do i need to use green lentils or can i use brown ones?

We used red lentils and it was fantastic! We also toned down the chili powder to 2 tablespoons to suit our spicy tolerances. Another great recipe from PPK. Please keep them coming!

I didn’t have any chili powder so used cayenne pepper, herbes de provence, and kosher salt. Used brown lentils. The maple syrup seemed like a lot but it came out perfectly!

This looks really good. Ive been meaning to try this. It looks almost as good as the roasted eggplant muff(something or other) than was in Veganonicon.

Just made this for dinner. Sinfully good!

I was a little worried about the mustard and syrup but they made this recipe sooooo much better. These “Snobby Joes” rock!!!

Just made these and LOVED them. Even the carnivorous men in the house liked them and had seconds!

THIS WAS AWESOME!!! I’m not even sure how I ran across your website yesterday, but I know that I’ll be checking it out regularly for future recipes. Thanks so much. :)

Just made this… and it ROCKS! My kids LOVE it… I am just hoping there are leftovers for me when I get off of work!

I would love to make this recipe but am currently living in Buenos Aires, Argentina and maple syrup is actually unheard of here. There are specialty places I can go to get it but instead of spending a fortune for a theoretical one-time use is there anything I can substitute it with? Thanks so much!

This served as inspiration for a very popular meal the other evening — I had leftover basic pasta sauce, lentils, but no mustard, syrup, or tomato paste and no desire to drag myself to the store to go shopping. Thus we had deconstructed “meatball” sandwiches and my daughter took it for lunch the next day and actually ate it.

I love the site and stop by often for recipes and inspiration!

This is totally amazing, husband and kids all loved it! I will definately make this again! thx:)

This is *fantastic*. It took everything I loved about sloppy joes (lots of tomato, some spice, a little tangy-ness and a hint of sweetness) and made it even better. I used some sweet and hot mustard that gave it a nice zing and I think I might try adding some cayenne pepper next time. I’m definitely glad that I made a double recipe…

Yum! I just made this tonight and it was really good!

If you substitute a jar of salsa for the tomato sauce, it adds a nice amount of spicy.

i did like these with my normal extreme dose of ketchup. But…. the texture was really weird to me. Any suggestions?

Made this for dinner tonight as the recipe is written, though the time to cook my lentils was shorter; I watched them closely to make sure they didn’t get too mushy. It’s very good, but next time I will scale back on the tomato paste or maybe leave it out or bump something else up so it’s not quite as tomato-y. All in all, will make again- thanks for a great recipe!!

These turned out very yummy. I used vegetable broth instead of tomato sauce. I also made some extra lentils and cooked them with taco seasoning for tacos. They were amazing!

In regards to the texture Molly, I mashed mine up some. Probably half mashed, half whole. I think it helped.

SO SO GOOD!!! better than regular sloppy joes — tons of flavor and no yucky dripping grease. And REALLY easy… this is definitely going into my regular rotation.

my omni husband even loved these! I’m making a huge batch to take with me to a party this weekend. Thanks Isa, you rock!

Oh hell YEAH!! Our omnivorous household LOVED these. We used the leftovers to make Snobby Tortas. Just added some diced potatoes, shredded cabbage, avocado and copious amounts of hot sauce. Mucho gusto!

Delicious! But I had a hard time getting my lentils as tender as I would have liked, even after twice the recommended cooking time. This seems to happen when I buy them in the bulk foods section. Any tips or tricks?

i substituted honey for the maple syrup (which i suppose is not vegan, but cheaper, for my vegetarian & omnivorous brethren) and it was PRETTY MUCH THE BEST THING I’VE EVER EATEN EVER. tons of leftovers and cost like $3 to make!

oh, and Jan, i soaked my lentils first for maybe 4 hours. it cuts down the cooking time considerably. :)

I’m from Australia, and am not too sure about some of the ingredients you’ve mentioned. When we say Tomato Sauce, we mean Ketchup. Or something similar. When you say it, do you mean a passata or something? Because I’m pretty sure if I used our tomato sauce it would taste… not how you intended.

I just made this and it is awesome! I cook for 1 though – does it freeze well?

Heather, tomato sauce is not ketchup. It is like really cooked down tomatoes, to a sauce consistency. In the US, it’s bought in a can. Probably a marinara spagetti sauce could be substituted, if you don’t want the trouble of cooking down fresh, peeled and seeded tomatoes yourself.

These were great! I made a second batch this week because I thought it was that delicious. And it is cheap!!!!!

this was yummy , mustard and maple syrup is what barbecue sauce is people , its not a dangerous combination !! hehe

The other day I ran out of tomatoe sauce and used tomatoe soup in a can , and tasted exactly the same :D

Awesome, thanks Michele and Danny – I wanted to cook it as soon as I read it, but if I had made a mistake with that it could have scarred me :) But I made the tomato sauce by cooking down some tinned tomatoes, and it was DELICIOUS. YUMTIMES. Also used honey because over here actual maple syrup is about the same price as gold. Thanks for the tips guys!

Hey Heather, I’m from Adelaide and since honey is not a vegan food and maple syrup is ridiculously expensive you could try using agave nector. You can pick it up at most organic food shops – very available in Sydney and Melbourne. But I also order it online from Bio-Distributors a company from Tasi. You use a bit less than honey and buy in bulk so it goes a really long way. I think the cruelty free shop also has it – they have good cheese and chocolate too. Wishing we had more of a veggie way of life here. Hope you come back to read this. Cheers, Clare.

A number of your recipes have been on my “must try” list for quite some time, but this is the first one I’ve tried. It’s SO good I’m afraid I might eat the whole pot before dinner tomorrow! You really created some amazing flavors, with really easy ingredients. Can’t wait to try the others!

This is absolutely divine. It’s a staple for me now.

One Tbsp mustard—dry or wet mustard?

Awesome recipe! Best sloppy joes I have ever had. Previously used ground Boca beef – this lentil recipe is much better. I can also envision eating these lentils over rice as a main course. Thanks so much.

Just found your website after reading your comment on wheat free meat free and I am so glad I decided to check it out- you have such easy but tasty food, I love it! Thanks for sharing

Really looking forward to trying this out! Your recipes are amazing (just got Vcon on my kindle)

FYI – For all of the non-US people on here tomato sauce = passata =D

What a great idea! I can’t wait to try!

These came out really good. I used half green, half red bell pepper and since I have seen Ancho chili powder called for in few of these recipes, I got that instead of a mixed chili powder. I like spice, but I think 3 tbsp was approaching the saturation point for this particular chili powder. On the other hand, it’s been about 4 days since I made this, and it has mellowed out in the fridge and tastes absolutely lovely now. I have been eating it with tortilla chips and it’s to die for. I imagine this would be an excellent quick and dirty curry base, using different spices. So good–must make more!!

This makes a fantastic pasta sauce too!

Finally got around to making these again at my daughter’s request, but this time I soaked the lentils first. (Thanks, AC, for the tip!) Fabulous! My husband was a bit reluctant to eat this batch because of the lentils’ tough texture last time, but he was pleasantly surprised and said they were quite tasty. So now this will become a staple at our house.

I have been making this for over a year now and it is without doubt one of my favorite meals! I usually make it with brown lentils and love having it with mashed potatoes, wonderful comfort food! Thank you so much for the recipe!

So my fiancé and I were craving some sloppy joes but of course were both vegan and it’s hard to find a recipe without meat. But I figured why not google vegan sloppy joes? I’m so glad I did because your recipe came up! I just made it for dinner and it wad amazing!!! It was fiancé approved and will definitely be making this on the regular. Thank you for this fun recipe!:)

Holy vegan-cow, these were delicious. I haven’t had sloppy joes for about 15 years, so I can’t say whether or not they tasted like sloppy joes. But, they did taste amazing. I really like that it had a lentil-base instead of a faux-meat base.

even though i am a vegan, i never had a lentil sloppy joes before, but i have to admit: it’s great! love it! :D

Just made these…haven’t had a sloppy joe in 4 or 5 years and thought these were amazing. First time cooking lentils and may have overcooked them just a tiny bit but they’ll only get better from here. And I agree with Rebecca, I really appreciated that this wasn’t all about some soy product. Thank you! Thank you!

I made this & completely loved it! I think I will soak the lentils next time. It tasted exactly as I remember Sloppy Joe’s tasting.

Made this recipe last night and it is AMAZING! We added a bunch of hot sauce for a little more spice :) Hubby’s vote: Tastes just like a sloppy Joe… We’ll be making this recipe a LOT. Fast, Cheap, Easy and Tasty= perfect. Thanks for sharing!

Translating this to German for my host family. Your recipes have officially gone into other languages. (: Oh, and THANK YOU for Veganomicon, my bible.

I didn’t have enough of the chili powder, so I used 1 T regular chili and 2 T chipotle …. that gave it a super kick. And I only had a red bell… I think the green would have been better. BUT, these bad boys are sooooo yummy! Thank you!

YUM! Thanks for another great recipe! After a full year of being vegan, it’s gotten much easier, and your recipes have given me some great ideas and have been a huge help !

After making this tonight, the hubby proclaimed “Honey you have GOT to quit cooking like this! I ate way too much.” Converting my former meat and potatoes man to a vegan diet has been much easier with your help!

I made these for a work party and everyone asked for the recipe, they were so surprised that it was good so its a good meal to give to vegan phobes ahaha……I only did 1 tbs of chili powder because the 3 are a little over powering for me…..sooooo yummy!!!

LOVED this!!! So good, so easy, so cheap.

Wow…I made this yesterday (slight modifications: one TBS maple syrup, 3 TBS spicy brown mustard, added extra garlic, onions and threw in mushrooms) and aside from a bowl’s worth, I ate the entire thing throughout the day. I’m making it again tonight! DELICIOUS, filling, satisfies even the heartiest cravings! Thank you!!!

nice! i don’t have any maple syrup but i do have molassas and that might give it a little bit of a smokey taste… maybe with a little smoked paprika?

I am making this in approx. 10 minutes & I’m getting just a little excited. I’m totally using red peppers & putting it on caulipots & then eating until I barf.

These were so delicious! I think even nonvegetarians would like this dish, although my kids were not into it(but I don’t think they particulary like traditional sloppy joes).

I have made these at least four times now and they never disappoint. I never liked ‘traditional’ sloppy joe’s, but I crave these. I found I prefer red, yellow or orange peppers to the green for the slight sweetness they lend. Isa, thank you so much for making it sooo easy to eat healthy!!

Oh my goodness! I love this recipe!!!

This was delicious! Even my meat loving husband went back for seconds.

I couldn’t resist including this recipe in my top eight vegetarian comfort food recipes roundup! http://blog.mixbook.com/8-tried-and-true-meatless-comfort-food-recipes/

I’m so glad that I found your website! I made this tonight for the first time and no longer crave my old “dead animal” sloppy joes. Thank you! Sooo delicious!

Holy sweet mother these are spicy! I am wondering if I have a crazy batch of chili powder since nobody else commented how spicy they are, yet my hubs and I (who both like spicy foods) could barely eat them! I will make again soon with very little chili powder, but from what I could taste, they are awesome! :)

Great Recipe! I changed something for convenience. Instead of letting the mixture cool for 10 minutes, I tossed everything together in a crock pot and let it cook on low for 3 hours. This turned out quite amazing.

I don’t know how you keep coming up with awesome recipe after awesome recipe, but I’m glad you are! This was delicious and hearty.

3 Tablespoons chili powder sounded too much for me so I put in 1 tablespoon and it was still crazy hot. How do you guys do it?! I made a new batch with 1 teaspoon and it was just right, very spicy still but I could still feel my mouth!! Delcicious recipe.

Delicious! For those complaining about the spice level, the 3 T chili powder called for in the recipe is American chili powder , a blend of spices including dried chili peppers, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, & salt. It is not straight up dried chili peppers only, which would be quite spicy, but instead a mild spice blend.

Paula – thank you, that explains it! yes I was using straight chili powder! omgosh I was thinking you guys over there must have iron mouths!

This is going to be my first vegan recipe I will try with my family, I’m so excited to start this new chapter in my my life and the life of my children!! Great website!

Thank you so much for your recipes!! I made your black bean soup from Veganomicon last night, and made this for dinner tonight! I am pregnant and was worried about my protein intake and your recipes have been fantastic for leaving me satisfied and meeting protein requirements!!

This is the first recipe I’ve made from PPK and it was awesome! Thank you so much. I served it on Rudy’s sprouted grain buns with a light, crunchy cabbage slaw and spicy pickles. Thank you for an easy and tasty recipe that I will definitely be putting in regular rotation!

I added some carrot shreds and julienned the peppers and onions and it had the look of a pulled pork sandwich! My newly Vegan daughter raved! She loves these recipes, and I appreciate the not to hard to find ingredients!

These were SOOO good. I also put on fresh banana pepper from the garden and yummy! Someone asked about not getting lentils soft enough. I’ve been cooking and loving them for years and discovered that the “simmer time” has to be a good simmer – not quite a rolling boil, but on a HIGHER TEMP than for what you would typically think with the word “simmer”. They can take it! Hope that makes sense and helps!

Jackpot! My family is relatively new to vegetarianism, and have been searching for substitutes fr our favorite comfort foods. This one is for sure a winner. I love the spicy notes, hint of sweetness, and texture of the lentils. Thank you s much for sharing your passion for food with us!

Thanks for such a great, foolproof recipe. I’ve made it several times with many different subs, but always with delicious results.

Cooked this tonight, I really scaled back on the spice and it was still way to spicy for me (I put in half tbsp of chili powder and half tbsp of cayenne pepper and still too much). However I happen to have cooked the Spinach component of this recipe:

http://www.theppk.com/2012/04/jerk-sloppy-joes-with-coconut-creamed-spinach/

… as a side and WOW it made it tasted sensational! What a synergy of flavours! If you make this I really recommend making the Spinach recipe about with it, you won’t regret it!

What will the ratio of dry beans equal if I use canned lentils?????

Added just a tablespoon of curry (for my taste). It’s amazing either way! I eat it on Romaine lettuce.

whoever came up with this recipe is a genius. we haven’t even eaten it yet, it is finishing up on the stove, but the smell alone is worth rave reviews.

Used red lentils and red onion. Insanely delicious. My husband couldn’t stop raving about it.

I made these with French lentils, added a half can of el pato sauce, and used brown sugar instead of maple syrup. Delish!

I made this last night…. All I can say is out of this world! I added some red wine because I wanted it a little more liquidity, I used chipotle chili powder, that was a little too spicy for my husband. I ate it on
a bed of iceberg lettuce, that cut the spice. I recommend for even us who still eat meat…

i made this for my NYE dinner last night, was DELICIOUS, i served it between a panini which had been split and toasted on a griddle pan after lightly “buttered” with Vitalite (UK vegan spread). I made my own chilli powder blend and was very pleased with how it turned out using 4 tsp paprika and 2 tsp smoked paprika, 1tbsp cumin, 1tbsp oregano, 1tsp cayenne, 2tsp ground coriander, 1tsp garlic powder (in the UK as i learned to my detriment chilli powder is just ground hot red chilli’s, so i decided to make some US style blend!). I subbed soft dark brown sugar in for maple syrup as my syrup had gone bad, and I made tomato sauce by cooking a box of passata down on the hob. my meat eater husband thought it was delicious too. good job!!

I’ve made a similar version of this in the last and we called them Sloppy Lens (for Lentils)! I can’t wait to try your version with a few new ingredients that I haven’t used in the Lens before. Your recipes are always awesome- so I’m sure this will be no different :)

Made this with TVP instead of lentils. It was soo good! Loved it!

I used red rentals, red bell peppers and added some cumin and smoked paprika. It’s great on a slice of bread, on a roll or by itself!

Oh my sweet lord, these were INCREDIBLE! I highly recommend! Just to add to the overwhelming amount of praise already collected here.

Well, Chandra, I was skeptical to say the least. I made these tonight with my 12 year old non-vegan niece. I thought she would hate them….she said on a scale of 1-10, she gave them a “SOLID NINE”. That is high praise indeed. The addition of the mustard and syrup is inspired. What a delicious meal we had. Thanks for sharing your gift with us.

Sorry, Isa, I left off your first name….oops.

I made this and it was really really good. The only change I would make is to cut down on the maple syrup by half as it was a tad too sweet. I made extra and took it to work and ate it without a bun, warmed up all by it’s lonesome. It stands alone fantastically.

Just made this with some vegan cornbread and it was so good! I had to keep myself from eating out of the bowl! I have loved every recipe I have tried off this site – and I’ve tried quite a few! This site has so many easy and delicious recipes AND they’re all affordable! Great recipe and I can’t wait to try another tomorrow!

Just made these today with black lentils and they were super delicious! Glad I have leftovers for later. You are a kitchen genius Isa!

Very simple to make and equally delicious! Serve these on home made burger buns and you have a healthy, cheap, and tasty dinner!

I have to leave a comment because I think I’ve made this a million times. It’s a kid-tested, easy, you-already-have-everything favorite. thank you for this recipe!

I’ve made this before and I’m planning on making it again tomorrow night to impress a “gentleman caller” with my cooking skills. :D

Lord knows it disappears rather quickly whenever I served it at parties.

I’ve been making these regularly for a while now – they’re absolutely delicious! I didn’t realize that we had the ‘Extra Hot’ variety of chili powder, so I nearly killed us the first time, but once I got the spice level sorted out I fell in love with this recipe. The other night I baked some portabello mushrooms and used those as ‘buns’ and it was one of the best things ever.

This was amazing. I added mushrooms sauteed in balsamic and it was so delicious. I think I liked this more than my boyfriend, but he had his heart set on the pasta I was originally planning. ;) I think next time, I’ll bake these in biscuits and add some soy cheese on top. A++ recipe!!!

Made these for a dinner party with omnivores at home, and they were a hit! We all agreed the flavors were perfect. I made a double batch, and my only alterations were (1) not quite doubling the water for cooking the lentils–I only used 6.25 cups–and (2) I only have half the amount of chili powder called for so I used a taco seasoning blend for the remainder. I trust your recipes I completely! So much so, I dared to try out on my omni guests. Thanks for sharing, Isa!

Was not having the best day, until I found this recipe. I went immediately to the store to pick up a few things that I did not already have. Delicious! i love these “snobby joes” absolutely made my day! thank you

As a newbie vegetarian I can’t not wait to try this!!! Since my whole diet revolves around lentils…a way to spice em up a bit!!

I wish I had liked these. It is a great recipe as far as ease is concerned. I am not sure what I didn’t like. My husband said it would be good as a side dish instead, my son, who is six, ate most of it and then said he didn’t like it and wished it had meat in it. I could taste a lot of mustard, so perhaps I will cut the mustard in half or out completely and try a different mustard. I love the website and will definitely try other recipes. Sorry.

Good idea for my Latino vegetarians…try this stuff inside some folded or rolled tacos for some some good old Mexican tacos. Amazing with some shredded cheese and avacado or sour cream…hehe