These seven lentil recipes cover the ways lentils earn a regular spot in a healthy kitchen: a silky red lentil soup, a weeknight dal, a lentil salad that keeps for days, Levantine mujadara, taco filling and a hearty bolognese. Every one lists protein and fiber per serving, so you can pick by appetite, time or what’s in the pantry.
My rule of thumb: red lentils for anything you want soft and creamy, brown or green lentils for anything you want to hold its shape. Get that one choice right and most lentil recipes are hard to mess up.
Lentil recipes at a glance
| Recipe | Lentil type | Calories | Protein | Fiber | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Red lentil soup | Red | 384 | 21 g | 10 g | 40 min |
| 2. Weeknight red lentil dal | Red | 238 | 14 g | 8 g | 35 min |
| 3. Simple lentil soup | Brown or green | about 230* | 18 g* | 16 g* | 40 min |
| 4. Lentil salad | Green or brown | 346 | 16 g | 7 g | 45 min |
| 5. Mujadara | Brown or green | 474 | 16 g (about 21 g with yogurt sauce) | 8 g | About 65 min |
| 6. Lentil taco filling | Brown or green | 220 | 13 g | 6 g | 35 min |
| 7. Lentil bolognese with whole-wheat spaghetti | Brown or green | 394 | 17 g | 12 g | 45 min |
Red lentil recipes
Red lentils are split and hulled, so they cook in about 20 minutes and collapse into a creamy texture. That makes them perfect for soups and dal, and a poor pick for salads.
1. Red lentil soup with lemon
Per bowl: 384 calories, 21 g protein, 10 g fiber. Makes 4 bowls.
Onion and carrot soften in olive oil, then garlic, tomato paste, cumin, turmeric and paprika toast for a minute. In go 1 1/2 cups (300 g) red lentils and 6 cups (1.4 L) vegetable broth for a 20 to 25 minute simmer, a quick blend, and a hit of lemon at the end. It’s the highest-protein bowl on this list and the one I make most. Full recipe and five variations: red lentil soup, silky and ready in 40 minutes.
2. Weeknight red lentil dal
Per serving (dal only): 238 calories, 14 g protein, 8 g fiber. Serves 4.
Dal is the everyday lentil dish of India, and this is a simple home-style version rather than a restaurant one. The photo above is dal makhani, its rich cousin made with whole black lentils, butter and cream; the recipe below is the lighter weeknight kind.
- 1 cup (200 g) red lentils, rinsed
- 1 tbsp (14 g) olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion (150 g), diced
- 3 garlic cloves and 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp cumin seeds or ground cumin, 1 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1 can (14.5 oz / 411 g) diced tomatoes
- 3 1/2 cups (830 ml) water, salt, lemon juice and cilantro
Cook the onion in the oil over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until golden. Add garlic, ginger and spices for 1 minute, then the tomatoes, lentils and water. Simmer, stirring now and then, for 20 to 25 minutes until the lentils break down and the dal looks like a thick porridge. Season with salt and a squeeze of lemon. Serve with rice or a whole-wheat flatbread, which adds to the numbers above.
Brown and green lentil recipes
Brown and green lentils keep their shape when you simmer them for 18 to 25 minutes. French green (Puy) and black beluga lentils hold up best of all, which is why they are the ones I use for salads.
3. Simple lentil soup for batch cooking
Per serving: about 230 calories, 18 g protein, 16 g fiber, counting the lentils only.
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The plain, brothy, pantry version: onion, carrot and celery softened in olive oil, then garlic, cumin, a can of diced tomatoes, 1 cup dry brown or green lentils and 6 cups broth, simmered about 25 minutes. Each serving holds about a cup of cooked lentils, which is where that fiber number comes from. It’s part of our high fiber meals with fiber and protein counts.
4. Lentil salad you can eat all week
Per serving: 346 calories, 16 g protein, 7 g fiber with feta (290 calories and 13 g protein without). Serves 4.
Simmer 1 cup (190 g) green or brown lentils with a bay leaf, drain, and toss them warm in a lemon-oregano dressing so they soak it up. Then add cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red onion, a big handful of parsley and crumbled feta. It’s better on day two than day one. Get the full method in our make-ahead lentil salad.
5. Mujadara (lentils and rice with crispy onions)
Per serving: 474 calories, 16 g protein, 8 g fiber; about 21 g protein with the yogurt-cucumber sauce. Serves 4.
A Levantine staple of brown lentils and rice cooked together, crowned with onions fried slowly until deep brown. The onions take patience (25 to 30 minutes), and they’re the whole point. It’s the most filling dish here and costs very little to make. Recipe: mujadara under a pile of crispy onions.
6. Lentil taco filling
Per serving (filling only): 220 calories, 13 g protein, 6 g fiber. Serves 4.
- 1 cup (190 g) dry brown or green lentils, rinsed
- 1 tbsp (14 g) olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion (150 g), finely diced
- 2 tbsp (32 g) tomato paste
- 1 tbsp chili powder, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) water or low-sodium broth, salt and lime juice
Soften the onion in the oil for 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and spices and cook 1 minute until brick red. Add lentils and liquid, cover and simmer 20 to 25 minutes until tender and most of the liquid is gone. Uncover, mash about a third of the lentils with a potato masher so the filling holds together, and finish with lime. Pile it into corn tortillas or lettuce cups with salsa, shredded cabbage and avocado. The filling freezes well, so I double it.
7. Lentil bolognese with whole-wheat spaghetti
Per serving (with pasta): 394 calories, 17 g protein, 12 g fiber. Serves 6.
- 1 cup (190 g) dry brown or green lentils, rinsed
- 2 tbsp (27 g) olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion (150 g) and 2 medium carrots (120 g), finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp (32 g) tomato paste
- 1 can (28 oz / 794 g) crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups (475 ml) water, 1 tsp dried oregano, salt and pepper
- 12 oz (340 g) whole-wheat spaghetti
Cook the onion and carrot in the oil for 8 to 10 minutes, until soft and starting to brown. Add garlic and tomato paste for 1 minute, then the tomatoes, lentils, water and oregano. Simmer partly covered for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring often, until the lentils are tender and the sauce is thick. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti, save a splash of pasta water, and toss everything together. Parmesan on top is optional and not counted.
How to cook lentils so they turn out right
- Rinse, don’t soak. Lentils don’t need soaking. Rinse them in a strainer and pick out any small stones.
- Match the lentil to the job. Red and yellow for soup and dal; brown, green, Puy or beluga for salads, tacos and sauces.
- Salt late for whole lentils. For salads, add salt in the last 5 minutes of simmering so the skins stay intact.
- Start tasting early. Green and brown lentils go from firm to mushy fast. Start checking at 18 minutes.
- Add acid at the end. Lemon juice, lime or vinegar wakes up every lentil dish, but stir it in after cooking.
How much protein do lentils have?
USDA FoodData Central lists raw lentils at 352 calories, 24.6 g protein and 10.7 g fiber per 100 g. One cup (190 g) of dry lentils, the amount most of these recipes use, carries about 47 g protein and 20 g fiber before anything else goes in the pot. That’s why a lentil dinner fills you up on modest calories.
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Want more lentil-adjacent ideas? Our high protein soup recipes pair well with any of the soups above.
Storing and meal prepping lentil dishes
Soups, dal, taco filling and bolognese sauce all reheat well, and they thicken as they sit, so add a splash of water or broth when you warm them. The FoodSafety.gov cold storage chart gives soups and stews 3 to 4 days in the fridge and 2 to 3 months in the freezer, and I use the same window for dal, taco filling and sauce. Freeze the bolognese sauce without the pasta, and keep the lentil salad’s feta separate if you’re prepping it for the full week.
How the nutrition was calculated
Numbers for recipes 1, 3, 4 and 5 come from each full recipe on lestta.com, where they were calculated from USDA FoodData Central. For the three new recipes (dal, taco filling and bolognese), I used USDA per-100 g values for raw lentils, raw onion, olive oil, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, raw carrots and dry whole-wheat pasta at the gram weights listed. Spices, garlic, ginger, salt, lime and toppings aren’t counted.
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central: Lentils, raw (FDC 172420)
- Onions, raw (FDC 170000), olive oil (FDC 171413), canned tomatoes (FDC 170051), tomato paste (FDC 170459), carrots, raw (FDC 170393), whole-wheat pasta, dry (FDC 169738), USDA FoodData Central values via GetFoodFacts
- FoodSafety.gov: Cold Food Storage Chart
