This post was updated March 2016.
Even though one-third of the creatures living under my roof are Canadian, I’d consider our household distinctly American. We go to the fair. We watch auto racing. And we eat a lot of meat. We’re pretty much your quintessential Americans. As citizens of this fair land (scratch that, only Juniper and I are citizens, my husband is a permanent resident), we also enjoy the taste of good ole doctored up pound of ground beef.
The amount of stuff you can do with ground beef is pretty incredible. Even more incredible are the number of products on grocery store shelves that blast across their packaging, “Just add ground beef!” One of the more popular (and more prevalent in my childhood) is Manwich.
I love Manwich (AKA: sloppy joes). They are delicious, sweet, and a little bit spicy. I love meat as much as the next carnivore, but I think, as a country, we eat meat too frequently. The nutrients and minerals in red meat are great for you, but to get the benefits of those you only really need to eat one-three ounce serving of red meat every 7–10 days!
So where does that leave us if we want some plant-based sloppy joe? Lentils!
When cooked down, lentils have an awesome, meaty texture. They are packed full of fiber and some great nutrients and minerals.
The lentils really work perfectly for a ground beef substitute! They work especially well in highly flavored sauce dishes like this. Really, do you even taste the ground beef in sloppy joes? Or do you just taste the sloppy part? This is a super kid-friendly way to do Meatless Monday. Trust me, your family will love these!
And if it’s really important to you to keep this entire dish vegetarian (like say, you’re serving it to folks who are strict vegetarians instead of flexitarians like I am), make sure you get vegan Worcestershire sauce. Annie’s Homegrown makes a good one that is available at most health food/natural foods stores. Typical Worcestershire sauce is made using fermented anchovies (sounds disgusting, tastes delicious!)—which is obviously not vegetarian. Enjoy!
Vegetarian Lentil Sloppy Joes
Looking for a kid-friendly way to bring Meatless Monday to your house? Try these Vegetarian Lentil Sloppy Joes. Lentils are hearty, meaty, and packed full of plant-based protein!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 medium green pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup green lentils
- Pinch of salt
- 3 1/2 cups water
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- 2 tablespoons vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (like Annie's Homegrown)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- Whole wheat hamburger buns, for serving
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium-sized saucepan. Add in the onion, green pepper, and garlic, and cook until the veggies are just slightly tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add in the lentils, salt, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 12-15 minutes, or until most of the water is absorbed and the lentils are tender.
- Add in the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar. Simmer until just thick and heated through, about 3 minutes. Serve immediately on top of whole wheat hamburger buns.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1 large servingAmount Per Serving: Calories: 242Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 817mgCarbohydrates: 46gFiber: 6gSugar: 23gProtein: 8g
At Wholefully, we believe that good nutrition is about much more than just the numbers on the nutrition facts panel. Please use the above information as only a small part of what helps you decide what foods are nourishing for you.
Made these for dinner tonight and they are so good!! Thank you for a great recipe!
This looks delicious! Can’t wait to try. Do you have the nutrition info for this dish? Thanks so much.
Here is a great copy and paste nutrition info calculator that should help: https://www.caloriecount.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php
Cassie, I love this recipe (and so does my bf!). It’s def a go to when I’ve got a bag of lentils burning a hole in my pantry. Do you have a crock pot conversion? I want to bring it to an office potlock and keep it warm. Thanks!
You know, I’ve never made it it the slow cooker (because it’s so fast on the stovetop), but if you’re just looking to keep it warm, you can whip it up on the stovetop and then transfer it into the slow cooker to keep it warm. 🙂
I have red lentils. Would those be ok? Is there a flavor/texture difference?
The red lentils don’t hold their shape as well, so I suspect you wouldn’t get that “meaty” texture you want for sloppy joes if you used them. Sorry!
Greetings Cassie!
Have you cooked this dish in your rice cooker?
Do you know you can cook lentils and quinoa in your rice cooker?
I soak both together in cold water for 15 mins and rinse well to remove the starches.
I only use white Basmati rice, I am diabetic and the rinsing off of the starch does not spike my blood sugar.
Now if you already know about this, well, nevermind (I hear Rosanna, Rosanna Danna calling. Take care…
“The nutrients and minerals in red meat are great for you, to get the benefits of those you only really need to eat one-three ounce serving of red meat every 7–10 days”
What is your source for the 7-10 days part?
Woot, about to make this to feed two hungry journalists all throughout our busy production day tomorrow. 😀 Not sure my Aussie husband has ever tried this American classic and since I’m vego, I’ve never made it for him before. It’s going to be a good one, I can feel it. 😉 Thanks for posting!