Very Veggie Lentil Bake
One of my most popular recipes ever, with almost entirely 5 star reviews! Its appearance doesn’t do it justice – this lentil bake is incredibly tasty, and so easy to adapt!
Note: In 2018 I made an Instant Pot version of this recipe! If you have an IP, you can check out that version here: Instant Pot very veggie lentil bake.
As a food blogger who needs to come up with new vegetarian recipes on an almost daily basis, I don’t often have a chance to revisit old favourites – I think you guys would have a riot if I just posted the same four recipes over and over (…do any of you actually care that much?). But occasionally I just think stuff it, I’m going to repost something I’ve made before. Because sometimes I just want to. You’ll cope.
This very veggie lentil bake is basically a revamped version of a really old lentil bake recipe I posted way back in February 2012 (who even remembers that far back anyway? Back when our biggest problem was the impending end of the world… ah, those were the days).
The recipe was so unbelievably good and the old photos were so unbelievably not good that I thought it deserved a revival. With a new, but equally silly, name. Back then, it was pretty much my favourite recipe in the world, and not much has changed.
💬 Recipe Reviews
A lovely reader recently reminded me of this recipe, and I was inspired to make it again. They tweeted me a photo and called it ‘absolutely their favourite dish’ – colour me chuffed! So just in case you think my own raving about this recipe sounds insincere, rest assured that at least one person agrees with me.
Of course, since I can never follow a recipe to the letter, even if it’s my own recipe, I did make a few minor changes to this version. I made it bigger, for one (it’s that good, you’ll be happy to have extra), and used slightly different veggies, because I was too lazy to go shopping. It’s pretty adaptable – just use whatever veggies you have on hand (I do love a good fridge clearer!).
You can skip the cheese if you’d prefer a vegan lentil bake, but it does add a lovely flavour and gives that crispy topping, which is always a major plus. It’s not exactly an attractive dish, but crispy cheese goes a long way to making anything look enticing.
Whatever you put in it, this very veggie lentil bake is a brilliant way to enjoy some of the most simple store cupboard ingredients!
Very Veggie Lentil Bake
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Print Pin Comment(if you suffer from allergies, please double check all ingredients before eating)
Ingredients
- 110 g red lentils (~ 1/2 cup)
- 75 g white rice (~ 1/4 cup)
- 650 ml vegetable stock (~ 2 1/2 cups), or 2 stock cubes made up in 650ml water
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 small leek or 1/2 large leek, sliced
- 1 bell pepper, diced fairly small (I used orange)
- 5 medium mushrooms, diced fairly small
- 1 small courgette (zucchini), or 1/2 large courgette, diced fairly small
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- Black pepper
- 90 g grated cheddar cheese (~ 1 cup)
Instructions
- Boil the lentils and rice for 15-20 minutes in the vegetable stock, stirring occasionally. You’ll need to stir constantly during the last 5 minutes or so, to ensure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Once they’re cooked, don’t drain the water, but instead continue stirring over the heat until enough water has boiled off for the mixture to resemble porridge.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan, and add the chopped leek, pepper, mushrooms and courgette. Cook over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft.
- Heat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).
- Combine the cooked lentils and vegetables in a large mixing bowl, and add the paprika, cayenne pepper, and plenty of black pepper. Mix well.
- Transfer half of the mixture to a baking dish, and sprinkle over half of the grated cheese. Add the remaining lentil mixture, smooth out the top, and finish with the remaining cheese.
- Bake for around 25-30 minutes, until the cheese topping is golden brown and crispy.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
Love lentils? There are loads more vegetarian lentil recipes to inspire you here:
Absolutely amazing. So delicious and very adaptable. I really loved this. Thank you so much. xx
Thanks Joy!
I’m new to having to provide gluten-free meals for a loved one. Is this recipe gluten-free? Thank you!
Yes the recipe is gluten-free, but I would just double check your ingredients – for example, some vegetable stocks may not be gluten-free, so choose an appropriate brand. Better to be safe than sorry :)
sounds amazing would love to give it a go. I am not vegan but discovered dairy intolerance recently. Any advice to keep the flavours? sub with nutritional yeast?
Hi Mari, yes if you’re skipping the cheese you could try some different flavourings instead. Nutritional yeast could be worth a try, but I’d also add some spices or herbs – smoked paprika would be great! And make sure to salt it well, as the cheese gives it some saltiness too.
Hi Becca,
Love this and cook it regularly!!
I’m planning to cook and freeze some meals for friends who have just had a baby!
Would This freeze well please?
Yes I think it would freeze just fine!
Made this last night. So delicious and cheesy and filling. Will make again for sure!
loved it! tasty and filled with vege
Thanks Lucey!
Thank you Tanya!
Lovely tasty dish for lunch or dinner
Thanks Anne!
If you double this recipe, as many have recommended, what size casserole should you use, a 9×13?
Can you use brown rice instead of white?
Yes, but brown rice does take longer to cook than white. You might want to cook the rice for 5-10 minutes first, before adding the lentils.
My dish was about 8×8 inches, so 64 square inches in total, meaning double the recipe would need around 130 square inches. If you have a 9×13 pan, that would make be 117 square inches, which sounds pretty reasonable – it will end up ever so slightly deeper than my version, but not enough to be a problem. I’d probably just add an extra 10 minutes onto the baking time to allow it to cook through to the middle of the larger dish. Enjoy!
This is a great dish, I didn’t have zuccini so I used chopped carrot. And chopped about ten mushrooms (cause I like them). I made it for our bible study tomorrow and look forward to sharing. I like it so much I’m bringing the recipe, because I know they will want to make it also. Delicious! Thanks so much! Edythe
Thank you so much Edythe! I hope you all enjoyed it. It’s an easy one to switch around the veggies!
HI Becca!! I know this is an old post but I was curious, I know red lentils cook much quicker than green or brown but do you think it would be possible to swap the red for green? I’m vegan (17 years) so I’ll also be using dairy free cheese and thinking about possibly adding some TVP! if that will work too? But I’ve been staring at a bag of green lentils FOREVER in my pantry lol!! So if possible what would you suggest I do differently considering the cooking time differences with red and green? THANK YOU!!
Yes you could use green lentils! The final texture will be different as they don’t cook down as much as red, but I would otherwise do everything the same :)
so easy and tasty. it’s my go to veggie recipe now. thank you.
Thank you Kay! :)