Theory is a core component in the teaching of many social sciences, including criminology-related programmes in higher education, but both students and lecturers can find it challenging. Given the growing popularity of criminology programmes, scholarship on the teaching and learning of criminological theory is increasingly important. This article uses a critical narrative literature review to explore extant empirically based scholarship on the teaching and learning of criminological theory. It examines the goals, methods, strengths and weaknesses of the pedadogical approaches suggested by this literature, making comparisons with the scholarship of teaching and learning theory in other social sciences. While lessons can be learned from related disciplines, there are numerous reasons why further empirical research is needed on a broader range of pedagogical approaches to criminological theory.