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    Home » Recipes » Lentils

    Published: Apr 23, 2020 · Updated: Apr 23, 2020 · This post may contain affiliate links · We donate 10% of our profits to support good causes.

    Red Lentil Flatbreads

    Jump to Recipe 68 Comments Share Pin Save Saved!

    These simple lentil flatbreads have just four ingredients. Made out of split red lentils, they're gluten free, vegan and couldn't be easier to make!

    The finished red lentil flatbreads are stacked up on a plate, with bright green chives as a garnish.

    We're kinda low on flour right now, so we had a play round in the kitchen to see if we could come up with some tasty flourless flatbreads.

    And we're so pleased with the result - we'll for sure keep on making these even when we do have flour again!

    We think you'll love how easy these red lentil flatbreads are to make: 

    • They’re gluten free and vegan
    • They’re protein rich
    • And there’s no flour, no yeast and no baking powder needed! 
    A cup of red lentils, a teaspoon of curry powder, a quarter teaspoon of salt and a blender jug of water are laid out on a wooden board.

    There’s just four ingredients: 

    • Red lentils
    • Water
    • Curry powder
    • And salt

    The curry powder and salt are optional, but they make things just a bit more yummy!

    The process is simple: just mix all the ingredients together, leave to rest for one hour, then blend together into a thick batter. Then cook them in a pan on both sides. It’s that simple! 

    A step by step collage showing the lentil mixture before and after soaking, after blending and during cooking.
    STEP 1 - Mix the lentils, water, salt and spices together in a bowl or blender
    STEP 2 - Soak for 1 hour
    STEP 3 - Blend until you have a very thick batter
    STEP 4 - Cook on both sides in a non stick pan or oiled skillet

    What's the texture like?

    The texture of these red lentil flatbreads is a bit like a firm pancake crossed with a naan bread. They've got a slightly crispy crust when they are fresh. 

    The most important thing when making these flatbreads is to blend well, so the lentils are well broken down. If your blender is not so powerful and doesn’t puree the lentils the first time you blend, then let the batter soak for another 15 mins, and blend again.

    The resulting batter should be relatively smooth and thick enough to hold it’s shape, but still fluid. 

    Paul tears apart one of the flatbreads

    Serve them

    These flatbreads are best eaten when they’re freshly made, but you can also heat them up again in a pan or a toaster. 

    We like to eat them with some mango chutney and a yummy vegan curry.  Especially our Apple Curry! 

    Dipping the flatbread in a black pot of mango chutney

    More tasty lentil recipes

    We really love red lentils, we eat this Red Lentil Dal almost every week, and we even served it at our wedding! 

    We also love this satisfying one-pot Potato and Lentil Dahl with Spinach. It’s got a secret ingredient you might not expect! 

    Hope you enjoy these flatbreads!

    Sophie & Paul

    📖 Recipe

    A stack of orange coloured, round flatbreads, garnished with green chives

    Red Lentil Flatbreads

    by Sophie & Paul
    4.98 from 46 votes
    These easy vegan and gluten free flatbreads are made out red lentils. Great to accompany your favourite curry.
    Print Pin Save Saved!
    Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Soaking Time: 1 hour hour
    Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes
    Makes: 8 flatbreads
    Course: Appetizer, Side Dish
    Cuisine: Anglo-Indian

    Ingredients
     

    • 1 cup (180 g) red lentils
    • 1 ½ cups (360 ml) water
    • 1 tsp curry powder
    • ¼ tsp salt

    Instructions
     

    • Mix all the ingredients in a bowl or directly in your blender
    • Leave to soak for 1 hour
    • Blend the mixture (don't drain it) until you have a thick batter. The batter should be like very thick pancake batter and relatively smooth (a bit grainy is normal). If your blender isn't very powerful and the lentils are not well blended, then rest for another 15 minutes and blend again.
    • Heat up a non stick frying pan or seasoned cast iron skillet with a small amount of oil in
    • For each flatbread, spoon 2 or 3 tablespoons of batter into your pan. Cook on medium high heat for 1-2 minutes until the surface has some bubbles. Then flip with a spatula, and cook for 1-2 minutes more until lightly brown on the underside and cooked all the way through.
    • Continue until you've cooked all your flatbreads. You can keep the flatbreads warm by stacking them on a plate and covering with a tea towel.

    Notes

    Best eaten fresh, but you can easily heat them up in a pan or toaster again to freshen them up again. 
    Variations
    Once you've made the basic recipe, you can change up the flavour. Here's some ideas: skip the curry powder and use garlic powder/garam masala instead, add some fresh coriander, spring onions or chilli into the batter, brush with garlic oil and nigella seeds after cooking. 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 80kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 76mg | Potassium: 215mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 9IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 2mg

    This information is calculated per serving and is an estimate only.

    Did you make this recipe?Leave a comment to let us know! Share a photo and tag @veganonboard - we love to see what you make!
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Susie says

      September 11, 2023 at 11:59 pm

      How do you thicken up this recipe? It's so watery!

      Reply
      • Sophie and Paul says

        September 16, 2023 at 8:51 am

        Hi Susie, Sorry to hear you're having this issue. The ratio of lentils to water always works perfectly for us to make a thick batter. Not blending enough, a mistake when measuring or using already cooked lentils could be reasons why the batter would be watery? To fix a more liquid batter you could add some gram flour, or if you have a good high speed blender you could pulse some red lentils into flour and then gradually add that until you have a thicker texture. Hope that helps, Sophie

        Reply
    2. Annie says

      June 15, 2023 at 2:30 am

      5 stars
      I can see why these are a favourite - they are quick and easy to make, taste good and are filling. When I eat a vegetable curry, with no legumes - and I eat a lot of Indian food - I find flatbread aren't that satisfying, but I don’t want rice every time. Or quinoa,. These flatbread/pancakes are perfect. I used moong dal and the batter was a bit too thick, made to the recipe -maybe they absorb more water than lentils. Anyway, I just added some more water and it was fine. These will become e part of my standard repertoire. Many thanks!

      Reply
    3. Ellen Carson says

      April 27, 2023 at 1:27 pm

      I have found my red lentil flat bread bitter the only time I ever made it in the past so rinsed the lentils and then soaked them 3 hrs in the mixing water, then noticing the cup marker on my glass liquid measuring pitcher, drained the water out, rinsed and replaced it exactly, leaving it over night. Then next morning I blended it like crazy in my Vitamix. But alas, something went wrong and the batter is much too watery!
      Can my batter be retrieved?

      Reply
      • Sophie and Paul says

        April 29, 2023 at 2:13 pm

        Hi Ellen, I expect that your batter is more watery because the natural starches in the rinsing/soaking water are gone and they have a thickening effect. For this batch you could simply try soaking more lentils, draining and adding them in with the rest to reduce the wateriness. Alternatively adding some gram/chickpea flour could also be a quicker possibility. I haven't had the experience of bitter lentils, but according to several sources older lentils can taste more bitter, so you could also try using fresher lentils next time. Seasoning the batter with salt also helps to balance bitter flavours. Hope that helps! Sophie

        Reply
    4. Ron says

      April 18, 2023 at 5:53 pm

      Are they supposed to be slightly gummy/mushy in the inside?

      Reply
      • Sophie and Paul says

        April 20, 2023 at 2:07 pm

        Hi Ron, I find the texture normally comes out as a cross between a naan and a pancake, so not completely bready but not mushy. Perhaps they were a little undercooked or had too much liquid? I have found them to be mushy and gummy when I tested the recipe with other types of lentils than red lentil. Hope that helps, Sophie

        Reply
    5. Lotus says

      March 30, 2023 at 8:12 pm

      Some how I missed the ratio of water to lentils and how much curry powder.

      Reply
      • Sophie and Paul says

        April 03, 2023 at 7:18 am

        Hi, Are you seeing the recipe card at the end of the post (and just above these comments)? All the quantities of ingredients are listed there. Hope you enjoy the flatbreads!

        Reply
    6. Julie says

      February 07, 2023 at 8:45 pm

      can you freeze these, an how long will they keep in the refrig,? Thanks

      Reply
      • Sophie and Paul says

        February 10, 2023 at 9:22 pm

        Hi Julie, yes you can freeze them! They should be great if you just put them in the toaster straight from the freezer. In the fridge, they should keep for a couple of days.
        Hope this helps! x

        Reply
    7. Sara says

      September 22, 2022 at 2:00 pm

      hello, do you can I make these with canned lentils? or does it have to be dry? thank you!

      Reply
      • Sophie and Paul says

        September 23, 2022 at 12:20 pm

        Hi Sara, We always use dry red lentils. Canned lentils are already cooked, and a lot more moist, so I suspect that they would make a wetter batter which may not work so well. I have never seen canned red lentils, but if you have some you could try blending them and then cooking with the same method, but without testing it ourselves I am not sure how well it would work. Hope that helps! Sophie

        Reply
    8. Alyssa says

      August 14, 2022 at 2:41 pm

      While this recipe looks wonderful I really l think you should credit this dishes origin and call it by it’s real name, Dosa.

      Reply
      • Sophie and Paul says

        October 03, 2022 at 12:28 pm

        Thanks Alyssa, hope you try the recipe and enjoy them! They are similar to dosa in that they are lentil-based flatbreads. However dosa are traditionally made from a mixture of lentils (urad dal) and rice, which is fermented overnight and gives them a slightly tangy taste. Dosa are also much thinner and crisp in texture than these flatbreads.

        Reply
    9. Juli says

      July 13, 2022 at 9:40 am

      5 stars
      I will definitely be making these again. So easy and delicious.

      Reply
      • Sophie and Paul says

        July 18, 2022 at 9:03 am

        Thank you, Juli! 🙂

        Reply
    10. Janet says

      July 01, 2022 at 1:51 pm

      My first attempt & although my first pancake didn’t have much of an aesthetic appeal, they did look better as I progressed. Having said that, we all enjoyed them very much. I have decided that I need one of those wooden tools which the French use to spread their crepes evenly. An investment, as I will definitely be making these again (& again). Thank you.

      Reply
      • Sophie and Paul says

        July 01, 2022 at 8:48 pm

        So glad you loved them Janet and have fun making them again soon!

        Reply
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