This One-Skillet Spicy Lentil Bolognese is perfect for a #meatlessmonday or vegetarian meal! Protein-packed lentils sub in for ground beef in this cozy pasta dish. Use your favorite jarred pasta sauce and any pasta you have on hand for this quick weeknight meal!
Hi friends! Happy August! I’m back after taking some time off to recharge and brainstorm some new ideas.
To be quite honest I had been feeling a little burnt out as well as trying to cut back on how much we were spending on groceries. When you love styling food (follow along on Instagram here!) it’s easy to get caught up in wanting to add a sprinkle of hemp seeds or a dash of this or that. To be honest it gets a little expensive if you don’t keep an eye on things!
In our attempt to reduce our grocery bill, meals have become not so fancy but just as nourishing.
I felt like I had nothing to share with y’all when in fact I was in the perfect position to get creative with what I had on hand!
So often I come home late and I just want something quick and easy to whip up for my husband and I. That’s the whole premise behind A Simplified Life- easy recipes with minimal ingredients. It’s funny how sometimes life will bring you back to right where you need to be.
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While doing all the googling on ways to reduce our grocery bill (you can see my original post on how we cut our grocery bill by $200 here), I started looking into reducing my meat intake for a few reasons:
- To reduce my cholesterol levels, which are through the roof thanks to genetics even though I’m a healthy individual
- I love vegetables. Like, I can roast a tray of vegetables and be completely happy with life. My husband makes fun of me frequently for it. Roasted broccoli and cauliflower is my favorite.
- Lastly, beans and grains and nuts cost less per serving than meat.
I’m still eating meat on occasion and certainly would eat it if it was the only food option available, but I’m interested to see how my cholesterol and overall health looks at my next doctor’s appointment!
I had already cut out dairy several years ago because it makes my face break out, but even with the reduced meat intake I’m noticing my skin clearing up even more. I’m taking this b complex supplement since B12 is only found in animal products, and I’m making sure to combine incomplete proteins in order to create complete proteins (I have this infographic saved on my phone for easy reference).
As much as I’m fine with reducing my meat intake, my husband would sooner eat kale and cauliflower rice than give up meat. He’s a red-blooded meat-eating Texan through and through and I’ve recently learned that not even a breakfast taco without meat is considered acceptable.
It’s been a little tricky to try to fix him dinner with chicken or beef and me a separate dinner with beans, quinoa, etc., so I finally asked him if he would be okay with one meatless dinner a week. Surprisingly he said, “As long as it tastes good…and it doesn’t have cauliflower rice in it.” (that was hilariously his most hated food during our Whole30, which you can read about how we navigated it together here).
So here my friends, is the first meatless meal I served my husband that passed his test!
One-Skillet Spicy Lentil Bolognese: What You’ll Need
Y’all know I love a good dinner dish where I can swap around ingredients for what I have, and this one-skillet spicy lentil bolognese fits the bill. You’ll need
- Lentils
- Jar of your favorite pasta sauce (I try to go for minimal ingredient ones with no added sugar)
- Onion
- Garlic
- Mushrooms
- Red pepper flakes
- Seasonings (Depending on the flavor of your pasta sauce. If it’s not seasoned, you can add oregano, basil, parsley, salt and pepper, or just use an Italian seasoning mix)
Now the good part: the substitutions. No garlic? garlic powder works just fine. Hate mushrooms? Leave ’em out. Have some spinach that needs to be used? Throw it in there for extra greens. Not a fan of spice? Omit the red pepper flakes. THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS.
You can even cut down time by using pre-cooked lentils if you’ve got ’em.
Ready? Let’s do it.
PIN IT:
| Prep Time | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20-25 minutes |
| Servings |
servings
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- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 medium onion diced
- 1/4 cup mushroom roughly chopped
- 1 cup green lentils rinsed
- 1 25 oz jar favorite pasta sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 clove garlic minced (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
- 1 tbsp italian seasoning if your pasta sauce isn't flavored
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- pinch smoked paprika
Ingredients
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|
- Heat a large skillet (one that has a lid) over medium heat while you chop the onion, mushrooms and garlic.
- Add about 1 tsp of olive oil to the skillet and saute onions until they start to turn translucent, about 3 minutes.
- Add garlic and mushrooms, stirring to combine.
- Add in rinsed lentils followed by the jar of pasta sauce, water and seasonings. Stir to combine.
- Turn the heat up to medium high so the sauce starts to bubble, then reduce heat to medium low and cover with lid.
- Stir every now and then and simmer until lentils are cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Add a little more water if it becomes too thick. Serve over any kind of pasta you'd like!*
- This recipe calls for green lentils but red should work just as well, you may just need to adjust the cooking time.
- Feel free to add or subtract any veggies you'd like!
- *Serving with whole wheat pasta will make this a complete protein meal for vegans/vegetarians!
If you make this one-skillet spicy lentil bolognese, I’d love to see it! It brings me so much joy to see y’all cooking up these simple recipes. Tag me @jesskalesit on Instagram and use the hashtag #simplifiedeats so I can share it!
Happy August,
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