Lentil bread is definitely my super healthy nutritious go-to snack at any time. I often have a slice or two for breakfast or brunch, pre or post-workout. It is packed with protein and remarkable nutrition. It is quite filling and it takes me a long way.
I make this all throughout the year, it is a fantastic dish for a work snack, work lunch, working from home quick lunch, to take to a picnic, garden party or in a container to snack after gym. These are just a few ideas.
We are in the process of re-doing our kitchen from scratch and this is definitely my kinda snack to tuck in. It was such a savior. Easy to make as long as you have an oven to throw this in for 40 minutes.
I sometimes soak more lentils than I need and the extra soaked lentils will almost always end up in a delicious recipe like this.
We do love lentils in general and a good lentil recipe feel free to browse around my site to find quite a few delicious red lentil recipes like this Brown And Green Lentils With Portobello Mushrooms Salad, Vegan Lentil Meatballs (Mercımek Kofte) or this Red Lentil Dhal With Coconut Milk And Quail Eggs.
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🥘 Ingredients
There are only a few ingredients that are needed for this delicious vegetarian lentil bread dish. You will need:
- lentil - these have to be soaked for at least 1 hour or even overnight
- dill - is a versatile herb and works well in this recipe
- feta cheese - gives the dish a lovely lift
- yogurt - helps with the fermentation process
- soda bicarbonate and baking powder - help this bread to get a fluffy texture
- red peppers - these enhance the flavors and give that nice speckles of color
- olives - I just love the addition of the olives in this dish - it works really well
- eggs - these help with binding
- spring onion or scallions - you may shallow fry those for extra flavor if you wish
- cheddar cheese - is such a lovely addition - you may even double the quantity if desired
- sesame seeds - to sprinkle over but you may add some toasted ones to the recipe
- chili flakes - oh yes, I would never skip those - add as much or as little as you wish
- salt - only go for it if you like your salt but remember, feta cheese and olives add saltiness to this dish
- olive oil - I sometimes do add olive oil, and sometimes I do not
See the recipe card below for exact quantities.
📖 Substitutions
- Lentil - You may use any lentil type you like ( green, yellow, red, black (beluga) green mountain lentils. Any lentil types you have in hand, you like and are used to eating will all do a great job in this high-protein bread.
- Fresh Herbs - use flat parsley and/or thyme, or oregano if you like. Dried herbs are great too.
- Make it Vegan - just substitute the eggs with a tablespoon of chia seeds and the dairy ingredients (yogurt and feta) with plant-based ones.
- Cheddar cheese - parmesan cheese makes a great sub - it is as delicious
🌶 Variations
- Spicy - add chili pepper flakes while cooking to imbue heat into the dish, or long peppers for extra flavor
- Add finely chopped mushrooms - even more protein? Yes, please!
- Kid-friendly - add some crushed potatoes or some chips to one side - also drop the chili flakes as kids don't deal well with spices
🔪 How To Make Lentil Bread
Here are some process shots to show you how to make this super easy and quick lentil bread recipe.
Step 1: Wash, and soak (for at least one hour) the lentils.
Step 2: Puree the lentil in a food processor.
Step 3: Combine some of the ingredients (soaked and pureed lentils, yogurt, eggs, oil, salt, pepper, baking soda, soda bicarbonate, and cayenne pepper/chili flakes) into a larger glass bowl and mix until homogenized.
Step 4: Add the remaining ingredients (mainly the chopped ones) olives, spring onion or scallion, crumbled feta cheese, grated cheddar cheese, dill, and finely chopped red pepper. Give it another mix and it is ready to go to the oven.
😉 This is what the lentil bread mix looks like before going into oven-proof tins and getting in the oven.
Step 5: Pour the mixture into the two greased bread loaf tins. sprinkle the sesame seeds over and place them into the preheated oven. Bake at 180C/350F for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown, just like these beauties here.
Pro Tip: Keep an eye on this whilst in the oven so it does not burn. You may add 2-3 tablespoons of flour/tapioca flour for a gluten-free option if you wish but I do like it nice and moist.
👪 Serving Suggestions
- This dish is great to have as a snack whenever you feel hungry. For me, a slice of this bread, just like the one shown above, makes that perfect snack to have at teatime when the sugar cravings kick in.
- It is lovely having this with some extra protein like this nice Creamy Cucumber, Fennel & Yogurt Dip a tzatziki type of dip/ side dish that pairs well with this amazing lentil bread. With a warm slice of this healthy lentil loaf and a dollop of that yogurt dip, it's plain heaven.
- It makes a fabulous party dish, perfect for sharing as little squares or made as mini muffins or mini cupcakes.
💭 FAQs
Once it has cooled, if any is left ;-), store it in an airtight container refrigerated. Ideally sliced or cut into chunks as it is easier to grab and go. These can be refrigerated for 2-3 days.
Yes, I am sure this freezes well and the best practice for using it after freezing will be to thaw it in the refrigerator overnight. Take out the required quantity and thaw rather than the whole thing.
Yes, this can be reheated in a pre-heated pan by placing the slice or slices in a hot nonstick pan with or without a drizzle of olive oil. It is entirely up to you. Please do remember to add the slices to the pan when this is hot, this is important to avoid or reduce them sticking to the pan.
🍞Other Bread Recipes to Consider...
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page. Thanks for stopping by!
📋 Healthy Lentil Bread - Flourless
Equipment
- food processor
- chopping board
- glass bowl
- spatula
- ovenproof dish
- knife
Ingredients
- 2 cups red lentils dry quantity
- 200 g feta cheese ( 7.05 oz) made into crumbs
- 10 sprigs dill fresh
- 6 spring onions / scallions
- 1 cup Greek yoghurt go for any 5% up fat
- 1 handful olives chopped
- 4 medium eggs or 3 large
- 1 pinch chilli flakes
- 50 ml olive oil ( 1.69 fl oz) 5-6 tablespoons
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 1 teaspoon soda bicarbonate (small teaspoon) 1/2 U.S. teaspoon *
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 100 g cheddar cheese ( 3.53 oz) grated
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1 medium red pepper diced
Instructions
- Wash and soak the red lentils for at least one hour. * See Recipe Notes for more
- Sieve the lentils once soaked (no need to rinse) and puree these in a food processor.
- Transfer the pureed lentils into a bowl and add the eggs, soda bicarbonate, baking powder, yogurt, olive oil, black pepper, and salt (if adding any). Mix well until homogenized.
- Add the remaining ingredients, the chopped olives, spring onion/scallions, chopped pepper, crumbled feta, grated cheddar, dill, and chili flakes. Add most of the sesame seeds and keep a few to sprinkle over.
- Prepare two small bread loaf baking tins * by greasing those with some butter or olive oil. Pour the lentil mixture into the tins in equal amounts. Sprinkle the remaining sesame seeds on each loaf.
- Transfer to the oven and bake at 190C or 375F for 35-40 minutes until golden brown.
- Serve warm or cold as a snack or a main with a salad as a side. See other serving suggestions above.
Notes
- No need to worry. If you have little time for soaking the lentils and you do not have at least one hour, soak these for as long as you can in hot water. This will speed the soaking process a little.
- It is entirely up to you and your taste but I never really do for this dish because the feta cheese, the cheese, and the olives add sufficient (for me) salt. I'm not too fond of anything salty but if you do like your salt, add a pinch or two extra.
- Add a teaspoon of each - the European teaspoons should be shaved and not heaped, and for the U.S. cooks, only add 1/2 teaspoon as the teaspoon over there is quite a bit bigger.
- Do not worry if you do not have loaf tins, you can use any oven-proof dish whether that's round, rectangular, or any shape you have or prefer. I have made this in my larger square ceramic dish and a couple of times in my oval dish. You may also use a single dish but it will have to be larger so the bread doesn't end up being too thick to cook especially in the middle part.
Jasson says
Very nice recipe chef👍👌👏. I make your lentil bread once a week for some time now 😋. Thank you for your effort 🌞😎
Ramona says
Thank you chef 😉 I am super glad you liked it Jasson.
Angela Tucker says
How much water do I soak the lentils with ?
Ramona says
Hi Angela,
It really doesn't matter as long as it is enough for those to get well soaked. Just make sure the lentils are submerged in the water and have a good 3-5 cm of water above. i'd say 1lb/500g lentils with approx 1.2 litre of water. You do drain the water anyways.
Lulu says
Thank you for such a creative recipe. I made this with a combination of black eye peas and mung bean (that's what I had on hand). I didn't have feta nor olive. So I omitted those two as well. Used 2 fresh red chillies and a bit celery leaves. I only did half a recipe since I'll be eating it by myself. But I love it !
I soaked both black eye peas and mung beans for 12 hours. I have a thermos pot so I boiled the beans and let them sit in my thermos pot for about 1 hour. The beans are cooked but not very tender. I just wanted to get rid of the raw bean smell. Then I drained them and let them air dry for about half hour before using them according to recipe.
Ramona says
Thank you soo much dear Lulu, the mung bean and black eye peas combination sounds amazing! I am going to try that too. Super healthy and delicious! The beauty of this lentil bread is also its versatility. A gem. I love it too and make it very often.
Kelly says
I’ve made three loaves- great bread; friends are enjoying it and think they are eating flour! My husband loves this lentil bread and asks me to make it weekly. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Ramona says
Thank you soo much dear Kelly. I have to say we love it too. It’s a truly delicious lentil bread recipe that I am so happy to have written. It only took a few attempts to come to this and I’m so glad it’s going soo well and soo many of you love it too.
Thanks soo much once again for your feedback. I’m hoping you’ll try other recipes in here too ❤️❤️
Have a wonderful weekend!! 🙏🏼🙌❤️
Sarah fraser says
Made this for the first time yesterday. I didn't have any dill but I did add a tsp of tumeric. It was delicious! It's very "cake-like" and lovely with cream cheese. It made two loaves, one of which I have frozen. Will definitely be one of my go to recipes!
Ramona says
Thank you so much dear Sarah. I am so happy you did give my recipe a try and also loved it. I need to make it again 😉 What a fab idea to serve it with the cream cheese. Thank you once again! 😉
Gwen says
Can I substitute non dairy yogurt in this recipe?
Ramona says
Hi Gwen,
That should work, no problem. Let me know how it turns out. 😉🙏🏼
Anita says
Delicious, especially when warmed. I used red lentils.
I had to bake these two loaves for over an hour. It's not my oven, because other things I've baked were right on the timing. I left out the salt as recommended, as between the baking soda (bicarb) and the cheeses, it would've been to salty (for me).
Ramona says
Thank you so much dear anita for your kind feedback and for giving my lentil bread recipe a try. It is delicious, I agree that warm is slightly better. It is funny you say that, I do have to bake these for slightly longer sometimes and I am assuming its because the moisture levels vary. Yes, I am not a big fan of salt and the saltiness from the olives, cheeses and soda bicarbonate is always sufficient for me too. I am also trying to stay lower on salt intake in general.
Thank you once again and I really hope you will be trying other delicious recipes from my blog recipe collection. Have a wonderful week ahead!!
Jane says
This recipe is delicious. I have made it a few times now. This last time, I did not have red peppers on hand so I used chopped sun-dried tomatoes and it was equally good too. (For the newbies, the first time made it I misread the word “Sieve” and I did not drain the lentils before I processed them. Luckily I had not added anything else to them so I had to strain them with a nut bag. It worked out ok though, but I had to cook it longer due to the extra moisture.)