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These quesadillas were delicious! Easy to make. The magic green sauce absolutely makes the dish! Will definitely make this again!
Gloria
It’s time for another round of MEATLESS MONDAY!
I actually sort of get annoyed by the fact that Meatless Monday is a thing, but hooray! We’re there. We’re doing this.
This round of meatlessness features the most beautiful, yummy, vegetarian comfort food in all the land: QUESDILLAS! I’m talking about crispy golden brown tortillas wrapped around melted Pepperjack cheese and a spicy lentil and brown rice filling to make my new food love: Quick and Easy Lentil Quesadillas.
My sister saw the post title in my drafts folder yesterday and she was like, ummmm WUT are you doing, Sister. Lentil Quesadillas?
And I was like, Sister, you don’t even know.
Friends, Sisters, Fellow Food Lovers, get yourself on this deliciously easy lentil quesadilla train right now. Don’t be food nervous. We can branch out and put lentils in our quesadillas, right? We most definitely can.
Also please note the green sauce ALL OVER THE PLACE.
So let me tell you the truth about Meatless Mondays, which is that we actually don’t really do Meatless Mondays. We just do a lot of our meals meatless EVERY day because that’s how I usually like to cook.
Somehow, with my small town Minnesota upbringing, some percentage of my soul turned out to be vegetarian, so things that some Sisters might find weird (Lentil Quesadillas, for example) are actually my bread and butter when it comes to easy, fast, weeknight do-able cooking.
I honestly don’t know where this love of meatless things comes from. Possibly because the recipes feel healthy, and I think they taste awesome, and I find myself being most creative with non-meat food combinations? Yeah, maybe.
Or maybe because sometimes it’s just easier to toss some lentils and brown rice in the crockpot than it is to deal with meat? Umm, well, here’s the thing, it’s just… OKAY YAHHSSS. Totally busted.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at how easy this recipe is.
(And in case it’s unclear what the last step of the process might look like, it would involve taking pictures of the lentil quesadillas in your living room, and fending off the dog who obviously likes lentil quesadillas too, and eating a slice in between every photo before then moving into the kitchen where you will proceed to dump all the remaining Magic Green Sauce over every slice and eat 800 quesadillas in two minutes flat.)
I spy a hungry you and a crockpot and some lentils and brown rice… and a weeknight dinner that is yet to be made.
Come on guys LET’S DO THIS ALREADY.
Quick and Easy Lentil Quesadillas
- Total Time: 6 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 quesadillas 1x
Description
Beautiful, yummy, vegetarian… QUESADILLAS! Crispy golden brown tortillas wrapped around melted Pepperjack cheese and a spicy lentil and brown rice filling!
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- one 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
- half a yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
For the Quesadillas
- 1 cup uncooked brown or green lentils, rinsed
- 1 cup uncooked brown rice, rinsed
- 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 16 flour tortillas
- 3–4 cups shredded Pepperjack cheese
- a few tablespoons butter (optional)
Instructions
- Sauce: Blend all the sauce ingredients together in a blender or food processor until mostly smooth.
- Filling: Place the rice, lentils, sauce, and broth in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 6-7 hours until soft. (Brown rice takes a long time to cook – when in doubt, let it cook longer!)
- Assemble: Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Layer the following: tortilla, 1/4 cup cheese, 1/2 cup filling, 1/4 cup cheese, tortilla. Spread the outsides of the tortillas with butter and fry on each side for 3-5 minutes until golden brown. Remove from heat and let stand for a few minutes (they’ll hold together better). Cut and serve! May I suggest topping with Magic Green Sauce?
Notes
If you have any extra filling, it freezes really well.
If you don’t have a blender, just cut the onions and garlic into small pieces and stir all the sauce ingredients together.
If you want, you can make this on the stovetop or in a rice cooker. Just simmer or cook until the rice and lentils are soft. It took me two or three rounds in the rice cooker to get the brown rice cooked, so if you want it to be done faster, I’d use white rice.
For more spice, add a jalapeño or a chipotle pepper to the sauce! I did that a few times. Yummy.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Mexican-Inspired
Keywords: quesadilla recipe, lentil recipe, lentil quesadilla, vegetarian quesadilla
Nutrition facts will vary depending on what kind of tortillas you use. This label includes medium-small-ish tortillas that were 70 calories each. You can also make a lower fat version of this by just using less cheese. 🙂
Two more quick things!
1) If you have extra filling, it makes for a seriously great freezer standby.
2) My sister Kristin, who semi-made-fun of me for the lentil quesadillas but loves to cook and actually does like lentils, is joining forces with us here on the Pinch of Yum team!
And so is baby Charlie! As resident eye candy baby mascot.
With more than 700 posts that are live and active on the site, managing comments on all those posts is becoming increasingly difficult for me. In the reader survey, we found that most readers either don’t care about comments or find them primarily useful for recipe reviews and ratings. So for the next few months, in order to free myself up to do more recipe and product creation, we’re starting a trial period with Kristin managing comments on older posts.
I will still be commenting on the most recent posts because I love connecting and I don’t want to give that up! But you might see Kristin’s sweet face popping up here and there to answer questions or say hi after I’ve already gone through comments on a post. She’s been the inspiration behind many popular recipes on Pinch of Yum, and she’s also Cutest Mom to my Sweetest Nephew, so I think you’ll love her right along with me.
Delicious! I made these on the stove and added lentils 10 minutes after the rice. I read the recipe wrong and sauteed the onion garlic/spices, so didn’t blend these in the sauce but just added the liquid and rice to the pot.. I did need a lot more veg broth than the recipe. I also smashed up pinto beans and stirred them in at the end! I will make again and want to try adding coriander in the beginning and chopped up toasted walnuts at the end for a bit of texture.
Any recommendations on how to sub frozen riced cauliflower for the brown rice in this recipe? Thanks
I have been making these quesadillas for years now. They are delightful, and will be a welcome addition to our May 5th celebration.
I can’t scroll through 300plus comments. Any update to cooking rice/beans in an Instant Pot? I’m giving it a try right now. Fingers crossed!
I LOVE lentils! I’m a MN girl too. I can’t wait to try this recipe. Share the lentil love!
Thanks so much!
Wowza!! This came together so easily – I got home from work late so I over cooked it a bit BUT this filling is so good, I ate it with a spoon!
I can’t wait to use the leftovers for the actual quesadillas tomorrow!
(I subbed chicken broth instead of veggie broth because that’s what I had on hand)
I followed the recipe exactly as written and loved this filling. First I used in quesadillas but after that I used as a base for burrito bowls. I was addicted to these – especially with the Magic Green Sauce!
I’ve since downsized and gave up my slow cooker. Can you give me an idea of how long the rice & lentils would need to simmer on the stovetop?
We’d recommend just cooking them according to the package directions.
where is the recipe for the green sauce to go with the quesadillas? we love them and the green sauce sounds like an excellent addition
Our magic green sauce recipe – here it is! https://pinchofyum.com/5-minute-magic-green-sauce
The first ingredient, I assume, is ONE 28 oz. can instead of 128 oz., which is how I read it!! I didn’t end up putting in 128 oz. total because I realized halfway through that was a ridiculous amount of diced tomatoes and surely I was doing something wrong. But it still took me a few more times of reading the recipe over to figure out my mistake. It was still pretty good, but I’m curious how much drier the consistency would be without the extra tomatoes I put in!
Good catch! Just updated the recipe card so it’s a bit more clear. Thanks for this feedback, Cait!
I love this recipe (with the magic green sauce!) and have been making it for years. It’s such an easy meal to make a big batch of at the beginning of the week, and then it’s super easy to put together the quesadillas afterwards. They smell so good that even my cat tries to steal them off my plate! Haha
I’ve made this recipe twice. I used green lentils. The second time I added more spices (extra cumin, fire roasted tomatoes). It cooks perfectly in the slow cooker. I used my leftovers in bowls. I add sautéd vegetables, tomatoes, cheese – whatever I feel like. The green sauce is amazing on this as well!
I am just trying this recipe right now, it sounds fantastic. l almost made a mistake with the amount of canned tomatoes. I first read 128 ounce can of diced tomatoes, then realized it is 1 can of 28 ounce tomatoes. l am so glad l caught myself in time or we would be having tomato, lentil, rice soup tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe.
What a fantastic meal! I even made the magic green sauce and I can’t get over how good everything is. I can’t recommend this enough. I saw other people have issues with their lentils and/or rice not being cooked after several hours, but I didn’t have any issue whatsoever after 4 hrs on high.
Easy. Delicious. I’m going to be making this again in the future.
I have to say, this recipe is genius! I made a big batch and it’s just so warm, filling, healthy, and comforting. I made a few minor adjustments:
– threw some dried whole chiles into the blender with the sauce since no kids are eating it and I like a more complex spice
-used “urad dal” which are black lentils from India since I have a big jar of them to use up, worked perfectly
-used half brown and half white rice since I ran out of brown
-used cheddar cheese since I have it on hand
I’ve been making the quesadillas and green sauce for lunches and dinners this week and it makes making a filling, healthy lunch in about 2 minutes of effort (plus a few minutes on the stove to crisp and warm up). I even put the mixture in a breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs and chopped up tomato, it was a delicious breakfast. I’ll be making this again, it’s such a great use of lentils and perfect batch cooking that doesn’t feel old after a few days in the fridge. Thank you so much for developing this recipe, it’s exactly what I was looking for!
Question: has anyone tried this in the instapot?
Thanks
Just read through the comments and found some ideas, thanks!
I’ve made these a cazillion times and my husband has been requesting them the past 2 weeks. Question: how can I make these in the instant pot?! I know there’s a way but I’m a instant-pot-newbie.
We haven’t tested quesadillas in the Instant Pot before so we’re not really sure!
these have been a staple in our home for a few years now. we absolutely love them! and I love having extra filling for the freezer!
Was skeptical but loved this. Very filling. Tons of leftover lentils and lots of ideas what to use it in.
Can red Lentils be used in place of green or brown?
We haven’t tried the recipe using red lentils, but red lentils tend to really break down and become mushy when cooked so it might be best to stick with green or brown for this one.
Lovely recipe! Made it today for lunch and everyone enjoyed it, thanks a lot
So glad it was a hit!
FYI you can make this in the instant pot! I forgot it was a slow cooker recipe and panicked when I realized too late. I just did it in the IP and it came out great! High pressure for 16 minutes and then natural release for 16 minutes. 😃
Thanks for sharing, Ashley!
I wonder about instant pot for the lentils, rice and sauce? Anyone tried to speed it up a bit? I do beans and rice in the instant pot so I think it should work.
For the sauce, do you drain the canned tomatoes?
We do not drain the tomatoes.
Love this recipe!
These quesadillas were delicious! Easy to make. The magic green sauce absolutely makes the dish! Will definitely make this again!
Glad you enjoyed these quesadillas and the magic green sauce, Gloria!