Green Lentil

These veggie patties are streamlined enough for a weeknight dinner, packed with protein, and deeply savory thanks to mushrooms and mellow white miso.

Based on a Middle Eastern mujaddara, a homey mix of spiced simmered lentils and rice, this easy, meatless dish is rich with allspice, cinnamon, and sweet browned leeks. The handful of baby spinach stirred in toward the end turns it into a one-pot meal, and adds a bit of welcome color, too. If you don’t have leeks, use an onion or two instead.

All of the satisfaction of a hearty, rich, bean-based cassoulet without the painstaking hours of prepping and cooking.

Serve creamy sweet potatoes and crispy-edged mushrooms over a bed of herby feta-tahini sauce for a dinner that’s easy, comforting, and perfect for fall.

Cool yogurt, crunchy seeds, and herbs turn lentils into a lunch salad you’ll actually be excited to eat. Serve it with warm pita for swiping up the garlicky yogurt.

This nourishing soup is packed with creamy, chewy, and hearty textures that make the simple preparation extremely satisfying. Use stock instead of water if you’d like—but truly, you don’t need it.

If you’re reading this, you’re alive. But if you’re not taking advantage of nature’s most underrated legume, are you really living?

Nourish your body with this welcoming salad complete with a warming ginger dressing. Lentils provide a fabulous source of protein and the beet adds that splash of color I love so much.

Start your weekend mornings right with this healthier, more delicious breakfast bowl.

When cooked with aromatics and rich tomato sauce, lentils are anything but bland.

The perfect compromise between a grain and a salad, this refreshing Mediterranean side makes a lovely accompaniment to grilled lamb for a backyard barbecue. Or, highlight its Middle Eastern influences by pairing it with baba ghanoush and a platter of stuffed grape leaves. Add personal touches by substituting your favorite herb for the mint, topping off the salad with a squeeze of lime and a bit of orange zest, or using spinach instead of arugula. However you decide to frame it, you’ll be set up for a nice snack the next day.

Lentils, rice, olive oil, and onions—this Middle Eastern standard is the ultimate pantry recipe. It's also the classic example of a dish that's greater than the sum of its parts. There are literally dozens of recipes for mujadara out there—each country, possibly even each family, seems to have its own version. The one I like best is adapted from Claudia Roden's Book of Jewish Food. The crispy onion topping is the best part, so go ahead and make a lot. NOTE: Lentils, like all dried beans, vary in their cooking time depending on several factors, including age. Yours may take longer to become tender, but they shouldn't take much more than an hour. Hard water can also affect the cooking time—if your water is hard, use bottled water.

A great alternative to hummus (and a fixture with crudités or on sandwiches in the BA Test Kitchen), it seems there's nothing this spread can't do. French green lentils work best here, but the most important ingredient, notes chef Antonio Prontelli, is top-quality extra-virgin olive oil.

High-protein lentils are enlivened here by coriander, ginger, mint, and cilantro. For the best flavor, toast whole coriander seeds, then grind them to a fine powder. In a pinch, you can substitute a teaspoon of ground coriander instead of grinding your own. Beets add heart-healthy iron, potassium, and folate.

Lentils are a particularly robust source of protein, folate, and iron. Red, orange, and yellow bell peppers provide more vitamin C and carotenoids than green ones; these powerful antioxidants support eye health, boost immunity, and fight heart disease. This nutritious make-ahead salad is perfect for a packable lunch, picnic, or barbecue.

French green lentils, sometimes called lentilles du Puy, hold their shape well once cooked, making them particularly suited to salads and pasta dishes. Like other legumes, lentils are low in fat and are exceptional sources of folate, iron, and protein, plus other vitamins and minerals. Here, the lentils are combined with whole-wheat pasta shapes called chiocciole (snails), but you can substitute penne or any other short tubular shapes. If you like, grate or shave parmesan over the pasta just before serving.

The lentils can be made up to a day in advance and the salad assembled at the last minute. Poached or grilled chicken breast would produce equally appetizing results.

To prevent the lentils from becoming too soft as they cool, spread them on a baking sheet.

You can easily double this recipe and refrigerate leftovers in airtight containers for up to 3 days. The soup can also be frozen for up to 3 months. We used French lentils, but other types of lentils may also be used.