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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.
Super tasty, healthy, and easy recipe, Richa!! I loved it! I also added a few drops of liquid smoke, thank you so much for your great recipe yet again!
Yay!! Glad you liked it!
So so good! Hands down the best sloppy joes I have ever had. I love that it’s made in the instant pot because it is quick and nutrients are not lost like in other methods.
I doubled all of the veg because we love veg. Other than that, I tossed in a handful of red pepper flakes so it has all the elements: sweet, heat, salt, & acid. I used EVOO to sauté the veg instead of broth. My favorite go to recipe from now on.
So happy you liked it!
Can you use a canned lentils?
yes!
These came out great! I added a healthy squirt of yellow mustard and a splash of apple cider vinegar at the end, which gave it the right amount of acidity I was looking for.
Glad that you enjoyed them.
Yet another one of your recipes that was a big hit! I used brown lentils since that’s what I had on hand and used the suggestion to cook for 10 minutes instead. I also added 1/4 cup of bbq sauce at the end and served on a bulkie roll with lettuce and onion. Yum! Can’t wait for my copy of the new vegan instant pot cookbook 🙂
perfect! enjoy the book 📚 =)
This is truly amazing! Me and my husband love the taste and texture. I serve it over home-baked soda bread with vegan mozzarella cheese on top. I nearly swallowed my tongue). Great vegan version of sloopy Joe.
wow!
We loved this recipe. It is great in bread or as a salad topping. Very taco salad like. I made a double recipe and four adults ate it over three days. I highly recommend it. Very easy in the instant pot.
wow! double recipe – excellent
This is officially my new favorite sloppy joe recipe. So easy and delicious. One batch is great for 2 people but I wanted more (since I had to share) so I just doubled the recipe and there is just enough room in my instant pot. I eat it plain or add avocado and fresh onion, and have tried it over brown rice too. Thank you for this amazing recipe! 🙂
yum 🥑🥑🥑v
Hi. I’m wondering about this recipe if you use french beluga lentils?
Yes