Years ago, I dabbled in lentils. Indian spiced lentils, lentil burgers, lentil chili…all lentils all the time. One of my favorite recipes at the time was for “Snobby Joes,” or, sloppy joes made with lentils in place of ground beef. They were–they are–fantastic. Smoky and sweet and comforting while also remaining healthy and vegetarian.
If you like lentils, by all means–go ahead and make this recipe for lentil sloppy joes. Truth is, they sop up all the flavor of the spiced tomato sauce, so you’ll be left with very little earthy, lentil flavor. But if you’re not one hundred percent digging the idea of making a lentil-only dish, or if you’re just getting your family into the world of vegetarian options, this is a recipe to help you take a step in that direction.
*Similarly, if the very thought of lentils disgusts you, feel free to use all beef in this recipe.
Using half beef, half lentils means fewer calories, less fat, and lots more fiber. And, you’ll keep that lovable beefy flavor intact.
Beef and Lentil Sloppy Joes
1 cup uncooked green lentils
4 cups water
½ lb extra lean (90%) ground beef
1 medium yellow onion, diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon salt
15 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup tomato paste
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
Put the lentils in a small sauce pot and pour in 4 cups water. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until lentils are soft. Drain and set aside.
About 10 minutes before the lentils are done boiling, set a large frying pan over medium heat. Saute the ground beef and onion for about 7 minutes, crumbling with a spatula as you cook, until the beef is no longer pink. Add the garlic and saute a minute more. Add the cooked lentils, the chili powder, oregano and salt and mix. Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste. Cook for about 10 minutes.
Add the brown sugar and mustard and heat through. Turn the heat off and let sit for about 10 minutes, so that the flavors can blend. Serve on bulky rolls.
serves 4-6
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I like this idea a lot. My boyfriend has said I can start trying to sneak more veggie and low fat foods into his diet only on the condition that he doesn’t notice I’m doing it. If he does, the experiment stops and we go back to roast dinners four times a week, cause that’s all he cooks(eeek).
x
Oh! You know Post Punk Kitchen!?! You just keep getting better and better with every post!
I did a vegetarian sloppy joe recipe from Chef Connie about a month ago… sooooo good! I’m sold on the veggie joe option. I’m going to try this with lentils (the recipe I posted called for chick peas/black beans)! I DID manage to fool my kids with the other recipe. This is goooorgeous.
I love using lentils like this. I make a similar recipe for sloppy joes and use pinto beans to cut back on meat and bulk up nutrition but next time I’ll use lentils for sure. Lentil taco “meat” is also a favorite =)
This sounds phenomenal! What a great idea. Thanks, Andie!
I cannot wait to try this dish! I have been craving sloppy joes lately and I haven’t really found a mix that I like…this sounds perfect.
I love your site, Andie, and this looks like another great dinner option. I notice that for some of the entries you list nutritional breakdowns and others you don’t. I’m working on real life while still losing weight and love the info that the nutritional breakdown gives. You may have said somewhere whether not giving a breakdown means the recipe has lots more calories, but I can’t tell. How does this recipe stack up?
I think I’d do the half lentil option but maybe I’d try ground turkey or pork instead of beef? Hmm sounds like its worth a try! My boyfriend is solidly a protien-every-meal man, so this could be a good compromise, since I’m starting to dabble in vegetable-based/vegetarian meals.
kendrrat
kendrrat.blogspot.com
Hi there,
I’m also trying to lose weight and appreciate the calorie count. FYI that this is a great resource where you can list recipe ingredients and it spits out the nutritional information, including calories: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php
This sound sooooo great!
I love the veggie version so I’m sure I’m going to love this version too!
Yum these look great! They’d make everyone in the household happy!
Andie,
Just wondering how you are doing with counting your calories weekly? I am still counting them at every meal and try to stay within range of my budget. When I do not count I get in trouble so I wanted to see if you had any good advice.
I made these for dinners on Tuesday, the day after I read this post and I absolutely loved them! I did the half lentil half beef version. They were sweet, spicy, and left me satisfied but not overly stuffed like a normal sloppy joe does.
Thanks so much Andie!
I made this for my boyfriend tonight and we loved it! We substituted venison for ground beef which was delicious! This recipe is being added to the permanent rotation list
Huge hit with my family tonight!
I subbed my bread for eggplant cutlets!
Huzzah!
I made these for dinner tonight and they are AWESOME! I made a few modifications, most significant is that I used sun-dried tomato pesto instead of tomato paste (I was out). They came OUT awesome! A definite “must try”.
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