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Instant Pot Vegan Lentil Sloppy Joes! 1 Pot, 30 min, freezer friendly tangy flavorful sloppy lentils. Serve in sandwiches with slaw or over tater tots or baked potato. Vegan Glutenfree Soyfree Nutfree Oilfree Recipe Jump to Recipe
Lentil Sloppy Joes are a quick meal filled with protein and tons of flavor. They pair well with various condiments. Serve these with some pickled onion, slaw or other toppings. Serve them in wraps or sandwiches or over baked potato, baked fries or potato salad. Make a bowl with some veggies, dip and toasted bread!
Lentils come in various colors and have different cook times. They also vary in flavor. I use green lentils for these vegan sloppy joes as they are more hardy and don’t get mushy easily. They are cooked with onion,pepper, carrots, celery, seasonings such as taco, chili or bbq, and tomato. The result is this hearty flavorful saucy sloppy joes. You can vary the flavor with other herbs and blends, add more or less tomato to preference. Lets make these! As always, saucepan option is in the notes.
More Lentil Recipes to try
- Lentil Bolognese
- Keema Lentils
- Sprouted Lentil Avocado Toast
- Lentil Mushroom Stew with mashed potatoes
- Lentil Soup
- Lentil Wellington
Step by Step Photos


Notes on Vegan Lentil Sloppy Joes
- These sloppy lentils are freezer friendly and meal prep friendly. Refrigerate for upto 4 days and freeze for upto a month.
- Serve these in various formats with various accompaniments such as onion, jalapeno, coleslaw, creamy toppings. In sandwiches or wraps, or over baked potatoes or fries!
- If using brown lentils, pressure cook for 10 mins
Burn Errors: Some Instant Pots can tend to give you burn errors for thick and tomato based dishes. Try the following for a successful result.
- Make sure to mix everything really well to pick up any stuck bits before closing the lid.
- Some tomato sauces can be too thick, use a mix of fresh or diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.
- Add a bit more broth if you generally do run into burn errors in your pot.
- Let the veggie + tomato mixture cool for 5 mins before closing the lid. Some pots heat a bit more saute and that tends to increase the chances of ingredients scorching at the bottom under pressure.
Instant Pot Vegan Lentil Sloppy Joes

Ingredients
- 1/4 cup broth, or use 1 tsp oil to saute
- 3/4 cup onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup chopped carrots
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp chili powder blend, or taco seasoning or bbq seasoning
- 1 1/4 cup finely chopped tomato, or tomato sauce/puree or a mix
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1-2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce, optional, (or use soy sauce/tamari, or coconut aminos for soyfree),
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 3/4 cup dried green lentils, picked over for stones and washed if needed
- 1 1/4 cup water or broth
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
Instructions
- Add 2 tablespoons broth in the Instant Pot on sauté. Add the onion, garlic, pepper, celery, carrots and a good pinch of salt. Cook for 3 mins. Deglaze with more broth mid-way.
- Add the spices, tomato, tomato paste, vegan Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and mix in. Add salt, sugar, lentils, broth, and mix in. Mix well to pick up any stuck bits
- Close the lid and pressure cook at bean/chili setting for 22 mins or at manual/pressure cook for 16 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally. Taste and adjust salt, flavor. (The sauce keeps thickening on cooling even if it looks slightly liquidy when opened. If you used extra broth, wait for a few mins to see if its thickening enough and then you might have to saute for a few mins to reduce. )
- Serve in buns or bread with coleslaw or onion or crunchy greens. or in wraps or over baked potato.
Video
Notes
- Make sure to mix everything really well to pick up any stuck bits before closing the lid.
- Some tomato sauces can be too thick. Use a mix of fresh or diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.
- Add a bit more broth, if you generally do run into burn errors in your pot.
- Let the veggie/tomato mixture cool for 5 mins before closing the lid. Some pots heat a bit more sauté, and that tends to increase the chances of ingredients scorching at the bottom under pressure.
- Add 1/2 tsp mustard
- Add smoked paprika
- Add 1/4 cup bbq sauce
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.














Just made these for dinner and they are delicious! I put a quick coleslaw on top and that really gave it the crunch and acidity to make it over the top great.
So happy it was a hit!