There is something about finger food that makes it so appealing to kids. I know with Finn it’s to do with not having to use a knife and fork and it being socially acceptable to just get in there and use his hands. It is all about speed with Finn and I’m constantly banging on at him to slow down and use his cutlery!
These lentil spinach pancakes are an example of the perfect finger food for babies and kids. Lentils are a good source of protein and beta-carotene and also folate, fibre and vitamin C. Spinach adds an iron punch and contains a high level of tryptophan which helps induce sleep (and we all know how important that is!)
I wouldn’t normally soak split red lentils but I find if I soak them over night then they are super easy to blend and make the perfect pancake batter. I added a few spices and chopped spinach to the batter, but, that is it! No flour, milk or eggs are needed; making them great for babies and kids with dairy, gluten or egg allergies.
I love to serve these pancakes with curry, as a quick lunch on their own or dipped into some greek yoghurt. I swear when I add a dip to any dish I serve, it automatically gains appeal. Kids just love to dip and it’s a great way to encourage them to try new foods.
I find them best eaten straight away but the kids seemed happy enough to eat them cold.
Lentil Spinach Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup split red lentils (soaked overnight)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- pinch turmeric
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves (finely chopped into ribbons)
- 1/2 tbsp oil for frying
Instructions
- Blitz all the ingredients (apart from the spinach & oil) in a high speed blender until you achieve a smooth batter. Add a little more water if needed.
- Mix the spinach through the batter.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan over a high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and fry tablespoons of the batter for approx 2 mins each side
- Serve and enjoy!
What a great idea to add lentils to pancakes! 🙂 My toddler loves spinach pancakes, so need to try these. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks Minna, hope they are a success for you 🙂 We loved them ?
Hi Amy,
just wondering if you’ve ever tried this recipe with black lentils…they probably wouldn’t look as appatizing because of the colour but do you think the consistency would still work?
Thanks! 🙂
Hi Diana, I’ve never tried them with black lentils and I’m not sure how they would work to be honest. They need a longer cooking time and I don’t think they would work in this recipe. Sorry.
Black lentils doesn’t work 🙁 I just got a nice fried porridge of black lentils :/
Hi ShiroiHato, yes it really should be red split lentils for this recipe. They have a much shorter cooking time and are much softer.
have you ever tried using the Trader Joe’s already cooked lentils? no
Hi Kristin, No I haven’t – we don’t have Trader Joe’s here! I’m not sure how they would work, to be honest. What type of lentils are they?
This is a fantastic idea for a recipe! I love using lentils. But I haven’t used them like this before.
Thanks Stacey, I go a little lentil crazy! I just know how much my little one loves them and so use them a lot!
Pure genius.. I would never have thought to use the lentils in this way and can’t believe how well these turned out.. My almost 9 month old gobbled down two pancakes in no time!
Hi Maria, so glad they were a success for you and your 9 month. 🙂 Thanks for the feedback?
Thanks you for having so many vegetarian options! These look fantastic. I keep looking for great foods for my 11 month old to take to daycare. And your recipes are almost ALWAYS perfect.
Hi Jessica, thanks for your kind comment. I’m so glad you are enjoying the recipes 🙂
Do you not need eggs to bind the mixture together?
Hi Hannah, no you don’t need eggs! The lentils make a great batter 🙂
Hi Amy! As an alternative to soaking the lentils overnight, can you also cook them up beforehand?
Hi Liz, I’ve never tried them that way – I wouldn’t cook them too long and would try blending without the liquid first as you may not need as much. Let me know if you try it and if it works. ?
Hi, I made this with precooked lentils – maybe the quantity was thrown out but it didn’t bind at all (was just like water) and I had to add flour and egg to them. Any suggestions?
Maybe if the lentils were cooked they had a higher water content and this is why it didn’t bind. I’d suggest sticking to the soaked lentils (or even un soaked if you have high speed blender) It works perfectly as a batter 🙂 Hope you have more success next try x
this recipe need raw lentils does not work with cooked lentils
I like the recipe but would prefer that they did have eggs and Gluten as new studies show that by failing to introduce these food to a child very early on in their life’s, the child is much more likely to build an immune response to the food that has been withheld (meaning an allergy).
Hi Kasey,
Thanks for your feedback. I have a lot of recipes on my site that contain egg and gluten, I don’t try to avoid it at all. This just happens to be a recipe that doesn’t contain either so I mentioned that it would be good for those that do have allergies. Hope you still decide to try them 😉
Since this is actually something that has been posted very recent, I wanna add something very important.
If you really wanna talk about allergies and alike, you can’t forget the fact that many people eat certain foods every single day (especially non soaked nuts and seeds and grains, aswell as highly heated/oxidized egg yolks and milk and vegetables oils, and so on) – THAT, in my opinion, is a main cause for allergies and intolerances due to several reasons….
– one being simply an oversaturation of the body (coconut – I know a few people who just can’t stand ANY more coconut due to daily consumption for a period of time, I experienced that myself aswell).
– or that the immune system gets confronted with a lot of toxins these days (even found in home grown food) – and if you eat the same food every day, you probably also eat the same toxins every day, that’s like punching ones shoulder on the same spot on a daily basis with no chance to recover (particles of foods are recognizable in and by the body for up to 72 hours).
– also, as mentioned, lack of proper preparation….especially nut floors from non soaked and dehydrated nuts are consumed very frequently and in large amounts (people who think they eat like our ancestors aka “Paleo”), which can lead to a lot of problems in the long-run. And just to add something to the nuts: they are not soaked, not dehydrated, heated (during baking) which causes oxidation, and then most of them also don’t have a good O6:3 – and even then, only little amounts of the plant based O3 can actually be used by the body after transforming them.
Obviously leaky gut can be involved aswell. And that’s one of the reasons why I personally follow a rotation diet as Paul Chek suggests/follows himself.
I personally, highly doubt that a child is “much more likely” to build an immune response to a certain food when you don’t introduce these foods early, the only “problem” that I see is that certain bacteria from foods such as in raw milk and a lack of certain digestive enzymes would require a more or less long introduction phase (maybe along with some sickness due to the immune system having to adjust to a certain unknown “invader”). I personally would be especially cautious when they come up with certain foods that are a) far from their natural state (gluten containing grains who have several times the gluten contant than in the past, certain fruit which has a lot more sugar than it used to have,…), and b) have been exhaustively bombarded by negative press and therefore been consumed (bought $$) a lot less. As Weston A. Price, in his book “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” observed, there have been, for example, Europeans who had to grow up on the native foods provided by their country (regional, seasonal) so they could build a strong and healthy body in accordance to their genetics, but after childhood (I can’t remember if he stated an age), they could go to Africa and adopt the food that these people were eating there (the healthiest people ate/drank fish, meat, milk, blood and vegetables) and were (almost) free of tooth decay and dental arch deformations as the natives in this country.
By the way I’m definitely going to try the lentil pancakes, thanks for the egg free recipe since I don’t do well on them :)! As far as I can remember, lentil pancakes/crêpes/flat breads have been used for hundreds of years in the Indian culture (they fermented them before cooking them to make them even more digestible and the nutrients more absorbable).
All the best, Thomas
As a scientist who understands allergy and immunology a fair bit, please take this person’s post with a grain of salt.
instead of eggs you can sub for each egg 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp vinegar, works very well
This looks great! What’s in the dip?
Thanks Kirsten, it was just a greek yoghurt dip. Simple!
Greek yogurt alone? Or mixed in with other ingredients
I often just serve plain Greek yoghurt as a dip. Sometimes I sprinkle smoked paprika in as my kids love it.
Do these freeze well? Have you ever tried? Thanks!
I’ve never tried freezing them, sorry.
I was wondering this as well! Did you ever try freezing them in the end?
I freeze them and they work great!
taste the same and easy to bake them!
can you use canned lentils instead?
I’ve never tried canned lentils. I think that the mixture could be a little wet, sorry.
This looks great! I’m excited to try it, especially since I’m always looking for fun new things to share with my son (8 months old and a VERY adventurous eater!) Can you tell me about how many pancakes this recipe yields? I’m planning on making them the same size that are in your pictures. Thanks!
Hi Allison, I’m so sorry – I can’t remember as I haven’t made them in a while. I really need to put that into my future recipes. Hope you enjoy x
We made these tonight! I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical when mixing them. I have older kids, five and eight, so I added some extra oomph with the seasonings you suggested and they were a hit! We will definitely make them again and my kids had blast mixing and cooking them! I am also sharing the recipe with my vegetarian parents! I think they’d be great with a chutney of sorts! Thank you!
So glad they were a hit and thanks so much for sharing and for taking the time to comment x
Anyone tried to bake them instead of frying? just looking for healthier alternative. thanks
Hi Alena, sorry I have never tried baking them.
I did them in a non-stick skillet with just a spritz of cooking spray and they worked great, not greasy at all.
I baked them tonight and they came out great! I put a baking sheet and brushed olive oil on it and then flipped halfway through, came out great!
Thanks for the feedback, Stephanie. I’m so glad they work well when baked. I’ll give it a try next time.
Could I use regular split lentils instead of split red lentils? I tried 2 stores and they were out of the red split lentils so I just got the regular brownish-beige looking ones
Hi Ruth, thanks for your comment. To be honest I’m unsure. I have never tried this with other lentils before and I’m not sure how well they would blend and make a pancake batter. Sorry I can’t help more. If you do try it please let me know how it goes. Thanks, Amy
I have made these with split yellow peas as well as green lentils and the work as well as the split red lentils lentils . Key is to soak for many hours even overnight and rinse as often as possible very well until the water runs clear , they have to be raw to work cooked will not work.
I just made these and I can’t believe how fast, easy and great it was! It is the perfect texture I was hoping to achieve for my baby led weaning 7 months old! Thank you! And I can’t wait to eat them with a yummy dip too!
Excellent! So glad they were a hit, thanks for taking the time to comment and let me know ?
Hi, I tried making these but they would fall apart. What am I doing wrong? They look nothing like your picture
Hi Darlene, I’m not sure what went wrong. Did you use uncooked lentils? Did you drain them before blending? I have never had an issue with them falling apart before. Amy
Hi. Just tried the recepie but I think I’ve might miss understood the procedure… used red lentils and cooked them as per the pakage an then blend them as per your recepi. The butter just splite once over the hot olive oil. Only realized now that you don’t precook the lentils. Do you only soak them?
Hi SB, Yes you don’t pre cook, just soak ??
Do you drain the lentils before blitzing them or blitz the lentils and the water they’ve soaked in?
Hi Marlene, you drain the lentils before blending. Thanks for the question, I will detail that in the recipes now..
Maybe stupid question but how do you drain lentils? 🙂 Tahnks
Hi Claire, I just pop them into a sieve to drain.
For those who don’t have time for soaking… I microwaved 1 cup green lentils in 2 cups water for about 10-12 minutes until ‘al dente’. Then I blended using a lil more water until the consistency was like cake batter. I spooned the mix into a greased mini muffin pan and baked at 350 for 12min. They came out perfect. I had originally tried to fry but that just turned messy. Highly recommend the oven baked version. Simple and delicious. Hope the kids love them too.
Thanks for the feedback and the tips Kate, Ill need to try baking them next time ??
Thank you SO much for all your recipes! I have a little one with quite a few food allergies and finding fun, new, interesting food has been a struggle until I came upon your website! I make these lentil pancakes the other night and he ate them up (my husband even liked them!)!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Hi Becka, Thank you so much for your kind comment! I’m so glad your little one enjoyed these and I hope you find some other recipes that you can use. If you have any questions about the recipes or requests then just send me an email through the contact form or amy@www.healthylittlefoodies.com ??
I only had time to soak the lentils for 3 hours, but the pancakes came out just like in the photo. My 2-year-old liked them okay once I added salt to them, but she didn’t love them. I think the seasoning would be great for a 10-month-old, but is a little low for older toddlers and adults. Next time I’ll try adding salt, a bit more garlic and spices, and maybe a bit of ginger too.
Do you really manage to cook all the pancakes in just 1/2 a tablespoon of oil? After two batches my cast iron skillet was totally dry, and I had to add more oil.
Hi Captious, Thanks for your feedback, I hope you have more success with the recipe next time. I never add salt to my recipes as a lot of parents who have babies use my recipes. I find that I have to add salt to many of the recipes and now that my kids are older I add a little to theirs too when needed. I developed this as a base recipe that could be altered to suit taste. I make them to eat alongside a curry and they are great for dipping into some delicious curry sauce.
I use a non stick pan and find I only need a small amount of oil. I’d say a skillet pan would need a bit more.
Loving the sound of adding ginger – yum!
Does anyone know if these freeze well? I want to make a large batch for my 1 year old. Thanks!
Someone else commented earlier and said that they freeze well.
I just wanted to thank you for this recipe and share the changes I made. I’ll start by saying I’m a grown woman who’s on a strict elimination diet to try to holistically treat Crohn’s disease – not a baby :). I was at a mama friend’s place yesterday and she was so excited to be able to feed me one of these, because I usually just drink tea. To re-make these for myself, I soaked and then cooked the lentils (this makes them easier to digest). I added more garlic, waaay more turmeric (for anti inflamnation), some olive oil, and I blended the spinach in with the lentils (again, easier on digestion). I’ve just fried them up and they’re amazing!!
Hi Jenna, Thank you so much for your lovely message and I am so glad that you enjoyed these. I love the sound of your changes – especially the extra turmeric – yum!
Could you add in almond milk while blitzing instead of water has anyone tried that?
I’ve never tried that, I’m sure it would work though…
Almond milk will work!
This is a fantastic recipe! I just wanted to share with others that with a few minor changes this makes a great pizza crust! My gluten eating family loved it. Soak and blitz up the lentils as described, adding 3 cloves of garlic, some salt (1/2 tsp if desired), a tsp of oregano, 1/2 tsp baking soda (for a little lift), and bake on a parchment paper covered sheet pan. Grease the parchment paper before you spread the batter into a rectangle shape. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes without the toppings. Remove from oven and add desired toppings. Bake again at the same temperature for an additional 7-10 minutes until your toppings are heated and cheese (if using) has melted. Makes a nice thin crust pizza that everyone cam enjoy! Thanks for the recipe!
Please use baking powder in the above modification, not soda. Thanks!
Hi Alison, I am loving the sound od this and I will be trying. Thanks for sharing!
Just want to pop in and thank you for sharing this great recipe/ idea on making a simple, super healthy and great food for a toddler! We’re a vegan family so finding a good, simple recipe for our little one is always a treasure! I’ve added a good Tbsp of hemp heart seeds for added nutritional kick. In place of using all spinach, I’ve also sautéed some kale to slightly soften it a bit and throw it in as well. It turns out tasty as well!
Hi Adelina, thanks for the feedback and I love the sound of your modifications. I’d have never thought to add hemp heart seeds to this, I must try it next time! i hope you can find some more recipes ??
I didn’t read the recipe close enough and pureed everything, they turned out great! They were a very pretty green color! Ha! My little one loved them with the yogurt. She can’t dip anything herself yet, so i would just spread the yogurt on top. She’s also allergic to eggs, so thank you for making a fritter/pancake recipe with no eggs. 🙂
So glad your little one loved these, maybe she loved them because they were a pretty green colour ?
Very nice recipe. And it is great that it doesn’t need any egg because of my toddlers’ allergy.
I don’t know yet if my picky toddler will adopt it, but I tried and I really do.
I have added a bit of salt, water (to help my KA blender), coriander and lemon zest. And I did the recipe with radish leaves instead of spinach.
They are really easy to cook and flip (with virgin coconut oil).
Nice texture: crispy outside, soft inside. Nice color, it really looks great!
Thanks for this recipe!
Thanks Flore, so glad you liked them – did they pass the picky toddler test? I love the the sound of using radish leaves ??
Hi Amy, my toddler loved the first sight but did not enjoy eating it.
But I would like to try again, because I think It may be because of the dry texture. Actually when just cooked, they were very soft, but few hours later, when I served them, the softness was gone. I will try again and cook last minute.
I’ve done the recipe another time, but this time I cooked the pancakes just before the dinner and my toddler liked them. Cut into sticks (kind of thick French fries) to dip into the cream-soup.
Glad he liked them Flore, I like the idea of cutting them into sticks. ??
This blog is geared to baby/toddler eating, but let me tell you, it’s so amazingly helpful as an adult who is looking to lose weight and eat a healthier, plant based diet. I meal prep several of your baby lead weaning foods so I always have a healthier snack option or the start of easy breakfasts and lunches, especially on the go. I can chuck several of these, and something fruity like the raspberry coconut breakfast bites into a cooler bag and not have to buy lunch out. It’s also amazing for getting my teenage daughter to snack on better for her foods on the weekends, so she’s getter her five a day and whole foods. Thank you so very much for your recipes, I keep coming back for more.
Hi Mandi, You have just made my day, thank you for taking the time to tell me and I’m just delighted that you enjoy my site. I’m so glad that families with older kids are using these recipes too. Thanks again, Amy ??
Are split lentils different than regular? Can I split them in my processor? I have the red in bulk so I no longer remember how they were labeled.
I’m not sure how this would work with whole lentils as the cooking time would be longer. I’m not sure if you can split them in food processor, it isn’t something I have ever tried. Sorry I can’t be more help.
I just made them tonight with regular red lentils (not split) and they came out delicious. DH and I devoured them and my son seemed to like them too. I did end up adding a little more water until I got a nice smooth batter.
Thanks Ami, so glad they were a success with the whole family, thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
They were delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks Sonia! So glad you liked them, thanks for taking the time to comment.
I can’t seem to make them stay together is there some secret to frying them?
Hi Cate, I’m not sure what is going wrong for you. Did you cook the lentils as this would result in the mixture being too wet. I just soak the raw lentils over night and blended. Are you using red split lentils? I can’t think of any other reasons that this wouldn’t work for you.
Followed the directions exactly and they cooked up nicely! One thing I would specify though is whether the 1 cup of lentils is pre or post soaking because that changes things. I used 1 cup post soaking and the proportions seemed spot on. I also added some salt and pepper. Now the true test is to see if my very picky 15 month old will eat them 🙂 If not, I will because they are yummy. Thank you!
Thanks Cindy, glad you liked them…..did your 15month old eat them? I actually used 1 cup of lentil pre soak but I’m glad it worked for you post soak too. Now that you have pointed that out, I can see that it isn’t really that clear. I’m actually trying to go through old recipes and give more detail so points like this are really useful. Thank you!
Hi,
Made these yesterday for my 8 month baby girl, she loved them – kept stuffing more in her mouth
I too was unsure on whether the cup of lentils was pre or post soaking. Can you clarify? I soaked 1 cup of lentils overnight which ended up with over 2 cups of soaked lentils – they cooked well but needed much longer than 2 mins side – should it have been 1 cup of lentils after they had soaked?
Also how long will the batter keep for? Ended up with a lot of leftover batter.
Many thanks
Hi Carlene, So happy your little one loved these!
The cup of lentils was pre-soaking. I used red split lentils and found that 2 mins each side was enough but this may vary. I would usually fry them all and then freeze leftovers. I then just reheat before serving.
I love these! Thanks for posting.
Thanks Susan!
Hi, i followed instructions using a vitamin and the bedtime never blended into a batter…stayed pretty hard. Did I do something wrong?
These were very tasty! I threw some nutritional yeast in mine for some cheesy flavour. My teens ate them up for an after school snack no problem. Thanks for the recipe!
Great idea, I’m going to try that next time. Thanks so much for the feedback and idea!
We don’t have fresh spinach where we live… do you think these would work using frozen spinach? Probably not, since that would add more moisture…but hopefully, because i want to try these!
Hi Courtney, I have never actually tried it with frozen spinach. I wonder if it would work if you were to defrost the spinach and then squeeze the water.
Hi,
Thanks for this recipe. Tried these this morning, but I’m findjng them to be super pungent. I followed the recipe exactly, except i only used one clove of garlic instead. Wondering if you have ever tried them with sautéed pulverized garlic instead? I haven’t given it to my little one but I have a feeling that he’s not going to like the pungency.
Hi Helen, thanks for your feedback. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. We have just moved house and I’ve been crazy busy with it all (plus we have had no internet). I understand what you mean with regards to the garlic, I think the sauteed garlic would be great in this. You could also miss it out altogether and add other herbs and spices.
How did they go with your little one?
Hello, I just made these this morning for my 8-month old and I must admit that I ate a few before they made it to her high chair for eating. The smell of the spices and garlic blended together was delightful and made me want try them. I used a non-stick skillet and I followed the recipe as written and made no modifications. They turned out well. I found that spreading the tablespoon worth of batter helped me stay true to the two-minute cooking time per side. I used a vitamiz blender and needed to add a bit of water. My consistency was semi-thick but worked well. Do you think it should be a bit more on the runny side?
Served up a half of a pancake to my daughter, she enjoyed it and I cannot wait until I can give her some greek yogurt for dipping. I have printed off a few more of your recipes and will keepp making wholesome snacks for my little foodie in training.
If I make them in the future for the adults, I would probably kick the flavour up a notch and add some actually curry to them.
Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Thank you Mikki, I love that you had success with the recipe and that your 8 month old enjoyed them. I think it sounds like your batter was the perfect thickness. I should really update the post with some process shots or a video. It is hard to explain with words only.
Hope you enjoy the other recipes. Thanks for taking the time to comment and rate.
HI!
I have green lentils (or so I think… the package just simply says “Lentils” and they are green haha). Will those work or do they need to be split red lentils?
Thanks!
Hi Jennifer, I don’t think green lentils will work the same. They have a longer cooking time than red lentils.
These are wonderful! My 7 month old enjoyed it and so did I! Thanks for such a simple recipe with whole ingredients!
Thanks Stephanie, so happy they were a success for you 🙂
These are SO GOOD. I know it’s suggested for babies, but I’m a 25 year old who just graduated from college and omg these are so delicious, and so nutritious! I recently found out I am going through some reactive hypoglycemia at the moment, so whatever food I do eat, I need to make “count!” These are so well balanced in terms of flavor, the texture is delicious, and the nutrient profile is awesome. I eat these with a little dollop of greek yogurt (trying to avoid dairy, but I need the calcium). These also go really well with homemade tzatziki as well! I followed the recipe exactly how it is written. I then sauteed these in olive oil, but I used an olive oil spray to minimize the amount of oil I needed! Worked like a charm. The texture and flavor of these are unreal. Thank you so much!!
Thanks Tina! You have made my day. So glad you like them and thanks for taking the time to leave such a lovely comment 🙂
Love this recipe! My little one has been enjoying them for months. She’s getting older now so I was going to incorporate dips. What kind of curry do you eat with them? Is it not too spicy? Thank you!!
Hi Alison, I’m so happy your little one loves these. They are great with curry too.
I have a couple of curry recipes on the blog you might want to try.
A fruity chicken curry that is mild (depending on the curry powder you use) and has added fruit sweetness which helps with the heat. https://www.healthylittlefoodies.com/finns-fruity-chicken-curry/
I also have a sweet potato and chickpea curry, again the sweetness of the sweet potato helps with the heat. https://www.healthylittlefoodies.com/sweet-potato-chickpea-curry/
I often just add yoghurt if a curry is too hot for the kids. That really helps and the kids love all the flavour of curry.
I just made these today, and I am very pleased with how they turned out! My toddler has a gluten sensitvity, so I am always looking for inventive (gluten and/or grain free) recipes that are simple to make for toddler hands. This met that need perfectly!There are just a couple of issues that I ran into:
– I took the 1c red lentils, soaked as 1c lentils,dry measure, then soak in 2c water. I realized the next morning after the soak that I had much more on my hands than what the recipe called for! Not a big issue, they were such a hit that I think the leftovers will not last long!
– I used a small non-stick pan, and the pancakes soaked up the oil very easily as I cooked them, with me adding oil to the pan with each new set I poured in.
– After tasting the first pancake that came off the pan, I felt that the lentils were a little too bland , not bringing the spices added through very well. I added 1/2 tsp. salt to the batter and it helped a lot. My toddler preferred it this way too!
Thank you for such a easy and original recipe! I look forward to trying many more!
Hi Danielle, thanks so much for your feedback. I agree that a little salt does really help the flavour. I should mention that in the recipe. I also agree that depending on your pan, you will also need more oil.
I’m so happy your toddler enjoyed these, thanks for taking the time to rate and give valuable feedback.