Black lentils substitutes

The closest match in behaviour and the swap most cooks make. Same small size, same firmness, same 20 to 25 minute cook, and they stay in separate grains just as reliably. Two things change. The colour goes from glossy near-black to mottled slate green, so a plated dish loses the caviar effect entirely. And the flavour turns more peppery and mineral rather than the slightly deeper, meatier note black lentils have.

Best for

lentil salads, lentils under fish or meat, warm sides, grain bowls

If the recipe leaned on the dark colour, lean on something else instead: a scatter of very finely chopped black olives or a drizzle of dark balsamic will put some contrast back on the plate.

Usable and available everywhere, with one real caveat: they are twice the size and considerably softer, so a delicate beluga lentil salad becomes a rustic lentil salad. They also have a narrow window, maybe five minutes, between tender and split open, and once they split the dish looks muddy. Flavour is milder and earthier, less savoury depth.

Best for

salads, soups, stews, side dishes

Cook them in plenty of water like pasta, start tasting at 18 minutes, and drain and cool them the second they are tender. Dress them while warm so they absorb the vinaigrette.

Whole urad dal is genuinely black and about the same size, so it is the best match for the look if you have an Indian grocer nearby. It behaves differently, though: it turns sticky and slightly glutinous as it cooks, which is exactly what makes dal makhani creamy and exactly what you do not want in a crisp salad. Whole brown masoor lentils hold their shape better but are brown, not black.

Best for

warm lentil dishes, braises, soups, stews

Soak whole urad dal for a few hours if you can, and rinse the cooked lentils under cold water to wash off the sticky starch before dressing them.

The five-minute answer when guests are already sitting down. They are noticeably softer than black lentils and they are brown, so the dish loses both the bite and the drama, but the flavour after a good rinse and a hot dressing is fine. Treat them as cooked: warm them briefly rather than simmering, or they break up.

Best for

quick warm salads, adding at the end of a soup, lentil patties

Cut the recipe's liquid by roughly the amount the dry lentils would have absorbed, about two and a half cups per cup of dry lentils.

The best answer when the black colour and glossy separate grains were the whole point, as in a plated restaurant-style side. Wild rice is dark, chewy and holds its shape indefinitely, and it looks close enough on the plate. It tastes nutty and grassy rather than savoury and earthy, it is chewier, and it brings none of the protein or starchy body of a lentil, so it works as a bed but not as the substance of a vegetarian main.

Best for

plated sides under fish, cold salads, stuffing vegetables

Wild rice takes 40 to 50 minutes. Barley contains gluten; wild rice does not.

There is no version of this that works. Split red and yellow lentils have been skinned, so nothing holds them together and they turn into a smooth orange puree in about fifteen minutes. Black lentils are chosen precisely because they do the opposite. If red lentils are all you have and the dish must happen tonight, change the dish: make a lentil soup or dal rather than a lentil salad, and nobody will be disappointed.

Best for

nothing that black lentils are used for

The same warning applies to any lentil sold as split, dhuli or skinned, whatever the colour.