Vegetarian Lentil Sloppy Joe Lettuce Wraps
“We love the recipe and have made it many times. But, we serve it over brown rice. It is awesome.”
—Mark
While it seems like all I’ve posted for the last month is chicken recipes, I actually try to eat vegetarian dinners at least one or two nights a week. It’s healthy and cheap – the double whammy.
Lentils, beans and eggs are huge staples for these vegetarian nights.
The best lentil dish I’ve ever tasted is “Lentils Like Baked Beans” from The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts, a souvenir I brought back from Montreal last summer.
Eating at Joe Beef was an experience – we ate so many unique and delicious things, including eel nuggets, a sweetbread and lobster dish, and a dessert that was supposed to look like a baked potato but was really a combination of crunchy meringue and melted chocolate.
WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?
When I got home from Montreal and made that lentil dish at home, I fell in love. I knew I could adapt the recipe in endless ways, and that’s what I’ve done here. While the original Joe Beef recipe has a bit of bacon in it, these Lentil Sloppy Joes are 99% vegetarian (omit the Worcestershire for strict vegetarians), 100% simple, and are satisfying and filling, even for those who typically prefer meat.
The lentils are simmered until they are tender, all the while being flavored with sweetness from brown sugar and tomato sauce, acidity from apple cider vinegar, saltiness from Worcestershire sauce, and a bit of kick from cayenne pepper and yellow mustard.
Serve the lentils in crisp, cool lettuce leaves (I also like lettuce wraps for my chicken sloppy joes), on their own, or topped with a poached egg.
More Foxes Love Lemons Favorites
Vegetarian Lentil Sloppy Joe Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 red or green bell pepper finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 large shallot minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 can tomato sauce 8 ounces
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 cup red lentils rinsed and picked through
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 8 large iceburg lettuce leaves
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or large saucepot with lid, heat oil over medium heat. Add bell pepper; cook 4 to 5 minutes or until softened, stirring frequently. Add garlic, shallot and tomato paste; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Stir in remaining ingredients, except lettuce. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat. Cover with lid, reduce heat to low and simmer 30 to 35 minutes or until lentils are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf.
- Serve lentils wrapped in lettuce leaves.
We love the recipe and have made it many times. But, we serve it over brown rice. It is awesome.
I’m so glad to hear that, Mark!
this looks tasty, can;t wait to try these out. cheers to the recipe.
& i will def do kale & sweet potatoes dice in it next time. i hear swt pots are a lot healthier than carrots.
hi,
thanks for advocating Vegan recipes. They are easy, cheap, healthy, yummy & nice. Why wouldn’t people just do that instead of eating animals? Anyway, does it have to be red lentils? i have every other color.
i had to look up shallot… & i actually have green onions right now!! & i have Worcestershire, but didn’t know it had animals in it, so thanks for telling us!!! i did find Martha Stewart has a homemade Vegan recipe and they sell it also at Trader Joes or the WWW.
looking forward to these as we are Vegan and i was soooo surprised and SAD that Manwich has hydrogenated corn syrup in it, i do not buy garbage, so i was looking for a recipe. because we all loved Manwich.
Hi Rhonda – Any kind of lentils work here. Enjoy! Hope these satisfy any sloppy joe cravings you might have 🙂
great dinner. i used brown. we try not to use oil or sugar. i used 1 t brwn sugar & 1 tsp chili powder bcuz i was afraid it would be too spicy. No oil, just sauteed in water. (No bay leaf bcuz i didn’t have it.)
i had them with tortilla chips & as a sandwich. Very full.
now putting leftovers away, they smell just like manwich… so maybe make a day ahead? Definetly double batch next time.
Thanks Lori, for figuring this out & for writing this down for us!
rhonda
So glad you liked it, Rhonda!
So glad you liked it, D! Love the additions of carrots and kale!
i made this i followed the recipe for the most part , i add carrots and kate to boost the nutrition ,it was real good
This looks delicious but Worcestershire sauce is not vegetarian. It has anchovies in it.
Definitely. That was noted in the post.
Thanks Tricia, I really hope you enjoy them!
These look wonderful. Can’t wait to try them.
I love it! Fantastic and elegant, I cannot wait to serve these up :). I might make a double batch, I bet the leftovers are delicious, the spices would age well overnight.
Meredith
Yes Meredith – they only get better the following day! I always make a big batch, and re-heat it throughout the week for lunches. It even works for breakfast with a fried egg on top 🙂
These really sound good, I love the idea of using lettuce cups. You could feed an army for almost nothing. Really nice recipe.
Thank you so much!
These look amazing! The almost look like buffalo chicken wraps, but they’re not, but I love that you used cayenne pepper to give it that spicyness still!
Paige
http://Thehapyflammily.blogspot.com
Thank you, Paige. I think if we combine those ideas and make buffalo lentil wraps, those would be really good too 🙂