CrockPot Honey Lentils Recipe


Honey Lentils are a fun and delicious way to bring high fiber and high protein lentils into your family's regular meal plan. Eat as a standalone for a main course, or pair with your favorite meat for a delicious and nutritious side dish.

Honey Lentils are a fun and delicious way to bring high fiber and high protein lentils into your family's regular meal plan. Eat as a standalone for a main course, or pair with your favorite meat for a delicious and nutritious side dish.


Day 337.

I can not figure out what to call this. It's a lentil dish with honey and soy sauce--two condiments I would never ever ever in a million years think to put in a lentil dish. 

The combination is sweet and tangy and different. I liked the flavor, but couldn't really pinpoint what I liked about it. 

There were a few times that I got an overwhelming earthy flavor (read: dirt) but I was assured that my taste buds were wigging out because this most definitely did not taste like dirt to the others at the table.

They liked it.



The Ingredients.


Honey Lentils are a fun and delicious way to bring high fiber and high protein lentils into your family's regular meal plan. Eat as a standalone for a main course, or pair with your favorite meat for a delicious and nutritious side dish.


1 1/2 cups lentils ((brown or green)
3 cups water
1/2 red onion, diced
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (fresh is shown in the picture, but it was all black and nasty when I peeled it)
2 tablespoons soy sauce (La Choy or Tamari Wheat Free are GF)
1/3 cup honey (and maybe another 1 tablespoon later to taste)
1 dried bay leaf or 2 fresh

The Directions.

I used a 4 quart crockpot.

The awesome thing about lentils (actually, there are a few awesome things) is that they are cheap, full of fiber, and you don't have to pre-soak them. You really should rinse them off, though.

Put the lentils into your crockpot. Add the water. Chop up the onion, and add along with the carrots (I cheated and used a bag of shredded carrots leftover from the chicken adobo). 

Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans and add. Stir in the dried mustard, salt, and ginger. Add the soy sauce and honey. 

Stir to combine. Float the bay leaf (ves) on top.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-5. I started ours on low for 3 hours, then switched it to high for another 3 when I realized that I added wrong in my head (that actually happens a lot with me.)

Taste. If desired, stir in an extra tablespoon of honey.

Serve with white or brown rice if you're a vegetarian, or a rib-eye if you're not.

The Verdict.

I liked these! The flavor was really quite different, and I don't know how else to describe it. The kids had some bites along with a box of mac-n-cheese (the Annie's gluten free kind), and Adam and I had a bowl with a grilled cheese sandwich.

Lentils are quite filling; this made enough for quite a few lunches this week. I really appreciated that this recipe called for water instead of broth, and that I had everything in the house already.

Honey lentils is a fantastic way to get nutritious lentils into your family's diet. Made in the crockpot slow cooker these slightly sweet and tangy lentils will please even your pickiest eater!


another fantastic lentil dish:
Morrocan Lentil Soup

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Posted by: Stephanie O'Dea | A Year of Slow Cooking at December 02, 2008

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What they say about this article

  1. Wow! I love using lentils, and especially trying them in new recipes. This is one I'll have to try, it looks really yummy.

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  2. Sounds good. I work in our hospital cafe and they have a lentil and brown rice recipe. It's alright, a little bland since they don't use a lot of spices. I bet yours taste better.

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  3. This sounds really good!!

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  4. Got a curious question for ya! The year is soon to be ending...will you be board or have more time now? Do you have another project to do...LOL?

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  5. Anonymous12/02/2008

    The seasonings in this (soy sauce, bay leaf, ginger and honey) are from the Honey Baked Lentil recipe in the More with Less cookbook. I make it often and the seasonings are wonderful.

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  6. I like lentils a lot, this will be a nice change from lentil soup.

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  7. Mmm, I love honey lentils, and I have all these ingredients already! I'm going to put these in the CrockPot for tonight. Thanks!

    Beth (C. Beth Blog & The One-Minute Writer)

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  8. Anonymous12/02/2008

    Looks different, I'm going to have to try it because my 6yo loves both soy sauce and lentils... should be a hit! I think it will be a good one for me too, but I eat everything ;-)

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  9. Anonymous12/02/2008

    i have never, but never, cooked lentils... but you've convinced me that i should give them a try. not today. honey in anything is good w/ me. peanut buttter, over pancakes, etc. thanx for all your creativity and adventures in yum cooking.

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  10. Umm, so I don't know how big my crockpot is and I might halve the recipe. What would I do with regards to the cooking time? I don't even know if I like lentils! haha

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  11. This recipe sounds delicious. I freeze my fresh ginger so it won't dry up or get rotten. I can keep it forever that way and it grates just like fresh and never loses it's flavour.

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  12. Talk about freaky -- just yesterday I was staring a a lonely bag of lentils, hoping you'd post something and shazamm! A recipe!

    I've loved everything you've done - from cooking to crafts. Is there anything you won't do with a crockpot?

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  13. To get rid of the "dirt"-ness, add 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice at the end of cooking.

    I have tried this with several different lentil recipes with fantastic results.

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  14. I just made lentil soup in my crock pot yesterday! Such an easy recipe that came out really yummy. Thank you so much for your blog. It really inspired me to use my crock pot again. I put it away after several disastrous recipes when I first received it as a wedding gift 5 years ago.

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  15. Anonymous12/02/2008

    If I had read this post this morning, I would already have them cooking. I'll make them tomorrow. I have the orange chipotle boneless ribs in the big crockpot now. I'll just shred the rest of the ribs tomorrow and have sandwiches and the honey lentel recipe tomorrow night. Yeah! I've said it before and I'll say it again, you rock!

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  16. Thanks for this recipe! I'm always on the lookout for ways to use lentils that are actually tasty. :)

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  17. I've had these in the Crock Pot for 2 1/2 hours now, and I just wanted to share the bit of wisdom I've gained. They don't cook very quickly at all if you don't plug in the Crock Pot.

    I'm glad I started earlier than I needed to and that I decided to check them; dinner is still saved.

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  18. When I first clicked on the link to your blog from Heather's blog, I thought it said A Year of Crackpotting...which was intriguing...BUT...Crockpots rock! This is way better. I am so stalking your blog! SOOOO glad I found you!
    :)

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  19. Anonymous12/02/2008

    Squeee! I've been cited on A year of CrockPotting!!! I'm so excited!

    Meg - You're quite right: this is from the More With Less cookbook, my all-time favourite cookbook. Simple, inexpensive, nutritious food.

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  20. I am passing along a Lemonade bloggers award, for a blog that shows "attitude or gratitude". Please see the award here.

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  21. Anonymous12/02/2008

    Stephanie, I so much enjoy your site. I love the way you tell the results of your crockpot endeavors whether good or bad or just indifferent. I especially appreciate your kid testers remarks--then I know whether my very picky 40 year old and 10 year old grandson would enjoy the dish or not.
    I hope that you will keep the recipes up for a long time so I can enjoy crocking some of them.
    I will really miss reading you daily. Hope that you can continue posting some more crockpot dishes or crafts even if it's just a few several times a month.
    A 70 year old fan.

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  22. I love my crockpot too!!
    Come to my blog please to receive your award!!

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  23. Anonymous12/03/2008

    Love your blog! My dad always cooked with just two main appliances--his microwave and his crockpot. There was nearly always something simmering in the pot when I stopped in. I really miss that right now. He died on August 31. I'm printing up a collection of his crockpot recipes for the grandkids as Christmas gifts, though.

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  24. Anonymous12/03/2008

    ginger, soy and honey are key components to Teriyaki...did it remind you of that flavor?

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  25. I made this late last night and it is yummy. I'm looking forward to having some for lunch today! Thanks! Amy

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  26. Anonymous12/04/2008

    Wow! I have to admit that I made this on the stovetop, cooking the whole thing for about 40 minutes and served with grilled italian chicken sausage and it was an instant hit.

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  27. I made this last night and was quite surprised that I liked it. We love lentils, but normally make taco style ones a la hillbilly housewife. I did make one small sub, which was to use 1 can broth and 1.5 c. water. Tasty! My kids (4 and 2) asked for thirds!

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  28. Can I use regular mustard, or do I have to use dried? I don't want to have to go buy dried mustard.

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  29. Dried mustard? Can I just use some prepared mustard?

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  30. Hi Amelie and Amanda, the usual rule of thumb is that dried mustard and regular mustard can be substituted equally. I don't know if the prepared mustard separates a bit in the crockpot, although I imagine a quick stir would fix it if it does.
    xox
    steph

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  31. Anonymous12/05/2008

    It's like baked beans! I wonder how it would work substituting molasses for the honey.

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  32. So far, I've made many of your recipe's ~ the majority keepers. Yet I had to hop on today and comment about these lentils:

    OMIGOSH they ROCK!!!

    I made them for my GF/Lactose intolerant Honey . . .and ended up spreading the love to the rest of the family. They were *THAT* good. (We generally stick to great northerns 'round here - all except my husband, that is . . .)

    We will DEFINITELY be repeating this concoction more than once! Thanks!! :D

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  33. That dirt taste could have actually been dirt the last bag i poened had a few little dirt clots in it. so glad i rinsed them that day. But yeah be sure to check your beans and lentils.

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  34. Wow! Crockpot Lady,
    I made this stuff and it was fantastic! I deviated just a bit by using a whole white medium chopped onion and I chopped the carrot instead of shredding. I used a tablespoon of hot dog mustard instead of the dry and I left out the bay leaf. I also browned some chicken legs and thighs and put them on top. I cooked it slow in my Rival for eight hours. I just can't believe how good it was. Thank you!

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  35. Anonymous1/17/2009

    I had never cooked with lentils before I saw this recipe. I just happened to have bought a bag at the store. This was really good, but I put a spin on it. I added a whole chicken. It was really yummy!!

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  36. I tried this recipe 2 nights ago. I didn't have any dry mustard but it was still good.

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  37. I've been wanting to try this recipe for awhile and finally did last night. I'm not a huge lentil lover, but my husband is. I LOVED these!! I kept sneaking bites while it was cooking and couldn't get enough. Thanks for a fantastic recipe that makes everyone in this household happy!!

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  38. Anonymous4/11/2009

    We all LOVED this one...definitely a keeper..

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  39. Anonymous4/25/2009

    I made this and rinsed the lentils well, but it still had that dirty twang to it. I'll try the lemon juice trick next time.

    I ended up eating them cold over salad with dressing, and that covered the dirty taste. Other than that, I liked the flavor!

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  40. Wow. This is a great recipe! I added a bit of extra soy sauce and some spicy garlic sauce to kick it up a bit. Thanks for another crock pot winner!

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  41. Anonymous12/14/2009

    This receipe is wonderful and smells so good reheated I had several coworkers ask for the recipe. I made aborrio rice to eat with it and it was wonderful. Makes alot for 2 of us - next time I'll see how well it will freeze since it made about 2 nights worth of dinners and about 4 lunches from 1 batch.

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  42. I just made this and it was absolutely delicious. I added crushed garlic in place of the onion -- and it was great. I will definitely make it again. Thanks for the recipe.

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  43. I just got a Crock-Pot for Christmas, and while I've already made a couple of soups in it, this is the first actual recipe I've tried. I had everything in the house except the garbanzos, so instead I just added more lentils and water. It turned out wonderfully and is definitely something that will enter the regular meal rotation. Aside from the taste, I couldn't be happier that it is both inexpensive and healthy. Thank you so much!

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  44. NewtoCrock4/22/2010

    I saw that you made it in a 4 qt crockpot-- mine is bigger then that (I think 6). Will this mean there will be a shorter cooking time? Should I use more liquid? So many questions...

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  45. Hi there! No need to add more liquid. The cooking time will be shorter, so I'd recommend not venturing too far away after 4 hours on low or 2 hours on high.

    oxo steph

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  46. I made this for dinner tonight and I admit that I had my doubts but I had a bag of lentils that I wanted to use...so...my verdict: Surprisingly Tasty! My toddler loved it too, but my 5 year old wouldn't even try one bite (he's a toot). I will certainly be making this again!

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  47. This looks delicious! Do you think I could somehow make it with chicken? I have chicken cutlets that I can cut up and put in, but I don't know if I'd put them in early or late in the process. I'm very new to the slow cooker, but I tried your teriyaki chicken recipe and loved it!

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  48. This is one of my favorite recipes. I must admit, it does have a different/weird taste but it so grows on you. I now add chili flakes to balance with the sweet of the honey. Right now its cooking away in my crockpot with some kale!

    I love how I had everything I needed at home for this one

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  49. Texas Lori5/24/2011

    Thanks for all the great ideas! Haven't actually tried any of them yet, but hope to do so soon. And you can continue to flaunt your access to Trader Joe's, as Dallas should be getting a couple within the year....YAY!!!
    This transplanted Michigander will be happier now. :)

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  50. I made the lentils today, and added some beef broth, 2 bags of baby spinach, and a package of chopped mushroms. Winner, winner, lentil dinner!

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  51. When I moved from Michigan to Dallas, I really missed Trader Joe's, too. (So happy to hear they are coming to Texas ... will have to check to see if the dare to enter Whole Foods hometown, since I'm now in Austin ;-)

    I tried this recipe earlier in the week, using Agave instead of Honey. The result was still lovely. I often make Mujadra (with lentils and bulghur) and this dish has a similar appeal for me even though the flavors are very different.

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  52. Does this recipe freeze well? It sounds good!

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  53. coming to this recipe via an earlier referent: why is this vegetarian and not vegan? I'm not complaining or insulting folks who are vegan or vegetarian- I'm just trying to understand the differentiation. I THINK it's about the honey- but one does not harm honeybees by harvesting honey.
    Trust me on that one, I've been an amateur/apprentice beekeeper.

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  54. Hi Turner, it's the cream cheese and the honey. although the bees aren't harmed in the honey process (although I do have visions of squeezing bees for honey in my head right now...) it's still technically an animal by-product, which requires strict vegans to steer clear.

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  55. This was really yummy. It's a staple in our house now. I also took all the prepped ingredients to work and started the crockpot up first thing in the morning, for a potluck. It worked great!

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  56. Anonymous5/27/2013

    I loved this. I added green and red peppers, and zucchini that were left over from kabobs the night before (they were still raw). I used a local honey. I doubled the recipe but had only one can of garbanzo beans and I didn't have any mustard at all. I forgot the bay leaf. I served it o er brown rice and it was super yummy. It was slightly sweet. I was afraid it would be too sweet but it wasn't.vwasn't.

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  57. I make this for potluck lunches at the office all the time - I get everything ready the night before and then just plug it in at work the next morning. So great.

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  58. I've made this for my family so many times. My youngest just turned one so this will be his intro to honey -- I hope he likes it as much as the rest of us!
    I often add chopped cooked ham instead of chickpeas, it works beautifully!

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  59. What can I use to substitute garbanzo beans? I love them but the Mr can't stand them (unless it's hummus). I'm trying to change our diet a little at a time so he, I mean we (haha) can be healthier.
    Thanks!

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