These Lentil Cookies are easy healthy, high-protein cookies made from canned lentils. There’s no protein powder needed to reach 8 grams of protein per serving. You will love that the cookie dough is gluten-free, vegan, and ready in 5 minutes by blending all the ingredients in your food processor.
I love making cookies without regular wheat flour and load them with healthy ingredients, like I did for my Chickpea Peanut Butter Cookies, Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies, or Hemp Cookies. It makes a super-healthy alternative to classic cookies and the recipe is even easier to make!
Ingredients and Substitutions
You just need a few basic ingredients for these cookies:
- Canned Brown Lentils – Choose low-sodium or no-salt-added canned lentils. Cooked green lentils can be used as an alternative.
- Peanut Butter – I use natural, unsalted peanut butter. Almond butter or sunflower seed butter can be substituted for different flavors or allergies.
- Maple Syrup – Use pure maple syrup. Agave nectar, coconut nectar, or date syrup can be used as alternatives.
- Oat Flour – Choose gluten-free certified oat flour if needed. You can make your own by blending rolled oats into a fine powder.
- Vanilla Extract – Use pure vanilla extract. Almond extract can be used for a different flavor profile.
- Vegan Dark Chocolate Chips – Select dairy-free dark chocolate chips. Cacao nibs or chopped nuts can be used for variation.
How to Make Lentil Cookies
This is quite an easy recipe to whip up, and it starts with pulsing the lentils.
Place the lentils and the other ingredients in the bowl of a food processor.
Process until it forms a thick mixture and remove the blade.
Incorporate the chocolate chips with a spatula and scoop the dough with a cookie scoop.
Flatten the dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake them at 350 °F (180 °C) for 15-18 minutes.
Expert Tips
- Rinse the canned lentils thoroughly to remove any excess sodium and improve the texture of the cookies.
- For a smoother texture, blend the lentils separately before adding other ingredients.
- If the batter is too wet, add more oat flour one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
- For a firmer cookie, refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before shaping and baking.
- Try different mix-ins like dried fruit, nuts, or seeds for added texture and flavor.
- To enhance the protein content further, add a tablespoon of chia seeds or hemp seeds to the batter.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or refrigerate for up to a week.
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Lentil Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup Canned Brown Lentils - rinsed, drained
- ¾ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - (note 1)
- ⅓ cup Maple Syrup - (note 2)
- ⅓ cup Oat Flour - (note 3)
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¾ cup Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Chips - (note 4)
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Line a cookie tray with parchment paper. Slightly oil the paper with coconut oil. Set aside.
- In a food processor place the rinsed, drained canned lentils with the rest of the ingredients except the chocolate chips!
- Blend at high speed for 30 seconds, stop, scrape down the bowl of the food processor, and repeat a few times until the batter is smooth and there are almost no lumps of lentils. It should not take more than 2 minutes in total.
- Pour the dark chocolate chips and pulse a few times to incorporate evenly in the cookie dough.
- The batter should be a bit sticky and thick. Spray a cookie dough scoop with oil, scoop some dough from the bowl, and release it onto the baking sheet.
- Repeat with the remaining cookie dough, leaving a thumb of space between each cookie dough ball.
- Slightly wet your fingertips and flatten each cookie a little. These cookies will not expand in the oven, the shape you give now is the shape you get after baking them.
- Bake the cookies for 15-18 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C) until the cookie base is golden brown and crusty on top. The cookies stay very soft, and that is normal, they are fudgy cookies.
- Let the cookies cool on the rack for 10 minutes, then slide a spatula under each, to transfer them onto a cooling rack.
- Cool for 1 hour or until they reach room temperature before eating.
Can you cook your own lentils instead of using canned? I have never used canned lentils and I am not sure of the consistency….
You probably could, but the reason I am using canned lentils is that they have the perfect texture to blend into a smooth texture and makes cookies that are not gritty
Made these with almond butter and monkfruit sweetener instead of maple syrup (maple syrup has a lot of calories) and they came out great. The maple syrup isn’t a structural sugar here so the monkfruit works well. Thank you for the recipe
Thank you for such a lovely review
I make these every week. My entire family loves them!
Great recipe. Only change was to reduce the amount of choc chips used. Can’t wait to try other recipes too
These are BY FAR the best chocolate chip cookies I have made since starting my plant based journey about a year ago, and I have tried several recipes! I was skeptical that it would taste like lentils but it did not at ALL, and the consistency is the closest I have found to buttery, rich cookies but without butter. Even my husband, who does not like chocolate chip anything, snuck a bite and was very pleasantly surprised! Sooooo good!!!
Thank you so much!!!
I want recipe
This recipe was so easy because the food processor did all the work. Healthy and delicious. I’ll be making again soon.