Vegan Lentil Casserole: An Straightforward, Wholesome and Scrumptious Recipe

Craving a hearty, satisfying meal that’s packed with flavor and nutrition? Look no further than this delicious vegan lentil vegetable casserole. This vegetarian casserole is loaded with lentils, tomatoes, carrots, green pepper, onions, garlic, celery, and spiked to tasty perfection with herbs before crowning with gooey cheese. Therefore, let me share my healthy lentil casserole with you because it is worth adding to your recipe collection.

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Lentils are one of the easiest dry beans to work with. The reason is they don’t need to soak for hours unlike other varieties. Nor do they take they long to cook and benefit from their plant-based protein before ready to use in your recipes whether soups, salads or this wonderful oven meal.

If you don’t want to make a vegan version of this lentil casserole using a plant-based cheese, you can substitute regular dairy cheese and turn it into a meatless meal as well. Both decisions that you make will produce a fantastic tasting dinner.

This lentil recipe can serve a lot of people. If this makes too much for your family, it is easy to reheat for packing in a microwave container for a lunch. The remaining casserole also makes another great easy dinner reheated in the microwave, especially for those days that you don’t have all that time to cook a fresh dinner without tasting like leftovers.

I hope you give my vegan lentil casserole a try the next time you want to try something healthy, nutritious and simply delicious. Please also share my recipe with your family and friends and do come back to my blog for more.

Vegan Lentil Casserole

2 cups of dry lentils (about six cups once cooked)
½ cups of water
1 can (16 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 large onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of dried sage
1/4 teaspoon of thyme leaves
2 carrots, peeled and grated
½ cups thinly sliced, finely chopped celery
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 teaspoons of dried parsley
2 cups of grated Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese or your favorite vegan cheese
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1. Sort two cups of dry lentils for any pebbles or strange looking beans to throw out first.
2. Rinse the beans and put them a pot that you fill halfway up with water. Simmer the lentils until tender (about fifteen minutes) for most varieties.
3. While the lentils are cooking, fry the chopped onions and garlic in the olive oil until slightly golden brown before adding the chopped celery to cook until slightly softened (about five minutes).
4. Now add the chopped green pepper pieces and the grated carrots to the pot with the browning vegetables and continue cooking for about five minutes until the peppers soften a bit.
5. Drain the lentils.
6. Remove the partially cooked vegetables from the stove and add the drained lentils, tomatoes, bay leaf, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, parsley, and the one-half cup of water and mix through to combine.
7. Place the lentil-vegetable mixture in a 13 x 9 x2-inch baking pan.
8. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 375-degree oven thirty minutes before stirring and sending back to the oven without the foil for an additional twenty minutes.
9. After that additional twenty minutes, remove from the oven and sprinkle the grated cheese over the top and return it to melt through for ten more minutes.
10. ENJOY!