Packed full of flavour and with meltingly tender beef, this Easy Peasy Beef Curry is super quick and easy to prepare – then leave your oven (or slow cooker) to do all the hard work! Perfect for busy days, when you still want to eat well.
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My favourite kind of cooking
My absolute favourite kind of cooking is the type where you just throw a few simple ingredients in a pot, then put it in the oven and – over the course of a couple of hours – the oven magically turns those simple ingredients into something rather wonderful.
And this is exactly the case with this recipe. Just a few simple ingredients are transformed by the magic of a few hours in your oven into a delicious curry, featuring meltingly tender beef and a sauce with a lovely depth and complexity – the kind that only a long slow cook can achieve!
My easiest ever beef curry
This curry really is incredibly easy peasy to make… All you need to do is gently fry onions, followed by garlic, chilli flakes and spices. Then add the passata, coconut milk, salt, pepper, diced beef and chopped peppers. Bring to the boil, then transfer to your oven for for 2½ hours. Finally, stir in fresh coriander and serve!
Of course, if you prefer, you can make this Easy Peasy Beef Curry in your slow cooker. Instructions for both conventional oven and slow cooker are given in the recipe card below.
(Wondering why I don’t brown the beef? See my Easy Peasy Beef Stew recipe for an explanation!)
What to serve with beef curry?
Serve this Easy Peasy Beef Curry with all your favourite curry accompaniments such as basmati rice or pilau rice, naan bread, pickles and chutneys. (I love lime pickle and mango chutney!)
Alternatively, if you are looking for a lower calorie and/or lower carb accompaniment, why not try my Plain Cauliflower Rice or Pilau Cauliflower Rice?
Or for a delicious twist, why not try this with my Easy Mushroom Pilau Rice?
Easy Peasy Beef Curry with Easy Mushroom Pilau Rice
What to drink with beef curry?
This beef curry needs a bold, juicy, fruity red. Good options include Australian Shiraz or Chilean Merlot. South African Pinotage also works well. As do younger styles of Rioja and Côtes du Rhône.
What to do with leftover beef curry?
This is one of those many, many recipes that actually tastes BETTER the next day, so a great make ahead option!
Put any leftover (or ‘made ahead’) beef curry in a lidded container and place in the fridge, where it will keep for up to 3 days.
To reheat, simply tip the curry into a saucepan with a splash of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until piping hot all the way through.
Alternatively reheat this Easy Peasy Beef Curry in the microwave until piping hot all the way through.
Easy Peasy Beef Curry with Mushroom Pilau Rice
Can you freeze beef curry?
Absolutely! In fact, I recommend you make double the quantity and freeze half for some time in the future when you are super short on time, but still want to eat well!
Simply put the cooked and cooled beef curry into a lidded container and place it in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.
If you like this recipe…
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Easy Peasy Beef Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion sliced
- 3 cloves garlic crushed or grated
- 2 cm ginger grated
- 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 3 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 3 teaspoons garam masala
- 400 ml passata (or chopped tinned tomatoes)
- 200 ml coconut milk (I use light coconut milk)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 600 g diced beef (It's best to buy 'stewing' beef - often simply sold as 'diced' beef, as this is better for slow cooking)
- 1 red (bell) pepper chopped into bitesize pieces (See Note 1)
- 1 green (bell) pepper chopped into bitesize pieces (See Note 1)
- 2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves (cilantro) roughly chopped – plus extra for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 160C / 140C fan / gas mark 3 / 325F.
- Place the oil and sliced onion in a flameproof, ovenproof pan (see Note 2). Cook gently with the lid on for about 5 minutes, or until softened.
- Add the garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, cumin, coriander, smoked paprika and garam masala, and gently fry, stirring frequently, for 1 minute.
- Add the passata, coconut milk, salt, pepper, diced beef and chopped peppers. Stir and bring to the boil.
- Put a lid on the pan and place in your preheated oven (see Note 2).
- Cook the curry in the oven for 2 hours 30 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure it’s not getting dry. (If it gets too dry, simply add a splash more water and stir, before replacing the lid and returning to the oven.)
- (Alternatively transfer the curry to your slow cooker and cook for 6 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low.)
- Remove from the oven and stir in the fresh coriander (cilantro).
- Garnish with extra fresh coriander leaves and serve with pilau rice and naan bread.
Notes
- Do not cut the peppers up too small or they will almost dissolve into this curry – keep the pepper pieces a bit chunky!
- I use a Le Creuset-style cast iron casserole dish*, (AKA dutch oven) which can go on the hob and in the oven. If you don’t have a pan that can go on the hob and in the oven, simply start this curry in a regular saucepan and then tip it into a (lidded) ovenproof dish to go into the oven.
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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*This blog post contains affiliate links, this means if you click on a link and go on to buy the product I recommend, I will get a small commission, but you will not be charged a penny more – thanks in advance!
Jack says
The beef curry sounds very special, and I’m sure it will be. BUT preparing the ingredients in 5 minutes may be a slight exaggeration! Also with the cost of power nowadays I’d be inclined to cook in oven from cold, adding on an extra five minutes for the cooking time.
Eb Gargano says
Hi Jack! Good to hear you like the sound of the curry. Thanks for the tip about the oven! Ach – prep time is so difficult to give because different people take different lengths of time… and also prep in very different ways. So, for example, I know many people (e.g. my husband) like to get absolutely everything prepped before they do the cooking. In that case you are right, it might be more like 10 minutes. Other people, like me, prep as we go along, so my initial prep is more like 2 minutes. Therefore I try to go for a kind of compromise, which is how long would it take me to do all the chopping. It takes me about 5 minutes to chop the veggies and grate the garlic/ginger. I realise that is faster than some people, but it’s the only thing I can truly ‘measure’ – everything else would be guess work. Anyway, hope you enjoy the curry! Eb 🙂
Jack says
Thanks Eb, you are quite right. My wife (Sue) preps as she cooks whereas, like your husband, I prep everything an hour or so beforehand, ready to concentrate on the cooking! So take longervthan she does.
I’m cooking the beef curry this week so will let you know how it goes. I reckon it looks a winner…
Kindest…
Jack
Eb Gargano says
Yay – looking forward to hearing what you think of it!
Andy says
I am a great fan of all your curry recipes Eb, (as are my whole family and everyone we have ever cooked them for) so seeing a new one got me very excited! Cooked this last weekend for the whole family and it went down a treat. As delicious as all the others! Would love for you to perfect a dhansak recipe next, as they are among my favourites. 🙂
Eb Gargano says
Hi Andy, thank you so much for this lovely comment and your kind words about my recipes! I am delighted to hear that you and your family (and friends!) are enjoying them so much. And thank you for the suggestion – great idea! I’ve put it on my list for 2023 😀
Andy says
Made this again at the weekend but the supermarket had no peppers so I substituted them with a diced aubergine. It also worked really well.
Looking forward to the dhansak recipe, in the future! 🙂
Eb Gargano says
Oooh yes – love aubergines in a curry! You will be pleased to hear that I am literally starting recipe testing on the dhansak recipe this week! If all goes to plan, it will be published in January (I work a couple of months ahead, especially at this time of year, to allow time for thorough testing, improving, photography etc.) Thanks again for the great suggestion! Eb 🙂
Wonderful Cook says
My family loves curry and this beef curry looks so delish and flavorful! We have got to try this recipe 🙂
Eb Gargano says
Aw, that’s good to hear. Let me know how it goes! Eb 🙂
Ian says
It’s my second time making your beef curry for my family today – it went down an absolute storm the first time I made it and has been repeatedly requested since, so here we are! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe – it’s super easy to make and has a lovely depth of flavour – highly recommended!
Eb Gargano says
Aw – yay! That’s so great to hear! Thank you for this lovely review 😀