Lentil Sloppy Joes!
Seeing as I’ve posted recipes for both Healthy Oreos and Healthy Butterfingers this week, I figured a non-dessert post was in order. After all, a person can’t live on chocolate, cookies, and candy, alone. We can come close…
Anywhoos, so last night I made these:
Thinking of sloppy joes brings me back to high school.
My mom always placed high importance on family dinner nights, and she’d somehow manage to make a big meal even on days we were super busy. (We were always super busy!)
My sister and I played on the school’s varsity tennis team, with long practices each day, and Friday nights were particularly animated: we’d board a bus in the afternoon, then play intense matches until well after dark. Intense might not be a strong enough word… we sometimes played against China’s future Olympic team!
Ever the supportive parent, my mom attended almost every match. Yet, when we’d finally drag our tired (and hungry) bodies off the courts, there it would magically sit, waiting for us:
A home-cooked meal.
Sloppy joes became one of our favorite Friday-night dinners, and one of our mom’s favorites as well, because she could make them in the morning in the crock pot. Her recipe is actually meatless (I’ve been a vegetarian since high school), but it calls for a few ingredients one can’t buy in the US. So last night I changed it up, and I incorporated lentils into my new creation.
Although I didn’t use a crock pot for this recipe, I imagine you could. The recipe comes together very quickly, and there’s even a microwave option!
Did you sit down to family meals when you were growing up?
Or do you try to have family meals with your own kids? My family tried to all eat together whenever we could. Sometimes after-school activities got in the way; and sometimes we were forced to eat in the car, en route to soccer practice or art class. But when we got the opportunity to sit down as a family, we took advantage.
I don’t remember ever eating dinner in front of the television, unless it was a special “movie night.”
Lentil Sloppy Joes
(Sloppy Loes)
- 2 15-oz cans lentils, drained and rinsed (about 3 cups cooked lentils)
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1-2 stevia packets, or 3-5 tsp sugar or sweetener of choice, or to taste
- 14 oz tomato sauce (I used no-salt-added)
- up to 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (or soy-free alternative)
- optional: 1/2 an onion (diced) and 2 tsp oil
Lentil sloppy joes: If making these on the stovetop: sauté the onion and garlic in the oil until onion is translucent. Add lentils and spices, stir, then add all other ingredients and cook uncovered (stirring occasionally) until thick like sloppy joe filling. If making this in the microwave: add all ingredients to a large microwave-safe dish (minus the onion and oil, which you won’t use with this method). Microwave until it boils, stir, then repeat the process until it is thick like sloppy joe filling. Makes about 5 cups.
View Sloppy Joes Nutrition Facts
Link Of The Day:
Made these for the second time, super yummy both times! Hubby and daughter loves them too! Plus super fast and easy!
This is my new favorite dinner! I made it with 2 cans of navy beans instead of lentils and used a BBQ seasoning I had instead of chili powder…..my husband and I have had this twice in the past two weeks. Thank you for posting this awesome recipe!
I never thought about serving them on english muffins. Great idea!
I tried this recipe last night for dinner (with the onions on the stove top) and had a couple friends over to try it out with me. We all loved it!! Thanks so much for the recipe. I have missed sloppy joes because I just don’t eat that kind of food anymore, and this made me feel like a kid again. 🙂
I Just tried this recipe and I sadly ended up with a pot of mush which tasted nothing like sloppy joes. I attempt to save it but it just ended up even worse. I think I must have done something wrong, well at least I hope I did because I really wanted to like this recipe ): anyways I will defiantly try to make it again.Do you have any tips to make it more flavourful?
Charlotte
You may want to check the troubleshoot comments in the Recipe FAQ section at the top of Katie’s blog. Here’s the link:
https://lett-trim.today/faq-page/recipe-questions-and-troubleshooting/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I definitely will put this on the to try list. Thanks!! IMO the onions are NOT optional. Onion and garlic go in almost everything that isn’t sweet. (Pinning it now.) I am looking for some more meatless meals for the Bald Man and myself. We just can’t “do” vegetarian but meatless is somehow fine with us. lol Both of us were raised on farms with meat and potato parents.
Am I the only person that didn’t know lentils come in a can? I always have dried beans on hand though and often home can them to make dinner speedy. So easy and frugal.
We make your recipe pretty regularly in our house. I will double or triple it & throw it in the freezer to have it on hand for even quicker no fuss meals then all I have to do is warm it up in the crock pot. . I have been trying to go less meat and this is fantastic for kids. Love it Love it Love it. I share it with all my friends, many thanks. I am curious to know what ingredients your mom used that you cant get in the US? and where did you grow up? Thanks for the great recipe.
We always sit down to family dinner but our kids are little still. I think it makes a family when you eat together.
She grew up in Japan and China. From her answer to another commenter: it was a soy crumble-type thing that came in a package with only Chinese characters, so I don’t even know what it was called! Perhaps they sell it at an Asian market, but I’ve never seen it and wouldn’t even know what to ask for.
Made this tonight for dinner. It was so yummy!!! I didn’t have lentils (we almost always do, so that was annoying), but like every other bean on the planet, so I subbed a mixture of kidney beans, black eyed peas, black beans, and navy beans (I couldn’t decide which one to use, clearly! Haha!). It turned out really delicious! I had two sandwiches and am now stuffed. Haha. I get to look forward to leftovers for lunch tomorrow though, assuming my dad doesn’t eat the rest 😉 (by the way, I just realized that I’ve commented on way too many posts of yours today… Haha, sorry about that! I was bored all day)
Thank you for this! I love Sloppy Joes but refuse to buy the toxic crap in the can. I love that I can now enjoy a healthy, organic version of this.
Hey! How much onion do you use? It doesn’t say in the recipe list but it says to cook the onions in the directions.
Nvm! Just saw it in the optional