Lentil flour is one of the highest-protein, lowest-fat plant flours available — typically 24–28% protein for red lentil flour and 25–28% for yellow lentil flour. It also delivers significant dietary fibre, iron, folate, potassium, and slow-digesting carbohydrates, which is why it has become a workhorse ingredient in protein-fortified bakery, plant-based pasta, and high-protein snacks.

Two qualifications worth understanding for product development:

• Lentil protein is high in lysine, the essential amino acid that wheat and most cereals are deficient in — which makes lentil flour especially effective in pasta and bakery applications, where it complements wheat protein and lifts the overall amino acid profile of the finished product.
• Lentil protein is moderately limited in methionine and cysteine, the sulfur amino acids. This is easily addressed in formulation by combining lentil flour with cereal grains, seeds, or other protein sources — most real-world products already do this.

For pure protein-content marketing claims (such as “good source of protein” or “high in protein” on a Canadian Nutrition Facts table), red lentil flour, yellow lentil flour, and fava bean flour are the most efficient pulse flours per gram of inclusion. Simpson Seeds’ Moose Jaw mill produces red lentil flour and yellow lentil flour in both raw and precooked formats; precooked is preferred for applications that are ready to use without further cooking.