Lentil Sloppy Joes are a rich, filling, and inexpensive meal.
Tender lentils are simmered in a zesty homemade sloppy joe sauce and piled high on hamburger roll! They’re easy to make and use mainly pantry ingredients that you likely have on hand!
Pantry Ingredients
No need to make a special trip to the grocery store, you likely have most of the ingredients for this recipe on hand!
This meatless main has all of the flavors found in a traditional sloppy joe recipe but replaces the ground beef with lentils. This dish happens to be vegetarian (with a couple simple swaps) but meat lovers rave over it just the same.
The sauce is zesty and delicious while the lentils make this hearty and filling and the whole thing comes together in no time at all!
Ingredients
LENTILS This recipe calls for dried brown lentils but you can easily sub in whatever lentils you have on hand. While the texture may differ slightly they’ll all work just fine.
If using canned lentils, be sure to skip the boiling (and the broth) and to drain them well.
Canned vs Dry When replacing dried lentils with canned lentils, remember that 1 cup of dried lentils equals approximately 2 cups of canned or cooked lentils.
SAUCE This tangy sauce combines a handful of condiments you are likely to have in your fridge already.
Variations: If you’re running low on prepared mustard, try swapping in dijon or brown mustard. Out of ketchup? Tomato sauce makes a great replacement!
BUNS Serve on hamburger buns, dinner rolls, or even slices of bread if that is what you have on hand. It’s also great over cooked brown rice or pasta!
How to Cook Lentil Sloppy Joes
Lentils cook faster than dried beans because they are smaller and softer. Always rinse and pick out any small stones or debris that might be in the bag with them.
- Saute onions and peppers until softened (per recipe below)
- Add lentils and broth and simmer until tender.
- Stir in sauce ingredients and cook a few minutes until thickened.
Scoop onto hamburger buns, top with sliced onions, tomatoes, or a dollop of sour cream and serve immediately!
Easy Variations
- Add Meat: Add 1/2 pound of cooked ground beef and reduce broth and lentils by half.
- Slow Cooker: Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker (no need to precook lentils), increasing broth to 2 cups. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-10 hours. To thicken, allow to cook on high 30 minutes with lid removed if needed.
- Seasonings: Add taco seasoning or extra chili powder into the lentil mixture.
Serve With…
- Spoon over baked sweet potato fries or baked potatoes and top with cheese
- Serve or rice or pasta
- Serve in buns, rolls or serve over bread
Add in a fresh side salad, classic coleslaw or creamy carrot salad!
Easy Lentil Recipes
- Instant Pot Lentil Soup – easy healthy soup
- Easy Lentil Shepherd’s Pie – twist on a classic
- Homemade Lentil Soup – hearty & budget-friendly
- Easy Lentil Soup – just 5 ingredients
- Homemade Lentil Chili – ready in under an hour!
Have you tried these Lentil Sloppy Joes? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Lentil Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 green bell pepper finely chopped
- 1 small onion finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cups water
- 1 cup broth beef or vegetable broth
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (use vegetarian Worcestershire sauce if desired)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 8 hamburger buns
Instructions
- Cook green pepper and onion in olive oil until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, water, broth and lentils.
- Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook 25 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients (except buns) and simmer an additional 10-15 minutes or until thickened.
- Spoon lentil mixture over hamburger buns and serve.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
This recipe could have been really good! My only qualm is that it doesn’t specify in the ingredients list if it’s for dry or canned lentils. For a quick recipe reader like myself, who doesn’t always scroll to the way bottom to read the note section, that would’ve saved the hassle of using the wrong type of lentils and the recipe not turning out. Understandably so, it was my fault for not reading the entire page. Just a polite suggestion
Thanks for the suggestion! For this recipe we do use dry lentils.
Brilliant recipe!!
I’m always trying to find something new and delicious for meatless Monday for my family.
This is very versatile as one of my son’s does not like buns, had it with rice and another way we’ve had it is over mashed sweet potatoes, it’s just excellent. Thank you so much!
This has become one of my favorites. I serve it over a baked sweet potato rather than on a roll. Flavor is spot on.
Great serving suggestion Joanne, thanks for sharing!
Tastes so good.
I have to say I really enjoy this recipe. My 2nd time making this. Being vegetarian I made a few tweaks. I didn’t use the worchesshire sauce and used a bit of soy sauce and browning (for colour) instead. I also added smoked paprika for flavour. The browning makes it darker in colour. I also didn’t add any water since I used 1 can of lentils instead of the dry. Came out delicious and I used Brioche buns! Yummy. Thanks for the recipe! I wanted to add a picture but it didn’t give me an option.
We would love to see how it turned out, Nioma! Be sure to tag us on instagram @spendpennies
Delicious! I prepared the Slow Cooker version. Easy and quick to assemble — perfectly thick after four hours on high.
So happy you enjoyed this recipe, Jane!
I just made a double batch of this for dinner last night (planning for leftovers). It was a big hit with everyone — so much so that people went back for seconds later in the evening! The dish was a bit sweeter than I anticipated, but still really tasty. I made the mistake of not simmering the lentils uncovered, so there was a lot of additional liquid by the time the lentils were cooked. This recipe is going into the rotation!
very very yummy!!! only recomendation is it took me closer to 30 minutes maybe a little longer to simmer down to a thickness consistency, otherwise delish!