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
If you’ve cooked this recipe, don’t forget to leave a star rating!
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:
Delicious! I have made it a couple of times and use soy cheese to accommodate a dairy allergy which works well. The only thing I have found is that I have to use less broth for it to evaporate before lentils lose all texture and turn to mush. Very tasty recipe regardless.
Thanks Bev, great to hear that it works well with dairy free cheese as well :)
I’ve been trying out lots of different vegetarian meals and decided to try this. So glad I did- it’s amazing! I had it with garlic bread. Thanks for the recipe.
Yay! Garlic bread is the way to go. Glad you enjoyed it :)
I just made this and it is sooooooooo good!!
Yay! Thank you! :)
Would this be tasty eaten cold, for a picnic?
I haven’t tried it cold, I think personally I would prefer it warm but you might like it cold! You could always make it for dinner one night and see whether you like the leftovers cold :)
Holy macaroni, that was good. I sort of combined your easy cheesy lentil bake and this to accomodate what I had in the fridge and the result was just awesome. Thank you for this. Definitely on the repeat list.
Thank you, so glad you liked it! I can never follow a recipe to the letter anyway :)
I love lentils, and this sounds so good! But, not a huge fan of rice, do you think pasta or potatoes would work?
I think you could just skip the rice altogether to be honest :) But I reckon potatoes cut into small dice (and pre-cooked) could be nice!
Wowzers that was spicy. I doubled the batch but still only used half a teaspoon of cayenne and it was WAY to hot for even my spice-loving husband! Double also made a massive batch so I will probably just stick with the stated amounts next time. Despite the spice it was liked all round yay
Interesting – maybe cayenne is less spicy here!! Just make sure you remember to adjust the recipe a little next time :) Glad you enjoyed it anyway, thanks for the feedback!
Would this make a good freezer meal? I have all the ingredients to make it but my oven is broken! Hoping to prepare and pop in the freezer to bake at a later time.
You’re so organised! I’ve not tried freezing this so I can’t say for sure, but I can’t think why it wouldn’t work! Always worth a try. Let me know how you get on :)
I absolutely love this recipe and have made it several times – it is delicious and freezes really well.
Great to know, thanks! :)
I wonder if this could be eaten without baking it? Just do the whole thing and put it all together and eat?
I guess so! It firms up a bit when it’s baked so it would be a bit sloppier without the baking, and you wouldn’t get the nice crispy cheese topping, but it would still be nice I’m sure!
Thank you for this recipe, my mother and I loved it very much! It’s a great vegetarian recipe and also a good way to eat vegetables even if you don’t really like them! I barely noticed the zucchini and I’m not a big fan.
I’m keeping that recipe!
Thanks so much Sophie, so glad you both enjoyed it :)