In this article, an EFS-LSTM, a deep recurrent learning model, is proposed for network intrusion detection systems. The EFS-LSTM model uses ensemble-based feature selection (EFS) and LSTM (Long Short Term Memory) for the classification of network intrusions. The EFS combines five feature selection mechanisms namely, information gain, gain ratio, chi-square, correlation-based feature selection, and symmetric uncertainty-based feature selection. The experiments were conducted using the benchmark NSL-KDD dataset and implemented using Tensor flow and python. The EFS-LSTM classifier is evaluated using the classification performance metrics and also compared with all the 41 features without any feature selection as well as with each individual feature selection techniques and classified using LSTM. The performance study showed that the EFS-LSTM model outperforms better with 99.8% accuracy with a higher detection and less false alarm rates. Copyright © 2020, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.