Vegetarian · Slow cooker adaptation

Happy Pear Sweet Potato Coconut Curry (Slow Cooker)

The Happy Pear's vegan sweet potato and coconut curry, adapted for the slow cooker. Onion-ginger-garlic-chilli base on the hob first, then a low simmer in coconut milk gives the sweet potato proper depth.

R By Richard · Adapted from The Happy Pear · Published 3 June 2026
👁 197.8k source views
⏱Prep 15 min
🍲Slow cook 5 hr (Low) / 3 hr (High)
🍽Serves 4
Vegan Sweet Potato and Coconut Curry (Slow Cooker)

Source video by The Happy Pear on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules.

The Happy Pear's 20-minute hob curry rebuilds nicely for the slow cooker. The base goes the same way: a generous Indian stock of onion, garlic, ginger and red chilli softened in olive oil until just caramelising. From there the slow cooker takes over: skin-on sweet potato chunks (with their skin for the nutrition), a tin of chopped tomatoes, a tin of full-fat coconut milk and a drained tin of cooked lentils, plus a heaped tablespoon of curry powder. Five low hours give the sweet potato time to soften without falling apart, the lentils thicken the sauce, and a handful of spinach wilts in for the last fifteen minutes. Lime juice at the table balances the sweetness.

Slow cooker notes: The Happy Pear's original is a 20-minute hob curry: aromatics fried, sweet potato steamed in the same pan with a splash of water, then everything else added and simmered briefly. The slow cooker version keeps the aromatics-on-the-hob step (this is where the curry flavour starts) and replaces the steamed-sweet-potato + brief-simmer step with a long low cook. The lentils and coconut milk thicken naturally over the longer cook. Spinach stays as a late-add so it keeps its colour.

Ingredients

Base
  • 1 tbspolive oil
  • 2 onionsred onions, diced
  • 2 clovesgarlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 thumb piecefresh ginger (thumb-sized piece), finely chopped
  • 1 chillifresh red chilli, chopped, seeds in for heat
Main
  • 750 gsweet potatoes (skin on), washed, chopped into 2-3 cm chunks
  • fine salt (initial pinch)
  • 1 heaped tbspcurry powder
  • 1 tin (400 ml)chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tin (400 ml)full-fat coconut milk
  • 1 tin (400 g)cooked lentils, drained and rinsed
Finish
  • fresh baby spinach, a generous handful (add late)
  • fine salt (add late)
  • 0.5 limelime juice, juiced (add late)

Method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a wide pan over a medium-high heat. Add the red onions, garlic, ginger and chilli and fry for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until just starting to brown and caramelise.

    ~5 min

  2. Stir in the heaped tablespoon of curry powder and cook for 30 seconds to wake it up in the oil.

    ~1 min

  3. Tip the aromatic base into the slow cooker. Add the sweet potato chunks with the initial pinch of salt, the tin of chopped tomatoes, the tin of full-fat coconut milk and the drained cooked lentils. Stir to combine.

    ~3 min

  4. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours, or high for 3 hours, until the sweet potato is tender all the way through but still holding its shape.

    ~300 min

  5. In the last 15 minutes, stir in the handful of fresh baby spinach. Replace the lid until wilted through.

    ~15 min

  6. Squeeze in the juice of half a lime, taste, and season with salt to your liking, start with 1 tsp and add to taste. Stir through.

    ~1 min

  7. Serve with wholemeal couscous, brown rice or toasted pita. Garnish with flaked almonds, chilli flakes or a wedge of lime if you like.

    ~2 min

Frequently asked

Can I add the lentils dry?
Use cooked tinned lentils for this recipe. Dry lentils need separate hydration time and don't soften reliably in a sauce as acidic as one with tomatoes. Cooked-and-tinned go straight in and thicken the sauce as it cooks.
What about the skin on the sweet potato?
Happy Pear leave it on for the nutrition: most of the fibre and a chunk of the vitamins sit in the skin. Wash well, scrub off any earthy bits, and chop with the skin on. The skin softens in the slow cooker and you don't notice it.
Will the coconut milk split?
Full-fat coconut milk is stable in the slow cooker on low. It will separate a touch on standing, just stir it back through before serving. If you're using low-fat coconut milk and you find it separates more, a quick whisk at the end pulls it back together.
Extraction notes (transparency): Most quantities clearly stated. Salt seasoning given twice: 'a nice generous pinch' on the sweet potato (recorded as null), and 'a level tablespoon of salt' for the final seasoning, this reads high; recorded as stated but flagged as taste-to-fit. Spinach amount given as 'a nice handful'.