Figure on 100 grams of dry lentils per person for a main dish, which is about 3.5 ounces. That portion carries 24.6 grams of protein, 10.7 grams of fiber, and costs roughly 32 cents. A 16 ounce bag holds about four and a half of those portions for $1.44.
That’s the whole answer. The rest of this is what to do when the pot isn’t a straightforward one-lentil dinner.
| Portion of dry brown lentils | Protein | Fiber | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 g (soup or side) | 14.8 g | 6.4 g | $0.19 |
| 90 g | 22.2 g | 9.6 g | $0.29 |
| 100 g (main dish) | 24.6 g | 10.7 g | $0.32 |
| 122 g (30 g protein) | 30.0 g | 13.1 g | $0.39 |
| 454 g (whole 16 oz bag) | 111.8 g | 48.6 g | $1.44 |
Source: USDA FoodData Central + US store prices, July 2026. Full methodology at /methodology/.
How much lentils should you cook for two people?
Two hundred grams dry if lentils are the dinner. That’s 64 cents, about 49 grams of protein between you, and enough volume that nobody goes looking for cereal at nine.
If it’s soup, cut it. Lentils swell hard, and a pot built on 200 grams of dry lentils plus vegetables plus stock turns into something you’ll be eating on Thursday whether you planned to or not. For soup I use 120 grams total for two and let the carrots and onions do the rest of the work. I have made the other mistake. Twice.
For a side dish next to a piece of meat, 60 grams a head is plenty. That still brings 14.8 grams of protein and 6.4 grams of fiber, which is more than most sides contribute to anything.
How much lentils do you need for 30 grams of protein?
About 122 grams dry, for roughly 39 cents. That’s the number people want when they’re trying to build a meal around a target rather than a recipe.
Two other landmarks worth keeping in your head. 100 grams dry clears about 49 percent of the FDA’s 50 gram protein Daily Value. Just over 200 grams dry would cover the full 50, for about 64 cents, though I’ve never met anyone who wanted to eat that in one sitting.
Red lentils cost more for the same job. You’d need roughly 125 grams for 30 grams of protein, and at 43 cents per 100 grams that’s about 54 cents instead of 39. The full breakdown of which lentil carries what is in how much protein is in lentils.
How much lentils can you eat per day?
I’m not going to hand you a ceiling, because there isn’t a credible one to hand out. What I can give you is the arithmetic and let you decide.
One 100 gram dry portion covers roughly half the FDA’s protein Daily Value and 38 percent of its 28 gram fiber Daily Value. Two portions would clear both. If your current diet is nowhere near 28 grams of fiber, going from zero to two portions of lentils in a day is the kind of change that may make its presence felt, and easing into it could sit better. Drinking water alongside the fiber tends to help.
Personalised targets aren’t a food blog’s job. The general version of the question is covered in how much protein do you need per day, which walks through body weight and activity instead of pretending one number fits everyone.
What does a bag of lentils actually buy you?
A 16 ounce bag is 454 grams: 111.8 grams of protein, 48.6 grams of fiber, $1.44. Round it and you’re paying about 32 cents for a portion that carries half a day’s protein.
Put that next to the rest of the store. That’s 77.7 grams of protein per dollar, fourth of the 49 foods in our protein per dollar ranking. Chicken breast returns 24.5. Ground beef 80/20 returns 11.5. A bag of lentils is one of the few things in a grocery store where the cheap option is also the dense one.
Buy two bags. They keep in a jar for a very long time, they don’t need soaking, and they turn into curry or dal and rice faster than most dinners you’d order instead.
How much do lentils stretch when they’re cooked?
More than you’d guess, and I’m going to be straight about the limits of what we measured. Our dataset weighs and prices lentils dry, the way they come off the shelf, so every number on this page is a dry-weight number. We don’t have cooked yields, and I’m not going to make some up to fill a table.
The practical version: a 100 gram dry portion looks alarmingly small in the measuring cup and turns into a full bowl in the pot. Scale by the dry weight, not by what the pan looks like before the water goes in. Same rule applies to dried beans per person, where the swell factor catches even more people out.
