Slow Cooker Pork Vindaloo (or Goat, Beef, Lamb, or Chicken)
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When life gets busy, I rely heavily on my slow cooker.
And last week, when I smelled delicious smells wafting over the fence from our East Indian neighbors, I was craving Indian food.
So I pulled together my favorite East Indian spices, chopped a few vegetables, and tossed it all in my slow cooker. I'll have to verify with my neighbors whether sweet pepper is traditional in a vindaloo, but I love the flavor, so I made the exception. That's the joy of cooking – make what you like and make it how you like it!
And vindaloo is very flexible meat-wise, too – beef, goat, lamb, and chicken all make lovely substitutions in this recipe. Use what you've already got on hand and keep it frugal.
Bon appetit! (Anyone know how to say that in Punjabi?)
Love Indian food? Try our lamb korma too!
Slow Cooker Vindaloo with Beef, Pork, Chicken, Goat, or Lamb
Ingredients
- 12 cloves garlic
- 3 " fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 3 tablespoons mustard seeds or grainy mustard
- 1 ½ tablespoons cumin
- 1 ½ teaspoons cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes, more to taste
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ cup white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 2 pounds pork loin or pork shoulder, cubed (beef, lamb, chicken, or goat may be substituted)
- 1 very large onion, sliced
- 2 red peppers, sliced into strips (optional)
- 1 pound approx. 2 cups stewed or diced tomatoes
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Rice, sprouted, jasmine, or basmati, for serving
- Chopped cilantro or parsley, for serving
Instructions
- In a blender, grind the garlic, ginger, spices, olive oil, and vinegar into a paste. If the paste is too thick to process, add a small amount of water or olive oil.
- Cover the bottom of the slow cooker with the sliced onions and peppers. Place the cubed pork on top of the onions, then pour/spread the vinegar-spice paste on top of the pork. Add the tomatoes, cinnamon stick, and salt.
- Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
- Serve over rice topped with fresh chopped cilantro.
- My kids’ favorite accompaniments are steamed broccoli and raw red pepper strips.
- For a more authentic meal, serve with plain yogurt and naan bread.
This post is part of the collection of 125 Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Recipes over at Divine Health from the Inside Out.
I have been dying for some Indian food as of late and this looks amazing! Plus, you had me at SLOW COOKER. I can’t wait to try it. Thanks.
I hope it turned out well – let us know! A couple of lovely ladies over on Facebook left reviews as well – https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=646400578709899&set=a.509853909031234.136170.205314596151835&type=1
This looks awesome and we are trying it today! Thank you!
Just put this in the crockpot. I used beef! I’ll let you know how it turns out. I can’t wait!!! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight…So. Good. Instead of pureeing the spices, etc, I just mixed them together and marinated the pork over night. In the morning I dumped it in the crock pot and added the tomatoes. Even my picky 5 year old liked it!
Made this today. Was a lot tangier then expected. Sorta dry tasting. I liked it but no one else in my family did.
🙁 not sure what I did wrong. Followed the recipe exactly. No substitutions
Vindaloo is a Goan recipe and is served with rice and Goan bread . Naan and yoghurt are part North Indian / Punjabi cuisine and are not served with authentic Goan dishes .
Thank you! As you can tell, I’m not South Asian, though most people in my neighborhood are, and thus I have fallen in love with South Asian cuisine. 🙂
I’d love to make some Goan bread – do you by chance have a recipe (or a link to one)?
I too am the bride on an incredibly good man! Glory to God! After we finished reading the brief bio you share about yourself, my amazing bridegroom said, “send her an email and ask her what time we should be there for supper.” Very much looking forward to our crock-pot indian supper! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
I didn’t know how to sub cardamom pods for the 1.5 tsp cardamom. I used about 8 pods and put in the food processor with the rest of the spices…there was kind of a bad celery-like aftertaste. Do you think this would be too much cardamom? I was so hoping it would turn out amazing, but I think I messed it up. Do you have experience with this? Thanks 🙂
Oh, shoot! I hate it when a good idea goes sideways… 🙁
So, let’s see… eight pods shouldn’t have been too much, but the difference would be that ground cardamom uses just the seeds inside the pods, not the pods themselves, so perhaps grinding the pods added the flavor. Also, were the pods old? That might have contributed too.
So, I don’t know how helpful that is, but those are the thoughts of the top of my head. Good luck!
Thanks!
Too spicy! I made this recipe as described and neither my wife or I can eat it. Way too much ginger, way too much garlic, way too much mustard seeds. It’s just way over the top. Throwing out food is the ultimate taboo in our house, but we can’t eat this and not even our dogs will.
If you are going to try this, I would definitely recommend cutting the spice portions in half. Maybe dilute it with some yogurt.
Thanks for sharing how you liked it – and I’m so sorry it didn’t work for you! Serving it with some yogurt is a great suggestion.