Instant Pot Ethiopian Lentil Stew
Feb 17, 2018, Updated Mar 22, 2018
Spicy Ethiopian Lentil Stew made in the Instant Pot! It's spicy, flavorful and makes a comforting meal. Vegan & gluten-free.
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Ethiopian Lentil Stew made easy in the Instant Pot! This spicy red lentil stew is full of flavors and the addition of spinach makes it more nutritious! Vegan & gluten-free.
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My first opinion of Ethiopian food was not very good. I think it had to do with the injera (the Ethiopian flatbread) and mainly because it was served cold. Indians mostly eat everything super hot, at least that’s how it was in my house. Chai boiling hot straight from the pan, paratha and roti straight from the skillet to the plate and so on. You I kind of grew eating hot meals and then when I ate injera, my first reaction was why is it cold? I am not sure if its always served cold but that’s how it has been in most Ethiopian restaurants that I have been to.
Anyway so after that first encounter, I kind of stayed away from Ethiopian food but Sarvesh is a big fan so one day, I decided to give it another shot and I am so glad I did! I realized that the food was so flavorful and just so delicious with all the spices. Now it’s one of my favorites, especially because it has so many vegetarian options. My favorites? Misir Wot, which is the spicy red lentils that I am sharing today and Shiro Wot, the chickpeas which I also love.
Ethiopian cuisine uses a lot of a spices and one of the very famous ones is Berbere spice. It’s a mix of several spices and its hot! Seriously when I used it for the first time, I used it liberally and I couldn’t eat that food. Okay, maybe my tolerance level is low when it comes to handling hot food but still it was hot. Now I am just extra careful while using it.
Let’s talk a bit about this Ethiopian Lentil Stew
– its made in the Instant Pot- like duh obviously, it so easy in the IP!
– I have used red lentils for this stew, you may use other lentils as well. But I think traditionally red lentil is what is used in the recipe.
– I added some spinach to the lentils to make it more wholesome.
– this recipe is vegan and gluten-free!
This recipe of Ethiopian Red Lentil comes together so quickly in the Instant Pot. It takes less than 30 minutes to put this spicy dish on the table. Traditionally it should be eaten with injera but since I don’t know how to make it and I didn’t even have the ingredients for it, I just ate it with some rice. Let me tell you, it tastes amazing either way!
I added 2 teaspoons of berbere spice mix here and it was little hot me still. I mean it was tolerable but hot. I know of people who would add like 1-2 tablespoons for the same amount of lentils, so if you are one of those feel free to add more. Also, it might depends on the brand you buy and how hot your spice mix is, so adjust accordingly.
Here are the products that I used for this recipe
Method
Press the saute button on your Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add the oil and then add the chopped ginger, garlic, red onion & spring onion.
Cook the onion, ginger and garlic for around 3 minutes until softened. Then add the cumin powder and berbere spice.
Also add the salt, mix well and cook for few seconds.
Add the tomato paste, red lentils and stir for 30 seconds.
Then add 1.5 cups vegetable broth and close the lid.
Press the manual or pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes, with the pressure valve in the sealing position.
Quick release the pressure and then press the saute button.
Add the remaining 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth if desired at this point. I added the remaining 1/2 cup. Stir in the spinach leaves.
Let it simmer for 1 minutes or until the spinach leaves have wilted.
Serve this Instant Pot Ethiopian Lentil Stew with injera (the Ethiopian flat-bread) or plain rice! You may garnish it with cilantro or parsley.
Instant Pot Ethiopian Lentil Stew
Ingredients
- 1.5 tablespoon oil use oil of choice
- 1 inch ginger 10 grams, chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves 7 grams, chopped
- 1 medium red onion 120 grams, sliced
- 3 stalks of green onion chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 2 teaspoons berbere spice adjust to taste
- salt to taste, little more than 1/2 teaspoon
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3/4 cup red lentils 135 grams
- 2 cups vegetable broth divided
- 25-30 baby spinach leaves
- cilantro or parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Press the saute button on your Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add the oil and then add the chopped ginger, garlic, red onion & spring onion.
- Cook the onion, ginger and garlic for around 3 minutes until softened. Then add the cumin powder and berbere spice. Also add the salt, mix well and cook for few seconds.
- Add the tomato paste, red lentils and stir for 30 seconds. Then add 1.5 cups vegetable broth and close the lid.
- Press the manual or pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes, with the pressure valve in the sealing position.
- Quick release the pressure and then press the saute button.
- Add the remaining 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth if desired at this point. I added the remaining 1/2 cup. Stir in the spinach leaves. Let it simmer for 1 minutes or until the spinach leaves have wilted.
- Serve this Instant Pot Ethiopian Lentil Stew with injera (the Ethiopian flat-bread) or plain rice! You may garnish it with cilantro or parsley.
Notes
- You may use water in place of vegetable broth.
- Adjust spice levels to taste. Berbere spice is hot so adjust accordingly.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Instant Pot Ethiopian Lentil Stew
This was wonderful! We added more Berber spice, and then some yogurt as a topping (which isn’t very ethiopian, but it was delicious!) thank you!
It was good! Two questions: does it hold up after freezing and whatbdonyounthink about using coconut milk?
I have not tried freezing it but it should freeze well. You can add coconut milk if you like. I don’t think traditional Ethiopian stew has coconut milk in it.
Bland. I love this dish in ethiopian restaurants so will try again with either more spices or by making my own berbere.
sorry you didn’t like it. could be that the berbere you used was bland because trust me this dish is anything but bland. A lot of my readers have found it spicy.
Agreed. No chance this was bland. User error @ Heather.
This stew is absolutely wonderful and tastes even better the next day! I am a spice wimp so I made my own Berbere seasoning, adding only a pinch of red pepper flakes. Because I was using kale for the greens I added them along with the extra broth at the start of cooking. Love this recipe!
glad to hear Esther!
Yum Yum Yum, it turned out delicious
Thank you
Your recipe has been in our rotation for the past couple years. Tomorrow our 11 month old will try it for the first time (cutting back on the salt and spicyness)!
hope he likes it 🙂
I doubled the recipe and followed the directions exactly. Mine burnt before coming to pressure, and when I opened it the lentils had become quite mushy and the stew was very thick, maybe I could have added more broth. I transferred it to the stove top and simmered on low heat for a few minutes and it was fine. I bought the red lentils from a local African grocery store, they were a bit smaller than their green ones. I think if I had done the recipe on the stove top with those lentils, it would have come out fine. The flavor very good, I want to try it again, hopefully I can get it without burning.
the newer IP models especially the 8qt are more prone to burning. Maybe add a little more water next time.
The same happened to me, I actually took the mushy lentils and transferred them to the Vitamix and made a creamy soup, I was disappointed but may try again maybe on the stove. I do have 6 qt Instant pot Max, she’s right I read the comments and adjusted it to 5 mins and it still burned.
I did taste it and it was quite tasty which is why I made a cream based soup.
For those burning, I have a huge instapot that is prone to burning and the best fix seems to be to add more liquid right away. So I just added ALL 2 cups of broth at the very beginning before pressure cooking, and no issues!
I also added some carrots and subbed garam masla and chili powder (all I had), ate with naan and rice, turned out incredible! Thank you!
Thanks Lexi for sharing your experience and for trying the recipe!
I just made this after having it bookmarked for a little while. I like it! I wonder if I got the wrong lentils but I got some split red lentils and while it was a quick cursory look at my grocery store the ones they had looked like the Masoor Dal I got at my local international grocer. I do like what I made but should I have gotten whole red lentils? I could have been wrong that the Bob’s Red Mill ones were the same as the ones I got! Thanks for another great one! Looking forward to all of the neat recipes of yours I make!
Masoor dal works fine Gary! thanks for trying
I make homemade injera bread, and this is absolutely delicious with injera! Injera can be difficult to make, but those who enjoy sour tasting breads will find that it pairs well with this. The injera soaks up all the yummy flavour of this recipe, and since injera is made from teff flour, it is naturally gluten free!
This is a really good recipe. People who like lots of flavour should definitely add this one to their recipe box.
so glad you made your own injera, I love it!
I only have green lentils. Do I need to adjust the times at all?
probably do the same time
So delicious! My family loved it!
This recipe converted my husband from a lentil hater to a lentil lover! I boosted the berbere to 2.5 tsps and added some turmeric and black pepper. Fabulous!
I want to make this. It looks delicious. Do you use dry lentils or canned?
dry, I am an Indian so out of habit just have never used canned lentils 🙂
This was super delicious. Thank you!
Ethiopian restaurants by us often add potatoes to dishes like this so I did too. Just like 2-3 chopped medium yellow potatoes into the pot during the pressure stage it worked like a dream. It made this dish go way farther in terms of leftovers.
Also when cooking for our three year old we do two healthy pinches of Berbere before pressure cook, take his out when done cooking, the throw in the rest. He still gets the flavor but in a more manageable dose.
sounds good!
This recipe is so freakin delicious. I absolutely love it. So much flavor and tasty! I love spicy, so this dish was not spicy for me. I had it with brown rice as well. Super yum 🤤
Turned out delicious! We can’t get berbere where we live so I used ground achiote pepper instead. Not sure how it compares to the real spice but it turned out delicious! I also live in high altitude so I had to cook the lentils for 20 mins and then did a quick release. My husband and I ate every bite! I’ll have to double the recipe next time for left overs!
I made this tonight – it’s really tasty! I will definitely make it again. My only criticism is too much salt. I would cut it in half next time. I was glad I tasted it before adding more broth at the end. I used water instead to water the saltiness down a bit. Otherwise, it was great! I used half the berbere because my boyfriend doesn’t like spicy food.
that’s why it says salt to taste. Most bloggers don’t even mention the amount of salt, but I do to give an idea 🙂
1/2 a teaspoon is definitely NOT too much salt 😂
Do you use red whole lentils or the split ones? Thank you!
split
This is my absolute favorite recipe! I’ve probably made it 40 times in the last 2 years, as my immediate and extended family love it too. Looking forward to the cookbook!
glad to know
Where can we source Berbere spice in Mumbai?
I am not sure, I don’t live in Mumbai. Try amazon maybe?
Dear Manali! Looking forward to try this Recipe, but i dont have vegetable broth – in Norway they don’t sell as cups.. what can I substitute with? Thanks!!
water 🙂
It’s very easy to make veg broth in your instant pot using vegetable scraps. Instructions are on Pinterest. I do this on a weekly basis.
These were absolutely delicious. Thank you for this recipe. I cooked them for 20min here in Colorado to get them to breakdown. I also had soaked them for a few days and changed the water. Nonetheless, the spice and flavor of this recipe was on point. I will be using this over and over.
Hey can you share the recipe for shiro wot as well as injera?
I will try someday 🙂
Can you tell me if injera can be made without teff flour?
Hi Mauli, I have not had injera without teff flour so I am not aware if it can be made without teff flour or not. It’s a traditional Ethiopian bread and it is traditionally made with teff flour. Sure there must be some alternatives which I haven’t comes across until now.
Okay. Thanks a lot. Can’t find any reliable recipes for injera online. Will be waiting for yours.
I’ve made this 5+ times. Love it!!! Easy, delicious and healthy. Thank you!!!
2 years later and my family still asks for this. I have to triple the recipe if I want more than one serving of leftovers 🤤
Used water instead of broth and it was still amazing…yumm ?
I put the first bite in my mouth and said “oh my God.” This recipe is exactly what I was craving. It’s got just enough heat without being too much and it is SO, SO flavorful. Thank you SO much for sharing!
you are welcome! It’s one of my favorites too!
I love this recipe, the only problem is that it is so good I have not yet needed to try any of your other recipes but really want to.
haha that’s a good problem to have! hope you get to try other recipes as well 🙂
How would you recommend cooking without an Insta pot? Is it just a longer summer in time? Until the lentil soften?
just cook the lentils on stove top until they soften
I havent cooked with red lentils at home but i like when i go out to eat and something is made with lentils. This was a lovely easy to follow recipe. I didn’t have tomato paste so i used a little pasta sauce that needed to be used and extra broth so it was more soupy. thank you kindly!
I love injera, but I am not up for making it, so I eat this over mashed potatoes. It is really good that way!
I love love love this recipe, I meal prep it every week for lunch! I’d like to experiment with adding diced chicken breast for a little extra protein. Would you adjust the amount of vegetable broth or the pressure cook time, or leave it the same? Right now 6 minutes overcooks my lentils just a touch.
Hmm I am not sure Kara since I have never cooked chicken in my life so can’t answer that. Try 4 or 5 minutes perhaps if you want lentils less cooked.
Are you supposed to use whole or split red lentils for this recipe? Thank you! Plan to make the recipe this week!
split red lentils
First time using this site although I make Indian in my Ip most every night. Not sure what went wrong but I used two cups broth, got the burn warning and the lentils aren’t cooked.
I am not sure either, this is a tried and tested recipe which has been made by many. The newer IP models are prone to BURN message so that might be the case. Try adding more water next time.
Amazing! Definitely had to reduce the cook time from 6 to 4 minutes to keep the lentils from turning into mush though. We LOVE spice so I added about 3 times the spice plush some extra cayenne pepper. Adding some fried tofu or baked sweet potato cubes was also really good.
This is delicious! I like a little more heat so I put 1T of berebere but also added a can of diced tomatoes. It’s hot! Thanks for the recipe.
I love injera and many people love it, too. It is served room temperature.
Me, too, though I do like a warm bread. I do not understand anyone claiming it is slimy. It is more moist on the inside than other flatbreads, but not wet at all on the outside. (That’s what I think of as slimy.) I like the chewy, spongy texture and how flexible it is to wrap around food.
So simple, QUICK, and delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe 😀
welcome!
So good!!!!! We did a whole bag of spinach and added the different seasonings that usually make the berbere seasonings!!! Definitely gonna be a family favorite and we used pita bread to scoop it up!!! YUM ?
good to know!
Can you use split peas instead of lentils?
You mean green split peas? or yellow ones? like chana dal? Either way the cooking time will change. they would need 12-13 minutes
Eating this right now. It’s really good!
good to know! enjoy!
Made this for the first time tonight. It sounded so good that I decided to risk a double batch (which I don’t usually do the first time I try a new recipe!) I also didn’t want to wait to find Berbere in a store or online, so I made some from the link you mentioned in an earlier comment. I also had the same experience as you did when I first tried Ethiopian food – the injera made me think that I didn’t care for the whole meal. So, I REALLY wanted this to be good to change my experience and memory. It exceeded my hopes by SO much!!! This was absolutely delicious! I used a “hot” chili powder in my berbere and it had a nice kick, and served it over jasmine rice.
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe. I suspect that this will become something that we eat often!
I am so glad to know! Ethiopian food is delicious, I love it now!
I cooked it exactly as written and was excellent. Not too much heat so I’ll add more for when I make for my son. Very easy to make. I also made injera to go with it.
Yum injera and this lentil stew go so well together!
Made a triple batch tonight in my 8-quart IP, threw in a couple cans of chickpeas and a small package of baby carrots. Very nice indeed! Thanks!
Welcome Randy! Happy new year!
Hi! Im excited to try this recipe and Im new to using my InstantPot so I have a question.
I need to feed 6 people so normally I would just double a recipe but using the Instantpot Im not sure if or how to adjust the time.
Do I just double everything about the recipe including the time?
Thanks so much!
Susan
I would keep the time same..double everything except berbere spice..it can get spicy..I would do it 1.5 times maybe and go from there!
This was delicious and it’s going in our recipe folder. We made our own berbere spice with a recipe that we found online excluding the peppers to keep it mild. Very easy to make and super flavorful. Our pot did say “burn” when we started the recipe so we restarted the cooking sequence but I think we may add a bit more broth next time as it did burn on the bottom just a bit.
Glad to know Krista! and I am sure the homemade berbere spice made all the difference!
Great recipe!! Interesting to read the other comment about 6 mins being too long. In our stove-top pressure cooker it was too short– probably didn’t build up enough pressure I suppose. Next time I’ll do the 10 min natural release.
I bulked up the stew a bit with grated carrots, one fresh diced tomato, and a cup of okra which worked quite well!
Glad you liked it Erika! 🙂
This is excellent! I love Ethiopian food, especially the red and yellow lentil stews, and this recipe is as good as what I’ve had in local restaurants.
Haven’t tried it yet, it looks really good. I can’t find berbere spice in my area. What can I use to substitute it with?
hmm this might help? https://www.spiceography.com/berbere-substitute/
Thanks for posting this. I’m Ethiopian and I normally make this dish in a pot, but it can be time-consuming, so I found your pressure cooking instructions. Just wanted to say that I did 6 minutes on high as well and it was just a wee bit too much (in my case). The lentils came out with too mushy a consistency, so I’m gonna try for 4 minutes next time. Thanks again!
You are welcome! Try 4 minutes next time and let me know 🙂
Do you have to soak and or cook the beans first
these are red lentils, do not need any soaking!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds injera to be cold, wet. slimy and disgusting. But I love everything else about Ethiopian food. Too bad we can’t bring our own fresh hot naan or flour tortillias to scoop up the deliciousness. Will try this recipe… And I’ll use naan…
lol haha, I didn’t like injera at all at first but now I don’t find it that bad…of course I love their lentils and chickpeas so much more but injera is also kind of okay now..I just couldn’t get used to the idea of cold bread at first because in India we eat piping hot food. Great about eating it with naan or tortillas 😉
Maybe it’s an East Indian thing 🙂
I have made injera that is supposedly more traditional and enjoy it much more. Find a recipe without or at least lot less white flour. I Also grind some whole Teff so it is not super fine and mix it with the teff flour. This creates a more grainy flat bread. It is not as soft or spongy but also less slimy.
I mean probably still not cool to bring into a restaurant but I love it at home.