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One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans and Rice

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A healthy, vegetarian, gluten free dinner the whole family will love! You won’t miss the meat in this easy to make, One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans and Rice!

A healthy, vegetarian, gluten free dinner the whole family will love! You won't miss the meat in this easy to make, One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans and Rice!Is it really already Monday again? I never feel like I have enough time on the weekends during the holiday season to get everything done that I need to. Between shopping, decorating, baking and get togethers it doesn’t leave much time for relaxing or meal planning.

Luckily I have slew of easy recipes, many of which can be made in a single skillet or pot, like this One Pot Cheese Mexican Lentil, Black Beans and Rice. Along with being a one pot meal it’s also vegetarian and perfect for meatless Monday!

A healthy, vegetarian, gluten free dinner the whole family will love! You won't miss the meat in this easy to make, One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans and Rice!I’ll be honest, we don’t follow meatless Monday very often in our house. My husband almost always wants meat with his dinner, unless he’s having a big plate of pasta. Pasta is fine every once in a while, but I don’t eat it often because I usually feel super bloated afterwards.

When I eat meatless I prefer to not just do straight carbs, but rather a mix of protein and carbs. Pulses just happen to be the perfect solution!

Many people have no idea what pulses are and up until a year ago I wasn’t familiar with the term either. Pulses are delicious, protein-packed, sustainable foods known as dry peas, chickpeas, lentils and beans.

A healthy, vegetarian, gluten free dinner the whole family will love! You won't miss the meat in this easy to make, One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans and Rice!They are a great source of protein and fiber as well as being lower in fat than many types of meat. I chose to use lentils and black beans in this one pot meal for a couple reasons.

Both are full of iron. One serving of black beans actually has more iron that a 3 ounce serving of flank steak! Iron is important, especially for women and even more so for female athletes. Not having enough iron in your diet can leave you feeling tired and low on energy.

Along with the nutritional aspects of using pulses in this recipe I also love the flavor and texture they add. Black beans have a nice creaminess to them and paired with the chewy and heartier lentils it makes for a great meat substitute.

A healthy, vegetarian, gluten free dinner the whole family will love! You won't miss the meat in this easy to make, One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans and Rice!When I served this One Pot Cheese Mexican Lentils, Black Beans and Rice to my husband I was skeptical if he would like it. Turns out he loved it! I can’t tell you how glad I am that I now have a few meatless, pulse filled meals that we can both enjoy.

2016 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Pulses (“IYP”). The goal has been to increase awareness of the many benefits of pulses, including their nutritional profile, environmental and sustainability benefits, affordability and potential to address global food security.

I encourage you all to take the Pulse Pledge if you haven’t already. It’s simple! Just commit to eating pulses once a week for 10 weeks. Check back next week for another awesome pulse recipe and learn about how versatile and sustainable they are as well!

One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans and Rice

One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans and Rice

Yield: 5 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
A healthy, vegetarian, gluten free dinner the whole family will love! You won't miss the meat in this easy to make, One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans and Rice!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 of a yellow onion, diced
  • 1 clove of garlic, grated or minced
  • 1/2 cup uncooked long grain brown rice
  • 1/2 cup uncooked French green lentils, rinsed (red or brown lentils may also be used)
  • 2-3 cups low sodium vegetable stock
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle powder (optional)
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
  • 15 ounces black beans (canned), rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 cup fire roasted tomatoes, drained
  • 4 ounces diced green chiles (canned)
  • 1 small zucchini, shredded
  • 1/2 cup frozen corn, defrosted
  • 1 cup red enchilada sauce
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheese, I used sharp cheddar and part skim mozzarella
  • Cilantro for garnish (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat a large pot or saucepan over medium high heat.
  2. When the pot is heated spray with cooking oil and add in the onion and garlic.
  3. Sauté for a couple minutes then add in the brown rice and lentils.
  4. Add in the vegetable stock, stir and bring to a boil.
  5. Once boiling, cover and reduce the heat to low.
  6. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until lentils and rice are tender.
  7. If there is any excess liquid drain it.
  8. Season the rice and lentils with salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and chipotle powder.
  9. Add in all of the remaining ingredients except 1/4 cup of the cheese and stir together.
  10. Heat the mixture until the cheese is melted.
  11. Top with the remaining cheese and cover with a lid.
  12. Heat on low until the cheese is melted and the mixture is bubbly.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 5 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 498 Total Fat: 14g Saturated Fat: 8g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 5g Cholesterol: 39mg Sodium: 1274mg Carbohydrates: 65g Fiber: 18g Sugar: 11g Protein: 30g
© Recipe Runner
Category: Skillet + One Pot Meals
 

Thanks to USA Pulses & Pulse Canada for sponsoring this post. As always all opinions are my own.

A healthy, vegetarian, gluten free dinner the whole family will love! You won't miss the meat in this easy to make, One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans and Rice!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  6. B

    December 13, 2016 at 10:22 am

    Great meatless Mon. Dish. I made half a recipe and only had a little left. DH said 3-4 times last night how good it was. Definitely a make again meal. Your picture looks like it has corn but not in the ingredient list.
    Reply

    • Danae

      December 13, 2016 at 5:56 pm

      Hi! I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the Mexican lentils! There is corn in the recipe, thanks so much for catching that for me. I've fixed the recipe and it's now listed in the ingredients.
      Reply

    • Danae

      January 12, 2017 at 3:12 pm

      Thanks for trying the recipe Sarah and I'm glad you and your family enjoyed it! Serving with chips is always a good idea when Mexican food is involved. ;-)
      Reply

    • Danae

      July 28, 2017 at 1:11 pm

      Hi Deepa, You could try using salsa instead of enchilada sauce. It should work, although I haven't tried it this way. Homemade is always good to if you have the time, there are lots of great recipes out there. I currently don't have one posted on the blog.
      Reply

    • Heather

      May 17, 2018 at 5:12 pm

      We didn't have enchilada sauce. I made the easiest sauce ever. 1 3/4 cups hot water, an envelope of Taco flavouring and one can of tomato paste (the small one). Mix with a whisk. I only used a cup for this recipe so I'm freezing the rest to make this recipe again.
      Reply

  15. Delaney

    August 22, 2017 at 2:38 pm

    I hope you see this comment- just saw this recipe on Buzzfeed! Do you think it would keep in the fudge for a few days as a meal-prep option? :)
    Reply

  17. Layne

    September 25, 2017 at 7:28 pm

    We just started Meatless Mondays and this was a hit! I do think, however, that everything could simmer together rather than mixing the other half of the ingredients in the end (besides the cheese.) Which leads me to this question- have you tried this in a slow cooker or an Instant Pot?
    Reply

    • Danae

      September 27, 2017 at 11:28 am

      Hi Layne, Happy to hear the Mexican lentils were a hit! I haven't tried making this in my slow cooker (still need to get myself an IP), but if you try it I'd love to hear how it turns out.
      Reply

  18. Kimberly

    September 27, 2017 at 9:02 pm

    I’m wondering how it would turn out to substitute quinoa in instead of rice for a few less carbs and more protein?Anyone try that?
    Reply

    • Dianna

      November 14, 2017 at 9:40 pm

      Havent tried it yet, but am planning on subbing quinoa. My thought was to cook it seperately, then add it, already cooked, during step 9 with remaining ingredients. Im concerned the quinoa could be mushy if it sits to cook for 40min with the lentils - this is my solution. We’ll see!
      Reply

      • Trish

        December 18, 2018 at 5:23 am

        I’m feeling the same way with the french lentil...In my experience they only take 12 minutes to cook! I made them often at least twice a week! So Im scare that it will get muchy if I cook it with the rice! So should I cook it seperatly ??
        Reply

  19. Lynn

    September 30, 2017 at 8:29 pm

    Made this tonight. We loved it! Nice to have some more easy vegetarian options. I love lentils but don't have enough ideas of what to do with them. Thanks for a great recipe!
    Reply

  21. Ligita

    October 17, 2017 at 4:02 am

    Perfect recipe. It tasted very good, not very dificult to make. I didn't have enchilada souce so just used canned tomatos with spices. Worked pretty good. I'm not vegeterian but make few days per week meat free. This dish is perfect replacement.
    Reply

  22. Brittany - The Anchored Kitchen

    October 26, 2017 at 12:55 pm

    This looks awesome. I had no idea lentils etc were referred to as pulses. Good to know. I agree with Meatless Mondays, it's hard to get my husband on board. Can't wait to try this one out. I would never have thought of using the lentils in there. Great idea!
    Reply

  24. Nic

    November 16, 2017 at 12:53 pm

    Hello! This recipe looks delicious! I'm more so a green enchilada sauce fan, do you think sub-ing the red sauce for the green would totally throw off the flavor profile? Thanks in advance!
    Reply

  26. René

    January 1, 2018 at 8:47 am

    This looks very interesting, but where I live I won't find all ingredients in cans or under the same name. The chili powder I have is about as hot as ground chipotles, so 1 (US) teaspoon would probably make this dish hotter than you intended (and my wife will support). Could I use ground red bell peppers (paprika) instead? Idem for the green chiles; should those be green jalapeños or similar, or green bell pepers? As a general guideline, is native (New) Mexican cuisine about as hot and spicy as Szechuan or South-East Asian cuisine (which is the impression I get from recipes and the few ingredients I do manage to get locally)?
    Reply

    • Danae

      January 3, 2018 at 8:32 am

      Hi René, If your chili powder is similar to chipotles, I would probably start with a 1/4 teaspoon and if you want it spicier add more. Paprika won't really add any heat unless it's Hungarian hot paprika, but a combination of the chili powder you have and paprika might be good. If you don't have green chiles available I would again maybe use a combination of jalapeños and green bell pepper. Unless you are using canned jalapeños it's hard to say how spicy the fresh ones will be until you taste it and I would hate for you to find yourself with a bunch of spicy ones and have the dish be too hot. New Mexican cuisine can be spicy depending on how hot the chiles are. They vary from mild to hot. I wouldn't say this dish as I made it is particularly spicy, maybe a 3 or 4 on a scale of 1-10. If heat is a concern I would recommend the substitutions I suggested above. Hope it works out for you!
      Reply

  28. Laurie-Anne Ranger

    January 25, 2018 at 5:22 pm

    We really enjoyed this vegetarian meal. I doubled the black beans and omitted the corn. I used half salsa and half taco sauce that I blended together instead of the red enchilada sauce. I will make again.
    Reply

  29. Laurie Kaye

    February 19, 2018 at 5:12 pm

    Was all set to make my usual humongous pot of Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili, then stumbled on this recipe and happened to have everything on hand, so gave it a try instead, optimistically doubling it for plenty of leftovers. Added chopped tomatillos and extra spices including ground coriander (cilantro), spicier canned diced tomatoes for added heat, and less (half) cheese...outcome was really a nice surprise - delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
    Reply

  30. Kirsten

    March 12, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    Just tried this tonight- INCREDIBLE. I couldn't find enchilada sauce at the grocery store and didn't want to make any, so I used half a cup of tomatillo sauce instead. I also diced the zucchini, and added diced green peppers. I'll do the same next time, as this turned out absolutely perfect. Thank you so much for this recipe, I'll be making it again soon!
    Reply

  31. JesB

    April 11, 2018 at 1:06 pm

    I love this recipe. This is one of those clean-out-the-fridge recipes because I almost always have the ingredients and it's still delicious. It's also really adaptable. Thanks!
    Reply

  32. Erin

    April 21, 2018 at 11:49 am

    I made this for my brother, who is a vegetarian. It was fantastic, super easy to throw together, and a great thing to make to feed a large family of people. I bought tortillas for everyone to make their own taco out of this and served it with a side of plantains cooked in coconut oil. Thank you for this great dish! It was yummy.
    Reply

  34. Heather

    May 17, 2018 at 5:17 pm

    This was phenomenal! So good. I've been trying to make more meatless meals and this one made me realize why. Thank you!
    Reply

  35. Coconut

    June 16, 2018 at 6:30 pm

    Thanks for sharing, will be making it this week! A few things though: If the lentils are uncooked, shouldn't you leave them in a bowl of water over night? Also, this is very similar to the way we cook rice in my country (Spain. We normally use a ratio of 1 part of rice to 1.5 parts of water, maybe it helps somebody! Thanks again!
    Reply

    • Danae

      June 20, 2018 at 2:18 pm

      Lentils don't need to be soaked unlike other legumes. They cook in approximately 30 minutes or so and should be tender when the rice is. Thanks for sharing the rice cooking method you use too! :-)
      Reply

  36. Tiff

    July 13, 2018 at 6:16 pm

    We LOVE this meal. It’s so quick and easy and super delicious. It’s in our meal rotation. I’ve shared it with many others that have loved it as well.
    Reply

  37. Big Daddy

    July 25, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    Will definitely strain the rice and beans before adding other ingredients. Mine turned into soup. A extremely delicious soup!
    Reply

  38. Slicey

    July 31, 2018 at 3:11 pm

    This was so good and so easy. I didn't use any enchilada sauce and I didn't miss it. I added some sauce from a can of chipotles in adobo. I used an instant rice packet - a yellow, spanish rice blend instead of the long grain rice. Since that rice is seasoned I didn't need to add as much additional seasoning to the dish. The instant rice only takes 10 minutes to quick, so I started with the lentils first and cooked those Until they were almost done. Then I added the rice with about ten minutes left, and instead of frozen corn, I added fresh corn cut off the cob at the end. It worked really well and was super tasty. I only used about 1/4 cup of cheese and that was perfect for me. I ate some as is, then I ate the leftovers on top of tortilla chips with additional cheese for some quick nachos. This is easy and forgiving to change it up with different spices that you have on hand, or to use a pre-seasoned rice mix, as long as you pay attention to the cooking time of the lentils and rice.
    Reply

  39. Hillary Millsap

    August 10, 2018 at 5:12 pm

    How would the broth amount change if I'm using the precooked lentils from Trader Joes? (And make the rice ahead of time?) Could I use the same amount of broth for just cooking rice and then add the lentils after?
    Reply

  40. Coral

    August 22, 2018 at 6:10 am

    This was an awesome dish. Will probably have enough for several days of leftovers haha! How is it you are measuring serving sizes?
    Reply

  41. RaeAnna

    August 22, 2018 at 6:10 pm

    Oh my goodness! This was delicious. I have a vegetarian daughter and a husband who, like yours, wants meat with every meal. Everyone loved this! I added corn chips (because I need a crunch) and a dollup of sour cream. 😍😍
    Reply

  45. Mark

    January 14, 2019 at 6:35 pm

    This was delicious! Took me far longer to make then it should have, but I'm not much of a chef, even for a super-easy recipe like this. I added some red bell pepper to the onions and garlic (cause I like red pepper), but otherwise, followed the recipe exactly. This will become a Meatless Monday staple!
    Reply

    • Danae

      January 16, 2019 at 8:38 am

      Thanks for trying out the recipe Mark and I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it! Trust me, even with plenty of cooking experience I can't always get my act together and simple recipes take forever. ;-)
      Reply

  46. Debi

    March 5, 2019 at 11:28 am

    I’m a Bariatrics girl. I’m always looking for other options for protein. Thanks for this one. Where can I find other pulse recipes. That are this delicious. Meat doesn’t always agree with my little tummy. I eat it. Just having other recipes would be great. Thank you in advance.
    Reply

    • Danae

      March 11, 2019 at 1:50 pm

      If you type "lentils" in the search bar there are several vegetarian recipes using them that I love. You can also type in "vegetarian" for a whole bunch more!
      Reply

  47. Marion

    March 17, 2019 at 2:09 pm

    Just made it tonight! Healthy, delicious and easy to make, thank you! I couldn’t find all the ingredients here in the UK so I swapped a couple (e.g. a fresh green pepper instead of canned chiles), it worked well :)
    Reply

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