.Maybe it needed a bit more salt as sometimes the right amount of salt helps the spice flavor shine.
Thank you for the reply Richa. I did not use mustard seeds but mustard powder instead because I could not find the seeds at several grocery stores, had them in the past but all out so maybe this was part of the needing more spice and maybe fresher garam masala. I’ve already bought a butternut squash to cook ahead of time to make the recipe again. I talked to a friend yesterday, had forgotten that I sent her the recipe. She is also new using the Instant Pot, she had forgotten that I was the one who gave her the recipe and was raving about it, haha. Thanks again for a great recipe.
great! Yes the seeds do release a lot more flavor than ground. You can always add more garam masala after you open , or other spices, salt, heat etc as the curry is still hot and the spices will cook and mix in. the recipe is also easily doubled or tripled in the 6 qt. happy cooking!
will the amounts in the recipe work in a 3 quart IP? (looks like per the video you have a 6 qt).
yes. it just about fills a third of the 6 qt pot, so easily will fit the 3 qt.
This was DELICIOUS. I doubled the recipe and made it in a sauce pot. I doubled everything except for the oil, and I used lite coconut milk to cut the calories a bit as we are on a program. It was SO GOOD this way. Can’t wait until we are on maintenance and I make the full fat version (which still isn’t crazy fat, btw). Thank you so so much for sharing! Oh yes, and our kids loved it too. My youngest is 11 and he wasn’t initially crazy about it. We added a teaspoon of mango chutney to his bowl, and he ended up having 3 bowls that way. lol Just a spoon full of sugar… 🙂 Thanks again!
awesome! yes mango chutney solves everything 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I made a double batch because I had to use my cooked butternut squash. I added a few other vegetables and this is a wonderful dish: filling, healthy and so delicious. Thanks, Richa.
awesome
This was delicious and super easy. Although I wonder if something is wrong with my IP. When I did the quick release there was no steam to release. Also the squash and onions were a little firm but the lentils are perfect. Super tasty. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
hmm, i think it might not have latched properly. That can happen sometimes if the inner ring is bent or not sitting well.so the pressure wont build up. So it cooked like on a stovetop. Lentils cook quickly,, so they did, but squash needs additional cooking time on stovetop or needs pressure. so it was firm. You can keep simmering it and the squash will cook through
Thanks Richa! That makes perfect sense. I will take a look at the seal.
I made it in the instant pot, which is the strange part. Might’ve used too much water or something. Might try it again.
I just added the video to the post. You can see that after opening, when you mix the curry its pretty thick and it keeps thickening.
Sorry, but I have to give this a low rating. It was super watery, being pretty much like a soup, instead of a curry. I couldn’t boil any of the excess liquid off, so I had to dump most of it out. Might try this with far less liquid, even that’s a big if.
hmm i am not sure what happened. Did you make it in the instant pot or saucepan? This makes a pretty thick dish as the lentils thicken the sauce as well. Did you use red lentils? If you cooked in a saucepan, the water may not have evaporated if it was covered too much.