Restaurant-quality beef vindaloo made right in the comfort of your kitchen delivers all the depth, flavor, and kick you expect from your favorite Indian take-out dish. Tender beef is cooked low and slow with a rich blend of spices for a juicy, high-protein, one-skillet curry that pairs beautifully with basmati rice and warm naan.
What Makes This Recipe So Good
Inspired by the classic dish you’d find at your local Indian restaurant in the West, this spicy beef vindaloo is easy enough to make at home, even if you’re new to cooking Indian cuisine.
Beef vindaloo is traditionally packed full of delicious flavors, spices, and a hearty helping of heat, and this recipe is no different. With rich, warm spices like garam masala, cumin, paprika, turmeric, ground mustard, ground ginger, cayenne, and cinnamon, it’s hard to resist going back for another serving.
I won’t lie, this is a pretty hot dish. You can control that a little, though! If you’re sensitive to heat, use caution when adding the cayenne (or omit it altogether if you know it’s not your thing). If you’re not one to shy away from spice, feel free to double the cayenne or even add some red chili peppers for another layer of flavor.
About Beef Vindaloo
Traditionally a Goan recipe, beef vindaloo can be traced back to Portuguese explorers of the early 1400s. The Portuguese would preserve meats in a marinade of vinegar, wine, garlic, and salt, to ensure the meats would keep for their travels.
Fast forward 400 or so years, and you have Goan cooks preparing vindaloo for the British imperialists colonizing India. Beef, pork, and duck vindaloo (or “vindalho”) can even be found in a British-Indian cookbook dating back to 1888.
The colonizers took the recipe with them through other parts of the world, though it didn’t really surge in popularity across Britain until the late 1900s. Of course, the recipe’s been adapted and transformed so much over time and across regions that what we typically think of as vindaloo today differs quite a bit from the original Goan/Portuguese dish. Our recipe below is more in line with the British take on beef vindaloo than the authentic Goan rendition.
Chef’s Tips
Vindaloo can be made with a variety of proteins. You’ll commonly find it with beef, pork, lamb, or chicken. This beef version is my personal favorite, but feel free to swap in a different type of meat if you’d rather. Keep in mind that a protein like chicken won’t need to cook as long as the beef chuck we used here.
To save yourself a little prep time, you can purchase pre-chopped beef chuck. You might find it at your grocery store as “stew meat”. Whether you buy it already chopped or you chop the beef chuck yourself, make sure the pieces are fairly even in size so they cook at the same speed.
When you’re cooking the diced onion, don’t rush things. Cooking them until they’ve caramelized brings out SO much flavor and really makes a difference in the sauce. If you notice the onions start to burn, add 1-2 tablespoons of water to slow the process.
I mentioned before you can skip the cayenne entirely if you’re cooking for someone with a low spice tolerance. You can also serve your beef vindaloo with a dollop or two of plain Greek yogurt. It’ll help cut through the heat, and it adds a really nice creaminess to the dish. I also recommend serving it with a side of basmati rice and some warm naan, too.
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Please continue to the next page (>) for the full list of ingredients and complete cooking instructions. Enjoy this meal!
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