OMG OMG OMG this vegan lentil loaf is sooooo good! I honestly made it on a whim as I had a can of lentils in my pantry that I hadn’t used yet and I was keen to come up with something new that’s high in plant-based protein to add into my weekly meal rotation. I have been making my Vegan Black Bean Burgers nearly every week (if you haven’t tried these yet then you’re missing out!) and while I absolutely love them (and definitely made them AGAIN for this week lol) I decided I needed to change it up a bit and add in some variety…. and TADA this vegan lentil loaf recipe was born.

I threw on a podcast and got in the cooking zone yesterday, sifting through all the things I had in my pantry and fridge to come up with this recipe. That said, you could totally change out the veggies you use, I just used whatever I had on hand! This recipe yields about 8 servings so it’s perfect to make for meal prep if you’re a single gal like me, or a great dish to make for the whole family!

I wanted to find out the estimated calorie and macro count for this recipe for you WHICH I DID, but I will say that it will vary depending on how much glaze you put on and what you use for the glaze etc. So I decided to just enter in all of the loaf ingredients sans glaze into my MyFitnessPal app to see what the rough calorie/macro count would be and here’s what I got: 900 Calories for the entire loaf which makes about 8 servings so it’s roughly 112.5 calories per serving. The macros for the entire loaf is as follows: 164.9g Carbs – 16.2g Fat – 53.4g Protein // so each serving is about 20.6g Carbs – 2g Fat – 6.7g Protein . Yay! yummy AND nutrient dense! Ok, let’s get into the recipe… I hope you love it as much as I do!

VEGAN LENTIL LOAF INGREDIENTS

Ingredients for the loaf:

✨ 1 can of lentils which is roughly 130g (or if you have dry lentils use 1 cup of either green or brown lentils)

✨2 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth (if you’re using dry lentils!)

✨3 tablespoons flaxseed meal (ground flaxseeds)

✨1/3 cup water

✨2 tablespoons olive oil OR steam sauté veggies in water

✨3 garlic cloves, minced

✨1 small onion, finely diced

✨1 medium bell pepper, finely diced

✨1 carrot, finely diced

✨3 cups of baby spinach, finely chopped

✨3/4 cup oats (I used organic gluten-free sprouted oats!)

✨1/2 cup oat flour (or any flour of choice will work here as well)

✨1 heaping TSP. dried thyme

✨1/2 heaping TSP. cumin

✨1/2 TSP. garlic powder

✨Fresh cracked black pepper & Celtic sea salt to taste (I like Celtic sea salt but you could also use Himalayan pink salt!)

Ingredients for the glaze:

✨3 TBSP. organic and vegan BBQ sauce (I used my fav. from Annies, it’s a sweet and spicy vegan BBQ sauce!) or you could also use ketchup!

✨1 TBSP. balsamic vinegar

✨1 TBSP. pure maple syrup

* I personally LOVE sauce so if you do too maybe you double the glaze amounts so you have extra sauce to serve each slice of loaf with?!… just a thought though 😉

INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare lentils If you’re using dry lentils: rinse the lentils, and then in large pot add 2 1/2 cups water/broth with lentils. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 35 – 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. It’s ok if they get a bit mushy as we will roughly puree about 3/4 of the mixture after they are cooked!! Once the lentils are soft/done cooking, remove the lid and set them aside to cool and thicken up for about 15 minutes.

If you’re using a can of lentils like I did just literally just drain and rinse the lentils and then put 3/4 of the lentils in a big mixing bowl and set aside the remaining lentils in another small bowl.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make flax egg: In small bowl combine flaxseed meal and 1/3 cup water – mix it all up and then put it in the fridge for at least 10 minutes top thicken up.

Sauté your veggies & spices: In a pan on medium heat sauté garlic, onion, bell pepper, carrots, spinach and spices in either olive oil or water for about 5 minutes. Feel free to sub out any of the veggies or add in any that you like, just make sure you finely chop them! I feel like zucchini or celery would be good to add .

Mash the lentils: Using the back of a fork mash up about 3/4 of the lentils; you could also use a blender or food processor if you have one, but I just used a fork and it worked just fine!

Assemble the vegan lentil loaf: Combine sautéed veggies with the lentils, oats, oat flour and flax-egg mixing well. Taste and feel free to add in a bit more salt and pepper if you think it needs it, or any other herb or spice you might like (cayenne could be yummy if you’re not using a sweet and spicy bbq sauce I like I did!). Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and place your loaf mix into the pan, mash it down and make sure it’s evenly packed into the pan along the edges and corners!

Glaze: combine the BBQ sauce, maple syrup and balsamic vinegar together in a small bowl and mix until everything is blended together.. I really loved the BBQ sauce but if you have ketchup you can replace the BBQ Sith ketchup or even tomato paste! I LOVE sauce so if you do too maybe you double the glaze amounts so you have extra sauce to serve each slice of loaf with! If you’re doubling the glaze spread half the glaze evenly over the top of your loaf and set aside the rest for when you serve!

Bake: bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 45 – 60 minutes… I have a vintage (as I like to call it lol it’s actually just old AF 😂) oven so I baked mine for 60 minutes, but if you have a newer oven it may only take 45-50 minutes.. just keep an eye on it!

Tada!!!!! that’s it! Super simple, SUPER YUMMY and perfect to meal prep for the week ahead of time! I like to have my main “protein” ready to go so all I have to do when I’m ready to eat is steam some veggies, add my protein and then I’m good to go! Last night I made a side of lemon garlic broccolini with my vegan lentil loaf but you could always go the more traditional route and have your lentil loaf with a side of mashed potatoes (I have a super simple vegan mashed potato recipe that you can check out here) or some other yummy vegan side . Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 – 6 days, in a covered container. If you make it let me know what you think!