Green Lentils substitute

Best substitute

Brown lentils

Use the same amount as the green lentils you are replacing

Best for lentil salads

Close match

Use brown lentils, 1:1, same cooking time. They are the same size and also keep their shape, just a little earthier and a shade softer at the edges, and in a salad or a lentil loaf nobody will pick it. French green (Puy) or black beluga lentils are firmer still and also swap 1:1 if you have them. What you must not grab is red or yellow split lentils: they have no skins to hold them together, they dissolve into puree in about fifteen minutes, and they will turn a lentil salad into dal or a lentil loaf into mush. The job green lentils are doing in your recipe is structure plus a mild earthy savouriness. They are the separate firm little pebbles that hold a vinaigrette, give a vegetarian dish something to chew, and stop a soup from being just liquid. Pick anything that still exists as separate pieces after cooking and you are fine.

Other green lentils substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2French green lentils (lentilles du Puy)
Close match
Use the same amount
Smaller, darker, mottled blue-green, and noticeably firmer.
What changes
They hold their shape so well that they stay separate even if you overshoot the timer, which makes them better than green lentils in a salad and slightly worse in a soup where you wanted a bit of collapse to thicken the broth. Flavour is more peppery and mineral, less soft and earthy, so a plain dressed lentil salad tastes brighter and more grown-up.
Best for
lentil salads, lentils under fish or sausage, warm side dishes
Cook time is similar, roughly 25 minutes, but they will not overcook the way green lentils do. If your soup relied on lentils breaking down for body, mash a ladleful against the side of the pot.
3Black beluga lentils
Close match
Use the same amount
Tiny, round, glossy black lentils that hold their shape as well as Puy lentils and taste a shade richer and more savoury.
What changes
The real change is visual: your green lentil salad comes out looking like caviar, and any dressing or yoghurt on the plate turns faintly grey-purple. In a lentil loaf or a stew that nobody photographs, that costs you nothing.
Best for
lentil salads, grain bowls, stews, lentil loaf
Cook in plenty of water, 20 to 25 minutes, and drain rather than cooking dry so the colour rinses away instead of staining everything.
4Canned or pouch-cooked green or brown lentils
Different texture
One 15-ounce can, drained and rinsed, replaces about ⅔ cup dry green lentils
The fastest fix and a genuinely good one, because canned lentils are almost always brown or green.
What changes
They are softer than lentils you cooked yourself and they taste faintly of the can until you rinse them well, but in a warm salad, a taco filling or a soup they are indistinguishable after a couple of minutes in the pan. They are already cooked, so add them near the end.
Best for
quick salads, soups and stews added at the end, taco and burrito fillings, lentil patties
Do not simmer them for twenty minutes or they will disintegrate. If the recipe expected dry lentils to absorb liquid, reduce the added liquid by roughly the same volume, or your soup will be thin.
5Cooked farro, pearl barley or wheat berries
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by cooked volume
Not a lentil, but it does the same structural job in a salad: chewy separate grains that hold a vinaigrette.
What changes
The dish tastes nuttier and more like wheat, and it is starchier, so it feels more filling and less clean than a lentil salad. You also lose the earthiness that green lentils bring, so lean harder on mustard, lemon or vinegar in the dressing.
Best for
cold and warm salads, grain bowls, stuffing vegetables
Contains gluten, so it is not a swap in a gluten-free recipe. For that, use cooked brown rice or quinoa instead, and accept that quinoa is much softer.
6Red or yellow split lentils (the least-bad option, and only for soup)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount with about a third less liquid
This is the honest one: for anything where the lentils need to stay whole, there is no way to make split red lentils work.
What changes
They have been skinned and split, so they dissolve. If soup is what you are making, that is fine and even nice, and your soup will be thicker, smoother, sweeter and orange-brown instead of studded with green lentils. If you were making a salad, a lentil loaf or a lentil bolognese, do not use them; go buy brown lentils or use canned.
Best for
thick pureed soups, dal, thickening a stew
They cook in 15 to 20 minutes and will catch and scorch on the bottom of the pan once they thicken, so stir more often than you would with green lentils.

What is Green Lentils?

Green Lentils is Green lentils are small, flat, slate-green dried pulses sold with their skins on, also labelled continental lentils or brown-green lentils, and they cook from dry in about 25 minutes while holding their shape.

Cooking tips

Do not salt green lentils at the start and do not add tomatoes, vinegar or lemon until they are tender. Acid keeps the skins tough, and that is the single most common reason lentils are still gritty after forty minutes. Salt the water once they are cooked, or dress them warm.
Cook them like pasta in plenty of water rather than measuring liquid exactly, then drain. It is far easier to catch them at the point where they are tender but still separate, which is the whole reason a recipe called for green lentils.
Green lentils need no soaking. If yours have been in the cupboard for two or three years, though, they can refuse to soften no matter how long you boil them, which looks exactly like a bad substitution but is just old lentils.
For salads, drain the lentils and dress them while they are still hot. Warm lentils absorb vinaigrette; cold ones just get coated, and the dish tastes flat by comparison.
If a recipe says French green or Puy lentils and you are using ordinary green lentils, take five minutes off the timer and start tasting early. Ordinary green lentils go from firm to blown out in a much narrower window.

Frequently asked questions

Are green lentils and brown lentils the same thing?

Close enough that they are frequently sold together as brown-green or continental lentils. Green lentils are a slightly firmer, greener, more peppery version; brown lentils are softer and earthier. They are the same size, cook in roughly the same time and substitute for each other 1:1 in every recipe. French green or Puy lentils are a different, smaller, much firmer lentil, and are the one case where the distinction matters.

Can I use red lentils instead of green lentils?

Only if the finished dish is meant to be soft or pureed. Red and yellow lentils are skinned and split, so they break down completely in about fifteen minutes. In a soup that is an upgrade, because they thicken it for free. In a lentil salad, a lentil loaf, a shepherd's pie filling or a lentil bolognese they turn to paste and the dish loses its texture entirely.

Can I just leave the green lentils out?

It depends on whether they were the body of the dish or a bit part. In a vegetable soup where they are one ingredient among ten, leave them out and add a little more of the other vegetables or a handful of small pasta. In a lentil salad, lentil soup, lentil loaf or lentil bolognese they are the substance and the protein, and leaving them out gives you dressing on herbs or a very loose sauce. Use canned beans, canned lentils or chickpeas instead.

How much cooked lentils do I get from a cup of dry green lentils?

About two and a half cups. So one cup dry feeds three or four people as a side, and it is roughly equivalent to two and a half standard 15-ounce cans of lentils once drained.

Can I substitute canned beans for green lentils in a salad?

Yes, and chickpeas or small white beans such as navy or cannellini are the best choices because they stay whole and hold a dressing. The salad will be creamier and blander, and it will feel heavier per spoonful, so add more acid and more fresh herbs than the recipe says. Avoid kidney beans unless you want the salad to taste distinctly of chilli.

Related substitutes

More legumes substitutes

Green Lentils substitute

Other green lentils substitutes

2French green lentils (lentilles du Puy)

3Black beluga lentils

4Canned or pouch-cooked green or brown lentils

5Cooked farro, pearl barley or wheat berries

6Red or yellow split lentils (the least-bad option, and only for soup)