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:
I’m super busy with kids’ activities too….gymnastics and dance, but I really like to all sit down for dinner a couple of nights a week. I know all about having to eat in the car too! These look fabulous…I’ve never thought of lentil in sloppy joes. I will be giving these a try for sure!
I LOVE the combo of cinnamon and chili powder in a variety of savory dishes. Neat to see that you put it in yours! Also, great call on the English muffin bun. Seeing the picture has me wondering why I don’t use them for sandwiches more often!
Katie!! These looks amazing, I am so so excited to try these…and will fantasize about them until I do!! Thank you 😀
These look awesome Katie!
Growing up we used to always sit at the dinner table but on Friday nights we usually ate cereal for dinner because our parents were to exhausted to cook.
As a kid, we loved cereal for dinner , actually I still would!
My family just started trying out “meatless Friday” thanks to inspiration from your recipes! I will totally make this soon! 🙂
We never eat with the TV on and always eat together whenever we can, especially on Sundays. Sometimes someone has to go somewhere or Dad is late from work but we always try!
These look great!!! Love finding new veggie recipes 🙂 Out of sheer curiosity, what were the original ingredients you can’t buy in the US?? xo
The big one was the protein source: 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.
She also used a Chinese jarred sauce that was kind of like a cross between Worcestershire and soy sauce.
Oh wow, thank for this simple and awesome recipe! I’ve seen vegan sloppy joe recipe before, but none as simple (in terms of ingredients and cooking) as this! Thanks so much… considering making these before my shift at work tonight. 🙂
I am sooo excited to try this! I love cooking with lentils! We aren’t vegan, but we don’t eat lots of meat. I just recently found your blog and I LOVE it. I’m a confessed chocoholic/dessert lover who strives to eat healthy. I’m also mostly dairy-free, so I love that you use almond milk alot. I made the pumpkin brownies last night and we loved them! Also tried the pumpkin baked oatmeal. So good!
As to the question of the day, growing-up we almost always sat down to a home-cooked family dinner every night. My hubby and I do the same now as well.
Looks SO DELICOUS! I have made meat sloppy joes but now I have introduced the idea of two vegetarian dinners a week this will be great!
Wait. You can buy cooked lentils in cans? WHY haven’t I noticed this before? Oh good grief.