Slow Cooker Salmon Curry
Decadently creamy and luscious, this aromatically spiced Slow Cooker Salmon Curry is comfort food for me – I hope you find it to be your comfort food too.
Why cook salmon in a slow cooker?
Someone asked me why would I cook salmon in a slow cooker?
After all, salmon is a tender meat. All you need is a frying pan and some spices and a tender piece of salmon can easily be cooked up on the stovetop within minutes – as I did with these Harissa Salmon fillets.
But, every now and then, I like to cook up sauces and curries in my slow cooker because the flavor that results after a bunch of spices, herbs, garlic, ginger, onion, etc. hang out together for a couple of hours or more is so deliriously delicious.
And, there are also those times when I have a million things going on and it’s just plain easy to throw a bunch of ingredients into my slow cooker, set it and forget it while I busy myself with a million errands and household chores.
And those are some of the reasons for this slow cooker salmon curry.
It is not necessarily to get the salmon tender – but to let all the spices bloom and result in one delicious curry sauce that makes it hard for us not to lick our plates clean!
As a child, I grew up eating curry – vegetable curry, egg curry, chicken curry – you name it – my mom could curry just about everything. One of my favorites of all her curries was her fish curry – and it didn’t matter what fish she used.
These days, when I need something comforting, I tend to turn to fish curry. Warm, creamy, soul-and-taste-bud-satisfying, fish curry.
And that’s what this salmon curry is – luscious, creamy, so incredibly aromatic and tasty – and it came together by throwing a bunch of ingredients into a slow cooker for a little over 2 hours.
Usually, I don’t employ a slow cooker to make curry.
Usually, I manage to pull together a salmon curry in less than 30 minutes on the stove. But, lately, life has been a tab bit busy.
Sometimes, all I have is 5 to 10 minutes between getting home from my day job and then going onto wherever my daughter needs me to be.
While 5 to 10 minutes isn’t enough time for me to pull together a curry, it is plenty of time for me to throw a few ingredients into a slow cooker before I head out. That way, when we get home a few hours later, we have a warm and nutritious meal waiting on us.
I have noticed that whenever I make curry in a slow cooker, it always ends up being so much more flavorful than when I make curry on the stove top – I am thinking it’s because all the ingredients get to hang out together longer.
This Salmon Curry is dairy-free as I used coconut milk. My go-to coconut milk is Chaokoh brand – this is an Amazon affiliate link to one of my favorite brands of creamy coconut milk and coconut cream.
What to pair this curry with?
Serve this curry with:
• Broccoli Kale Cilantro Sambol & roti,
• On the side with some delicious Sri Lankan Shrimp Kottu Roti,
• Some shrimp curry and wild rice,
• Or, serve it simply with rice or this onion and herb roti
My daughter and I enjoyed this Slow Cooker Salmon Curry with some cardamom and clove spiced saffron rice one night and some roti on another night as we had leftovers for days. I sure do hope you give this a try and maybe, just maybe it will be your comfort food too?
This recipe first appeared on Today Food, if you happen to like this recipe, please click >HERE< and give it a thumbs up.
Ingredients
- 6 pieces salmon without skin
- 1 onion chopped
- 6 cloves garlc chopped
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- 3 stalks celery chopped
- 2 carrots chopped
- 2 cans coconut milk I used Chaokoh full fat coconut milk 1305 oz
- ½ cup vegetable stock
- 1 12 ounce can tomato paste
- 1 ½ teaspoons coriander
- 1 ½ teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder can reduce to ½ for a milder curry or eliminate entirely
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- chopped cilantro parsley, and chili flakes to garnish
Instructions
- Turn on slow cooker
- Pour in the 2 cans of coconut milk
- Dollop the tomato paste in (I did not mix this with the coconut milk – just dumped it in in spoonfuls)
- Add in vegetable stock
- Add in coriander, cumin, chili, turmeric and paprika
- Add in salt and pepper
- Stir the ingredients together well
- Place salmon pieces into the slow cooker – trying your best for them not to overlap
- Add in the onions, garlic, ginger, celery and carrots
- Put the lid on and set the timer for 2.75 hours on low (I used my AllClad slow cooker and set my timer for 4 hours as that was the lowest option for the low setting, but I turned it off at the 2 hours and 45 minutes mark)
- Garnish and serve with rice or naan
I made this for Christmas Eve since I had people with special diets that could not eat wheat and a vegetarian, and everyone raved about this for days. I promised my family I would be making it again. This was really really good.
Hi Christina, Thank you so very much for stopping by to let me know. I am so so glad to hear you and your family loved this. Happy New Year to you and yours!
Can this be frozen?
Hey Claire – I haven’t ever tried to freeze this and I’m not sure it will be as good thawed out – Im so sorry. Thanks for stopping by.
What if I used tilapia fillets would that work or do you think the curry would be too heavy for this type of fish?
Oh my goodness – this is so delicious! And what a breeze it was to make. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Thanks so much for letting me know you liked this recipe, Chantel! I sure do appreciate your kind words – hope you have a wonderful rest of the week.
Simply gorgeous!! Would love to dig in:)
You know Sashi, I think you are really really smart to make this in the slow cooker. I am positive this is crazy flavorful and delicious. Curries especially take a while and this is such a nice recipe. I need to get a slow cooker, which I have been wanting for a while now.
Hugs to your mom, I could eat curry everyday all day.:)
xx
That looks ever so delicious! I love salmon and fish curries.
Cheers,
Rosa
I never used to like curry dishes and now i LOVE them – love the extra spice it adds!! This looks wonderful.
Ah, so delicious! I wish I grew up eating curry (and salmon) haha! I feel like now I’m just making up for lost time 😉
I agree the slow cooker works magic when ingredients get to hang out together! Have never even thought of doing fish in the slow cooker. But it makes sense for a dish like this. Great idea — thanks.
This looks amazing! Whilst I love and adore salmon, my husband doesn’t like seafood (*ugh*), can I substitute any type of meat (chicken, lamb etc) and same cooking time? Thanks x
Awesome use of your slow cooker! Such a gorgeous curry, I can tell it’s just bursting with flavor! Pinning, yumming and tweeting it but I’d rather be eating it 🙂
I never even thought of using a slow cooker for curry! My husband will be very excited about this new development. 😉 Typically I don’t have the time during the week. And salmon is my favorite!
I would never think to cook fish for such a long time Shashi
I can’t say I am a huge fan of curry, but I like it once in a while (But wait, egg curry? Thanks, no way haha). And indeed, I’ve never made (snd even tried) fish curry, that’s why this one sounds like something I should try! Well done.
I love slow cooker recipes!!! This curry looks incredible Shashi, and so full of flavour. It has so many amazing spices! Yum!
Oh! Look at the gorgeous color of this curry. Love anything spicy. And this curry looks so delicious, Shashi. Love the fact you made it on slow cooker. AWESOME.
Great dish, I love how simple and easy it is Shashi! Hard to believe you made this in the slow cooker!!! We love salmon around here and always happy for a new recipe to try! XO
Salmon is one of my favorite foods but I would have never thought to make it in a crockpot. That is such an awesome idea and I definitely think I’m going to try.
Yummilicious curry!!
I would have never thought of making salmon curry in a slow cooker. But I will trust you, since I know you are such a curry lover. These photos are making my mouth water! So yummy!
I’ve never made salmon in the slow cooker and you have totally inspired me Shashi. This recipe is going to happen asap!
I so need a slow cooker and I so need this salmon curry in my life.
You know Shashi, I have to admit to you that I hardly ever cook a nice piece of fish, like salmon into a curry and I really should.
I’m pinning this as it’s an inspiring recipe, and although I don’t have a slow cooker yet, I hope to one day. (You know when I’ve bought Lynne that new house because our kitchen is so full 😉 ).
I really need a slow cooker. I see so many great recipes using them. I have zero room in my kitchen but I think this would be a worthwhile purchase. I love your curry, how tasty and easy it is. Beautiful Shashi.
Ohhh this looks so good–I’ve finally been remembering to use my slow cooker more often. Love these photos too!
I unfortunately didn’t grow up eating curry and it wasn’t something I discovered until later in life.. but now I eat it like I’m making up for lost time! 😉 I’ve never tried doing a curry dish in the slow cooker! SO genius!! LOVE LOVE LOVE this salmon curry, Shashi! Seriously jam packed with flavor! YUMM! Cheers, doll!
That looks amazing. I love using coconut milk.
Salmon slow cooked in a spiced coconut gravy….that sounds and looks heavenly!