These Vegan Lentil Meatloaf Cups are the perfect main dish for your holiday table!
Can you believe that Thanksgiving is next week?! It’s still pretty warm here so I’m not quite feeling in the holiday spirit yet, but hopefully I will soon! I am fully prepared to eat all the holiday food though 🙂
In the past I haven’t done a great job sharing holiday recipes, but this year I’m ramping it up and have some tasty ones prepared! Last week I shared my Maple Sesame Ginger Roasted Brussels Sprouts and today I’m excited to share these Vegan Lentil Meatloaf Cups.
I feel like holiday sides are pretty easy to make vegetarian, but the main course can be a little trickier. Sometimes I’m tempted to go completely untraditional and make pizza, but I always know I’ll regret it, and I’m pretty sure my husband would cry haha.
These Lentil Meatloaf Cups are the perfect main dish for your vegetarian/vegan Thanksgiving or Christmas! They’re flavorful, filling and go so well with roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes.
These would also be great for a cozy winter dinner, you certainly don’t have to just enjoy them during the holidays 🙂
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Vegan Lentil Meatloaf Cups
Prep Time: 25 mins- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Dinner, Vegan, Gluten Free
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Pin RecipeDescription
A filling and flavorful vegetarian/vegan holiday main dish!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups brown lentils, dry
- 3 cups vegetable broth, or water
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 cup small diced carrot
- 1 cup small diced celery
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1/3 cup bread crumbs, gluten free if necessary
- 1 tablespoon ketchup, plus more for the top
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax mixed with 2 1/2 tbsp water, let sit for 2–3 minutes)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Place the lentils and broth in a medium saucepan and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and simmer until lentils are tender and liquid is gone, 20-25 minutes.
- While lentils are cooking, heat a large pan over medium heat and add olive oil, diced vegetables, thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook vegetables until tender, about 12 minutes.
- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Add the cooked veggies to a food processor and blend until they’re minced, about 1 minutes. Next, add the lentils and give it a few small pulses. You want some of the lentils to still be whole.
- Add lentils and veggie mixture to a large bowl and then add in the bread crumbs, ketchup, flax egg, parsley, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Mix until everything is combined.
- Spray a standard size muffin tin with cooking spray. Use a 1/4 scoop to scoop the mixture into the muffin tin. You should get 12 of them. Flatten the top of each meatloaf and squeeze about 1 teaspoon of ketchup on top of each.
- Place the meatloaves in the oven and bake until the tops are slightly crispy, about 20-25 minutes. Let them cool in the muffin tin for a few minutes before removing.
Can the ketchup be replaced with cranberry sauce? Thanks, great recipe as always! Xoxo
Definitely! 🙂
Yum! Just made these tonight and am enjoying them! The recipe made 12 large-sized muffin rounds and a mini loaf as well. Took longer to make than estimated time, but well worth it! Thanks for the recipe!
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Hi Ali, I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed them!! Sorry it took a little longer, I’ll look into the time again 🙂
My son is allergic to flax seed, is there another egg substitute I can use?!?
Hi Ebony, sorry for the delay, you could use chia eggs 🙂
Hi there! I can’t wait to try these. Do you think they would fair well being frozen so I can enjoy them one at a time please?
Hi Allison! Yes, I think they would freeze great! I’d wait to put the ketchup on them until you’re re-heating 🙂
Would it be ok to use almond flour or garbanzo bean flour in place of bread crumbs? I need to be grain and coconut free. Thx.
Definitely!
Hi. What can I use instead of brown lentils?
You could probably use chickpeas or another type of bean you prefer 🙂
Just made these for my husband to take to work in his lunch. The flavor is great, but I am not sure how dry they should be. The top and first 1/4 inch or so are crispy and a formed into a more solid loaf. The bottom 2/3 seems to be almost the same consistency of the lentil mixture before I baked them. Does this mean I need to bake them more?
Thanks
Hi Anne, I like to bake them to the point where the top is a little crispy and the middle is more soft but not mushy. It’s really up to you how crispy or soft you want them. I hope that helps 🙂
Made these the other night because my 5 year old looked at the picture and wanted to try them…mostly because of the ketchup topping! LOL! But a great dish, both kids ate it. Will be making it again with a few tweaks. Flavour was great. Mine came out a little dry but I think i may have over baked them a bit.
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Haha, that’s awesome! It’s always a win when the kids will eat them too! 🙂
Made these last night and really enjoyed them! Thank you! I made the lentils the day before to help cut down on prep time for a weeknight. They smelled so good while baking! I hadn’t read the other comments before making them. My husband commented how he really liked them, but noted they were a bit dry. I might have also over baked a bit. Will be making these again.
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I”m so glad you and your husband enjoyed them! They do get a bit dry if they go too long so maybe try a little less time if you make them again! 🙂
I made this last night and it was amazing! My family and I are only 9 days into the transition and this gave the taste and feel of meat without the actual thing. My 9yr old loved it!!!
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Yah! I’m so glad to hear you and your family enjoyed it! That’s awesome you guys are switching to a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle! 🙂
I’ve made these several times and they are absolutely delicious! I use barbecue sauce in place of the ketchup and it turns out great! I do have a question. I cannot seem to get the cups not to stick to the muffin pan and they fall apart. I’m looking to make these for Thanksgiving and want them to be prettier. Any suggestions? Have you used the muffin liners before? Also, can you prep this a day in advance to bake the next day?
I’m so glad to hear you like them! Yes, you can definitely prep the mixture in advance and then bake off just before eating. I usually spray my muffin tin with some cooking spray and also let them sit in it and cool for a few minutes before removing and that helps it not stick. But, if you’ve tried those things and they are still sticking you can definitely use muffin liners! Silicone ones might work best if you have them 🙂
Hi, can I use tin lentils to cut down cooking time? If so how many tins would you recommend? Also we have no allergies/intolerances in our family, we are just looking for meals that are vegetarian. Can I use a normal egg instead of a flax egg? Looking forward to hearing from you so we can try your recipe! Thanks for your time
You can! I would use about 2 cups total, so probably about 2 cans 🙂
The flavor of these is delicious! I may need to increase cooking time or amount of bread crumbs though. I baked mine for 30 mins and the bottom 2/3 is still wet and mushy. Oh well, they still tasted great! So I scooped them out and will eat them like mashed potatoes instead of meatloaf. Lol!
So sorry they didn’t quite firm up for you, but glad you still enjoyed them! 🙂
I’m transitioning my family to vegetarian, and limiting dairy but still eating egg. can i use normal egg in these? if so, would it be just 1 egg for the mixture?
For sure!
Hi!! Can you use canned lentils for this recipe? If yes, how many cans would you recommend??
I think that would work, but the loaf might not firm up quite as much.
This recipe looks delicious. I have red lentils on hand. Are there any adjustments to make if I use these instead of brown? Thanks!
Red lentils don’t really hold up like brown lentils, they are much mushier, so I’m not quite sure the meatloaf would hold together well, but you can try it out!
Can I form a meatloaf and bake as a whole rather than the muffins?
Yes! Cooking time would just increase