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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.
This recipe is awesome! I was looking for a lentil recipe that my husband would eat too. This was perfect
Delicious! This will be a dish I make often.
awesome!!
I’ve already made it for the third time in a couple of weeks!
Oh my!! As suggested, I added mustard, a nice spicy dijon. It added another layer of flavor to your already delicious combination. Thanks for sneaking in added veggies. Carrots and celery are not extras I would think of including in Sloppy Joe’s. I have your cookbooks and enjoy your site. Many many thanks!!! PS: this recipe is perfect to eat by itself with no starch or toppings ~~
thank you so much. wow, that’s great. I’m so happy that you found my site and are enjoying my books!! dijon is an amazing ingredient
The “1 tbsp chili powder blend or taco seasoning or bbq seasoning” you call for… what’s “chili powder blend”? Is that just what’s labelled “chili powder” in the store?
Depends on your country and the store. Chili powder in the us is a blend of chili, cumin, oregano etc. Indian stores label pure chili powder (ground cayenne) as chili powder. Using 1 tbsp pure cayenne will be disastrous. Hence I mention that it should be a blend
My husband and i loved this recipe! Thank you!!!
I’m so glad you both enjoyed this!
Cook time is not 25 minutes. If using the instapot add time to get to pressure + cooking + time for natural release. Please amend the recipe time to be more honest. Otherwise dish was good.
Thanks I’ve been adding it to the newer recipes, earlier the widget didn’t have the option for customizable times other than prep and cook. Eventually the older recipes will be updated as well
My 9 y/o son has a very sensitive palate for heat and thought this was too spicy but still liked it, so I will halve the black pepper next time and just add some extra to my portion. Otherwise this is a hit!
This was great! Thanks for the recipe 🙂 I used red lentils instead of green, so I pressure cooked for 5 minutes only. Will make again!
awesome!
This is an almost weekly recipe in our household it is so good! I love that it’s packed with veggies and it’s so easy for busy weeknights or days I just don’t feel like cooking.
Thanks!
My teenage daughter, a vegetarian who hates vegetables, loved it!
I cooked the lentils for 15 minutes and allowed natural release. I like the lentils to be a little softer for this recipes.
awesome!