Try these lentil-powered vegan sloppy Joes with 29g of protein per serving

At Fit&Well, we love recipes that use slow cookers.

It’s a fantastic piece of kitchen equipment that can save you money on your energy bill, tending to be cheaper to run than heating an entire oven or running a burner on the stove for several hours. It also allows you to prep a meal in the morning, then forget about it until dinner time, when you have a hot meal ready to serve.

So when I came across this budget slow cooker recipe that packs in almost 30g of protein per serving I thought it would be perfect for Fit&Well readers.

The recipe is by Lori Fish Bard, a licensed clinical nutritionist for Sarana Health, who agreed to let us reproduce it.

“These sloppy Joes are delicious and provide a serious punch of protein and flavor,” says Fish Bard, who loves using legumes, and lentils in particular, as an inexpensive way to add plant protein to your meals. She’s not the only one—our recent coverage of a dietitian’s budget-friendly high-protein swaps featured lentils too.

This recipe contains a cup of lentils per serving, as well as other vegetables containing protein, such as mushrooms.

Give the recipe a try and let us know what you think in the comments.

Lentil sloppy Joes recipe

Ingredients

• 4 cups lentils, cooked, drained and rinsed
• ½ sweet onion, finely diced
• 1 green bell pepper, finely diced
• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup matchstick carrots
• 1tsp garlic powder
• 3tbsp yellow mustard
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 2 cups crushed tomatoes
• 1tsp sea salt
• ½tsp black pepper

All of the vegetables can be found precut in the frozen section of the grocery store or canned, if you don’t have the time or energy to chop them yourself. You can also find precooked lentils in tins or pouches, ready to add to the slow cooker with no prep beyond measuring.

Method

1. Combine the lentils, onion, green pepper, mushrooms, carrots, garlic powder, yellow mustard, maple syrup, crushed tomatoes, sea salt and black pepper in the slow cooker.
2. Use a spatula to mix well.
3. Cover and cook on high for six hours. If you start with canned or precooked lentils, you can reduce the cooking time to four hours.
4. Serve in a bun, topped with Greek yogurt and sliced onions for some extra protein and fiber.