I’ve had a bag of lentils in my pantry for about a year now. Last week, I decided to finally make them. I read the instructions very loosely before I decided to cook the entire bag (which turned out to be about five pounds of lentils).
For the past week I have been eating lentils with every meal, and I came up with some recipes if you don’t know what to do with the extra lentils in your pantry.
The Lazy Lentil Salad
This recipe basically works with any ingredients, but here is what I used for mine:
Lentils
ChickPeas
Avocados
Greens
Cucumber
Cheese (any kind)
Red Onions
Olive Oil
Instructions:
(This is assuming you have already cooked your lentils)
Preheat the oven to about 400 degrees, drain and rinse chickpeas from the can, and then spread evenly along a greased baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Place chickpeas in 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until crispy.
If you don’t have premade lentils, now is the time to cook them in a large pot with water for about 15-20 minutes.
Prep: cut your avocado, onions, and cucumber to liking and mix them in with desired amount of greens.
Once chickpeas and lentils are finished cooking add them to you salad and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Top with cheese of choice and some red pepper flakes if you’re feeling spicy.
Desperate Lentil Spaghetti
Ingredients:
Lentils
Spaghetti noodles ( or any pasta of choice)
Pasta sauce of choice ( I used basic tomato pasta sauce)
Spinach
Parmesan Cheese
Instructions:
Following the instructions on the box of your desired pasta, begin to boil the water and cook your noodles. If you don’t have 5lbs of pre-cooked lentils like I did, now is the time to cook your lentils. Once your pasta is finished cooking, drain the noodles and then add them back into the pot along with a tomato based pasta sauce of your choosing. Place your burner on low to heat up the sauce. Add a handful of fresh spinach and about a half a cup of lentils. Mix and heat ingredients together until spinach is wilted.
Add the pasta top with parmesan and seasonings of your choice (I chose chili flakes, salt, pepper, and garlic powder)!
Can’t take this anymore curry
Ingredients:
Lentils
White rice
Frozen or fresh Veggie of choice (I used frozen broccoli)
Curry sauce (I used Madras curry sauce)
Instructions:
Rinse rice and then add to boiling water, cook rice until tender. While rice is cooking, pour cooked lentils, broccoli, and curry sauce into a skillet. Let mixture simmer until warm. Finally, add the cooked rice to a bowl and pour the curry lentil mixture over top.
These are just a few ways I’ve come up with to use up 5lbs of lentils. If you find yourself in this situation, or if you just need some good vegetarian dinner ideas, I hope you enjoy!