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This Lentil Sloppy Joe Cornbread Casserole is a hearty, family-friendly comfort food casserole that combines vegetarian sloppy joes with Southern cornbread!
This Lentil Sloppy Joe Cornbread Casserole post is brought to you by Canadian Lentils as part of their #LoveALentil campaign. #sponsored
Our family loves its meat and potatoes. If I tell them that we will have a meatless dinner tomorrow night, I will hear them moan and groan and whine all day and then they will refuse to even taste dinner.
So what do I do? I don’t tell them it’s vegetarian! I just told them I’m making a sloppy joe casserole with a cornbread topping! Then they look forward to it. They will taste it and love it and ask for seconds because who doesn’t love sloppy joes or cornbread!
Yes, after they taste the Lentil Sloppy Joe Cornbread Casserole they figure out it is vegetarian, but then they don’t care because it tastes so good! It is hearty, tangy, and comforting!
I used Canadian Lentils, which is a key ingredient, and one reason this Lentil Sloppy Joe Cornbread Casserole is so good!
I learned that Canada is the largest producer and exporter of lentils in the world. These days in the U.S., lentils are almost as common as rice or quinoa.
Lentils are quick to prepare compared to other types of dried beans, which is one reason they are so popular. They easily absorb all the wonderful flavors of the seasonings and homemade sloppy joe sauce.
It is nice to know that lentils are high in fiber, protein, and iron so you can feel good serving this to your family.
Let’s face it, if you love beans and cornbread, you will love this Lentil Sloppy Joe Cornbread Casserole!
To cook 1 cup of lentils, just add 2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook for about 20 minutes and then they are ready to add to any dish you want, including this Lentil Sloppy Joe Cornbread Casserole!
Then you can add all the ingredients for this awesome homemade sloppy joe sauce. It starts with chopped onion and garlic sauteed in a large skillet.
Then you can add the ketchup (I used a tomato based chili sauce), plus diced tomatoes, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and cajun seasoning and let it simmer so the flavors more fully develop and combine. (A printable recipe, with all the amounts of ingredients, is included at the bottom of this post.)
Then you pour the sloppy joe mixture into a pan and make the cornbread.
I recommend making my Easy Homemade Buttermilk Cornbread, but you could also use a cornbread mix and follow those directions to make the cornbread.
I took the photo above to show that the cornbread mixture is poured on top of the lentil sloppy joe mixture in the pan.
When it comes out of the oven, the cornbread topping should be a light golden brown and you should be able to stick a toothpick in the middle of the cornbread layer and have it come out clean.
This Lentil Sloppy Joe Cornbread Casserole looks like a pan of cornbread until you dig in and get to the lentil sloppy joe layer.
It is ok. Go ahead and dig in! You will love it!
This Lentil Sloppy Joe Cornbread Casserole may not be the prettiest casserole but it is out of this world delicious!
This Lentil Sloppy Joe Cornbread Casserole is one that your whole family can enjoy for a meatless weeknight dinner or for a Sunday supper! Try it and let me know how your family liked it!
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Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried lentils
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 cup ketchup or tomato-based chili sauce
- 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
- 1 batch cornbread batter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×9 square baking pan with cooking spray.
- In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add water and dried lentils. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to medium and cook for about 20 minutes.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the chopped onions for about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add the ketchup (chili sauce), tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and Cajun seasoning. Stir until combined.
- Continue cooking until the sauce is heated.
- Pour the lentil sloppy joe mixture into the baking pan.
- Top with the prepared cornbread batter.
- Cook in a preheated oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the cornbread is golden on the edges and cooked through.
Jara says
This looks amazing! Hope to try soon.
Melissa says
I saw a recipe for sloppy joe cornbread casserole and I googled lentil cornbread casserole, was brought here, yay! Great easy recipe and link to your other recipes. Btw, I think traditional Worcestershire sauce has fish sauce in it, so a no go for veg heads like myself. I will make this for my meat enthusiast boyfriend.
Michele says
Hi Melissa,
I’m so glad you found our site, and like the recipe. Thanks for the information on the Worcestershire sauce. As a substitute for regular Worcestershire, My blogger friend, Sandra, over at the The Foodie Affair, has a recipe for a Vegan Worcestershire sauce that you could use instead. https://www.thefoodieaffair.com/vegan-worcestershire-sauce/
Kylen says
So good! I subbed soy sauce for wostershire to make it vegan, and did about 3/4 cup ketchup and 1/4 cup franks after running out of ketchup – turned out great.
I cooked the onions in a cast iron, and after mixing the rest of the filling in, I put the cornbread mixture right on top of the mixture and popped the cast iron in the oven – took closer to 30-35 minutes for cornbread to be done.
Loved how easy this was to make with pantry staples!
Michele says
Hi Kylen,
I’m so glad you liked it. Thanks for the comment. Using soy sauce instead of Worcestershire is a great tip to make it vegan.
Thanks,
Michele
Louise says
I think I could have omitted some of the chili sauce and drained the diced tomatoes better. As it was I only used half the tomato sauce, and there was too much liquid — I had to pour some of it out to be able to fit in the pan. Baking now with a sheet pan under it, as I’m afraid it will spill over into my oven. I think it’ll taste good, but will tweak more if I make again. Love the idea of the meat substitution.