Filled with nutritional benefits, savoury lentil pancakes are a great healthy breakfast to start the day. Red lentils are an excellent source of iron, protein and fibre. They're egg-free, making them a great pancake alternative for those with egg allergiesโฆoh, and they're delicious too!
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How to make savory lentil pancakes
Making lentil pancakes is easier than you'd think. The process consists of preparing your lentils (by washing them, and then soaking them in boiling water to soften them), blending your ingredients, mixing the blended paste with rice flour to create a pancake batter, and then frying your pureed lentil-rice flour batter. Pretty easy stuff, bestie.
Check out my Savoury Lentil Pancakes recipe video on YouTube!
Tips
While there isn't anything too complicated about this recipe, here are a few things to keep in mind to make sure you get the best results!
- This recipe has been created using uncooked red split lentils, so the times and the amounts have been developed with this in mind. Swapping red lentils out for other kinds of lentils may not work.
- Do not skip the soaking the lentils. If you do this, your blender will HATE you. And your taste buds won't be too fond of your either.
- For an easy flavour variation, simply change up the herbs and spices used.
What to eat with lentil pancakes
In the photos and recipe video, I've kept it super simple by serving these savoury lentil pancakes with a bit of tomato sauce. But you can totally get more creative!
- Instead of tomato sauce, try something from the east or the Arab world - a chutney dip, hummus, or tahini would all work wonderfully. (I'm actually kicking myself for not using a little mango chutney the last time I made these. That sweet and savoury combo would have been heavenly.) I’d recommend giving it a shot alongside some Lebanese toum. If you want to keep it super simple, opt for a spoonful of Greek yoghurt.
- A fried egg goes well on top of basically anything. (Except maybe a banana. And I use this very strange and specific example because it was a recipe sent to me in my day-job's newsletter. I honestly thought it was a joke. But it wasn't! A colleague submitted the recipe: it was literally a fried egg with mashed banana and maple syrup. Just, no.)
- Avocados. You can Millennial toast this recipe to the moon. (The lentil pancakes would act as a flavourful toast base.)
Storage instructions
This recipe is best served fresh while still warm. You can refrigerate these lentil pancakes in an airtight container for up to three days. You can freeze them, but the texture won't be as nice once it thaws. If frozen, they will stay in an airtight container for up to two months. You thaw/warm them over a low heat in a pan.
More pancake recipes
- Healthy Sweet Potato Pancakes
- Lemon-Raspberry Dutch Baby
- Fluffy, Fluffy Pancakes
- Fluffy Japanese Souffle Pancakes
Helpful tools
A good quality blender is a life saver in any kitchen. Unless you're planning to do some serious ice-crushing blending, you don't need the best of the best, just something you can rely on.
Final thoughts
That's it for today, bestie! What do you think? Have you made lentil pancakes before? Will you try them? Let me know in the comments below.
๐ Recipe
Savoury Lentil Pancakes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 lentil pancakes 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Filled with nutritional benefits, savoury lentil pancakes are a great healthy breakfast to start the day. They're egg-free, making them a perfect pancake alternative for those with egg allergiesโฆoh, and they're delicious too!
Ingredients
- 1 cup red lentils
- 6 cups water, boiling
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 onion, chopped roughly
- Salt, to taste
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, ground
- ยฝ teaspoon red chili flakes
- 1 teaspoon cumin, ground
- 3 tablespoons rice flour
- ยผ cup cilantro
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter
Instructions
- Wash and rinse lentils under running water until the water is not cloudy anymore.
- Soak lentils in boiling water for 30 minutes. This will make the lentils tender which, in turn, makes it easier to blend them.
- Drain the soaked lentils, and add them to the blender. Add chopped onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, cumin, and cilantro (set aside a few cilantro leaves for later). Pulse until a smooth paste is formed. (This is your lentil pancake batter!)
- Transfer the puree to a mixing bowl. Add rice flour and the remaining cilantro. Mix well.
- Spread butter on a flat pan over a medium-high heat. Add 2-3 tablespoons of pancake batter to the pan and using the back of the spoon shape it into a round pancake shape.
- Reduce the heat to medium and cook on each side for 3-4 minutes or until golden and crispy. Enjoy!
Notes
- When you're washing your lentils, make sure to be thorough by scooping up handfuls of lentils and scrubbing them in your palm to clean.
- The amount of boiling water required may be slightly different depending on the dimensions of your pot. You want enough to generously cover the lentils.
- Depending on your lentils, you may find that they’re firmer than you’d like when blending. You can add a ยผ cup of water to help the process. (I actually do this in the recipe video as the batch didn’t soften as much as I wanted.)
- A little hack to get even pancakes is to use a ยผ cup scoop to spoon your pancake batter into the pan. That way your pancakes will mostly be around the same size.
- If you want to ensure these pancakes are vegan, make sure to use vegan butter too.
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Indian
Aileen
This looks yummy but I’d make it for dinner. We like cilantro in our Tex-Mex food here in Texas so I love that addition. I was vegetarian many years ago (hard to do in Texas with so much good bbq!) and I used to eat the red lentils. I’ll have to buy those again.
Riz
Thanks for commenting, Aileen! I hope you do give it a try, and that you enjoy it too!!
Kaye
Weโve trying to add more beans to our meals, these look so good! Do you have a good suggestion for rice flour substitute?
Riz
Hi Kaye,
This isn’t something I know much about…but I believe potato starch is a popular substitute. All-purpose flour will *likely* work fine (but I’ve never tested either option). I hope that helps!
Ali F
Good recipe. Doesn’t taste like traditional pancakes but is a yummy savory pancake.
carole
your recipe says 6 cups of water. where does this go? i rinsed the lentils in running water and soaked in boiling water, but it doesn’t say when you add the 6 cups of water. Your video shows you adding water but not 6 cups.
p.s. I made them and added 2 cups of water and it was very watery so instead of rice flour (which I didn’t have) i added some chick pea flour to soak up the liquid a bit and they were yummy. will be making them again, just with a lot less water
Riz
Hi Carole,
The 6 cups of water refers to the approx amount of water to soak the lentils in. Sorry the recipe isn’t too clear about this, I’ll do a quick edit now to hopefully make it clearer!
Riz
Ana
I made these a couple of times because the flavor is good, but as written, I struggled with the texture.
The first time I made these, I soaked the lentils in boiling water as written and they were still a bit too hard, so even my high powered blender jad trouble. The batter was still too thick.
The next time, I just simmered the lentils in boiling water instead and then drained them, but the batter was still too thick. I ended up adding back in some more water to loosen it up, but then they were a little watery as they cooked. Ultimately, I threw an egg in for the last half or so of the remaining batter and that really helped bind them together for easier cooking. If anyone else is struggling with the consistency, that’s what I would recommend.
Besides all that, though, the flavor was good and we really enjoyed these with some hummus. I’d make these again but with the above tinkering from the get go so that I could enjoy the full batch.