These Red Lentil Tortillas are easy, high-protein flatbreads made with 5 wholesome ingredients. They are healthy alternatives to flour tortillas, 100% gluten-free, vegan and perfect to use as a side to an Indian curry or for a healthy taco.
Red Lentil Wraps are easy, a healthy flatbread made with no flour and ready in less than 20 minutes. They are made with lentils for a gluten-free and high-protein alternative to classic flatbread or to my Spinach Quinoa Tortillas, Flaxseed Tortillas, or Chickpea Flour Tortillas.
It’s the perfect healthy wrap around my TVP Taco Meat, Mexican Black Beans, or Lentil Taco Meat.
Ingredients and Substitutions
You need only 5 wholesome ingredients to make this recipe:
- Split red lentils – See my tips below to choose the best red lentils – split and whole lentils work very differently in recipes.
- Water – At room temperature or cold.
- Salt
- Apple cider vinegar – It keeps the orange color of the lentils after cooking.
- Baking soda – optional, it makes the tortillas softer.
- Garlic powder – Red lentil flatbreads are pretty bland in flavor, so this enhances the flavor of the tortillas. Other additions are turmeric powder, curry powder, and onion powder.
Choice Of Red Lentils – Split vs Whole
There are two types of red lentils available at the grocery store:
- Split red lentils have the seed coat removed, and they naturally split in half. It means they don’t require as much soaking time to make lentils flatbread, and they cook faster in curry or sauce like in my red lentil pasta recipe.
- Whole red lentils are brownish-red and still have their skin. Consequently, they are tougher, and you must soak the lentils overnight if you use this variety for this recipe.
How To Make Red Lentil Flatbread
It is easy to make flatbread from red lentils but first, let me give you my tips for making sure the recipe works every time!
- First, bring the red split lentils into a sieve and rinse them well under clean cold water to remove any dust or impurities. Bean plants grow on soil, so it’s always better to wash lentils to remove dust, inspect them and identify any small stones that could hide in them.
- Drain the lentils and place them in the jug of your high-speed blender.
- Next, place all the remaining ingredients into the high-speed blender’s jug and soak for 4 hours. This gives some time for the red lentils to soften.
- Then, close the lid of the blender’s jug and process at very high speed – about 7 on a Kitchen aid blender. You must blend the mixture for up to 1 minute, stopping if needed to scrape the sides of the bowl and repeat until it forms a smooth batter, thick as a pancake batter.
- Finally, let the batter rest for 10 minutes before cooking to give the plant-based protein some time to react with the liquid. This step makes the batter easier to cook and prevents the flatbread from breading.
- Cook the flatbread in an oiled non-stick pan under medium heat for 2 minutes on one side. Then, flip and cook for 1 more minute on the other side. Note that this is very important to re-oil the pan between each flatbread, or the batter would stick easily to the pan. You can’t spread red lentil tortilla batter by tilting the pan! This breaks the tortillas. Instead, you should use the back of a measuring cup or the back of a spoon and spread the batter from the center to the outside in a circular motion, as seen in the pictures below.
- Cool the flatbread on a cooling rack or a plate while cooking the remaining batter.
Serving
You can serve these red lentil tortillas with some of the following savory fillings:
- Lentil Taco Meat
- Cucumber Dip
- Vegan Birria Tacos With Jackfruit
- Tempeh Meatballs
- Mexican Black Beans
Frequently Asked Questions And Troubleshooting
This can happen for three reasons if you didn’t:
– Blend the mixture at high speed for long enough.
– Use a high-speed blender – your blender power is too low to break the lentils into a smooth batter.
– Add enough water, and the blender blade struggled to blend the lentils into the water. Add more water, up to 3 tablespoons.
That’s the most common problem with red lentil tortillas: they can break into the pan when spreading the batter.
The main reasons are:
– You didn’t grease the pan enough with olive oil.
– Used a frying pan and not a non-stick pan.
– Didn’t spread the batter gently using the back of a spoon with a circular motion. Tilting the pan breaks these tortillas. It’s not the right method to spread them.
– Pour more than a 1/4 cup of batter! This lentil flatbread recipe works better if you spread a small amount of batter, and more than 1/4 cup of batter would make the batter much more fragile.
To fix this problem, you can also add 1-2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour into your batter to make it easier to work with.
No, you must use a high-speed blender, or the lentils will never turn into a smooth batter.
If you want to use whole red lentils, make the recipe ahead by combining all ingredients in a bowl and soaking overnight.
The next day, blend the ingredients and add up to 1/4 cup extra water to achieve the same consistency.
More Vegan, Gluten-Free Tortilla Recipes
I love to create vegan, gluten-free tortilla recipes to wrap food or as a side to dishes. Below are my favorite vegan tortilla recipes, including keto, and paleo options:
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Red Lentil Flatbread
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup Split Red Lentils - uncooked, not whole red lentils!
- 2 cups Water - at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon Garlic Powder
Instructions
- Place the red split lentils into a sieve and rinse under cold water to remove any dirt or impurities. Drain the lentils and place them in the jug of your high-speed blender.
- Add all the remaining ingredients into a high-speed blender jug and soak for 4 hours at room temperature. This gives the lentils time to soften. If you are using whole red lentils, soaking time is overnight.
- After that time, close the lid of the blender jug and blend on high speed – speed 7-8 of my blender – for about 1 minute or until the batter is smooth and resembles a pancake batter. You may have to stop the blender, scrape the sides and repeat until no bits of lentils are showing. The batter should be smooth, as thick as pancake batter. It can be slightly gritty but no bit of lentils showing.
- Transfer the batter into a mixing bowl and set aside the batter 10 minutes before cooking
- Warm a non-stick pan under medium heat and spray olive oil all over the pan. You must use oil on the pan, or the batter would stick to the pan and would break.
- Pour 1/4 cup of batter in the center of the pan and using the back of a spoon (or the back of the measuring cup), work in a circular motion to gently spread the batter from the center to the outside until it forms a tortilla of about 12 cm (4.7 inches) diameter. Watch my step-by-step pictures above in the post to see how to spread the batter.
- Cook for 2 minutes on one side, then flip with a spatula and cook on the other side. Cool on a plate or a rack while you cook the remaining batter. Make sure you re-oil the pan between each flatbread.
- If you have any problem with the batter, scroll up in this post to read my troubleshooting tips.
- Serve with an Indian curry recipe like my vegan butter chick'n tofu recipe.
Storage
- Store in the fridge in a sealed box for up to 2 days and rewarm in a warm non-stick pan.
- Freeze individually wrap and thaw at room temperature 3 hours before serving.
really yummy….i enjoyed this recipe. 🙂
great recipe. I used 1/4 tsp of xantham gum and it made it more flexible.
Awesome recipe. I added a little extra garlic powder but other than that kept everything per the recipe, made 10 wraps and they’re so good! Not quite as pliable as I was hoping, but I may have needed to thin my batter out more. Tried as a wrap and also used for a quesadilla and these are going to go into regular rotation.
Glad you loved it!!
Can you skip the apple cider vinegar?
Yes, it should work without it, but you might lose some color when cooking.
I had the same question. What role does apple cider vinegar play in recipes?
I assume that sometimes it can be omitted like in the above tortillas but sometimes it cannot?
Can it be substituted with lemon juice in recipes where it cannot be omitted?
Thank you 🙂 and I love your recipes!
It depends on the recipe, most of the time apple cider vinegar turn plant-based milk into buttermilk or it acts as an acid to activate baking soda. That’s why you can always swap ACV for lemon juice, lime juice or any vinegar/citrus juice you have on hand. If you skip it, it makes the baked good more dense and less fluffy.
A fabulous recipe with great instructions. They freeze really well too. Thanks very much, I’ll be doing these again!
I have tried a similar recipe and the batter just stuck tp the pan. What am I doing wrong?
I can’t comment on a recipe that’s not mine, but I’d advise you to try mine, it doesn’t stuck if you follow it!
Your explanation of the recipe and its ingredients are superb!
Thank you I am looking forward to trying this out today
I must say I am very impressed with this recipe, I didn’t know these pancakes tasted so good. Thank you.
Can you use canned lentils? I live in sub arctic so dry lentils aren’t sold here but I can get canned or have to online order some.
No, you need dry lentils or the batter won’t hold together
We found these easy to make and delicious for our “taco tuesday” dinner. We used broth instead of water and added a 1 tsp of paprika flakes from a spice market. We thought the flavour of the tortilla was nice and used if for a quick cheese quesadilla then saved the rest for the tacos. Thanks for the recipe!