Lentil Cutlets: Step By Step Recipes With Photos

2025 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-13 07:40

Lentil cutlets: the benefits of flavor

Do you like cutlets? Surely yes, because this is a very satisfying and tasty dish that goes well with any side dish. We are used to the fact that homemade cutlets are made mainly from meat or fish, but now many housewives, taking care of the health of their families, remember the old recipes for cutlets made from vegetables, cereals and more. Today we have collected for you a whole collection of recipes for lentil cutlets - a very tasty and healthy culture that is becoming more and more popular in modern cooking.

Content

• 1 What is good about lentils

  • 1.1 4 flavors
  • 1.2 Table: nutritional value of 100 g lentils
• 2 Ingredients for cutlets
• 3 How many minutes?

• 4 Vegetarian, Vegan & Lean Recipes

  • 4.1 Fresh lentils with fried onions
  • 4.2 Green lentils with potatoes and carrots

  • 4.3 With mushrooms

    4.3.1 Video: Simple and Quick Red Lentil Mushroom Cutlets

  • 4.4 With rice or buckwheat

    4.4.1 Video: how to cook lentil-rice cutlets

  • 4.5 With sauerkraut

  • 4.6 With couscous and spicy tomato sauce

    4.6.1 Video: lentil cutlets with couscous and tomato sauce

  • 4.7 Spicy Turkish cutlets with bulgur, no frying

    4.7.1 Video: cooking lentil and bulgur cutlets

  • 4.8 Baked with oatmeal

    4.8.1 Video: how to cook lentil cutlets in the oven

  • 4.9 The healthiest steamed sprouted lentil patties

  • 4.10 Monastic style with black bread

    4.10.1 Video: lentil cutlets from the ministers of the Cyril-Athanasievsky monastery

• 5 Lentil cutlets with animal products

  • 5.1 With vegetables in a slow cooker

  • 5.2 With eggs

    5.2.1 Video: classic lentil cutlets

  • 5.3 With minced meat or minced chicken

Why lentils are good

This plant of the legume family has been known since prehistoric times. According to archaeological research, flat lentil seeds were used for cooking various dishes by the ancient Romans, Greeks and Egyptians. And among the indigenous people of America, this culture occupied the main place in cooking. Asian cuisine is also rich in lentil dishes.

4 flavors

Among the many varieties of this plant, chefs distinguish 4 most suitable for cooking.

1. Brown lentils are the most popular type and are mainly used for soups with vegetables and spices. After heat treatment, the grains take on a creamy structure and keep their shape well.
2. Red lentils are the second most popular. It boils very quickly. Therefore, you can cook it when there is very little time. Within 15 minutes you will get an excellent rich soup or soft, boiled porridge.
3. Beluga lentils look like black beluga caviar, for which they got their name. Small round-shaped black grains do not require soaking, keep their shape after heat treatment, and have a spicy taste.
4. Lentils Puy (French green, dark, variegated) - the most fragrant variety with a spicy pepper smell. It requires a long cooking time, preferably with preliminary soaking, perfectly retains its shape. Lentils of this variety are often used in salads.

In cooking, 4 popular varieties of lentils are most often used

Table: nutritional value of 100 g lentils

Proteins, g	Fat, g	Carbohydrates, g	Mineral substances, g	Water, g	Calorie content, cal
nine	0,4	20	2.8	fifteen	116

Ingredients for cutlets

First of all, it is, of course, the lentils themselves. It will need to be boiled or soaked in water for a while and chopped in mashed potatoes, which will become the basis of "minced meat". In addition, you will need:

• salt;
• spices to taste;
• flour and bread crumbs;
• greens;
• vegetable oil for frying.

And then it all depends on the recipe and your imagination. Since lentils have a rather soft structure, it is not at all necessary to add eggs to cutlets. But various vegetables are very well suited: cabbage, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, pumpkin. They will add extra volume to the mass and give the cutlets lightness and juiciness.

To prepare lentil cutlets, you can use any vegetables, mushrooms, seasonings, sauces, cereals

What can we say about the fact that lentil puree can be safely mixed with minced meat or chicken! And cereals - rice, buckwheat - also go well with lentils.

How many minutes?

Let's make a reservation right away that you are unlikely to be able to cook lentil cutlets in 15 minutes. Cooking time depends on the recipe. In most options, the lentils must first be soaked for several hours or even overnight, and then boiled until tender and cooled. But directly frying will not take so much time. If you like quick recipes, feel free to use small red lentils - they do not require soaking and in 25-30 minutes they will not just boil, but will boil until puree, so you will not need to grind them with a blender or meat grinder. The green lentils will have to cook for the longest time - about 40 minutes.

And now we offer you step by step recipes for lentil cutlets. There are so many of them that you will surely choose your own. We have collected for you options for making lentil cutlets for every taste: meat, lean and vegetarian, with various vegetables, cereals, mushrooms, sauces, steamed, in the oven and in a slow cooker.

Vegetarian, vegan and lean recipes

Fresh lentils with fried onions

For 4 servings you will need:

• 1 cup lentils (brown)
• 6 onions (onions);
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil for frying;
• salt and any spices to taste.

Preparation:

1. Lentils should be soaked for at least 10 hours. Therefore, fill it with water in a deep saucepan, leave it overnight (the grains will double in volume), and start cooking in the morning.

   

   Soak lentils for 10 hours or overnight

2. Chop the onion, fry it until golden brown in vegetable oil. Add salt and seasoning while frying. You can not even limit yourself to 6 onions, but add more of them.

   

   Saute the onion and add salt and seasoning to it

3. Throw the lentils in a colander, then pass through a meat grinder, combining with fried onions. Add more salt and seasoning, mix the minced meat thoroughly.

   

   Pass the lentils and onions through a meat grinder, season with spices and stir

4. If you don't have bread crumbs, make them by grinding dry white bread in a blender or substituting flour. You can add some turmeric to the boning for a golden color.

   

   You can make your own bread crumbs by grinding stale bread in a blender

5. Sculpt small cutlets out of minced meat, roll each in breadcrumbs or flour and fry in vegetable oil on both sides for 5 minutes, then cover the pan with a lid and mash the cutlets for another 2-3 minutes.

   

   Fry the cutlets on both sides for a delicious crust

Green lentils with potatoes and carrots

Ingredients:

• 200 g green lentils;
• 1 potato;
• 1 carrot;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• ½ bunch of dill;
• ½ bunch of parsley;
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 pinch of salt;
• 2 tablespoons flour;
• 50 g of vegetable oil;
• 1 pinch of black pepper.

Preparation:

1. Pour boiling water over the washed lentils and cook until tender.

   

   Boil lentils

2. Pre-boil the carrots and potatoes (you can do this in the microwave to save time, 6 minutes is enough at full power). Peel the vegetables.

   

   Boil carrots and potatoes, peel them

3. Place the carrots, potatoes, herbs, and garlic in a blender. Grind.

   

   Grind vegetables, herbs and garlic in a blender

4. Add lentils to the mass in a blender. Turn on the device again to mix all the food into the puree. It remains to season with salt, turmeric and pepper, add flour and mix thoroughly again until smooth.

   

   Add lentils, salt, flour and spices to the blender bowl

5. Shape the patties with your hands or with a spoon, put them in a hot pan with butter, fry on both sides until a crust forms. You can serve the dish with any fresh vegetable salad.

   

   Serve cutlets with vegetable salads

A small amount of ground nutmeg will give the veggie cutlets a meaty flavor.

With mushrooms

These cutlets are ideal for a lean table. After all, they combine all the products necessary for a good nutrition: potatoes, lentils and mushrooms.

Lentil cutlets with mushrooms - an excellent dish for a lean table

For 4 servings, you need the following foods:

• 200 g lentils;
• 500 ml of water;
• 1 leek onion;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 1 medium potato;
• 100 g of mushrooms (honey agarics, champignons), pre-boiled for 15 minutes;
• ½ lemon for juice;
• 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon wheat flour for breading
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon of salt.

Preparation:

1. Rinse the lentils, put them in a deep bowl, cover with water. Add garlic and onion there, chopping coarsely. Cook for 20 minutes over medium heat.

2. In the meantime, slice the mushrooms.

   

   Chop the mushrooms

3. Peel the potatoes, grate them on a coarse grater.

   

   Grate raw potatoes

4. Add mushrooms and potatoes to the lentils. Reduce heat to low and simmer until all liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick. Remember to stir constantly.

   

   Boil lentils, mushrooms and potatoes until thickened

5. Remove the pan from heat. Add lemon juice, bread crumbs and olive oil to the mass.

   

   Add crackers, butter and lemon juice

6. Use a hand blender to puree the mixture. Do not be too zealous: it will be better if small pieces of onions and mushrooms remain in the minced meat. Now salt the mass, stir and leave to cool completely.

   

   Grind the mass in a saucepan until puree and cool

7. Shape the minced meat into cutlets with wet hands. Dip them in flour mixed with sesame seeds.

   

   Dip the cutlets in sesame flour

8. Fry in oil until crusty.

   

   Fry the cutlets in oil on both sides until golden brown

Video: simple and quick mushroom red lentil cutlets

With rice or buckwheat

For this recipe, any variety of lentils that you have at hand will do. Rice will give the minced meat volume, lightness and a softer taste. When you shape the patties, try to thin them so they will cook well and quickly cover with a crispy crust.

Lentil Rice Cakes can be made with any type of lentil

For 20 cutlets you will need:

• 1 glass of rice (or buckwheat);
• 1 cup lentils
• 4 tablespoons bread crumbs
• fresh herbs (dill, green onions, parsley, basil, etc.) - to taste;

• salt and your favorite spices to taste.

  Preparation:

1. Prepare food for cutlets.

   

   Prepare foods: lentils, rice, chukhari, herbs and spices

2. Boil rice (or buckwheat) until tender. Perhaps it will be better if the cereal is slightly digested. During this time, you will have time to rinse the lentils, pour boiling water over it and let it brew. Half an hour will be enough. So the grains do not have to be boiled. Buckwheat also does not have to be boiled, you can simply pour boiling water over for 20-30 minutes: it quickly absorbs water and swells.

   

   Let the lentils sit in boiling water and boil the cereals

3. Now mince the lentils or grind them in a blender. Add cooked porridge to it, salt, season with spices. You can add a little flour to the minced meat if you think that the mass is not elastic enough. Ideally, the minced meat should keep its shape well due to the stickiness of the rice.

   

   Due to the stickiness of the rice, the cutlets will keep their shape well and will not creep out during frying.

4. All you have to do is shape the cutlets and fry them in hot oil.

   

   Fry the cutlets on both sides in hot vegetable oil

5. Season the cutlets with tomato sauce, mayonnaise or sour cream and serve with a light vegetable salad.

   

   Instead of rice, buckwheat can be added to lentil cutlets, such a dish will not need a side dish, but sauce and fresh vegetables will come in handy

Video: how to cook lentil-rice cutlets

With sauerkraut

The combination of lentils and sauerkraut gives the cutlets not only an original pleasant taste. Sauerkraut is a source of vitamins and useful microelements that take care of your health, improve metabolism, and have a beneficial effect on the functioning of the stomach and intestines. Therefore, be sure to introduce these cutlets into the diet of your family, they will surely please everyone.

Lentils and sauerkraut are great in cutlets

Take these products:

• 1.5 cups green lentils
• 1 carrot;
• 1 onion;
• 400 g of sauerkraut;
• 1 pinch of ground black pepper;
• ½ teaspoon of salt.

Preparation:

1. Leave the well-washed lentils to swell in water overnight. In the morning, boil it for 10 minutes in salted water, discard in a colander. Twist in a meat grinder or grind with a blender.

   

   Chop the boiled lentils in mashed potatoes

2. Chop the onion as you like, and grate the carrots on a coarse grater. Fry until golden brown and soft in vegetable oil. Add sauerkraut, pour in some water and simmer for 10 minutes.

   

   Stew onions, carrots and sauerkraut

3. When the mass has cooled, grind it in a blender or meat grinder. Combine with prepared lentils, salt, add spices.

4. Form the patties. Fry them in vegetable oil on both sides until crisp.

   

   Form cutlets from a homogeneous mass of lentil and vegetable mass and fry in vegetable oil

With couscous and spicy tomato sauce

Your family will love these cutlets for their subtle aroma and spicy taste. The number of products is designed for 20 cutlets.

Serve Lentil and Couscous Cutlets with Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 cup red lentils
• 1 glass of couscous;
• 2 onions (onions);
• 300 g of tomatoes in their own juice (100 g of juice in cutlets, 200 g of tomatoes for the sauce);
• 100 g fresh parsley;
• 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil (2 tablespoons for frying onions, 1 spoon for sauce);
• 4 cloves of garlic;
• 1 tablespoon dry or fresh cilantro (in sauce);
• 1 teaspoon of dry nutmeg in (sauce);
• salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:

1. Rinse the lentil kernels, put in a saucepan and cover with 2 cups of water. Put on fire, bring to a boil, cook for 15 minutes. Season with salt to taste. When a little water remains in the saucepan, remove it from the heat, add the couscous and stir.

   

   Boil lentils and mix them with dry couscous

2. Leave the base covered for 15 minutes.

   

   Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes to allow the couscous to absorb the water

3. Meanwhile, chop the onion and sauté it in oil.

   

   Fry chopped onions

4. Pour tomato juice into the fried onions, salt and pepper.

   

   Add tomato juice and seasoning

5. Keep on the fire for 2 minutes, remove the pan from the stove, add chopped fresh parsley, stir.

   

   Add chopped parsley and stir

6. Combine lentils with couscous and onions with tomato sauce and parsley in one mass. Mix the minced meat thoroughly.

   

   Combine all products into minced meat

7. Form cutlets from the mass, fry in a dry frying pan (preferably with a non-stick coating) on both sides, 1 minute on each side.

   

   Fry the cutlets in a dry skillet without oil

8. Now you need to make the sauce. Peel the tomatoes, put them in a deep bowl. Add vegetable oil, garlic, salt and pepper, nutmeg and cilantro. Use a blender to puree the food.

   

   For the sauce, mix the tomatoes, seasonings and vegetable oil into a homogeneous mass

9. After bringing the mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes. Then turn off the stove and cool the sauce.

   

   Boil the sauce and let it cool

Video: lentil cutlets with couscous and tomato sauce

Spicy Turkish cutlets with bulgur, no frying

This recipe came to us from Turkish cuisine. It is similar to the previous version of cutlets with couscous, but there is no cilantro here - by the way, its aroma is not to everyone's liking - and hot red pepper gives a zest to the taste of the dish. However, it can be replaced with ground paprika if you don't need spice.

Take these products:

• 200 g lentils;
• 250 g of small bulgur;
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 white onion onion;
• 1 bunch of parsley;
• 1 bunch of green onions;
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper;
• 1 teaspoon red hot pepper;

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

  

  Bulgur grains are a traditional product of Turkish cuisine, made from boiled wheat grains

  Preparation:

1. Pour three cups of boiling water over the lentils and cook until tender. After that add chopped bulgur to it. Stir well, remove the pan from heat, cover with a lid. Leave to infuse for 20 minutes. Bulgur will soften during this time, absorbing the remaining liquid and swelling.
2. While the lentils with bulgur are infused, chop the onion and sauté in olive oil along with tomato paste. Add the roast to the lentil mass and stir.
3. Now salt and pepper the minced meat, add finely chopped greens and mix again

4. Such cutlets do not have to be fried. Just shape the minced meat into the desired shape and leave it in the refrigerator for half an hour. But if you want, you can steam them or stew them in a pan.

   

   Lentil and bulgur cutlets do not need to be fried: they are traditionally shaped and allowed to freeze in the cold

Video: cooking lentil and bulgur cutlets

Baked with oatmeal

Baked lentil cutlets are in no way inferior to fried ones. There are even some advantages: firstly, the dish will be healthier, and secondly, you can not stand at the stove, but go about your business while the oven is working.

The oven will help you cook juicy lentil patties

For these cutlets you will need:

• 1 cup lentil grains
• 1 cup oatmeal (flakes)
• ½ cup bread crumbs;
• 2 glasses of water;
• 1 medium carrot;
• ½ onion;
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• salt and your favorite spices to taste.

Preparation:

1. Boil the lentils until tender. While it is cooking, finely chop the onion, peel and grate the carrots.

   

   Boil lentils, sauté onions and grate carrots

2. Once the lentils are cooked, turn on the oven to heat up 180 degrees.
3. Grind the oatmeal into flour in a coffee grinder or blender.

4. Combine all prepared foods, add soy sauce, stir. The minced meat should be soft and slightly moist, so you can add a little water if it seems dry to you.

   

   Combine all products and make minced meat

5. Line a baking sheet or skillet with a sheet of parchment or vegetable oil. Arrange the cutlets and bake them for 20 minutes.

   

   Place patties in a baking sheet or skillet and bake for 20 minutes

Video: how to cook lentil cutlets in the oven

The healthiest steamed sprouted lentil patties

Those who are forced to adhere to a strict diet due to stomach and intestinal problems know how difficult it is to cook something tasty and satisfying. Most often, you have to steam food, and in this case a steamer or a multicooker with a steam mode becomes an indispensable assistant. In it, lentil cutlets are soft, tender, ideal for dietary nutrition. Of course, vegetables will be used in the minced meat, but there can be no question of any preliminary roasting: we will simply grind them in a blender.

Steamed lentil cutlets, light and very healthy

Another feature of such cutlets: lentils need to sprout a little. So, we need:

• 200 g green lentils;
• 2 teaspoons of curry (if you like it, and if not, any other seasoning);
• 1 teaspoon salt (preferably sea salt);
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• ½ teaspoon of ground allspice;
• 3 tablespoons of chopped dill and parsley;
• 1 small carrot;
• 100 g of cabbage;
• 3 tablespoons of semolina;
• 2 tablespoons flour.

Preparation:

1. Soak the lentils overnight, then drain the water, rinse and spread evenly on a wide dish, cover with wet gauze, folded in two layers. Leave for 2-3 days for the seeds to start germinating.
2. Chop herbs, carrots and cabbage. Place vegetables and sprouted lentils in a blender or food processor bowl and chop.
3. Form small patties, place them in a steamer or multicooker and steam for 20 minutes.

Monastery style with black bread

The dishes prepared according to the monastery recipes are distinguished by their simplicity, but they do not lose in the least in taste and aroma. For example, in the Kirillo-Afanasyevsky monastery they use such a recipe for making lentil cutlets.

You will need:

• 300 g lentils;
• 1 large onion;
• 3 slices of black bread (pulp);
• salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:

1. Rinse the lentils, soak them for at least 4 hours, and preferably overnight. After the grains have increased in volume 2-3 times, drain the remaining water.

   

   Rinse and soak lentils, drain water after swelling

2. Put lentils, onions and breadcrumbs into a blender bowl, chop. You can also use a meat grinder.

   

   Grind food in a blender or meat grinder

3. If the minced meat is hard to chop or is thick, add a little water. Pour in the water little by little, literally one spoon at a time, because the excess will have to be drained later. Season with salt and pepper.

   

   Season with salt and pepper the resulting mass

4. Form small cutlets, roll in flour. It is best to prepare a mixture of wheat and corn flour in a 1: 1 ratio for deboning. Fry the patties in vegetable oil, 5 minutes on each side.

   

   Serve ready cutlets with fresh vegetables

Video: lentil cutlets from the ministers of the Kirillo-Afanasyevsky monastery

Lentil cutlets with animal products

With vegetables in a slow cooker

And again we will connect another hostess assistant in the kitchen to cooking cutlets - a multicooker. In this recipe, we will have to observe certain proportions. For example, the weight of all vegetables used for minced meat should be equal to the weight of prepared, soaked, and boiled lentils.

The slow cooker will help you quickly cook juicy, aromatic lentil cutlets

Products:

• 100 g red lentils;
• 100 g zucchini;
• 100 g of cabbage;
• 40 g carrots;
• 60 g onions;
• 3 cloves of garlic;
• 1 egg yolk;
• any spices to taste.

Preparation:

1. Soak lentils in boiling water overnight until tender. It should increase in volume so that you get about 300 g. As you can see, the vegetables add up to the same mass. Let the lentils cool.

   

   Prepare food for cutlets

2. In the meantime, chop the vegetables. Saute onions and garlic, then add carrots, cabbage, zucchini, pour in a little water, cover the pan with a lid and simmer until soft.

3. Combine cooked vegetables with lentil gruel, add egg yolk, salt and spices. Mix everything thoroughly. You can use a blender to make the mass homogeneous.

   

   Use a blender to chop and mix foods

4. Blind medium cutlets. Put them in the multicooker bowl, select the device mode "cake, cupcake" (baked goods last 25 minutes). When 15 minutes have passed from the start of baking, turn the patties to the other side, close the lid again and wait until the multicooker has finished working.

   

   Fold the patties in a slow cooker and cook on the "pie, muffin" or "bake" mode, turning them over to the other side in the middle of the cycle

With eggs

In this recipe, we also use red lentils, because they quickly boil down to the required consistency. Fresh herbs - onions and dill will give additional taste and aroma to cutlets.

Greens, garlic and spices make a great addition to these cutlets

You will need:

• 250 g red lentils;
• 350 g of water;
• 1 onion (onions);
• 1 carrot;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 2 chicken eggs;
• ½ bunch of green onion feathers;
• ½ bunch of dill;
• 50 ml of sunflower oil for frying;
• salt and various spices to taste.

Preparation:

1. Pour the lentils with water and cook until cooked so that the porridge is dry and there is a spoon in it. If you have a slow cooker, cook lentils in it on the "Rice" mode.

   

   Boil lentils until cooked through

2. Peel carrots, onions and garlic, chop them. First fry the garlic in a skillet (no more than half a minute), add the onions and carrots, sauté until golden brown and remove from the stove. Finely chop green onions and dill, combine them with lentils and fry. Add 2 eggs, salt, season with spices, mix the minced meat thoroughly.

   

   Mix lentils, vegetable fry, herbs and eggs, cook minced meat

3. Form patties with wet hands. Fry on both sides in hot oil until tender.

   

   Fry lentil cutlets in vegetable oil on both sides

Video: classic lentil cutlets

With minced meat or minced chicken

Be sure to try the classic meatballs with lentils. Firstly, you will significantly save on minced meat, and secondly, the cutlets will acquire the original taste and benefits of a dietary product.

Lentils will be an excellent addition to the usual minced meat cutlets

You will need:

• 200 g lentils;
• 500 g of minced meat or minced meat (whatever you like);
• 1 egg;
• 2 slices of bread;
• 1 onion;
• 20 g bread crumbs;
• 20 ml of vegetable oil.

Preparation:

1. Pour boiling water over the lentils for an hour. While the grains are steaming, peel and finely chop the onion. Soak the bread in cold water (10-15 minutes is enough for it to get sufficiently wet and softened).
2. Drain excess water from lentils and squeeze out the bread. Mix all prepared foods into a homogeneous mass. Salt and pepper the resulting mass, add the egg, mix again.
3. Form the cutlets with hands or a tablespoon soaked in cold water, roll in flour.
4. Fry on both sides in hot vegetable oil in a skillet without a lid.

If you use minced chicken instead of meat, the cutlets will be lighter and more juicy.

Like any healthy food, lentils can be a real source of inspiration. Cutlets from it alone can be so diverse that even the most discerning gourmet will find a recipe to his liking. Maybe our readers are preparing them in some special way that is unknown to us? Share with us in the comments your recipes for lentil cutlets. Enjoy your meal!