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:
I made this tonight for dinner and oh my gosh it was so delicious!!! My mum almost ate all four portions so we definitely be doubling the ingredients next time.
Thank-you!
Haha! Amazing! So glad you loved it :) I hope you find lots of other recipes around here that you enjoy as much!
I made this today and I had to stop by and tell you that this is BOMB ! This dish was super delicious and filling I really loved all of the flavors. I decided to add some onion and two carrots just to deepen the flavors even more and oh my gosh it was delicious ! Thanks for the recipe will try again, maybe switching the cheddar with a different cheese like parmesan :)
Yay! Thanks so much Catherine, glad you liked it :)
This was so good! I’ve recently come to love lentils and this was a great beginner recipe. My bell pepper died before I could make this dish so I added diced carrot instead, and omitted mushrooms because mushrooms. This is such a versatile recipe- you could add practically any vegetable!
It’s fefinitely going to be in my weekly rotation from now on. Thanks for such a good recipe!
Thanks Wendy! Absolutely, I can never follow a recipe as it’s written – I always switch things up :) Glad you enjoyed it!
Made this tonight and it was so good! Thank you for this. I find it so hard to find vegan/vegetarian recipes that don’t have cumin in them! Will definitely make this a lot! :)
Thanks Sharon! There’s cumin in a fair few of my recipes but you can easily leave it out if you don’t like it :) I’m actually not a huge fan either so I don’t add too much!
OH my gosh this was delicious!! It was a major hit with the whole family. I switched things up a bit though. I doubled the recipe and used brown lentils, red bell pepper, onion, zucchini and broccoli. I could literally eat this until I exploded. Thank you for this wonderful addition to my life!
Ahhh that’s so lovely, thank you so much Melissa :) Love that you made it your own too!
This is delicious and very easy to make. Trying to cut down on dairy so I only used 1/2 cup and it was still great!
Thanks Heidi! :)
I love this recipe with a little less cheese and a drizzle of chilli oil. Everyone else in the house says that makes it too spicy (boring!) but to me it’s just right! Haven’t tried it without cheese yet but I think I will try that next… or maybe make a cheesy batch for the rest of the house and a spicy vegan batch for me!
Ooh chilli oil sounds great!
This is honestly so delicious! Thank you for sharing. It’s also amazing for lunch the next day.
Grace
Yay thanks Grace!
Thank you so much for sharing this fabulous recipe. My finicky vegetarian husband loves it. Will post pic if possible.
That would be great! So glad you both like it :)
I made this tonight and it was delish although I substituted a few things! I used tinned green lentils instead of red. I added chilli flakes, the paprika and added garlic granules. I used frozen soya beans, mixed peppers, red onion, courgettes, and used low fat mature cheddar. Loved it!
Ace! Great to hear you made it your own :)