Traditional sloppy joes aren’t hard to make, but it turns out it’s even easier to make a good vegan sloppy joe than it is to make one with beef! And it’s all thanks to one secret ingredient…
The Secret to Vegan Sloppy Joes
Green lentils! Besides being super healthy, green lentils (also known as French lentils, or Puy lentils) are a great substitute for beef in sloppy joes. They cook up beautifully and have just the right texture and structure to be piled high on a bun. They also won’t turn mushy like the red lentils used for dal. If you don’t have green lentils, you can use brown lentils as well.
A Few Tips for Making Vegan Sloppy Joes
Here are a few tips for successful vegan sloppy joes:
How To Serve Vegan Sloppy Joes
I’m not going to lie—I could just eat a bowl of the lentil sloppy joe filling like it was soup. It’s that good! But that aside, serving these in traditional sloppy joe fashion is the way to go. Toast some buns, and add sliced red onion to the bottom bun, so it doesn’t get too soggy. Then pile on the sloppy joe mixture, pickles, and top bun. Bring napkins!
How To Store Leftovers
Sloppy joe leftovers can be stored in the fridge for a few days. Reheat in a skillet over low heat. Add a splash of water as they reheat to make the mix nice and saucy again. You can also freeze leftovers for up to three months.
The Dad Add: Sloppy Sweet Potato
Instead of adding something to this sandwich, I decided to think about lunch. The next day I microwaved a sweet potato, split it open, and spooned in some of the sloppy joe mixture for a delicious Dad lunch.
The Kid Report Card
I was skeptical that my kids would eat vegan sloppy joes (it has lentils in it, a definite “weird” food for them), but sometimes the ignorance of youth is your friend at the dinner table. My kids haven’t had much exposure to sloppy joes, so they had no expectations as to what is in them normally. Beef? Veggies? It all seems like a slightly sweet and tangy mix in a sauce. Once I got them to try a tiny bite, they were all in on it. The one issue, which I should’ve predicted, wasn’t with the ingredients so much as the sloppiness of the sloppy joes. Neither of my kids are big on messy meals. They want their food to be very separated. This was kind of tough, but I ended up spooning some sloppy joe filling beside the buns and that did the trick: bite of bun, bite of filling, same deal. Vegan slop, sloppy joes for the win!
More Vegan Dinner Recipes to Enjoy
Vegan Minestrone Smoky Vegan Lentil Stew Vegan Stuffed Squash with Brown Rice and Mushrooms Vegan Mushroom Barley Soup Creamy Polenta with White Beans and Roasted Broccoli
LEFTOVERS: Leftover sloppy joe mixture will store well in the fridge for a few days or it can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Reheat sloppy joe mixture gently over the stove with a splash of water. Spoon it atop a baked sweet potato for lunch the next day if desired!
