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Soaking lentils play a critical part in my traditional cooking repertoire. Low in phytic acid and other anti-nutrients, lentils require only a quick soak before they are ready to cook – unlike beans. If you sometimes have trouble digesting beans like I do, even when properly soaked and cooked, lentils are a wonderful alternative.
There are 3 types of lentils: green, brown, and red. I typically use green lentils as they hold their shape very well after cooking, but I have recently found the red lentil to be simply delightful in soups.
When combined in a dish with homemade stock as shown in this week’s video, lentils make an economical, nutritious alternative to meat. The gallon of lentil soup I make in this video only costs about $5 – and I used organic vegetables and organic lentils! This is about 25 cents a serving!
Even the cheapest fast food can’t beat that!
In tough economic times, incorporating lots of lentils into your meals is a smart way to keep the food budget in check without sacrificing anything in nutrition!
Incidentally, Dr. Weston A. Price considered lentils to be the most nutritious of all legumes as they are loaded with potassium,, calcium, zinc, iron, and B vitamins. I first learned this at the 2007 Wise Traditions Conference during Sally Fallon Morell’s talk on “Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner’. The soup recipe I show you how to make in this video is an adaptation of the lentil soup recipe Sally discussed during that seminar.
I hope you enjoy it as much as my family has over the past few years!
Why Bother Soaking Lentils?
As discussed in the video above, soaking lentils prior to cooking significantly enhances the nutritional value of these tasty legumes. It is a process similar to soaking nuts.
In fact, healthy traditional cultures took great care to soak seeds of all kinds before eating.
Lentils are seeds too!
Soaking virtually eliminates hard to digest lectins, which can cause discomfort and encourage weight gain in some people.
If time is a concern, you can soak large batches of lentils, rinse/low temperature dry and then freeze. This way, when you want to make a recipe using lentils, you can just grab some out of the freezer and cook immediately rather than have to wait several hours or overnight to soak some first.
If you wish to save even more time, you can skip the step requiring soaking lentils and use sprouted lentils instead. I have actually switched over to using sprouted lentils most of the time now that quality organic ones are available at the health food store.
You can use either organic sprouted green lentils or the sprouted lentils trio (black, red, and green lentils). The trio is my favorite.
Be sure to never use the water from soaked beans, lentils, or any other legume for cooking. This modern practice, known as aquafaba, is not traditional. Worse, it is risky to your digestive health.
Soaked Lentils Recipe
Simple recipe for soaking lentils and other legumes to neutralize anti-nutrients so once cooked, their full nutritional value can be enjoyed.
Ingredients
- 3 cups dried lentils green, black or red, preferably organic
- 3 Tbl liquid whey
Instructions
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Put lentils in a large pot and fill with filtered water.
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Stir in liquid whey, put lid on the pot and leave on the counter for about 7 hours but no more than 18.
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Drain soaking water and rinse drain lentils again.
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Your lentils are now ready for cooking and you may use them in whatever dish you choose or proceed to the next step to make lentil soup.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Red lentils basically disintegrate after cooking, so only soak them for use in soup recipes.
Apple cider vinegar or lemon juice may be substituted for the liquid whey.
This recipe works for split peas too!
Recipes Using Soaked Lentils
Once you have a pot of soaked lentils ready, try using them as a base for this curried lentil soup.
Another recipe to try using soaked lentils is German lentil soup.
Reference
The lentils and garbanzo beans I soaked extensively NEVER would get tender, even after resorting to pressure cooking. I even soaked the lentils with whey as directed.
Yes, I was so surprised when you put olive oil in the pan since you have articles on here saying never to heat it. Maybe you’ve changed your mind since this video was made? If so, can you please tell us what you use instead of the EVOO? Perhaps more butter?
What about cooking the olive oil? Does that turn it rancid?
Made this last night. It was very good! A bit too spicy with the curry, but will adjust next time. Thanks for the video!
Hi Sarah,
Do we need to soak fresh or frozen green peas?
Thanks,
Erica
Hi Sarah,
I heard on a radio food program how delicious chickpea broth is when cooking them from scratch. I’ve searched your blog and find no information about chickpeas. What is your stand on eating chickpeas? And, if recommended, what is your stand on the chickpea broth (after skimming away the foam)?
Love, love, love your blog — very inspiring!
Thanks so much,
Andrea
Hi Andrea, chickpeas need to be soaked as does any legume. Chickpea broth? I wouldn’t use myself as both the soaking water and the cooking water should be discarded as it would be full of phytic acid and other anti-nutrients.
Huh? Why even soak them at all then if the cooking water would be “full of antinutrients”. Why soak anything? I thought the whole point of soaking was to neutralize that stuff. Why not just cook them without soaking? And after they’re cooked, how do we know if said legumes are even safe to eat then?
After soaking, you rinse them and then cook.
Are all legumes good for you?? I know you said fava beans were not. And do I need to buy them organic or does it not matter? I saw they had them on Bread Beckers but did not say “organic”. Also, if I buy in bulk how do I store them?
Thanks for all your info! Even my husband is getting excited about this!!! 😉
Hi Sarah,
Assuming that we soak the lentils in apple cider vinegar for the necessary amount of time, if we pressure cook them, how can we get the scum or impurities out? Will they scum up when you put the pressure-cooked lentils in the pot with the veggies?
Thanks for your time,
Ranjani.
Hi Ranjani, you soak the lentils in water with a bit of apple cider vinegar not just the vinegar. I don’t recommend a pressure cooker. Best to bring them to a boil on the stove top so that the scum can be removed.
Nice! Thank you.
Since you have red lentils on hand, you might want to try making Dosa–another great traditional dish.