Simple Vegan Mince: Made With Lentils
A plate of lentils is a wondrous thing. They may not look that exciting, but they’re tasty, nutritious and plant-based. They’re also good at soaking up flavours and using to make all sorts of meals. This recipe is for a simple vegan mince. It’s easy-to-make, but delicious nonetheless. Eat it just as it is, or use it as the base for other dishes.
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Scrap the beef, lamb or pork mince and try lentils instead. They’re an easy, cheap and nutritious alternative regardless of whether you’re vegetarian or not.
Dive Right In
- Why Make Simple Vegan Mince?
- Simple Vegan Lentil Mince
- Ingredients, Additions And Substitutions
- How To Make Vegan Lentil Mince
- How To Use Vegan Mince
- Other Recipes Made With Pulses You Might Like
- Keep In Touch
- Pin It
- The Recipe
Why Make Simple Vegan Mince?
It’s always useful to have a simple plant-based mince recipe up one’s sleeve. You can then easily adapt any number of other meat based recipes. Although this recipe is very nice eaten just as it is.
- Budget-Friendly – Lentils are relatively cheap and widely available, which makes this recipe perfect for those wanting a hearty, flavoursome meal without breaking the bank.
- Flavoursome – Lentils are brilliant for absorbing flavour. You can season and spice this recipe according to what you’re going to do with it.
- Healthy and Nutritious – Lentils are packed with protein, fibre and essential vitamins like folate and iron. This vegan mince recipe offers a nutrient-dense alternative to traditional meat-based dishes.
- Sustainable and Eco-Friendly – Choosing lentils over meat reduces our environmental footprint. Lentils require far fewer resources, such as water and land and their cultivation produces less greenhouse gases. This makes this recipe a more sustainable and eco-friendly option. (Ref: BBC)
- Useful for Meal Prep – Lentil mince stores well in the fridge or freezer, making it ideal for batch cooking.
- Versatile – This lentil mince is delicious eaten just as it is. However you can also use it as a base for a variety of other dishes.
Simple Vegan Lentil Mince
Lentil mince may not taste exactly like cooked minced meat, but it’s not too far off. It certainly provides a similar function. The umami element comes from tomato and tamari and the fat element from olive oil. Lentils themselves are already quite tasty.
It’s quite common to add walnuts and mushrooms to lentils to make vegan mince. Whilst this is a definitely one way to go, this simpler lentil version is really delicious. And it’s a lot quicker, easier and cheaper to make.
Ingredients, Additions And Substitutions
You don’t need a whole heap of ingredients to make this simple vegan mince. You’ll probably have most, if not all of them, in your kitchen or garden already.
Lentils
Whole lentils rather than split ones are what you need for this recipe. Brown, green or black all work. I used some British grown olive green lentils from Hodmedods in the version you can see here. I was super excited when I discovered them and ordered a pack straight away. They’re small lentils, so they cook a little faster than some whole ones, but they taste really good. Both CT and I were impressed.
Lentils are highly nutritious. They’re packed with B vitamins, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc and fibre. Lentils are also a good source of protein, but you need to serve them with some sort of grain to make them a complete protein.
Tomato
The tomato provides much of the umami flavour in this vegan mince, so use a well flavoured one if you can. I used a homegrown Great White in the images you can see here. It’s one of my favourite tomatoes for cooking.
If tomatoes are out of season and you can’t find a good one for this recipe, you can swap it for a tablespoon of good quality tomato paste and 50ml water.
Onion
Caramelised onion forms the base of this simple vegan mince recipe. It gives sweetness and flavour. You can use brown onions, as I did in this version, or swap them for red ones if that’s what you have to hand.
Seasoning
I always cook my pulses with either a bay leaf or piece of kombu seaweed. Both of these work to increase digestibility. Mostly I use bay as it also imparts aromatic notes.
Fresh herbs are ideal. I went for rosemary and thyme from the garden. Failing that, use mixed dried herbs such as herbes de Provence or a single one such as oregano.
And if spices are more your thing, then leave out the herbs and fry the onions with cumin seeds and the spices of your choice. Smoked paprika or chilli are my favourite additions.
It almost goes without saying that you’ll need garlic. It’s such a brilliant flavour enhancer and so good for you too.
Tamari is excellent for adding umami notes to food and it works particularly well with lentils. You don’t need much, which is just as well as it’s one of the most expensive soy sauces you can buy. It’s worth it though as it’s also one of the best and has the advantage of being gluten-free.
Salt and pepper are the only other seasonings needed.
How To Make Simple Lentil Mince
All pulses benefit from soaking and lentils are no exception. It helps to make them more digestible and also reduces cooking time. Soaking also makes it easier to wash them, as they sink to the bottom of the pan or bowl, rather than floating on the top So, if you can get them soaking a few hours before you need them, so much the better.
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions, timings and quantities of ingredients used.
Step 1. Soak Lentils
Soak the lentils for at least an hour in water if you can. The longer they soak, the better. You can do this up to twenty four hours in advance of cooking.
I generally soak them in the pan in which I’m going to cook them. It saves on washing up.
Step 2. Cook Lentils
Drain off the soaking water, replace with fresh and drain again. This is usually enough to get rid of any debris or scum, but if not repeat until the lentils are clean.
Cover the lentils with water, add the bay leaf and place the lid on the pan. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently until the lentils are soft, but still hold their shape. How much water the lentils absorb depends on how long they’ve soaked. So check to make sure they haven’t dried out towards the end of cooking and add more water if needed.
Cooking time will vary depending on the soaking time, cooking temperature, the hardness of the water and the age of the lentils.
Step 3. Fry Veg
Meanwhile, dice the onions finely. Place a wide frying pan over a medium heat, add the oil then the onions and fry until translucent.
Finely chop the herbs and add them to the pan along with the salt. Continue to fry until the onion starts to caramelise. Give an occasional stir to prevent burning.
Grate in the garlic, give a good stir, then add the diced tomato. Stir again. Let everything cook for ten minutes, giving an occasional stir.
Top Tip
If you have a microplane (affiliate link), use it to grate the garlic. It works brilliantly and it makes the job really easy. I find it’s much easier to wash the microplane than it is a garlic press.
Step 4. Add Lentils
Once the lentils are cooked, remove the bay leaf, then tip into the onion and tomato pan. If there’s still an obvious amount of liquid left in the pan, drain the lentils first, but a small amount is fine.
Add the tamari, stir and let the whole lot cook until all the liquid has evaporated, but not so much that the lentils are dry.
Stir in the black pepper and taste test. If you feel the lentils need more salt, tamari or pepper, now is the time to add them.
Serve straight away or use as the base for another dish.
How To Use Vegan Mince
Vegan mince made with lentils is delicious just as it is. It can, however, form the base of any number of other meals.
In the images you can see here, we piled our vegan lentil mince onto homemade flatbreads. A sharp carrot salad and fresh garden greens made the perfect accompaniments. It’s a truly delicious meal.
However, it’s also very good drizzled with zingy chimichurri or hot garlicky zhoug and served with potatoes or mopped up with crusty bread.
Use it to stuff vegetables, fill tacos or pile onto baked potatoes.
The lentils make a good base for a lasagne or veggie shepherd’s pie. Just fry some finely chopped carrots and celery along with the onions. And maybe some mushrooms too. Then either layer with pasta and béchamel or top with mashed potato and bake.
Likewise, this recipe for vegan mince makes a good base for a ragu, bolognese or chilli sin carne.
If you eat meat, you can bulk out your normal mince with this lentil mince to make a healthier and cheaper dish.
Batch cook and keep a stash in the freezer to enable super quick and healthy meals.
The mince will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for three days. In the freezer, it will store for at least three months.
Top Tip
This lentil vegan mince isn’t particularly sticky, so it won’t work for recipes such as meatballs unless you add other ingredients to bind it together.
Other Lentil Recipes You Might Like
- Black lentil bowl with chimichurri sauce
- Homemade vegan ravioli
- Roasted carrots & lentil curry
- Roasted tomato soup with lentils & carrots
- Vegan haggis
- Vegetarian lentil bobotie
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this simple vegan lentil mince recipe, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for using vegan mince?
Please rate the recipe. If you post pictures of your creations on social media, tag me @choclette8 so I can see them.
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If you’d like more recipes using pulses, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Simple Vegan Lentil Mince. PIN IT.
Simple Vegan Mince: Made With Lentils
Ingredients
- 125 g whole lentils (I used small British grown olive green lentils)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion finely diced
- ¼ tsp sea or rock salt
- 2 sprig fresh rosemary or use ¼ tsp dried herbs
- 2 sprig fresh thyme or use ¼ tsp dried herbs
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- 1 large tomato diced
- 1 tsp tamari (affiliate link)
- good grinding of black pepper
Instructions
- Soak the lentils for at least an hour in water if you can. The longer they soak, the more digestible they become and the quicker to cook.125 g whole lentils
- Drain off the soaking water, replace with fresh and drain again. This is usually enough to get rid of any debris, but if not repeat until the lentils are clean.
- Cover the lentils with 350ml water, add the bay leaf and place the lid on the pan. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the lentils are soft, but still hold their shape. How much water the lentils absorb depends on how long the lentils have soaked. So check to make sure the lentils haven’t dried out towards the end of cooking and add more water if needed.1 bay leaf
- Meanwhile, fry the onions in the oil in a wide frying pan over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes until translucent.1 tbsp olive oil, 1 small onion
- Add the salt and herbs and continue to fry until the onion starts to caramelise. Give an occasional stir to prevent burning. This will take around 4-5 minutes.¼ tsp sea or rock salt, 2 sprig fresh rosemary, 2 sprig fresh thyme
- Add the garlic, give a good stir, then stir in the diced tomato.1 clove garlic, 1 large tomato
- Let the tomato cook for ten minutes, then tip in the cooked lentils. If there’s still an obvious amount of liquid left in the pan, drain them first, but a small amount is fine.1 tsp tamari (affiliate link)
- Add the tamari, stir and let the whole lot cook until all the liquid has evaporated, but not so much that the lentils are dry.
- Stir in the black pepper and taste test. If you feel the lentils need more salt, tamari or pepper, now is the time to add them.good grinding of black pepper
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
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Made it for my family. It’s filling and nutritious.
Lovely to hear your family approve. It’s a simple recipe, but a good one.
Delicious!
Glad you liked the lentil mince. It’s a useful recipe to have. Thanks for letting us know.