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Lentils with sweet potatoes, easy vegan spiced lentil dinner

  • EspaƱol
Portions: 6 servings

Calories: 354kcal

This aromatic, comforting, filling and light lentils with sweet potatoes recipe will be your new meatless favorite. It combines lentils, sweet potato, spinach, and carrot with a wonderful fragrant spice combination that makes it so very comforting and filling.

Why I ā¤ļø it • Recipe • Ingredients • Preparation

Lentils and sweet potatoes.

Lentils with potatoes.

Why I ā¤ļø it

Serve this delicious lentil with sweet potatoes dish, and you will be making it again soon. There's so much going on here, so let me unpack it for you: very nutritious, light, easy to make, inexpensive, and tastes even better the next day (yay for leftovers!).

If you have the suspicion that I have borrowed more than a little inspiration from Indian cuisine, you are right. I have. I love their spices, so I incorporated some of my favorite ones into this dish.

Lentils with sweet potatoes recipe

This free recipe contains Amazon affiliate links, and I receive a small commission when you purchase, at no cost to you. Thank you!

Learn how to make spiced lentils with sweet potatoes and carrots in a aromatic, comforting, filling, and light vegan dish.

Course: Dinner, Lunch
Inspiration: Vegan, Vegetarian
Category: easy lentil recipes, quick vegan lentil recipes, vegan lentil curry, vegan lentil recipes no soup
Author: Clara Gonzalez

Prep Time6 hours hrs 10 minutes mins
Cook Time15 minutes mins
Total Time6 hours hrs 25 minutes mins

Utensils and tools

  • Mortar and pestle
  • Large skillet
Lentils with sweet potatoes.
Lentils with sweet potatoes.

Ingredients

  • Seeds from 12 cardamom pods
  • ½ teaspoon of peppercorns
  • ½ teaspoon of chili flakes
  • 1 teaspoon of coarse salt
  • ¼ cup of olive oil, divided
  • 6 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 large white onion, diced
  • 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
  • 1½ pound of sweet potatoes, (orange or purple), diced
  • 2 large carrots, diced
  • 1 cup of minced fresh spinach (optional, see notes)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cups of dry lentils
  • 2 cup of vegetable broth, divided

Preparation

Before starting, please make sure you have all the ingredients and utensils ready.

Step 1: Combine spices

Combine cardamom seeds, peppercorns, chili flakes and coarse salt. Crush with a mortar and pestle until it is ground.

Step 2: Sautee

Heat half the olive oil in a large skillet over very low heat. Add garlic cloves, and the mixture prepared above. Cook and stir for 30 seconds or until the ingredients release their aroma.

Add the onions to the skillet, increase the heat to medium-low, and cook and stir until the onions turn translucent.

Step 3: Season

Stir in the turmeric powder, sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, bay leaves and lentils. Stir until everything is well mixed.

Step 4: Simmer

Pour in half the vegetable stock, and mix well. Cover and simmer until the liquid has evaporated (stir every 3 minutes or so to prevent it from scorching).

Add the remaining stock, cover, and simmer (stirring frequently) until the carrots are cooked.

Step 5: Serve

Remove from the heat and drizzle with the remaining oil. Serve (see suggestions below).

Variations

You can make this same recipe by substituting potatoes for sweet potatoes. You can also use whatever kind of sweet potato you find, though be mindful that cooking times and flavor may vary slightly.

Kale also makes a great substitution for spinach, and if you don't like either, you can leave it out.

Top tips

  • If you would prefer it so, don't let all the stock evaporate in the end for a more curry-like consistency, this is perfect if you serve it with rice.
  • If you, like me, love spicy food, add more chili flakes, as much as you want. This recipe produces a very mild spicy dish.
  • Make sure the spices and garlic do not burn at any time of the process, as they will turn bitter.

Serving suggestions

You can eat this dish alone, or with some salad, or – my favorite – some white rice. Check these other inexpensive options too.

Lentils with sweet potatoes.
Lentils with sweet potatoes drizzled with olive oil.

More meatless recipes

  • Arroz primavera vegetable rice pilaf.
    Arroz Primavera Vegetable Rice Pilaf
  • Pineapple rice.
    Easy Pineapple Rice Recipe
  • Cheesy zucchini and potato bake.
    Easy Cheesy Potato Zucchini Casserole
  • Cranberry rice.
    Festive Cranberry Rice Recipe

More: meatless recipes legumes recipes dinner recipes

Nutritional information

Calories: 354kcal - Carbohydrates: 50g - Protein: 18gFat: 10g - Saturated Fat: 1g - Sodium: 335mg - Potassium: 830mg - Fiber: 21g - Sugar: 5g - Vitamin A: 3590IU - Vitamin C: 11.4mg - Calcium: 59mg - Iron: 5.4mg

FAQs

What kind of lentils should I use?

You can use either green lentils or red lentils equally. Just be mindful that the cooking time may vary.

Print card

This is just a printer-friendly summary, some useful details are found in the recipe above.

Print

Spiced Lentils with Sweet Potatoes and Carrots

Ingredients

  • Seeds from 12 cardamon pods
  • ½ teaspoon of peppercorns
  • ½ teaspoon of chili flakes
  • 1 teaspoon of course salt
  • ¼ cup olive oil divided
  • 6 garlic cloves crushed
  • 2 white onion (large), diced
  • 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
  • 6 of sweet potatoes (or medium-size potatoes of your choice), diced
  • 2 carrots (large), diced
  • 1 cup minced fresh spinach
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cups dry lentils
  • 2 cups vegetable broth

Instructions

Step 1: Combine spices

  • CombineĀ cardamom seeds,Ā peppercorns,Ā chili flakesĀ andĀ coarse salt. Crush with a mortar and pestle until it is ground.

Step 2: Sautee

  • Heat half theĀ olive oilĀ in a large skillet over very low heat. AddĀ garlic cloves, and the mixture prepared above. Cook and stir for 30 seconds or until the ingredients release their aroma.
    Add theĀ onionsĀ to the skillet, increase the heat to medium-low, and cook and stir until the onions turn translucent.

Step 3: Season

  • Stir in theĀ turmeric powder,Ā sweet potatoes,Ā carrots,Ā spinach,Ā bay leavesĀ andĀ lentils. Stir until everything is well mixed.

Step 4: Simmer

  • Pour in half theĀ vegetable stock, and mix well. Cover and simmer until the liquid has evaporated (stir ever 3 minutes or so to prevent it from scorching).
    Add the remaining stock, cover and simmer (stirring frequently) until the carrots are cooked through.

Step 5: Serve

  • Remove from the heat and drizzle with the remaining oil. Serve (see suggestions below).

Notes

If you, like me, love spicy food, just add more chili flakes, as much as you want. This recipe produces a very mild spicy dish.

Nutrition

Calories: 354kcal

By Tia Clara, published Mar 6, 2013 on Tia Clara

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  1. Sahar

    February 09, 2014 at 11:43 pm

    I'm new to lentils and I've seen several different types. What kind of lentils should I use?

    Reply
  2. Magda

    March 16, 2013 at 10:53 pm

    5 stars
    Yes, please! This was really good, but then I love anything with lentils.Thanks for the meatless recipes!

    Reply
  3. Suzanne Perazzini

    March 07, 2013 at 6:23 pm

    Sweet purple potatoes in anything add a lovely shot of unexpected colour.

    Reply
    • Tia Clara

      March 07, 2013 at 7:27 pm

      Frankly, I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out much better than I thought it would.

      Reply
  4. Amity

    March 06, 2013 at 6:55 pm

    What a great post. Can't wait to try it.

    Reply
  5. Amanda

    March 06, 2013 at 6:37 pm

    It was a great dinner, very lovely flavors and aromas.

    Reply
    • Tia Clara

      March 07, 2013 at 7:20 pm

      Thanks, Amanda. I am very happy you liked it.

      Reply

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Hi, I'm TĆ­a Clara! I have been a recipe developer, and recipe writer for 20+ years, and here I share my easy recipes you'll love.

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