Everything you need to know about cooking red lentils via stovetop or Instant Pot, and turning red lentils into easy, healthy dinners.
Red lentils are tiny, reddish-orange legumes that cook quickly, making them a perfect ingredient for quick, healthy dinners. The flavor is mild, earthy and slightly sweet (compared to the stronger earthier flavor of brown and black lentils).
Red lentils break down faster than other types of lentils when cooked. The texture quickly becomes soft and creamy, so red lentils are most often used in soups and curries.
Red lentils cook quickly (and turn mushy quickly) because most red lentils sold in stores are split red lentils. Split lentils have had the seed coat removed and are split in half.
Red Lentil Nutrition
Lentils are a healthy plant-based protein, often used in place of meat in chili, bolognese, veggie burgers and sloppy Joes. Red lentils are thought to be high in protein and fiber, as well as folate, iron, magnesium and zinc.
Do Red Lentils Need to Be Soaked Before Cooking?
Nope! All varieties of lentils are ready to be cooked without any soaking. It is a good idea to quickly rinse lentils in a bowl of water or colander before cooking however, to remove little bits of debris.
What is the Difference Between Red and Yellow Lentils?
Red and yellow (or golden) lentils are very similar in flavor and texture and can be used interchangeably. The only real difference is their color.
What is the Difference Between Lentils and Split Peas?
Red/yellow lentils, yellow split peas, and dried split chickpeas are three different legumes that look and taste very similar. Veganricha.com has a helpful picture guide for dried lentils, peas and beans.
Yellow lentils and yellow split peas are not the same thing, but are often used interchangeably in recipes. What is the difference between yellow lentils and yellow split peas? They taste fairly similar. However, peas and lentils are different varieties of legumes. Yellow split peas usually need to cook slightly longer (10+ minutes) than yellow lentils.
Yellow peas, which are meant to be dried, are different than green peas, which can be eaten fresh or dried. Both yellow split peas and green split peas (used for split pea soup) are peas that have been dried and split in half, so that they cook faster.
Yellow split peas are also different than split chickpeas. Dried split chickpeas are sometimes referred to as chana dal in Indian recipes.
Water Ratio for Lentils
When cooking red lentils in an Instant Pot or boiling lentils on a stovetop, combine 1 cup lentils with 2 cups water (Instant Pot) or 3 cups water (stove top). Or, just make sure there is about 2 to 3 inches of water above the lentils.
If you're making red lentil soup, you'll need to add more water so more liquid remains after cooking. Most red lentil soup recipes call for anywhere between 4 to 8 cups of water/broth.
How To Cook Red Lentils
Split red lentils (the most common red lentil sold in grocery stores) can be cooked on the stovetop or in an Instant Pot.
Cooking red lentils on the stovetop gives you a little more control over the texture of the lentils. If you want the lentils to still have some texture and not be completely mushy, you can remove them from heat when they reach the desired texture and drain off any remaining water.
Red lentils cooked in an Instant Pot are pretty much guaranteed to come out very soft and creamy (in other words, mushy).
Stovetop Red Lentils: Combine 1 cup lentils and 3 cups water. Bring the water to a boil, reduce to a low simmer, then cover and cook the lentils until they reach desired texture, anywhere from 5 to 12 minutes. Most, if not all, of the water will be absorbed by the lentils.
Stovetop Red Lentil Cooking Time
5 to 7 minutes: Tender/firm
8 minutes: Tender/soft
9 minutes: Soft, starting to get mushy
10+ minutes: Very soft/mushy
Instant Pot Red Lentils: Combine 1 cup lentils with 2 cups water. Secure the lid and make sure the steam release valve is in the sealed position. Program the Instant Pot to cook at high pressure for 3 to 5 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for about 5 minutes, then turn the steam release valve to "venting" to immediately release the steam.
Instant Pot Red Lentil Cooking Time
3 to 5 minutes: Very soft, creamy, individual lentils have completely broken down
Adding Flavor to Red Lentils
Red lentils have a mild flavor that needs salt, herbs, spices and other ingredients to become more interesting and appetizing.
Onion/Garlic/Ginger: Saute onion, garlic and/or ginger in the pot before adding the red lentils and water.
Spices: Garam Marsala, curry powder, turmeric, cumin, coriander and chili powder all pair well with red lentils. Spices can be added before or after cooking the lentils.
Herbs: Fresh cilantro, parsley or dill can be added to the lentils after cooking
Condiments/Sauces: Curry paste and/or coconut milk are often added to red lentils before cooking.
Vegetables: Tomatoes, spinach and chili peppers are often cooked with lentils.
Adding Salt and Tomatoes to Lentils
Both salt and acidity can react with beans in a way that makes them cook more slowly. If you add salt to lentils before cooking them, or anything acidic (like tomatoes, vinegar, lemon or wine) you might have to cook the lentils slightly longer to achieve a soft texture.
Red Lentil Recipes
Instant Pot Red Lentil Soup with Parmesan Chickpeas
Instant Pot Red Lentil Soup with Coconut Milk
More Bean Recipes
- Instant Pot Black Beans
- Instant Pot White Beans
- How to Cook Black Lentils
- Instant Pot White Bean, Cabbage and Tomato Soup
- Chickpeas and Spinach
- Chickpea Stew with Chicken and Potatoes
- Lentil Sloppy Joes
📖 Recipe
How to Cook Red Lentils
Easy instructions for cooking red lentils on the stovetop or in an Instant Pot.
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 3 minutes
- Total Time: 8 minutes
- Yield: 2+ cups cooked lentils
- Category: Beans
- Method: Instant Pot and Stovetop
- Cuisine: South Asia
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Stovetop Red Lentils
1 cup red lentils
3 cups water
Instant Pot Red Lentils
1 cup red lentils
2 cups water
Instructions
Stovetop Red Lentils
Bring the lentils and water to a boil, reduce to a low simmer, then cover and cook the lentils until they reach desired texture, anywhere from 5 to 12 minutes. Most, if not all, of the water will be absorbed by the lentils. Season with salt after cooking.
Stovetop Red Lentil Cooking Time
5 to 7 minutes: Tender/firm
8 minutes: Tender/soft
9 minutes: Soft, starting to get mushy
10+ minutes: Very soft/mushy
Instant Pot Red Lentils
Combine 1 cup lentils with 2 cups water in an Instant Pot. Secure the lid and make sure the steam release valve is in the sealed position. Program the Instant Pot to cook at high pressure for 3 to 5 minutes (I usually cook them for 3 minutes). Let the pressure release naturally for about 5 minutes, then turn the steam release valve to "venting" to immediately release the steam. Season with salt after cooking.
Instant Pot Red Lentil Cooking Time
3 to 5 minutes: Very soft, creamy, mushy
Notes
Add More Flavor!
Onion/Garlic/Ginger: Before adding red lentils and water, saute onion, garlic and/or ginger in oil or butter in the pot.
Spices: Garam Marsala, curry powder, turmeric, cumin, coriander and chili powder all pair well with red lentils. Spices can be added before or after cooking the lentils.
Herbs: Fresh cilantro, parsley or dill can be added to the lentils after cooking
Condiments/Sauces: Curry paste and/or coconut milk are often added to red lentils before cooking.
Vegetables: Tomatoes, spinach and chili peppers are often cooked with lentils.
Harry
New to Legumes. Interesting.
Josh
I tried this with the suggestion of sauteeing up some aromatics in the pot before the lentils go in (I did onions, garlic, ginger, and habanero) plus the added spices near the end (I did chili powder, cumin, coriander, and garam masala) and the flavor was incredible; however, 3:1 is way way too much liquid to get them cooked anything less than extremely mushy. For green lentils this might work but for red it probably needs to be somewhere between 1.5:1 and 2:1. Ended up being more of a porridge type consistency, which isn’t really what I was going for. I kind of suspected this but followed the directions anyway.
Jenny
Thanks for your comment! Whenever I've tried using less than 3 cups, the water is absorbed by the lentils and I have to add more so that the lentils don't stick to the pot. But I know that results can vary depending on the brand of lentils, and I'm sure your experience will be helpful to other readers. I find that red lentils always break down and have a porridge type consistency. If I want texture, I usually go for brown or black lentils.
Joey
Hi Jenny,
I as worried that the 1:3 ratio would make the lentils too mushy, so I lowered the water amount and added 1 tsp of Ghee to the pot.
Not only did this stop the lentils sticking, but is have them a good taste and they were perfect consistency after 6 min simmer.
Jenny
Great suggestion Joey, thanks!
Russ
Great article and very informative. This was my first (be gentle) ... lol time cooking lentils. I'm surprised that I actually bothered writing down what and how I fixed them. Here goes:
LENTIL SURPRISE ... the surprise was that it actually turned out pretty good ... I'm giving it a solid B with room to improve and experiment.
1 1/2 cups red lentils 4 1/2 cups water cooked on the stove top after it reached a boil for 8 - 9 minuets. I diced up about 1/2 cups of mini sweet peppers and sauted them in butter along with some minced onions ... didn't have any real onions and was too lazy to go get some ... and added a can of diced tomatoes with green chilis.
I had a bowl along with my wife and a friend and we haven't died or even gotten sick yet ... lol ... and agree that I/we certainly need to experiment with lentils a lot more in the future.
Oh, and one of the really nice things about lentils as opposed to regular beans is that they cook so much faster that you don't really have to prepare ahead of time as long as you have what you want to fix to go in/with them.
I've added lentils to our staple foods and am plan to use them a lot in the future.
Jenny
Your "lentil surprise" sounds delicious! Thanks for your comment!
Christy
This was super helpful! I did 1 cup lentils and 5 cups water, added some chopped carrots and celery and spices and it tasted like a delicious lentil soup 💯 I first sautéed onion and garlic in some olive oil, then added the rinsed lentils and sautéed them for a couple minutes, and then added the water and brought to a boil. Next I added the carrots, celery and some fresh oregano stems, then I covered and set to a simmer. The lentils I used were small and were done in about 10-12 mins of simmering. The spices I added were turmeric, cumin, white pepper and salt.
Jenny
That sounds delicious, thanks for sharing your recipe!
Daniel Garcia
Hi, Jenny
I prepared the red lentils following stove top recipe and the lentils were too mushy after 5 minutes, so I turned out my preparation to a delicious lentils soup. I think the water has to boil first, add the lentils and then simmer for 5-8min. I will try that next time.
Jenny
Hi Daniel,
I've found that it's almost impossible to cook red lentils without the lentils breaking down and becoming mushy. Let me know if bringing the water to a boil first helps. Also keep in mind that split red lentils cook faster than whole red lentils. However, it's harder to find whole red lentils at the grocery store. Glad to hear you were able to turn the red lentils into delicious soup!
S.
Helpful post!
s
you can probably disregard my comment for now (or moderator, delete it). seems like every other site suggests similar measurements so i must have absent mindedly added an extra 2 cups or something. i will try again.)
Jenny
Hi, thanks for your feedback! I tested the ratio of 3 cups water to 1 cup red lentils again on the stove top, and it worked for me. The lentils absorbed all of the water as they simmered. However, you're right, there are some recipes and packages of red lentils that recommend 2 cups water for every 1 cup of lentils that are cooked in a pot on the stove. Personally when I try this ratio, the water is quickly absorbed by the lentils and they start sticking to the pot before they are fully cooked. However, I do think there is variation between brands of lentils. You can always start with 2 cups of water, then add more as needed as the lentils cook. One thing to keep in mind is that red lentils break apart and get soft and mushy very easily. In my experience, they almost never hold together no matter how much or little water is used.
Donna Comte
Hi Jenny and daniel to use 2 cups of water you must use a hotpot not a hot pot . It is special kind of pot like a pressure cooker