Lentils & Pasta Recipe: Budget Friendly Vegan Meals
Pasta and Lentils are a great way to incorporate protein and fiber into your meals, and most importantly, at a low cost. Budget-friendly meals seem more important than ever before, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be good for you, good for the planet, and most importantly, tasty.
To sustain our health and the planet, we’ve created a climate-friendly version of some of our favorite peasant dishes. All in all, this recipe costs $7.07 for the entire meal (not including spices or oil) or $1.18 per serving. This budget-friendly vegan lentil and pasta recipe is sure to help keep you satisfied and full for hours.
Vegan Lentils & Pasta Ingredient Spotlight
Lentils
Lentils are a member of the legume family, and interestingly enough are edible seeds. In many regions, they are a staple food, and have excellent nutrition and health benefits. Legumes are very sustainable products, which you can read more about below. Many companies also supply lentils in bulk, and without plastic packaging.
Mirepoix
A Mirepoix is a classic French cooking technique that is the aromatic flavor base for many soups, sauces, and mariandes. It’s typically made of diced vegetables and classically onions, celery, and carrots. In French cooking, butter is typically used to cook the vegetables, but oil can also be used.
Olive Oil
While many types of olive oil exist, the classification typically is associated with the extraction technique. Olive oil is filled with antioxidants and healthy fats for brain health. In order to obtain the best nutrient quality and flavor, it’s best to use a high quality oil, like the one listed below.
Lentils Sustainability & Nutrition Tips
Lentils are small, but mighty legumes. They have the ability to replenish nitrogen in the soil, and help promote biodiversity. Lentils are a key plant based protein, and use 8x less water to manufacture than animal protein. To learn more, check out this article from UC Berkley.
Best of all, lentils are a great source of nutrients. They are high in protein, fiber and micronutrients. This recipe is designed to keep you full with 7g of healthy fats and 24g of plant based protein in just one serving! By using low sodium vegetable stock, or homemade vegetable stock, we are able to keep the sodium content low. Additionally, this recipe does not contribute any cholesterol in the diet, which is universal in plant based diets.
Preparing the Lentils & Pasta Recipe
Vegan Lentils & Pasta Recipe
| Preparation Time 10 minutes | Cooking time 25 minutes | Serves 5 | Difficulty Easy |
Ingredients
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 3 oz tomato paste
- 3 cups vegetable stock or water
- 1.5 cups lentils
- 1 box elbow pasta
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive Oil
- Italian Seasoning
Assuming you need to purchase all ingredients new, this recipe this recipe costs $7.07 to make. See the table below for full recipe cost breakdown.
Instructions
- Start by heating olive oil in a skillet over medium heat
- Then add your diced celery, onion, and carrots to the skillet
- Cook until tender
- Next, add tomato paste and mix in with vegetable mixture
- Add your lentils and vegetable stock
- Mix in together and let cook until tender – about 15 minutes
- Meanwhile, in a separate pot, cook your elbow pasta until al dente
- Once the stock has evaporated and the lentils are tender, add your pasta and mix in
- Season with salt, pepper, olive oil, and oregano.
- Serve hot and enjoy!
Vegan Lentil & Pasta Recipe Budget Breakdown
Assuming you need to purchase all ingredients new, aside from spices and oil, this recipe costs only $7.07 to make. We budget our recipes this way because we know the amount per dish recipe commonly used by other bloggers isn’t always realistic.
| Ingredient | Cost | Unit |
| 1 small onion, diced | $0.78 | 1 |
| 2 stalks celery, diced | $1.48 | Package |
| 2 carrots, peeled and diced | $0.67 | Package |
| 2 cloves minced garlic | $0.47 | 1 bulb |
| 3 oz tomato paste | $0.68 | 1 can |
| 3 cups vegetable stock or water | $0.00 | Bouillon cube |
| 1.5 cups lentils | $1.99 | 1 bag |
| 1 box elbow pasta | $1.00 | 1 box |
| Salt | To taste | |
| Pepper | to taste | |
| Olive Oil | To taste | |
| Italian Seasoning | To taste | |
| Total | $7.07 |
Recipe Variations
- Make this recipe with no oil by deglazing the pan with stock.
- In place of vegetable stock, you can also use a bouillon cube.
- Option to add diced tomatoes or capers.
Other Budget Friendly Vegan Recipes
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