Lentils are insanely easy to cook. And they are tiny powerhouses of nutrition—chock full of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. Cooked right, they are delicious and downright addictive. They make a great addition to soups, salads and quinoa bowls. At 13g of protein per quarter cup (dry), they’re just about the best source of plant-based protein I can think of.
I’ve been simmering them on the stove-top in relative ease for the past 11 years. When I got my Instant Pot a couple years ago, I decided I wanted to try cooking them in there, but found that there was a dearth of information on how to do so. I had so many questions: How much water should I add? How long should I cook them for? High or low pressure? So, I decided to experiment. After lots of trial and error and mushy, sticky batches gone horribly wrong, I finally landed on a consistent and reliable recipe for black lentils (which are sometimes called Beluga lentils due to their resemblance to caviar). Here is what I found:
Black Lentils in the Instant Pot
Equipment
- Instant Pot or Electric Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup black lentils
- 1.5 cups filtered water
- 1 TB organic vegetable paste or bouillon for flavoring (this is optional, but really adds to the taste)
Instructions
- Rinse the lentils.
- Dump all ingredients into the Instant Pot.
- Seal Instant Pot and set cook time to 6 minutes and pressure to high.
- Allow to pressurize and cook. It will take approximately 10 minutes for the Instant Pot to reach full pressure.
- After cooking, allow to depressurize naturally. This should take 15-20 minutes.
Notes
Flavoring
A couple things to keep in mind when making lentils is that they can be fairly bland on their own, but if seasoned properly, they can be utterly delicious. They also readily absorb flavors. I’ve found that an easy way to flavor them is to add organic vegetable bouillon to the water when cooking them. The one I like to use is called Better than Bouillon and can be bought on Amazon.
One thing to note, though, is that this contains yeast extract. If you have a strong sensitivity to MSG, you may get a cross-over reaction to yeast extract. My mom is extremely sensitive to MSG and has to avoid yeast extract like the plague, so if I’m making this for her, I don’t add the bouillon. However, the rest of my family loves the flavor this bouillon adds. In fact, my oldest daughter, who is a total carnivore, thinks it makes the lentils taste like “meat,” which, coming from her, is high praise indeed!
