Recently when I made Curried Ginger & Raisin lentils, I mentioned how much I loved Manwich growing up.
I tried to loosely replicate Manwich in my last lentil recipe, Ketchup & Mustard Lover’s Protein & Veggie Mash. But no matter how much ketchup I added, it just wasn’t Manwich.
Sometimes it’s fun to re-invent the wheel, like making Raw Vegan Gluten-Free Girl Scout “Samoas” Cookies.
Other times it’s not so fun, and you use what you know is tried-and-true, such as a can of Manwich. Which is exactly what I did. Manwich is vegan according to many internet sources. Google it.
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Vegan Sloppy Joes with Lentils & Beans (Bun-less)
Ingredients
1 c dry Green Lentils (green lentils are much heartier and firmer than red which turn to mush much easier)
1 can beans (I used red kidney)
1 can Manwich
Optional: 1 to 1.5 c diced Vegetables (I used carrots and broccoli)
Optional: 1 med/large Potato (the potato helps to absorb any excess liquid since there is no meat to “soak up” the Manwich. Skip/reduce potato amount as desired.)
Optional: Chili powder, cayenne, cumin, garlic, onions, tomatoes/tomato sauce, salsa, salt/pepper, EVOO, all to taste
Directions
Cook 1 cup dry lentils with 2 cups water on stovetop (Bring the lentils and water to a boil, then cover and reduce heat). Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until lentils are cooked.
While the lentils are simmering, cook the potato in the microwave. (Large potatoes in my micro take about 8.5 to 9 minutes, turning potato over once midway through cooking.) Dice the cooked baked potato into large chunks.
Once the lentils are cooked, add the everything except the cooked and diced potato and stir. Simmer for 5-10 minutes on low heat, covered.
Then, fold in the (delicate) cooked potato chunks.
Stir to combine, and serve. (Being gluten free, I did not buy buns. This would be great on buns, or even scooped up with chips)
Yields: Dinner for 3, plus leftovers for two more meals.
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Here’s a Visual Guide
After the lentils are cooked, add in everything except the potato. Stir, cover, & simmer for 5-10 minutes
Fold in the cooked & diced potato
Serve the Bun-less Lentil Joes on buns, with chips, or as-is. Simply next to a salad.
The recipe is a one-pot meal, vegan, gluten free, ready in less than 30 minutes, makes planned leftovers, is packed with protein, and is cheap to make.
And oh yes, helps satisfy my childhood Manwich memories. Minus the meat and gluten.
The potato, beans, and added veggies help to “beef up” the recipe. Pun intended. Even my Man (wich) didn’t miss the meat. He wished for buns, but oh well, next time.
Planned leftovers are my savior.
Check out my One-Pot Meals for a round up of recent lentil, rice, potato, veggie-bakes, casseroles, and recipe ideas that are variations on this theme.
From my last post, I’m glad you enjoyed Averie’s Alphabet. It was fun hearing what your alphabet answers were.
Dessert: Wash your Lentil Joes down with Raw Vegan Chocolate Macaroons. Dehydrator or oven-friendly.
Questions:
1. Do you like Sloppy Joes? Or Manwich?
I loved them as a kid. I rarely ate meat as a child (just a personal preference thing from a very young age) but one way my mom could entice me to eat meat was when it was covered in Manwich. The meat didn’t ever digest well, but I sure loved the sauce.
I am still a condiment lover. Big time. I like a little food with my sauce.
2. Do you have a favorite Sloppy Joes recipe?
I posted links to a couple of them as well as other lentil recipes, here, that I’ve seen and need to try. Including the PPK recipe Snobby Joes.
3. Do you have any foods from childhood that no matter how much you grow up, you just have to have that particular food?
Yes! Things like Sloppy Joes and Girl Scout cookies come to mind.
TGIF gang! Any plans for the weekend yet?
You just went up some serious cool points in my book for using manwich.
Hamburger Helper, Friday fish fries, my gandma’s 7 layer bars, Potato chips with French’s sour cream and onion dip, jello, bacon wrapped chicken nuggets (my favorite meal frowing up), baked pizza burgers.
Can you tell I’m from the midwest? ;)
manwich = MN and WI childhoods for sure
ALL of these are my childhood too: Hamburger Helper, Friday fish fries, my gandma’s 7 layer bars, Potato chips with French’s sour cream and onion dip, jello!! YES!
I recently made the “Sloppy Josephines” from PeasAndThankYou.com and whiel they were very good for what they were, something authentically-Sloppy-Joe-ish was missing. LOTS of sauce (tomato paste, tomato sauce, Worcestershire, soy) in the recipe, but, despite the chili powder, the spicier-meat-taste was missing. Perhaps taco seasoning would have helped. Again, everyone loved it — and though the texture was right, just didn’t taste to me that much like Sloppy Joe’s, which I did enjoy on occasion as a kid!
Oh, and BBQ sauce was in there, too!
thanks for the review and info. I saw her recipe and rather than reinventing the wheel, i just cracked a can of (vegan) manwich. Thanks for the detailed info!
Awesome job, this recipe looks wonderful! Ah yes on trying recipes, I have a few work-in-progress ones that hopefully I’ll get right one day. :-)
1. They’re okay, but huge sandwiches tend to be gut bombs for me. I would serve it as a side and not in a bun.
2. Not really, I’ve tried a few in the past.
3. Probably cereals, I have such found memories of Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops, etc. But I haven’t had those in ages. Oh, and tempura because we used to have family tempura nights around a fryer.
gut bombs. SO TRUE. Thus, sans-bread for me.
Isn’t it funny that I just assumed Manwich had meat in the sauce because that’s what it shows on the can? Wow. I have never had it–obviously :) xoxo
i know, learn something all the time, right!
Haha, I am going to have that Manwich jingle stuck in my head the rest of the day :)
I love sloppy joes — my parents used to make them all the time — with Manwich of course. Never knew it was Vegan — you learn something new every day!
Childhood foods: I’ll always love pancakes since my dad used to make them every Sunday, and stuff like mashed potatoes/gravy/stuffing from holidays always bring back memories of being a kid.
Have a great weekend Averie!
all parents in MN made lots of sloppy joes i think :)
I have a sloppy joe recipe that I loooove! It’s called “unsloppy joe” because you’re supposed to fill kaiser rolls with it, but I just eat it like a regular sloppy joe or, even better, I’ll stuff a baked sweet potato with it. Here’s the recipe: https://allrecipes.com//Recipe/unsloppy-joes/Detail.aspx
You can sub different vegetables to tailor it to your liking.
thanks for the recipe
How interesting that Manwich is vegan?? I never would have thought that! I didn’t even know what it was I always assumed it was sloppy joe mix and it had meat. Good to know! This looks awesome. I am a HUGE lentil fan :-)
yep, vegan! :)
Hey girl! This is my sloppy jane recipe- the flavor is awesome and it could not be easier: https://www.itzyskitchen.com/2008/08/fast-sloppy-lentils.html! I had no idea manwich was vegan- how cool!
I do like sloppy joes. I used to make a version with soy crumbles, but I need to do the lentils now. Yours looks perfect!
I’ve tried PPK’s version and it was pretty good. I love your simple, one-pot meals! There are some secret family recipes that I’ve grown up eating that I’ve tryied to veganized and they came out pretty delicious!
thanks for the info/review on PPK and the compliments on my one pot simple meals!
I’ve never had mamwich before.. but I’m pretty sure I’d like it.
Sometimes, I crave instant mashed potatoes with margarine. Total comfort food that reminds me of my grandmother.
Haven’t had a Sloppy Joe since high school. I don’t really miss them either. I think my parents served them because it was a quick & easy way to feed 3 growing kids.
Childhood foods: rice pudding (the way my granny made it)
LOVE this idea! Definitely going to give it a whirl and I’m going to the store immediately for the ingredients for the dessert (it’s just that kind of day!) Love your blog, glad I stumbled by :)
thanks for stumbling by :)
I just made your Ketchup and Mustard Lovers Veggie Mash – it was great and I will post about it soon!
I used to like sloppy joes when I was little and when I was older I pretty much avoided them but recently I did have a craving for a sloppy joe type sandwich.
Christmas Cookies bring me back and Apple Pies around Halloween, my mom would always made homemade apple pie after we picked them from an orchard.
Thanks for letting me know you liked the K & M Lover’s Veggie Mash :)