Lentil Salad
September 27, 2026
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Since discovering Puy lentils, I’ve become a bit of a lentil snob. I walk straight past the regular green ones in the supermarket now, like they’ve personally let me down. They haven’t, really. They’re just not Puy lentils!
My first proper go with them was a warm dish, a lentil version of hachis parmentier, and for a long time that’s where they stayed in my head: cosy, hot, winter food. Then I found out you can have lentil salad, lukewarm or even cold, and that people in the Velay have been doing exactly that for ages. So obviously, I had to try.
And it’s a keeper. Another healthy French salad for the collection, and this one is properly filling with a delicious homemade French vinaigrette. Serve it as a starter with fresh bread, or next to fish or a cheese board. It’s even better the next day, which makes it the rare salad that improves while sitting in your fridge. So make a big bowl!
Table of Contents
Where Puy lentil salad comes from
Puy lentils grow around Le Puy-en-Velay, in the Haute-Loire, on volcanic land between about 600 and 1,200 metres up. People have been growing them there for a very long time. In 1928, a clay pot was dug up at Saint-Paulien, just next door, with lentils mixed in among the seeds inside, which suggests they were already there in Gallo-Roman times.
The first written mention comes much later, in 1643. A man called Antoine Jacmon, who kept a chronicle of life in Le Puy, listed “lanthiles” with the prices at the local market. So the first time anyone wrote them down, it was to say how much they cost.
In 1996, the Lentille verte du Puy became the first vegetable in France to get an AOC, and in 2008 it got the European AOP too.
The salad comes from the farms of the Velay. Lentils, some finely chopped onion or shallot, a mustard vinaigrette, parsley and quite often smoked lardons, eaten still a bit warm. It’s what people made with what they had, and it’s still made pretty much the same way today.
Ingredients
- Puy lentils: look for “Lentille verte du Puy” and the AOP logo on the packet.
- Carrot, onion, cloves, bay and thyme: these flavour the cooking water. The onion and herbs come out at the end, while the diced carrot stays in for a little sweetness and colour.
- Vegetarian lardons: plant-based from the supermarket, or smoked tofu cut into small batons. Go for smoked, because the smoke and the crunch are what lardons bring to the salad.
- Walnut oil: This gives a nutty, slightly earthy edge that suits the lentils brilliantly. A neutral oil like grapeseed or sunflower works too.
- Dijon mustard and red wine vinegar: the mustard gives the vinaigrette its bite and helps it thicken, and red wine vinegar is the classic choice with lentils.
- Shallots: milder and sweeter than onion. Chop them very finely so they spread through the salad.
- Flat-leaf parsley: added at the very end for freshness.
How to make Puy lentil salad
1. Cook the lentils with the aromatics
Rinse the lentils and check for any small stones. Put them in a saucepan with the diced carrot, cover with cold water and add the onion studded with cloves, the bay leaf and the thyme. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 20 to 25 minutes, until tender with a slight bite. Salt them only for the last 10 minutes.
2. Make the walnut oil vinaigrette
While the lentils cook, whisk the mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper together in your serving bowl. Add the walnut oil a little at a time, whisking until the vinaigrette thickens, then stir in the shallots.
3. Crisp the vegetarian lardons
About five minutes before the lentils are done, heat a little sunflower oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the lardons or tofu batons until golden and crisp all over. Don’t crowd the pan, or they’ll steam instead of colouring.
4. Dress the lentils while warm
Drain the lentils well and fish out the onion, bay leaf and thyme. Tip the warm lentils and carrot straight into the vinaigrette and toss gently. This is the important step: warm lentils soak up the dressing, so the flavour goes right through them.
5. Finish and serve
Scatter the hot lardons over the lentils, then the parsley. Serve lukewarm.
Tools for this recipe
Check out my favorite kitchen essentials and cookware!
- Use a cast iron cocotte or saucepan big enough for the lentils to move around in plenty of water, so they cook evenly.
- Use a frying pan wide enough to spread the lardons in a single layer, so they crisp rather than steam.
- Use a large serving bowl with a lid to make the vinaigrette in, so the warm lentils go straight into the dressing and you can keep leftovers in the fridge!
Tips for success
- Dress the lentils warm: warm lentils absorb the vinaigrette. Cold ones just get coated.
- Salt late: salting the lentils only for the last 10 minutes keeps their skins tender. It’s how the Velay growers cook them.
- Don’t overcook them: start checking at 20 minutes. You want tender with a slight bite, not split open.
- Get the lardons properly crisp: a hot pan, a single layer, and straight onto the salad while they’re still sizzling.
- Parsley goes in last: it darkens quickly on warm lentils, so add it just before serving.
How to store it
- In the fridge: the dressed lentils keep for up to 2 days in an airtight container and taste even better the next day. Take them out half an hour before eating so they’re not fridge-cold.
- Lardons separately: store the lardons in their own container and crisp them up again in a dry pan before serving, then add them with fresh parsley.
- In the freezer: plain cooked lentils freeze well for up to 3 months. Don’t freeze the dressed salad, as the shallots and vinaigrette go flat.
More salads recipes to try
Variations
- With a poached egg: a poached egg on each plate, the yolk running into the vinaigrette. It turns the salad into a proper lunch.
- With a neutral oil: swap the walnut oil for grapeseed or sunflower oil. It’s just as traditional.
- With toasted walnuts: a handful of roughly chopped walnuts, toasted in a dry pan, for crunch. Especially good if you’ve used walnut oil in the dressing.
- With cheese: crumbled bleu d’Auvergne or fresh goat’s cheese over the top. The saltiness works really well against the earthy lentils.
- With extra vegetables: finely diced celery or celeriac stirred through with the carrot, for more crunch and freshness.
- With chives: swap some or all of the parsley for chopped chives, for a gentle onion flavour.
- With a different vinegar: sherry vinegar for a rounder, deeper dressing, or cider vinegar for something softer and fruitier.
FAQ
Do you need to soak Puy lentils before cooking?
No. Their thin skin means they cook in 20 to 25 minutes straight from the packet. Just rinse them and check for any small stones, which do occasionally turn up.
Should Puy lentil salad be served warm or cold?
Traditionally lukewarm, so barely warm, as a starter. Cold works too, especially the next day. Hot doesn’t really, because the vinaigrette needs time to soak in.
Can you make lentil salad ahead of time?
Yes, and it’s better for it. Make it up to two days ahead, keep it in the fridge, and add the parsley just before serving.
Why do you salt lentils at the end?
It’s the traditional French method, and it’s how the growers in the Velay cook them. Salting towards the end of cooking keeps the skins tender.
Are all Puy lentils from Le Puy?
Only the ones labelled “Lentille verte du Puy” with the AOP logo. Those are grown, sorted and packed in the Haute-Loire. “French green lentils” and “Puy-style” lentils are the same type grown elsewhere.
Why use walnut oil in a lentil salad?
Some Velay recipes use it, including Trescarte’s, a Haute-Loire lentil producer. Its nutty flavour pairs well with the earthiness of Puy lentils, but a neutral oil is just as traditional.
Prep Time 10 minutes 
Cook Time 25 minutes 
Total Time 35 minutes 
Servings 4 peopleDescription
Ingredients
- 250 gr lentils lentilles du Puy
- 1 carrot peeled and finely diced
- 1 onion peeled
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig thyme
- 200 gr vegetarian lardons
- 1 handful flat-leaf parsley or curly parsley
- 1 handful chives fresh, finely snipped
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 5 tbsp walnut oil
- salt and black pepper
Instructions
1. Cook the lentils
- Rinse the lentils in a sieve and check for small stones. Put them in a saucepan with the carrot and cover with cold water by a few centimetres. Stud the onion with the cloves and add it with the bay leaf and thyme. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 20 to 25 minutes until tender but holding their shape. Add salt for the last 10 minutes.
2. Make the vinaigrette
- In the serving bowl, whisk the mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper together. Whisk in the walnut oil a little at a time until thick, then stir in the shallots.
3. Fry the lardons
- About 5 minutes before the lentils are ready, heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the lardons, stirring now and then, until golden and crisp.
4. Dress the lentils while hot
- Drain the lentils and remove the onion, bay leaf and thyme. Tip the warm lentils and carrot into the vinaigrette and toss gently.
5. Finish and serve
- Scatter over the hot lardons and the parsley. Serve barely warm.
Notes
- Dress the lentils while warm so they absorb the vinaigrette.
- Salt the lentils only at the end of cooking to keep the skins tender.
- Swap half the walnut oil for sunflower oil if you prefer a milder dressing.
- Make ahead: the dressed lentils keep 2 days in the fridge. Store the lardons separately and crisp them up again before serving.
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