A cheap and healthy way to enjoy sprouts on a budget is to grow bean and lentil sprouts. With just a few necessary tools and ingredients, growing sprouts in a jar is incredibly simple. You can relish eating bean or lentil sprouts once they’re ready by adding them to stir-fries, salads, or other dishes. The sprouts take a few days to grow, but with just a few minutes of your attention each day, you can have fresh, delectable homemade sprouts in no time.
This recipe was originally published in January 2019. It has been updated for photos and content.
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I have a dream of a vegetable garden that yields fresh vegetables every year because I love to grow things.
However, the truth is that almost every plant I’ve ever owned—herbs, vegetables, even house plants—has perished.
But I’ve had great success growing bean sprouts and lentil sprouts because they’re so simple and reliable. Since I have a black thumb, you can be sure that you can grow sprouts.
The best part is that you can easily change how many sprouts you want to grow. This means that depending on the size of your household, you can produce them in small or large batches with less chance of spoilage. For me this is definitely a win-win!!.
How to Sprout Lentils Before Cooking
1. To get rid of any dirt or debris, rinse one cup (200 g) of lentils.
2. Soak in 3 cups (708 ml) of lukewarm water. Place there overnight in a warm area of your kitchen.
3. Drain lentils in a sizable colander or strainer in the morning, then set it over a bowl to continue draining.
It’s essential to prevent the lentils from touching the water in the bowl while they’re sprouting in order to prevent spoilage.
4. To start sprouting, loosely cover the lentils with a damp kitchen towel and set the bowl in a bright area of your house.
5. To prevent the lentils from drying out or developing mold, rinse and drain them once every three to four hours. Rinse more frequently if the temperature and humidity are high.
6. Stop rinsing once the “tails” start to appear. They typically begin that afternoon, but if the temperature is too low, especially during the winter, they may take up to two days.
If that’s the case, you might try putting the bowl in a warm closet or in your oven with just the oven light on. I haven’t attempted this myself, but it’s worth a try.
After the final rinse, the lentils can be cooked. Use just enough fresh water to cover the top. The suggested cooking times are 10 to 15 minutes on the stovetop and 3 minutes (after the pressure cooker reaches pressure) in the Instant Pot.
Remember that the cooking times for both will vary because green lentils typically take longer to cook than brown ones.
Feel free to cook the entire batch of sprouted lentils with your preferred seasonings and spices if you use them in the same recipe.
When cooked, lentils should maintain their shape but not be crunchy when eaten. They also shouldn’t be hard to press between 2 fingers.
Weekly Meal Prep Tip: During busy weeknights, you can greatly reduce prep time for this recipe by sprouting and cooking a larger batch of lentils.
I typically sprout 2 cups (400 g) of dried lentils, which will cover my dinners for a week.
Lentils can be cooked and then frozen for up to a month in smaller containers. The prepared sprouted lentil stew should be consumed within five to seven days and can be kept in the refrigerator.
There are a few brands that sell sprouted, dried lentils if you don’t feel like trying to sprout at home or can’t seem to get it right.
Since I have trouble finding these in stores, I occasionally order them from Amazon.
One brand I’ve personally tried and like is TruRoots. They are great to have on hand and take about 10 minutes to cook.
This is ideal for quickly preparing a vegan sprouted lentil stew in a slow cooker or an Instant Pot. Add 3 cups (708 ml) water, 3 cups (200 g) of lentils, and the remaining ingredients to the pot.
The quickest way to make this recipe from scratch with little effort and without the gassy aftereffect is to set it and forget it, so do that. About 2 12 cups (500 g) of cooked lentils result from this.
You can serve this stew with potatoes, rice or pasta. Here I served it with kudzu noodles back when I lived in Japan.
They are low-calorie, gluten-free noodles made from potato starch. Ive also had rice noodles with sprouted lentil stew.
Try these Vegan Garlic Knots or Pearl Barley for a heartier side dish.
Can Lentil Sprouts Be Eaten Raw?
Yes, raw lentils must be cooked in order to neutralize their acid and release their nutrients because they cannot be digested in their dried form. However, sprouting achieves the same result, enabling us to consume them raw. Once they begin to show white tails and become crunchy like snap peas, you can eat them raw. Raw sprouted lentils taste great on sandwiches, in salads, and even by themselves.
Sprouting lentils is soooo easy! All you need to do is soak some regular dried lentils, drain them, and let them sit in a jar for a few days, rinsing them occasionally. While there are some awesome lids and gadgets to make sprouting more fun, you don’t need any fancy equipment. When I’m traveling, I’ve been known to sprout lentils in drinking glasses and it works just fine!
Visit my simple step-by-step tutorial for how to sprout lentils here to learn how to do it at home. Just two minutes of daily activity and three days are required to begin to develop small sprouted tails.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 4You can cook lentils as you normally would in any recipe that calls for cooked lentils and enjoy a fantastic nutritional boost and easier digestion if you only sprout your lentils for a brief period of time and don’t let them grow tails. Lentils can be sprouted for cooking by soaking them overnight, rinsing them in the morning, and cooking them before they turn sprouted. Although they won’t appear to have changed much, their volume will have increased (as shown in the photos below), and this quick soak will still enable sprouting’s advantages.
After adding lentils to waterAfter soaking for 8 hoursOnce the white tails have appeared, I do not advise cooking lentil sprouts because they take on the characteristics of a crunchy green vegetable rather than a bean. Think dry mung beans vs. mung-bean sprouts. While I occasionally toss longer-tailed sprouts into a stir fry, I actually prefer the longer sprouts in fresh, raw settings.
#5 Buddha Bowls w/ Dreamy Tahini
Those of you who have followed me for any length of time are aware of my obsession with Buddha bowls. Lentils that have been sprouted are a wonderful addition, especially when paired with my 2-minute quick and scrumptious tahini sauce!
Although they aren’t shown in the photo below, lentil sprouts would be the perfect addition to this crunchy green bowl and go perfectly with the creamy herbed tahini drizzled on top. Find the recipe here.
Sprouts with long, crunchy tails are awesome in sandwiches. They go especially well with my favorite chickpea and sunflower “tuna” on soft grain bread. ”.
