Instant pot French lentils cook quickly in the pressure cooker, making a lentil dish that can be made even on a busy weeknight. These little French lentils hold their shape nicely, so they make an excellent side dish to serve with sausages, steaks, fish, or poultry. A combination of aromatics—onions, carrot, celery, and garlic—flavor the lentils, along with bay leaves and some fresh thyme leaves. Freeze leftovers in individual portions for future meals.
Serve the lentils on their own or as a side dish with fish fillets or chicken and crusty French bread.
This Instant Pot chorizo and lentil soup is another tasty lentil dish for the pressure cooker, or try this Instant Pot Mulligatawny soup with lentils and chicken. Red lentil dal is another Instant Pot dish with loads of flavor.
Sautéed mirepoix in the Instant Pot.
French lentils are ready to cook in the Instant Pot with bay leaves, the mirepoix, and seasonings.
Cooked Instant Pot green lentils.
PrintInstant Pot French Green Lentils
Instant Pot French lentils are a flavorful side dish. The lentils hold their shape nicely and take very little time to cook in the Instant Pot.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Pressure Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 38 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Lentils, Instant Pot
- Method: Pressure Cook
- Cuisine: French
Ingredients
- 2 cups French lentils (puy lentils)
- 1 medium onion (cut into chunks)
- 1 medium carrot (peeled and cut into chunks)
- 1 rib celery (cut into chunks)
- 2 cloves garlic (peeled, coarsely chopped)
- 5 cups vegetable broth (or chicken stock or water)
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme (or about 1 teaspoon dried)
- 3 bay leaves
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Rinse the lentils and look them over for any debris or malformed lentils.
- Put the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic in a food processor; pulse until the vegetables are finely chopped.
- Choose the sauté button on the Instant Pot. When the oil is hot, sauté the chopped vegetables for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add the vegetable broth to the pot and scrape any browned bits, if necessary.
- Add the rinsed lentils, thyme, bay leaves, salt, and pepper.
- Make sure the steam release knob is in the sealing position. Select the pressure cook function, high pressure, and set the timer for 6 minutes. When the time is up, let the pressure come down naturally for 5 minutes and then carefully release the remaining pressure.
- Drain off any excess liquids.
- Serve the lentils with crusty French bread.
