Veggie Sloppy Joes (vegan | plant-based)

I’ve said it before, much of my inspiration in the kitchen comes from my mom. Growing up, we had family dinners every weeknight, and my mom always managed to make delicious, creative, balanced and varied meals for us. Because my mom ran a successful non-profit and had three kids, two dogs and a husband to deal with, these meals also had to be fast, affordable and simple to get on the table.

This past weekend, my kitchen hero (aka my mom) made the trek from St. Louis to New York to visit my oldest sister and me, and to no one’s surprise, the topic of food came up on multiple occasions. One of these conversations taught me something I didn’t know about my mom, and that is that many times she considered writing a cookbook focused on recipes that are meant for super busy moms committed to wholesome, fun, and affordable family dinners. From classic meatball parm subs to a DIY Greek pita bars, she always had something fun and tasty up her sleeve to get us to the table.

Although I often reminisce about my mom’s cooking, this particular conversation ignited my desire to create vegetarian, crowd-pleasing meals that are ready for serving in around 30 minutes. This whole concept was realized last night in the form of vegan sloppy joe sandwiches for me and Matt’s Monday night dinner.A Sloppy Joe Sandwich, at its most traditional and basic, is a tomato-based sauce of ground beef, brown sugar, ketchup and veggies. For my vegan sloppy joes, I eliminated the ground beef and replaced it with a mixture of slightly mashed chickpeas and lentils. I kept the sauce simple and standard, but added a couple more layers of flavor with paprika and a splash of vinegar. The whole sauce comes together in under 25 minutes, and then, all there’s left to do is add the buns and any desire toppings (which is 100% optional). So there you go; a classic childhood favorite of mine, ready in under 30 minutes, that caters to meat-eaters and meat-freers alike! Thanks for the inspo, Mom!

Vegan Sloppy Joe Sandwiches
Serves: 4-6   Start to Finish: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, small diced
2 carrots, peeled and small diced
sea salt, fine grain
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes (or tomato sauce or puréed diced tomatoes)
1/4 cup ketchup
2-3+ tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1.5 cups cooked red or brown lentils (or 14-ounce can lentils)
1.5 cups cooked chickpeas (or 14-ounce can chickpeas)
burger buns or slider rolls
dill pickle slices, optional

To Make

Heat oil over medium-low heat in medium-large pot. Add diced onion and carrot, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, mince garlic.

After 5 minutes, add garlic to onions and carrots. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add tomato paste and seasonings. Break up and cook for a few minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, ketchup, brown sugar*, and vinegar, and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir to combine. Cover and reduce to simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, prep lentils and chickpeas. Using a pastry cutter or a fork, partially mash chickpeas in a bowl. Cooked red lentils will already be mashed. If using brown lentils, break up with the chickpeas. After sauce has simmered for about 5 minutes, add lentils and chickpeas, stir to combine. Simmer covered for another 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve on buns with pickles on top.

*I used 2 tbs brown sugar but sweeten to taste
**you can leave out the tomato paste if you don’t have any on hand, I’ve made it without too