Daniel fast recipes with beans or lentils at every meal

1. Start from the rules every recipe follows

These recipes follow the strict food list many churches hand out, so gray-area foods such as nutritional yeast are left out. The reasons behind the rules and the choice between 10 and 21 days are in our Daniel fast guide.

Build every plate the same way: a legume, a whole grain or starchy vegetable, vegetables, a spoonful of olive oil or seeds, and lemon or spices for flavor. The legume carries the protein. One cup of cooked lentils gives about 18 g and one cup of black beans about 15 g, against 5 g for a cup of brown rice.

Legumes also help with hunger. In a review of nine meal studies, meals with beans, chickpeas or lentils left people about 31% fuller over the next hours than meals with the same calories, although they did not eat less at the next meal. New to beans? Start with half portions for three days and rinse canned beans well.

2. Plan a week of Daniel fast recipes

Cooking from scratch three times a day is hard to keep up for 21 days. Two sessions cover the week:

Meal	Days 1 to 4	Days 5 to 7
Breakfast	Black bean and sweet potato hash, about 15 g protein	Chickpea flour omelet, about 11 g, or peanut butter overnight oats, about 15 g
Lunch	Lentil and quinoa salad, about 18 g	Chickpea salad wrap, about 19 g
Dinner	Three-bean chili over brown rice, about 23 g	Red lentil curry over brown rice, about 24 g
Snack	Roasted chickpeas, about 6 g	Apple with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, about 8 g
Cooking session	Sunday afternoon, about 2 hours	Thursday evening, about 1 hour

Each day lands around 60 g of protein; add a second snack if you do physical work. Portions are generous on purpose: in the first Daniel fast study, volunteers who ate as much as they liked still took in about 460 fewer calories a day than before. Repeat the grid in weeks two and three.

3. Shop once for the week

This covers the grid for one person. For two, double the cans and the produce.

• Cans: 3 black beans, 3 chickpeas, 1 kidney beans, 1 pinto beans, one 28-ounce crushed tomatoes, one 14.5-ounce diced tomatoes, 1 light coconut milk.
• Dry goods: 1 pound brown or green lentils, 1 pound red lentils, quinoa, brown rice, rolled oats, chickpea flour, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds.
• Jars and spices: salsa, peanut butter, tahini, olive oil, chili powder, ground cumin, smoked paprika, curry powder, turmeric, cinnamon.
• Produce: 2 large sweet potatoes, 3 yellow onions, 1 red onion, 2 bell peppers, 1 head of garlic, a knob of ginger, 3 lemons, 1 cucumber, 1 pint cherry tomatoes, parsley, celery, two 5-ounce bags of baby spinach, 3 apples, 2 bananas.
• For the wraps: corn tortillas, or whole-wheat tortillas made without yeast.

4. Check these labels before anything goes in the cart

Sugar and yeast hide in foods that look safe from the front of the package, so read the ingredient list on the back.

Product	Fits when the label says	Put it back if you see
Bread, tortillas, wraps	Flour, water, oil, salt; for corn tortillas, corn, water, lime	Yeast, sugar, honey, dough conditioners
Vegetable broth, bouillon	Vegetables, water, salt	Sugar, yeast extract, autolyzed yeast
Salsa, pasta sauce	Tomatoes, peppers, onion, spices	Sugar, cane sugar, corn syrup
Canned beans	Beans, water, salt	Sugar or molasses in baked beans, lard in refried beans
Peanut and almond butter	Nuts, salt	Sugar, molasses, honey, hydrogenated oil
Dried fruit	The fruit only	Sugar or fruit juice concentrate, common in dried cranberries

Two more traps: most Ezekiel sprouted bread lists yeast, and chili or taco seasoning packets usually contain sugar, while plain chili powder and cumin do the same job.

5. Make breakfasts that hold you until lunch

Black bean and sweet potato hash (4 servings, 35 minutes)

Dice 2 large sweet potatoes, 1 onion and 1 bell pepper. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon each of cumin and smoked paprika, and salt, then roast at 425°F for 25 minutes, stirring once. Add 2 drained cans of black beans and roast 5 more minutes. Reheat a portion each morning and top with salsa and a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds. About 15 g of protein.

Chickpea flour omelet (1 serving, 10 minutes)

Whisk half a cup of chickpea flour with half a cup of water, a pinch of turmeric and salt. Stir in a handful of spinach and a few chopped cherry tomatoes. Cook in 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, 3 to 4 minutes per side. About 11 g of protein.

Peanut butter overnight oats (1 serving, 5 minutes the night before)

In a jar, mix half a cup of rolled oats, 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, half a mashed banana, cinnamon and two-thirds of a cup of water. Refrigerate overnight, then stir in 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. About 15 g of protein, with the banana doing the sweetening.

6. Pack lunches and snacks for work

Lentil and quinoa salad (4 servings, 30 minutes)

Simmer 1 cup of dry brown or green lentils in salted water for 20 to 25 minutes and drain. Meanwhile, cook 1 cup of rinsed quinoa in 2 cups of water for 15 minutes. Mix both with a diced cucumber, a pint of halved cherry tomatoes, half a red onion and a cup of chopped parsley. Dress with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the juice of 2 lemons, 1 teaspoon of cumin and salt. It keeps 4 days in the fridge. About 18 g of protein.

Chickpea salad wraps (3 servings, 10 minutes)

Mash 2 drained cans of chickpeas with a fork, leaving some whole. Stir in 3 tablespoons of tahini, the juice of 1 lemon, 2 diced celery stalks, parsley and salt. Fill a yeast-free tortilla at lunch so it stays dry. About 15 g of protein, 19 g with a whole-wheat tortilla.

Snacks

For roasted chickpeas, pat 1 drained can dry, toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, smoked paprika and salt, and roast at 400°F for 25 to 30 minutes. Three snacks, about 6 g of protein each. On other days, slice an apple and add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, about 8 g.

Some people add a daily fast until noon or 3 p.m. on top of the Daniel fast. If you do, keep snacks inside your eating hours, since even one spoonful ends the fast, as our page on whether peanut butter breaks a fast explains.

7. Cook dinners in one pot

Three-bean chili (4 servings, 45 minutes)

Soften 1 diced onion, 1 bell pepper and 3 garlic cloves in 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons of chili powder and 1 teaspoon of cumin, then add one drained can each of black, kidney and pinto beans, the 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes and a cup of water. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Over three-quarters of a cup of brown rice, about 23 g of protein.

Red lentil curry (4 servings, 35 minutes)

Soften 1 diced onion, 3 garlic cloves and 1 tablespoon of grated ginger in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add 1 tablespoon of curry powder, 1.5 cups of rinsed red lentils, the diced tomatoes, the light coconut milk and 3 cups of water. Simmer 20 to 25 minutes, stirring often, until the lentils fall apart, then stir in a bag of spinach. Over brown rice, about 24 g of protein.

In trials of three weeks or more, about three-quarters of a cup of legumes a day lowered LDL cholesterol by roughly 7 mg/dL on average compared with similar diets without them. To see what your own bowl holds, the FastTrack meal scan estimates calories and macros from a photo.

8. Adjust the recipes to your health

Plan the week with your doctor first in these cases:

• Diabetes treated with insulin or sulfonylureas. Beans, rice, oats and fruit change how much carbohydrate you eat and when. Check your glucose more often in week one and agree on any dose change in advance.
• Pregnancy or breastfeeding. Protein, iron and B12 needs are higher. In one study, a modified Daniel fast with a daily serving of lean meat and skim milk, about 30 g of extra protein, improved blood lipids about as much as the traditional plan.
• Kidney disease with a potassium limit. Beans, lentils, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and spinach are all high in potassium, so ask a renal dietitian to size your portions.
• Under 18, or a history of eating disorders. Teenagers are better off with the modified version and full portions. If food rules have hurt you before, another of the types of fasting in the Bible, such as a fast from social media, keeps the spiritual purpose.

Stop and call your doctor if you feel dizzy or faint, see repeated low glucose readings, or lose weight quickly without trying.

In short

Two cooking sessions a week, with a legume on every plate, give one person a full Daniel fast week at around 60 g of protein a day. Check every label for sugar and yeast before you buy. If you take diabetes medication, are pregnant or have kidney disease, take the plan to your doctor first.