Classic Meat (Less) Lentil Loaf

No vegetarian’s recipe box is complete without a good lentil loaf. It’s the perfect savory meal with lentils, oats, herbs, and fresh veggies. The greatest part about this recipe? It’s packed full of plant-based proteins. These 5 servings have a total of 115 grams of protein, or 23 grams per 340 calorie serving. Beef, by comparison, has 15 grams of protein per 340 calories. This lentil loaf has lots of fresh veggies, tons of protein, a delicious combo of herbs and spices, and just the right texture. For a lentil-and-potatoes kind of guy like myself, this meal is as good as it gets.

Preparation Time: Approx. 2 Hours
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Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup mushrooms
  • 3 stalks celery
  • 1/2 white onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup firm tofu
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked lentils
  • 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
  • 3 tbsp ketchup
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 1 tsp each: dried thyme, basil, fennel

Preparation

Prep
Cook enough dry lentils (brown or black) to yield about 1 1/2 cups. You can alternatively use prepared or canned lentils to cut down on prep time.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Mince the garlic and finely chop the mushrooms, celery, and onion. Add these to a sauté pan with a splash of water and a pinch of salt and pepper. Allow them to soften over medium heat for several minutes.

Mix
In a large mixing bowl, crumble about 1 cup of tofu between your hands until it is in small chunks, resembling cottage cheese. Then, stir in the cooked lentils, sautéd veggies, a handful of chopped parsley, and oats.

Next, add the dried herbs. The combo of thyme, basil, and fennel is the perfect blend of earthy and meaty flavors for our lentil loaf. To get maximum flavor, combine these herbs in a mortar and pestle and gently grind together. Then, stir them into the lentil loaf mixture.

Finally, add a few tablespoons of soy sauce and some ketchup to bind this loaf together. Stir until everything is very well combined. At this point, the loaf should hold together fairly well (i.e. if you wanted to form it into meatballs, they would hold their shape). If it’s too crumbly, add a little more ketchup or even a tablespoon of water. You do not want your loaf to be too dry!

Bake
Add this mixture to non-stick loaf pans (or something similar) and bake for about 50 minutes at 350°F. You’ll want to cook until the top starts to develop a browned crust and the insides are fully cooked.
Allow to cool for several minutes before carefully slicing and removing from the pans. Ideally, serve with ketchup, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies. This loaf keeps very well for several days in the refrigerator and makes excellent meat(less) loaf sandwiches for leftovers.

This recipes comes from One Ingredient Chef at www.oneingredientchef.com