I’ve made this a few times and the kids always love it. There are so many different variations of this dish so get creative! You can make this with or without the spinach and tomato addition. A few people said they used the leftovers as dip! I used it (in my next post) for Leftovers Lasagna! Enjoy!
Cheezy Rice & Lentil Bake
Cheezy Rice & Lentil Bake (with Spinach/Tomato/Quinoa option!)
INGREDIENTS
3 cups low sodium veggie broth or water
3/4 cup uncooked lentils – I used green lentils
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice or quinoa
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 Tbsp italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
* 10oz package frozen spinach (optional)
* 1-15oz can diced tomatoes, drained OR 1 box Pomi chopped tomatoes, drained (optional – you could use 1 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes here too!)
** Cheeze recipe below
Possible additions – artichoke hearts (add to the spinach version!), 1 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes, soaked for 30 minutes (instead of Pomi or canned), green chiles, red pepper flakes, use leftovers from Spinach Artichoke Dip instead of the LowFat Nacho Cheese…
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients except the cheese in a baking dish (I use an 11 x 7 for the original recipe – used a 9 x 13 with the spinach and tomato addition).
3. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes – (the quinoa/lentil/spinach took about an hour)
4. Make the cheese sauce before the time is up – takes about 5 minutes.
5. Remove the foil, add the cheese (recipe below), stir well and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
** If using tomatoes, add them in and stir 5 minutes before it’s done.
Low Fat Vegan Nacho Cheese
Ingredients
¼ cup raw cashews – I soaked mine for a few hours first
⅔ cup non-dairy milk – I used unsweetened almond milk
2 tsp yellow miso paste
½ tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp arrowroot or cornstarch
¼ cup roasted red bell peppers – I use a whole one from the jar
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp black pepper
a dash of cayenne pepper
Cheese Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a food processor or Vitamix type blender and process until smooth and creamy.
Cheezy Quinoa & Lentil Bake made with spinach and tomatoes – stir all ingredients in one pan before baking!
Make your cheeze sauce!
Quinoa & Lentil Bake – ready for cheeze and tomatoes!
Add in cheeze sauce and stir
Put back in oven, uncovered
Add in tomatoes 5 minutes before cook time is done
Yummy!
Quinoa & Lentil Bake with Spinach & Tomatoes
Kid Tested Firefighter Approved 
OMG, I can’t wait to make this, and your avocado pudding. Thanks so much! 🙂
Hope you enjoy it!!
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This was fantastic! The cheese has a nice nacho flavor. I ended up blending some spinach and kale in my food processor with a little bit of the broth (since my little girl does not like the texture of greens much), then comibined it and baked like the recipe says. She gobbled it up!!! My husband ate his in sprouted taco shells and loved it. Thank you for another yummy recipe!
I have only tasted the first part of the recipe and the cheeze sauce on it’s own, but it’s good enough to leave a reply already…OMG! I think it’s funny that the ad at the bottom of your blog says that “This recipe would be better with pork sausages” added in. : ) I think not. You have a big winner on your hands with this one! Thanks for everything.
So glad you enjoyed it! Unfortunately, I have no control over the ads. A few interesting ones pop up, that’s for sure! 🙂
Just a quick (stupid) question on this recipe…..you are supposed to defrost the frozen spinach first, correct?
About to make it.
Thanks!
Natalie
Hi Natalie!
No need to defrost the spinach. Hope you liked it! 🙂
Winner Winner Brown Rice and Lentil Dinner!!!! Wow, it packs the flavor!!! All three of my kids came back for seconds after slurping down the first round in five min. The arrow root I can tell is a must for this recipe I will be adding it to my pantry soon. The sauce doesn’t thicken well if you skip it…i used flour in its place…and baked a bit longer texture was lovely. I didn’t have miso paste either…so I’m going to get that as well, and I look forward to making this again…and again!!!
Hooray!! 🙂
Hi April
When the recipe says green lentil, do you mean green French lentils? Or just regular lentils? Also, my firsts attempt came out kinda soupy (I drained off some of the liquid) , so I wanted to verify that 300 (not 325) is the correct oven temp? The taste is wonderful though and my hubby wants me to make it again. Thanks!
Regular green lentils but I’m sure those would work too, just check them before the time is up to make sure they don’t overcook. Yes, 300 is correct but your oven may be different? Were the rice or lentils crunchy? Maybe too much liquid? Let me know, we will figure this out!!
Yes, the rice, French lentils and spinach were not cooked at 1 hour 10 minutes. (Lentils and rice were crunchy.) I cooked them 10-15 minutes longer before adding the cheese sauce. After cooking with the cheese sauce for about 15 minutes, I spooned out some of the extra liquid and added the tomatoes. The taste was great, though, so I’m definitely going to make this again using regular green lentils and a bit less liquid. We live at a high elevation, where liquids boil at lower temperatures than at sea level. That might explain everything!
Love the recipe! Made it tonight for not just my kids and husband but my dad too, they all loved it!! Thanks for sharing!
I made this yesterday. I did add the spinach but left out the tomatoes. Omg!! Sooo delicious! I loved it! Thanks for sharing!
Do you cook the rice and lentils before adding to the casserole, or do you put them in uncooked and then bake? If so, do you soak your lentils first?
No soaking or cooking needed! Just put them in, they’ll cook in the baking process! 🙂
agreed with other comment. No way 300 is high enough for this. Mine cooked covered in an oven with my own thermometer inside (regular reads spot on to setting) for 1:30 with still too much liquid and hard lentils/rice. Still cooking as I type so I can’t speak to flavors but something’s definitely off on directions (unless I’m off, which is possible but I don’t think so in this case). Eagerly awaiting ultimate results once I can get it cooked, though. Desparately trying to find multi-ingredient dishes for 2.5 yo twins…
Ovens vary so use whatever temp works for you. The age of your lentils makes quite a difference too, especially if you’re buying them from the bulk bins (from what I’ve noticed). 🙂
Thank you for a great recipe. We really enjoyed it. I accidentally added the tomatoes at the beginning, but it still came out fine. Next time I will follow directions better 🙂 The Italian seasoning was a little strong for me. I think I will cut it back a little, or just replace it with basil.
This is a pretty fool-proof recipe so you’re good! Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for the great recipe. Do you have any other suggestions for the cheese sauce?
You mean things to use instead of the cheese sauce? Maybe tomato sauce?
This is in the oven (I have it at 350) as I type this! I goofed and put in the tomatoes already (woops) so I hope it doesn’t turn out icky. Sure looked delish! I didn’t have miso or roasted red peppers, so I made a cashew cheese sauce I like using just cashews, garlic, nutritional yeast, salt, chilli powder, and red pepper flakes (with water). It calls for more cashews (a pound) so it is plenty thick. I’m eating some with pretzels right now. Hooray up casserole! I want to devour you!! 🙂
I made this yesterday, oh my gosh – delicious and SO easy to make. Thanks so much!! Tracy
So glad you enjoyed it!! 🙂