Winter Squash and Lentil Loaf

Winter squash and lentil loaf is a delicious recipe that’s easy on your budget. The taste is reminiscent of standard meatloaf with the benefit of being meat free. Best of all you can fit it into your meal plan by roasting extra squash and lentils for planned leftovers OR you can take advantage of convenience items in the store and purchase jarred, prepared or frozen ingredients.

Winter Squash and Lentil Loaf is vegan comfort food

The recipe comes from Clean Eating Veggie Girl. I mentioned her blog in my Flexitarian Lent post and finally got around to making her version which uses butternut squash. I chose the planned leftover approach. I roasted a pumpkin-like winter squash with thyme over the weekend to serve with a meal and reserved about a cup and a half to use for this recipe. I ended up with not quite a cup after pureeing. Likewise I cooked a batch of lentils with onions, carrots and celery and saved 2 cups for this recipe and turned the rest into a simple soup. I feel super efficient when I get mileage out of ingredients, plus I used some of the dried legumes from my bean stash.

If you decide to go with jarred or canned lentils, consider sauteing some onions and carrots to add to the loaf. They add a lot of flavor.

The seasonings used by Hannah for her lentil loaf inspired my choices. I especially liked the addition of nutritional yeast and soy sauce to up the umami level. In my family we always added ketchup, mustard and chopped onions to our meatloaf so they’re included in the seasonings as well.

Oats bind the whole thing together without the need for eggs or egg substitutes. The smaller pieces found in instant oats are what you’ll want to use. If you don’t have them, give your steel cut oats a whirl in the food processor to cut them into pieces (not powder!) Keep the food processor out to puree the squash and lentils, too. No need to wash out in between.

Winter Squash and Lentil Loaf

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Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: Vegan, vegetarian

Servings: 4 servings

Author: LydiaF

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain oats (use instant or chop up enough whole oats to yield one cup)
• 2 cups prepared lentils (mine were cooked with carrots, onions and celery)
• 3/4 cup pureed winter squash (used canned or process roasted squash into a puree)
• generous squirts of ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce (whatever you like)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce I used tamari
• 1 - 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning or other herb blend you like

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and prepare a baking dish with cooking spray. (I used a large square pan, but a loaf pan or forming the mix into a loaf shape on a baking tray will also work.)
• Whirl the oat in a food processor if necessary and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
• Blitz the lentils in the same food processor. You want to see some whole lentils among the pieces. Transfer to the bowl with the oats.
• Use the same food processor to puree the squash and add the puree to the mix.
• Season as suggested with ketchup, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, etc or use your preferred seasoning.
• Use a sturdy spoon or your hands to mix everything together.
• Pat the mix into the baking dish and smooth it out.
• Bake for 45 - 60 minutes until firm. You can cut into it to judge if it's done enough. You want it to hold its shape but not be dried out.
• Cut into pieces and serve.

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Winter squash and lentil loaf has a nice texture and tastes great. The squash also lends a nice color to the loaf. The leftovers reheat well and can even be sliced and pan fried.