Vegan Recipe: Hearty Lentil Casserole

✅ All Eat Drink Better articles and guides have been fact-checked for accuracy and nutritional recommendations. Please refer to our editorial policy for additional information.

Serve this filling dish with crusty bread and mesclun salad, for a deliciously healthy homestyle meal!

Ingredients

  • 3 cups dark vegetable broth (such as mushroom broth, or pre-mixed Better Than Bouillon No-Beef Base)
  • 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3/4 cup brown rice (or wild rice blend)
  • 3/4 cup lentils
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • ½ tablespoon minced garlic
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper (or more, to taste)
  • 2-3 dashes Tobasco-style hot sauce
  • 1-2 dashes liquid smoke
  • ¾ cup fresh tomato puree (or jarred crushed tomatoes, or tomato sauce)
  • Fresh or dried chopped parsley, optional, to serve

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

If using fresh tomatoes, drop about 2 small organic tomatoes (or one large one) in boiling water, until the skin splits. Cool, peel, and puree.

Combine all ingredients* in 9″ x 13″ casserole dish. Cover and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until lentils and rice are done and most liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with parsley; serve and enjoy!

Production Notes

*If using fresh tomato puree: for best flavor stir puree into casserole after removing it from the oven, rather than before baking.

For soup or stew instead of a casserole, use 5 cups broth and an extra shake each of hot sauce and liquid smoke. Optional addition: mix 3/4 to 1 cup diced seitan roast or vegan sausage with other ingredients, before baking.

To make slow-cooker dark broth for this recipe, start with Easy Slow-Cooker Veggie Broth but also add about 1 cup dried shitake or porcini mushrooms. After straining cooked broth, for each 3 cups add 1/2 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon red wine, 1 teaspoon Marmite (or red miso), and salt and pepper to taste.

Image credit: Creative Commons photo by Maggie Hoffman.

4 thoughts on “Vegan Recipe: Hearty Lentil Casserole”

  1. This sounds lovely, and its a good recipe to put in the recipe box as I always have plenty of lentils on hand. The crusty bread and mesclun salad sound like tasty companions for the casserole, looking forward to this!

    1. Thanks, Kathy! … re: lentils, me too — in fact, this casserole was created one evening when my pantry was down to ‘just the basics’: I pretty much always have these things on hand, so it’s great for when I NEED to go grocery shopping, but just don’t feel moved to do so! ;-)

      1. Wow would have never have guessed it was lentils or bust, looks like a top notch recipe to me :) Its funny how sometimes the best meals are created when your down to the bottom of the barrel :)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top