How to Make Lemon Curd in Your Slow Cooker

Miss Thrifty14 February 20, 2013

miss thrifty - slow cooker lemon curd

I wasn’t going to post this recipe. Homemade lemon curd works out at a fraction of the price of shop-bought lemon curd – and tastes so much more zingy and delicious – but I feel a bit strange about adding a recipe that uses four eggs, lashings of butter and a packet of sugar to the collection of Thrifty Food posts.

But after I added a picture of slow cooker lemon curd to my Thrifty February Sunday post, Miss Thrifty reader Michelle asked if I would share the recipe. She would like to make it for her mum as a Mother’s Day treat. I approve of this sentiment: indeed, the two jars pictured above have already been spirited down to Essex, one for my mum and one for Frugal Grandma when she returns from her deluxe cruise.

It’s cheaper to buy lemons in bulk – Morrisons are currently selling five lemons for £1 – but if you don’t use them all in time, the leftover fruits begin to go small and hard. They are difficult to zest, but the concentrated juice still makes great lemon curd.

(Otherwise, there are many uses for lemons within the house: see Six Thrifty Uses For a Lemon for a few of them.)

juicing lemons

So here’s the recipe. It’s a good’un. The advantage of making it in the slow cooker is that you can pour it into the pot and leave it there all day until it is done – it is about as low-maintenance as preserve-making gets.

Slow Cooker Lemon Curd

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This yum-tiddly-umpum recipe for lemon curd makes three jars. You will need a slow cooker with a lid, three jam jars and a ceramic bowl or basin that will fit inside your slow cooker when your slow cooker has its lid on. You will also need tin foil to cover the top of the basin while it is in the slow cooker. The lemon curd will keep in the fridge for up to four weeks.
Ingredients
  • 125g unsalted butter
  • 400g caster sugar (most of a small packet)
  • 3 lemons
  • 1 orange
  • 4 eggs
Instructions
  1. Juice and zest the fruit. If you don't have a zesting tool, just grate the outer rinds instead.
  2. Add the butter, sugar, juice and zest to a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring, until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.
  3. Add the mixture to your bowl or basin, and leave to cool for 10 minutes. While it is cooling, beat the eggs.
  4. Add the beaten eggs to the mixture, and mix well.
  5. Cover the top of the bowl with tin foil. Put the bowl in the slow cooker, and add hot water to come halfway up the bowl's sides. Place the lid on the slow cooker.
  6. Cook on the low setting for 4-6 hours, until the curd has cooked and thickened. Give it a quick stir every couple of hours.
  7. Sterilise your jars. Fill them with hot lemon curd and leave to cool.

 

Incidentally, there is always talk of using wax discs to seal your jam in the jar and allowing it to keep for longer. I didn’t bother sealing these jars, because I knew the lemon curd would be gone in the blink of an eye. But it used to be that when I made jam, I would use old-fashioned paraffin wax. It is fiddly and messy though:

paraffin wax jam jars

So now I have taken up with cellophane jam pot covers:

 

cellophane jam pot covers

 

These come with wax circles as thin as paper, and are simple and easy to use. You fill the jam to the very top of the jar and then, while the jam is still hot, plonk on a wax circle. You top that with a dampened cellophane cover, and secure with an elastic band. As the cover dries, it contracts to give a tight wax seal. My local hardware store sells these covers in bags of 24, along with the wax circle and elastic bands, for £1.25 a pop. That works out at just over 5p each. You can also get them on Amazon.

 

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14 Responses to “How to Make Lemon Curd in Your Slow Cooker

Michelle says:

Thanks ever so much for posting this. It will be a fab gift for my Mum 🙂 x

February 21, 2013 at 10:54 am

Miss Thrifty says:

You are welcome Michelle – I hope your lemon curd turns out beautifully!

February 21, 2013 at 1:22 pm

June says:

I can vouch that slow cooked lemon curd is yummy! It’s surprising what you can cook in a slow cooker. I,ve just made a carrot cake in mine. Also made rice pudding, no need to keep a constant watch on it and something you can make and store in portions for future use.

February 22, 2013 at 10:09 pm

Jo says:

What a brilliant way to make lemon curd! I make it all the time as we grow lots of lemons, so will be trying it in my slow cooker soon. If you have left over lemons, juice them and freeze them in ice cube trays, then store in ziploc bags for baking. The zest also freezes really well, then you can leave the skins to dry out and use them as delicious perfumed fire starters. Waste not, want not!

February 27, 2013 at 4:22 am

Rebeca says:

Hi I was just wondering, when you say keeps for 4 weeks, does that mean once opened? Or once made. Many Thanks

March 9, 2013 at 4:34 pm

Miss Thrifty says:

@Rebeca – once made, because of the eggs. Tbh though it doesn’t last that long in our house!

March 9, 2013 at 7:40 pm

Rebeca says:

Thanks very much, wanted to make it as Easter gifts, so will leave it a few weeks.

March 11, 2013 at 10:16 am

Helen says:

wow, this is a brilliant idea. I love lemon curd and orange curd, but I’ve always been to scared to make it myself, I reckon I’ll give this ago next time I see cheap citrus fruits

March 12, 2013 at 11:06 am

Michelle says:

Thank you so much the lemon curd was a success and a big thumbs up from my Mum x

March 13, 2013 at 1:17 pm

Sarah says:

Hi, when i made the curd the egg started to scramble and i had to strain it. Is this normal? I made sure the mixture was cool before adding the eggs and cooked it on low. Is there anything i can do to stop this happening? Thanks

October 17, 2014 at 10:35 pm

Made this today absolutely delicious,now cooling in jars but have already had a lick of the spoon lol,thank you for the recipe xx

May 25, 2016 at 5:54 pm

Don says:

Now this sounds delicious!

April 12, 2018 at 6:15 am

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