Red Lentils Instant Pot Recipe

This red lentils Instant Pot recipe is simple. Use as a healthy side dish that is vegetarian. Use same directions for brown, green, black or yellow varieties too.

What exactly are lentils?

They are similar to beans. High protein pebble like hard in nature before being cooked, they’re used a lot in vegetarian recipes replacing meat.

There are many types as well. The biggest difference is the bold color on the outside, which changes once they’re softened. We used red but there are many others to choose from. All have an earthy flavor.

Instant Pot Lentils

Here’s where it starts. Pick the color or taste of your choice and some water. Broth is another alternative you can use for the liquid you need. That will add a bit more flavor.

Lentils Instant Pot Recipe

Here is what you’ll need to get started on this:

1. Lentils – dry, we used split red lentils here
2. Water – or other liquid such as vegetable broth to add more flavor
3. Seasonings
   1. only salt and pepper were added to this
   2. garlic salt and/or powder is great too

Instant Pot cooking makes this healthy recipe super easy. You just cook at high pressure and allow for a natural release so they get nice and tender.

Whether you want brown lentils or red lentils, they cook basically the same. If you aren’t super familiar with pressure cooking, natural release means to leave the steam valve in the sealing position.

After the 15 minutes is up, flip it open so the remainder can escape and the lid will lift off easily and safely. Lentils are tender when cooked this way.

From there you can blend to make them smooth like mashed potatoes, or cut down the cooking time by a few minutes if you don’t want them quite as soft.

Here are quick step by steps but you can jump to recipe at the bottom of this post as well. It is printable so you can keep it handy.

If you want it very smooth and add it to a blender or hand mixer you may need a bit more liquid. Broth, water or even coconut milk are common choices for this.

When planning this keep in mind that the time to reach initial pressure can be 15 to 20 minutes. So leave a good 45 minutes start to finish for this easy lentil recipe.

What is the difference between beans and lentils?

We share how to cook beans in a pressure cooker here. Those take a bit longer, depending on the variety and how soft you want them. Lentils are legumes, not beans and grow inside seeds vs. pods.

Much higher in protein, split lentils have a different shape to them. Nonetheless these two are often confused.

Looking for other Instant Pot side dishes? We have tons on our site, here are a few of our favorites:

• Our homemade Instant Pot baked beans get 5 stars from everyone who tries them.
• You can make Instant Pot refried beans for your next taco Tuesday get together.
• For pressure cooker bean cook times you can refer to this free printable here.

Add something else? Let us know so we can try your favorite add ins.