How To: Cook Lentils

You can easily add cooked lentils to salads, soups, rice dishes and more. Lentils double in size when they cook so keep this in mind when measure out how much you need. 1/2 cup of dry lentils will yield 1 cup cooked.

There are several different types of lentils. The most commonly used on this website will be green lentils (which keep their shape when cooked and cook slower than most other types of lentils) and red lentils (which loose their shape in cooking, making them excellent for sauces and cook much faster than most types of lentils). You can cook them in water or stock (chicken/vegetable/beef). The variations are endless.

Makes: 2 cups

Preparation time: 1m
Cooking time: 1m
Total time: 31m

Ingredients:

Equipment:

Instructions:

  1. Measure out the amount of lentils you intend to use and have a quick look through them to make sure there aren't any stones or other foreign objects, if so pick out and discard these.
  2. Rince the lentils in cold water.
  3. Place the lentils in a medium saucepan and cover with either water or stock.
  4. Bring the lentils to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes to an hour depending on what type of lentil and what the disired texture is. If you are making red lentils they should be finished in about 15 minutes, if you are making green lentils then simmer for 30 minutues or more. Take a few out and test them every 10 minutes until the desired texture is achieved. Also keep and eye on the water level, if you intend to cook them for an hour you will most likely need to add more water. It's ok if there is still water left in the bottom of the pan when they are finished cooking but you do not want to run out of water and burn them. If there is water left over just drain the lentils in a strainer before you eat them and discard the excess water.