Oh, January. Your detoxes, cleanses, juice fasts, diet commercials, and cellulite cream jeans are starting to get on my nerves. Just so you know I’m tuning you out, so don’t bother trying to lure me in with 6 easy payments or strict diet plans. It’s just not my thing. My approach to January – or any other month for that matter – is to eat food that makes me feel good and less of what doesn’t. But this approach doesn’t really sell, does it?
Soup, chili, and casseroles – these are the warm, comfort foods on my mind most days. Today, I’m sharing my take on maple baked beans, using hearty, chewy lentils for a fun twist. Lentils may seem boring to many, but I find them just the opposite. Their subtle flavour can blend into just about any vegan dish. Much like tofu, lentils are a great canvas for many different flavours, spices, and cuisines. I even adore them plain with a dusting of Herbamare and splash of vinegar. It’s a rather homely snack, but I’d devour the entire bowl before noticing.
Adding more fuel to my lentil loving fire – Canada is the world’s largest producer of lentils. It’s in my blood, eh? Their relative proximity, along with being a super cheap protein source, make them a regular staple in my diet. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they are nutritional powerhouses too. One cooked cup provides around 17.86 grams of protein, 6.5 mg iron, and 15.64 grams of fibre (source) making it a stick-to-your-ribs plant food that can go the distance. Pair them with Vitamin C rich sweet potato and you’ll boost your iron absorption even more.
Maple Baked Lentils with Sweet Potato
Yield
4-6 servings
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
My spin on maple baked beans using hearty, chewy lentils! A bit of apple cider vinegar rounds out the sweetness of the dish and I encourage you to adjust the amounts to your own taste as you may like more or less pop from the vinegar. Serve this over some toasted bread, or even with a salad, and you have yourself a budget-friendly vegan meal during the peak of winter. To save on cook time, make the lentils beforehand and simply mix everything together and pop into the oven.
Ingredients
- 2 cups dry green lentils
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 sweet apple, peeled and diced (I used Gala)
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced small*
- 14-oz can diced tomatoes (about 1.5 cups)
- 2.5 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
- 2 tsp regular mustard
- 1/2-1 tsp fine grain sea salt + ground pepper, to taste
- 1-2.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar, to taste
Directions
- Rinse and drain lentils. In a large oven-safe pot or Dutch oven*, add lentils along with 4 cups of water. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low-medium and simmer for about 30 minutes, uncovered, stirring often. Add more water if necessary. Lentils are ready when they are just tender (but not mushy) and most of the water is absorbed.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Add onion, garlic, apple, sweet potato, tomatoes (with juice), maple syrup, blackstrap molasses, mustard, salt, and pepper to the pot with the lentils. Stir well to combine. Add half of the apple cider vinegar (you’ll add the rest later if desired).
- Cover with lid (or tin foil in a pinch) and bake at 375°F for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover, and stir. Bake for another 8-12 minutes, uncovered, until the sweet potato is tender. Stir in the rest of the apple cider vinegar if desired and season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.
- Serve over toasted bread or with a salad.
Tip:
If you don’t have an oven-safe pot or Dutch oven, simply transfer the mixture into a casserole dish and cover with tin foil before baking.
Dice the sweet potato small to decrease cook time.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
What are your favourite vegan comfort foods?
This looks AHH-mazing! Cannot wait to try it!
I agree-lentils are the best comfort food and work great in many dishes that call for meat preparation (stews, casseroles, hummus). My all-time favorite use for lentils is in my grandmother’s Lebanese lentil soup, which I have eaten and loved since I was a child (I suppose I was destined to be vegan from the start). Your reference to maple baked beans reminded me of a woman who was seated at our dinner table on a cruise and kept referring to her unwanted lentil side dish as “beans”. I had to restrain myself from chuckling at the mistake (and from scooping the “beans” off her plate and onto mine :) ).
poor little lentils heh
ps- Im now googling Lebanese lentil soup
I agree that the photography is gorgeous, very rustic, which I love! I could eat lentils the way you described, plain out of the pot. I boil mine with Herbamare and a bay leaf, so good!
I also adore hummus and will eat it plain with just a spoon (or my finger!).
Oh this looks so yummy!!! I love warm foods in the winter and lentils are great!! One of my favorite comfort foods is curry — definitely love curries :) and also oatmeal. I am on a serious oatmeal kick lately mixing peanut butter, chocolate, molasses, a touch of maple syrup, crumbled up bread/muffins, and flax milk. I’m obsessed its crazy! I also added your freezer fudge to oatmeal recently and it was awesome!
I need to bring a winter comfort food dish to a potluck. I’m bringing this one! Thanks!
What would the equivalent measurement be if I used canned lentils instead? (Btw, I absolutely adore your blog and recipes!)
Hey Kathryn, I think 1 cup dry lentils makes around 2-2.5 cups cooked? So you’d need roughly 4-5 cups cooked lentils. Hope this helps!
This is exactly the sort of food I crave this time of year. I appreciate that this is a fairly simple recipe, with things that I always tend to have around the house. I’m excited to try it! Plus, one of my favorite vegan comfort foods is lentil soup!
Who knew lentils could be so stunning? Beautiful photos and a delicious looking meal. I didn’t know about the lentil + Canada connection, but that’s awesome too. Definitely bookmarking this one. I love the addition of molasses, mustard, and ACV. Yum.
A Dutch oven?! Please enlighten this Dutch girl!
Hey Marielle, you can find it on Wiki. Never seen it before too! Strange, isn’t it? Hahaha!
What an education! Shame on us, he? :) Of all people, we should have one of those lying around! I’ll check my grandma’s storage room, just in case… :P
Interesting :) So tell me what do you call them? Cast iron pots or something else?
Have you ever seen a Dutch Oven before, Marielle? I sure didn’t! It looks a bit like a Hans and Gretel’s witch pot to me :). But sorry Angela, I don’t have a name for it. Cast iron pot is a good name, I guess :).
No, never! And it does look like something from a fairy tale. There are plenty of websites though, trying to bring back this ‘ancient’ way of cooking. Very in line with all the conservatism going on these days ;) But I would also go with cast iron pot, they look quite similar.
It’s funny how some things are apparently Dutch and I had no idea. Like Dutch processed cocoa. I have no idea whether the cocoa brand I use is Dutch ;) or what Dutch processed even means. I thought the only thing we did well was bipartisan politics (we do that “well” at the moment though) and building dykes, re-claiming land. And develop television programmes..Mmm… I should reconsider my patriotism ;)
Hahaha! Yes, funny isn’t it! And when traveling abroad they frequently ask my husband and I if we use drugs. We use what!? Eeeh, no thanks! :) About the Dutch cocoa, I asked myself the same question. Maybe there are mostly blends in Canada/ USA, with sugar or milkpowder in it or something? Not sure eighter….
Dutch process cocoa is alkalized cocoa. It has a neutral pH, as opposed to the acidic pH of regular cocoa. It doesn’t mean it has sugar or milk powder.
This looks delicious! I have a butternut squash sitting on my counter at home so I think I’ll swap the sweet potato in your recipe with the squash and try this recipe out tonight.
I have a butternut that needs using too. Please let us know how your swap turns out.
I’m not trying to ruin what looks like the PERFECT comfort food meal… but what about baking some kale or spinach into those lentils along with the sweet potatoes? Would that be a weird texture?
Oh yea that would work Im sure :)
I love when I already have all the ingredients to one of your recipes. Plus, I live in Chicago (we’re hitting single digits next week), so this will be coming out of the kitchen VERY soon.
Thank you!
It’s getting chilly here too -perfect time for warmer foods! Its been so mild here so far this winter.
Sold. Lentils first timer over here!!
Nice, let me know how it goes
yep gonna make this tomorrow night :-) my girls love sweet potatoes :-) we are loving lentils, I made a delicious lentil taco salad filling last week, definately a go to meal in our house. tasted soooo yummy.
my favorites are veggie soups!!!
Maple baked anything is always a win and I bet your house smelled amazing! I am loving that earthy, grainy, texture-filled loaf of bread too! The perfect kind!
Wow – how did you know those ingredients are just what I picked up at the grocery store yesterday (with no intent in mind)? I’m putting it in the meal rotation for this weekend. :)
I also greatly appreciate and empathize with your reaction to the January fads. How crazy would it be to see an infomercial touting that yes – it’s January – as good as a time to make a fresh start as any! Here are some small steps you can take on a lifetime path of wellness! And you don’t have to send us any money!
Heeeeey girl, whatta winner you have here, MUST do! OMG, I sooo wanna add something like cauliflower…and/or brussels sprouts or something – what do you think?
Much love!
Karen
I think you should post the recipe for the amazing bread in those photos!!! By the way, yay Vegan Canadian Women! :) Even in the small city Im from in Ontario its nice to know there are other proud vegan canadians out there! :)
Hey Angela! Absolutely love your website. It’s my go-to for amazing food and I always direct people to it. If I don’t have the blackstrap molasses, will it make a huge difference? Any suggestions for modifying the recipe? Thanks and hope you stay warm!!
Thank you Christina!
Generally maple baked bean recipes are made with either blackstrap molasses or regular molasses. I really can’t comment on how the flavour would change by omitting it or subbing it for regular molasses as I’ve only had it this way. If you try anything let me know how it goes! Goodluck.
I used brown sugar in place of molasses. It was the only thing I didn’t have! It’s still in the oven baking up, so I’ll come back to report later!
Erica, How did it come out with the brown sugar substitute?
Yum! I want to lick the screen. This is my favorite way to eat and two of my favorite foods!
Delicious! I made this exactly to the recipe….next time I will add more sweet potato! I wasn’t able to get the nutrition value. Can you repost it for me?