Easy and one-pot are two attributes that I really like in a meal, especially when I’m tired or short on time.
One of my very favorite one-pot meals is a very loose recipe that I make depending on what veggies we happen to have in the fridge. With rice and lentils as the staples, it’s very filling and frugal, too!
The recipe I’m sharing today isn’t something set in stone. Take a look at it, then when you want to make it, take a look at what is in your fridge. Chances are, you can make something really tasty without having these exact ingredients.
Certain ingredients you want to be sure to have. Lentils, rice, and broth for sure. The canned or boxed tomatoes are pretty important, but if you didn’t have them, you would just need to add extra water or broth.
But when it comes to veggies? The possibilities are endless! Use your imagination and think of the vegetable combinations you like in other dishes. You could make this Tex-Mex style, Asian style, or Italian style depending on the veggie combinations you create.
To get you started, this is a version that we recently enjoyed. It’s very filling, so healthy, and really easy on the budget.
Easy One-Pot Rice, Lentils, & Veggies
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter, coconut oil, or other heat-stable fat
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 cups chopped carrot
- 3-5 cloves garlic, minced (we do 5 cloves)
- 2 cups whole grain rice (brown, black, red, or other)
- 2 cups brown lentils, rinsed and sorted
- 1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 large 26 oz. can or box of diced tomatoes (I love the Pomi brand from Vitacost! No BPA lining in the boxes. PS! Use my Vitacost referral link and get $10 off your first purchase of $30 or more. I’m a frequent Vitacost shopper and love the prices and selection!)
- 1-2 cups water
- 1 large bunch of kale, sliced
- 2 cups chopped mushrooms
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 1-3 teaspoons salt, to taste
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- Cracked pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot, sauté onion in butter over medium heat until lightly browned. Add the carrot and sauté an addition few minutes.
- Add the garlic and rice and sauté while stirring often for a couple of minutes. Add the lentils, broth, tomatoes, and 1 cup water. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 20 minutes.
- Add the vegetables and seasonings, cover, and cook for an additional 20 minutes or until the rice is tender. Check the dish to see if additional water is needed.
- Season with additional salt or pepper to taste, and enjoy!
Even with this big array of veggies, my children gobble up meals like this. If your children are a bit pickier when it comes to veggies, try sprinkling some cheese over the top.
If you want a more stick-to-your-ribs kind of meal, you can certainly add some cooked meat, too!
Lots of meals like this are featured in The Frugal Secrets of Real Foodies, an ebook I co-wrote with four other frugal foodie friends. If you’re looking for whole food, family friendly, and easy-on-the-budget tips and recipes, this ebook is for you!
Is there an easy one-pot meal you like to turn to? What veggie combinations do you think your family would enjoy?
This looks very similar to one of our family’s easy one pot dinners. We usually add sweet potatoes, but I haven’t tried the mushrooms and rice. I might have to try that next time! I love how flexible this dish is, so you can just use what you have at the time, and it’s so easy to make!
Yes, I love it for those same reasons, Shannon! When I make a huge dish of it like in this recipe, it feeds us for days, too.
My version is pretty simple. First 1 inch of lentils in the pot. Sort and rinse. The add water to the 3 inch level. Dice the onion and add to the pot. Scrub 4 potatoes and cube or add 1 or 2 cups barley. Add water if the pot needs it. Clean up 6 carrots, slice and add. Chop up leftover meat, ham or hot dogs and add. Add water if the pot needs it. It’s almost ready to serve.
Set the table with salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese, then eat.
I do my food prep as I go, starting with what takes the longest to cook down to the shortest cooking items. Usually, when I’m done adding ingredients, my lentils are done! Still trying to get my family to see how this works AND keep an eye on the water level to keep it from getting burned… Sometimes my lentils explode! What do I mean? Sometimes they expand more than other times.
I have been looking at ways to use kale, this might be one way to get it in! Thank you for the idea!
Ooo, I like the twist on using barley in this recipe! What a good way to use a unique grain. 🙂
Variations of this recipe are favorites in our home! Four of my children can whip this up on there own! We use beans instead of lentils sometimes, and they really like it when we throw some organic chicken sausage in as well! We especially love it with curry and cayenne. We also love it with cheese. 🙂 We use Pomi boxed tomatoes as well, but I did not realize they could be ordered from vitacost! I am going to check that out! Thank you, Kristen. By the way, we call it “Skilly and Duff”. My daughter read the Redwall books years ago and that is a meal mentioned often in there so we made what we thought that might be 😉
Skilly and Duff… that’s cute!
The chicken sausage sounds like a really yummy addition, too!
This looks really good and is the kind of meal I need to make more of to stretch our grocery budget!
Yep, Lisa, this is perfect for getting a lot of bang for our grocery buck! 😉 It’s good for cleaning out the fridge and pantry, too.