Eat Your: Lentils

Quick, picture a lentil. Nope, you’re thinking of a sprout. Lentils look like this.

These are lentils

They’re legumes! They’re also crazy nutritious. A serving of lentils has 26 grams of protein, 120% of your daily folate, 76% of your daily B1, 64% of your daily phosphorous, 58% of your daily iron, 50% of your daily zinc, 42% of your daily B5 and B6 34% of your daily magnesium, 20% of your daily potassium, 18% of your daily B1, and 17% of your daily niacin.

A serving of lentils is basically a multi-vitamin, but how do you eat them? Here are some of our favorite healthy lentil recipes.

Lentil Soup

Lentil soup is a classic dish for a reason. It’s tasty, healthy and easy to make. This recipe from Alton Brown can be cooked in about an hour and will last you several meals.

Mujadara

Mujadara is a Lebanese side dish that uses a whopping four ingredients. A staple food in much of the world, you can spice it up however you please with a protein of your choosing.

Lentils and Chickpeas with Greens

This sounds like the kind of thing that the stuffy vegetarian character on a mid-90s sitcom would eat, but it’s delicious! The earthiness of the lentils and chickpeas is offset by the vibrancy of the lemon and tomato, it’s a light lunch that packs the protein you need.