So, should you soak lentils before cooking? No—unless you want to. For 90% of lentil types (green, brown, red, yellow), just rinse them, toss them in a pot, and let them do their thing. Your life is too short to soak things that don’t need soaking.
For the black beluga or whole masoor lentils? Give them a 30-minute quick soak if you’re feeling fancy. Otherwise, stand tall and cook them dry. The food police are not coming to your house.
In the end, lentils are forgiving. They don’t judge you for forgetting, for leaving them on the stove a little too long, or for eating a bowl of them straight out of the pot while standing over the sink. Lentils are the friends we all need. Now go forth and cook—unsoaked, undaunted, and very, very full.
