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Instant Pot Vegan Lentil Sloppy Joes! 1 Pot, 30 min, freezer friendly tangy flavorful sloppy lentils. Serve in sandwiches with slaw or over tater tots or baked potato. Vegan Glutenfree Soyfree Nutfree Oilfree Recipe Jump to Recipe
Lentil Sloppy Joes are a quick meal filled with protein and tons of flavor. They pair well with various condiments. Serve these with some pickled onion, slaw or other toppings. Serve them in wraps or sandwiches or over baked potato, baked fries or potato salad. Make a bowl with some veggies, dip and toasted bread!
Lentils come in various colors and have different cook times. They also vary in flavor. I use green lentils for these vegan sloppy joes as they are more hardy and don’t get mushy easily. They are cooked with onion,pepper, carrots, celery, seasonings such as taco, chili or bbq, and tomato. The result is this hearty flavorful saucy sloppy joes. You can vary the flavor with other herbs and blends, add more or less tomato to preference. Lets make these! As always, saucepan option is in the notes.
More Lentil Recipes to try
- Lentil Bolognese
- Keema Lentils
- Sprouted Lentil Avocado Toast
- Lentil Mushroom Stew with mashed potatoes
- Lentil Soup
- Lentil Wellington
Step by Step Photos
Notes on Vegan Lentil Sloppy Joes
- These sloppy lentils are freezer friendly and meal prep friendly. Refrigerate for upto 4 days and freeze for upto a month.
- Serve these in various formats with various accompaniments such as onion, jalapeno, coleslaw, creamy toppings. In sandwiches or wraps, or over baked potatoes or fries!
- If using brown lentils, pressure cook for 10 mins
Burn Errors: Some Instant Pots can tend to give you burn errors for thick and tomato based dishes. Try the following for a successful result.
- Make sure to mix everything really well to pick up any stuck bits before closing the lid.
- Some tomato sauces can be too thick, use a mix of fresh or diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.
- Add a bit more broth if you generally do run into burn errors in your pot.
- Let the veggie + tomato mixture cool for 5 mins before closing the lid. Some pots heat a bit more saute and that tends to increase the chances of ingredients scorching at the bottom under pressure.
Instant Pot Vegan Lentil Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup broth, , or use 1 tsp oil to saute
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1/2 bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup chopped carrots
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp chili powder blend, or taco seasoning or bbq seasoning
- 1 cup finely chopped tomato or tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1-2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce, optional, (or use soy sauce/tamari, or coconut aminos for soyfree),
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 3/4 cup dried green lentils, , picked for stones and washed if needed
- 1 1/4 cup water or broth
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
Instructions
- Add 2 tbsp broth in the Instant Pot on saute. Add the onion, garlic, pepper, celery, carrots and a good pinch of salt. Cook for 3 mins. Deglaze with more broth mid-way. (See saucepan instructions in Notes below).
- Add the spices, tomato, tomato paste, vegan Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and mix in. Add salt, sugar, lentils, broth, and mix in. Mix well to pick up any stuck bits
- Close the lid and pressure cook at bean/chili setting for 22 mins or at manual/pressure cook for 16 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally. Taste and adjust salt, flavor. (The sauce keeps thickening on cooling even if it looks slightly liquidy when opened. If you used extra broth, wait for a few mins to see if its thickening enough and then you might have to saute for a few mins to reduce. )
- Serve in buns or bread with coleslaw or onion or crunchy greens. or in wraps or over baked potato. These sloppy lentils are freezer friendly and meal prep friendly. Refrigerate for upto 4 days and freeze for upto a month.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this last night for our dinner; was delicious, hearty & so full of flavors! I made a double batch & leftovers went into freezer 🙂
I love the fact that you vary your recipes, by that I mean you will include sweet treats, main dish meals & on…always something to look forward to in visiting your site!
Thanks Darlene!
I made this over the weekend. My husband says it’s a keeper 🙂 SO good. We thought we’d have left overs but we ate it all. I will be making it again for sure.
yay!
I would like to make this recipe in a crock pot. Do you have any advice for me?
probably cook the times you would for green lentils. 4-5 hour high or 8 hours low
I made this a few days ago. I followed the directions exactly as its written and it came out perfect. I used a mini Instapot. Thank you!
awesome! thanks
Thank you for suggesting serving over potatoes – I made this yesterday and can’t wait to have it for dinner this evening!
awesome! thanks!
Easy to make, plus so tasty.
It made enough for me to freeze some for a quick meal for one.
I did the stovetop version and used only 1 teaspoon of Mexican spice mix as I prefer a milder meal. Delicious!
Hi Richa – how would brown lentils affect the cooking time? I have these already as I use them for the upside down Lentil Shepherd’s Pie recipe on Sundays.
Pressure cook for 10-11 mins on manaul/pressure cook
Hi can I confirm do I cook brown lentils first then add and cook the whole lot again or if using brown lentils cook the whole thing from raw 10 to 11 mims
for the brown lentils, yes raw & Pressure cook for 10-11 mins on manaul/pressure cook
I don’t have instant pot. How can I make this recipe?
See Saucepan instructions right below the recipes under Notes:
Can I use red lentils instead? If so what would the cool time be in the instant pot?
Thanks!
3 minutes
Ricetta favolosa! Fabulous recipe! 🙂
I can’t wait to try this! So basic and comforting. Sloppy Joes were a childhood fave. Haven’t had them in years and definitely not since going vegan. My mouth is literally watering just thinking about that first bite. Thanks Richa!
thanks!