If you’re stocking up on dry goods, you’ve bought a bag of red or brown lentils, and now you don’t know quite what to do with them, I’ve got the dish for you—Mediterranean red lentil burgers. Although I make these velvety patties with dairy products and breadcrumbs, you could easily turn them into a vegetarian or gluten-free dish. Check out the recipe headnote for suggestions or adapt these lentil burgers yourself.

Delicious and nutritious

Lentils are one of my kitchen staples. I use them in soups and curries, as salads and as stuffings for fish and vegetables. Reputedly the oldest of all legumes, lentils have a wonderfully nutty flavor that goes well with a variety of ingredients. That includes carrots, peppers, onions, garlic, chicken, fish—particularly salmon, trout, Arctic char, swordfish, mahi mahi and scallops—and spices and herbs such as cumin, curry powder, paprika, basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, fennel and parsley.

Nutritious as well as delicious, lentils are high in iron and phosphorus and possess a decent amount of calcium and vitamins A and B. On top of these great traits, they have a long shelf life. Store them in their bag or an airtight container and they will last for a year. Talk about the perfect quarantine food!

How to cook lentils

Because lentils are dry goods, you will need to boil them before adding them to a recipe. First, I pick through the dried legumes, removing and discarding any shriveled ones. After that I give the lentils a quick rinse and tumble them into a large pan filled with lightly salted, cold water. After bringing the ingredients to a boil over medium-high heat, I reduce the temperature to medium and allow the lentils to bubble away for 25 to 35 minutes, adding more water if needed. When the lentils are finished, they will be plump and tender. Wondering about the dry to cooked ratio? Generally, 1 cup of dry lentils equals roughly 2 1/4 cups cooked.

Mediterranean Red Lentil Burgers

If you want to make vegetarian lentil burgers, replace the ricotta cheese with soft tofu, omit the Romano cheese, adding a pinch more salt to your burgers, and use an egg substitute. Note that, due to the shelter-in-place order, I have not tested the vegetarian version of this recipe. Please feel free to email me with corrections or exact measurements for the vegetarian/vegan substitutions.

Makes 18 burgers

2 cups uncooked red lentils, sorted and rinsed
4 large eggs, whisked together
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Locatelli Romano cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley OR 11/2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/3 cup Panko breadcrumbs

Place the lentils in a pot filled with 6 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring the lentils to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook, uncovered for 25 to 35 minutes, until the lentils are soft. Remove the from the heat, drain, rinse with cold water and drain again.

Place the lentils in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Process until smooth.

Place the whisked eggs, cheeses, garlic, parsley, oregano, marjoram, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the processed lentils. Using a spatula or heavy spoon, stir the ingredients together until well blended. Add the Panko breadcrumbs and stir again until combined. Set the bowl aside and allow the ingredients to rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using your hands and approximately 3 tablespoons of lentil mix, shape the mixture into a 1/2-inch-thick and roughly 4 inches in diameter burger patty. Place it on the parchment paper. Repeat these steps until all of the lentil mixture has been used.

Bake the lentil patties for 25 to 30 minutes, turning them over halfway through the baking time. When finished, the burgers will have golden crusts on both the tops and bottoms. Remove from the oven and serve.

If you’d like to skip the bun, top your burgers with tomato sauce, grated cheese and fresh parsley. Otherwise, serve on a bun and with your favorite condiments.

To freeze these burgers, wrap them in parchment paper and place them in a freezer bag.