Ready for a Lebanese mujadara recipe with red lentils and bulgur? How about with lemon-herb vinaigrette? Caramelized onions? Get ready because this recipe is all about wholesome vegan ingredients and aromatic spices for a speedy and tasty vegan dinner.
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⭐ About this Recipe
When everyone’s hungry and you announce you're cooking a Lebanese recipe, chances are, someone (maybe even you) will roll their eyes. No worries. This flavor-packed recipe is super easy and doesn’t require searching for ingredients. You probably have them in the pantry right now.
Mujadara is a traditional Middle Eastern dish that defines simplicity. While all mujadara recipes feature lentils, often, you’ll find recipes that use rice as the second grain.
My preference for mujadara is bulgur. Admittedly, I am a bit addicted to bulgur. And I love how it cooks at precisely the same time as split red lentils. And that's about 15 minutes, friends.
📋 What is bulgur?
Take a minute and treat yourself to developing a friendship with bulgur. It could well be one of those lasting ones. Bulgur or bulgur wheat (wheat berries) is a whole grain that is first cracked and then par-boiled, milled, and dried. This means that it comes partially cooked and saving you oodles of cooking time.
As a whole grain, bulgur delivers a healthy dose of nutrition by anyone’s standards. With just 150 calories in a cup, it's high in protein, fat, and cholesterol-free and a good source of iron, magnesium, and manganese. If that isn’t enough, bulgur is high on the fiber scale. High fiber ensures that you’ll leave the table satisfied. Your gut will thank you for that.
🔪 Caramelizing Onions without Oil
My version of Lebanese mujadara involves onions. A lot of onions. Now, let’s not get frightened off by 4 onions. I go even further and ramp that up to 6 sometimes. We'll start by caramelizing them, then use half for the mujadara pot and the rest as a flavorful garnish.
One of the principles of healthy, vegan, or plant-based eating involves eliminating all added oil as much as possible. And caramelizing onions sans oil is easier than you think. Here's the low down.
1. Heat the pan before you add the onions. Adding onions to a cold pan encourages them to melt and disintegrate into the bottom as the pan heat up. That’s a recipe for sticking to the bottom.
2. Keep the onions moving. It takes a few minutes to stand before the pan, wooden spoon in hand, while you gently move the onions. This ensures even cooking and helps to prevent sticking.
3. Add liquid. Once the onions have released their natural moisture, if you add ½ a cup of vegetable broth or water, your onions will soak up and start to get dark. You won’t get the crispiness that might happen with oil, but you’re saving fat and calories you’ll never miss.
4. This is a bonus. For darker onions (not burned) that are a bit crispier, after you saute them in the pan, place them in a hot oven (about 4250 F) for a few minutes.
🥘 More Pro Tips
Have everything ready before you start sauteing the onions. I always use the same pot for the onions and the Mujadara. I just use tongs to remove about half the onions and then add the garlic, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, and paprika. You only need 30 seconds. Enough time to mix everything is all you need.
If you decide you want to keep your extra onions warm, use the oven trick. Or place them on a warm plate toward the back of the stove. They should stay warm enough for a garnish.
Once you have the spices going, just add the broth. Take a moment to grab that wooden spoon and let the broth pick up all the yummy onions from the bottom of the pan. After that, add the bulgur and red lentils. Bring the pot to a gentle boil, cover it, and lower the heat. You don't want the pot to boil over.
It takes about 15 minutes for the lentils and bulgur to cook. Check the pot after 10 minutes and give it all a stir. You may need to add another ½ cup of broth if the liquid is running low. Lentils and bulgur are very forgiving, so if you add too much, just simmer it for a few minutes longer.
🍋 Make a Quick Vinaigrette
Congratulations, you’ve got the mujadara cooking. Now what? Here's an idea. Take that 10 minutes and make a lemon-herb vinaigrette. Believe me, you don’t want to miss out on this one. You’ll need precisely 4 ingredients: Lemon juice, garlic, fresh mint, and parsley.
Flat-leaf (Italian) parsley has a mellow flavor. But you could also use curly parsley. You could also add or substitute chopped cilantro for the parsley. Keep the fresh mint if possible. The flavor highlights the zesty lemon juice and compliments the mujadara spices.
🍽 Serving and Storage
Mujadara plated up with those extra onions and topped off with a zesty vinaigrette is close to food nirvana as far as I’m concerned. With all the goodness of the lentils and bulgur, it’s a satisfying meal.
Consider 3-ingredient potato tortillas or sweet potato flatbread if you want something to scoop up every bite. So yummy!
🌡️ Storage & Freezing
It's so good that even though you're filled to the brim, you still want to keep eating it. But if you have leftovers, put them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If you have leftover onions, store them separately. They keep for about 4 days.
The mujadara freezes well for up to 3 months. It's best to caramelize a few fresh onions for the topping. Frozen onions can get a little mushy after thawing. And hey, now you know how to make them, so go for it.
Reheat leftovers in a pan on the stove. Add a bit of broth or water to keep the mujadara from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Heat the onions in a separate pan or toss them in the oven on a baking tray. You may want to line the tray with parchment paper, so they don't stick.
🥗 Side Dish Ideas
Lebanese mujadara with red lentils and bulgur
Lebanese mujadara with red lentils and bulgur features aromatic spices, oil-free caramelized onions, and a lemon-herb vinaigrette for a mouthwatering vegan meal.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Main Courses
- Cuisine: Lebanese
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 4 medium onions, cut in half and thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon paprika (smoked or sweet)
- 4 ½ cups vegetable broth (use ½ a cup for the onions)
- 1 cup of red lentils, rinsed
- 1 cup bulgur, rinsed
- Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon-mint vinaigrette
- ⅔ cup lemon juice
- 1 clove of garlic pressed
- ⅓ cup chopped mint
- ⅓ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Heat a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and stir them constantly until they start to brown.
- Stir in ½ a cup of vegetable broth and continue cooking until the broth evaporates.
- Transfer half of the onions to a plate and cover them to keep them warm. Alternatively, you can transfer them to a baking tray and keep them warm in the oven at 4250 F (2200 C).
- Once you have removed the onions, add the garlic, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, and paprika to the cooking pot. Stir to mix them in.
- Add the vegetable broth and use a spoon to pick up any pieces of onion or spices that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Mix in the lentils and bulgur and bring the pot to a medium simmer (low boil). Cover the pot and lower the heat slightly so that it doesn’t boil over.
- Check after 10 minutes and give the contents of the pot a stir. Add another ½ cup of broth or water if the liquid is mostly absorbed already.
- Cover the pot and cook for an additional 5 minutes until the lentils and bulgur are tender. At this point, most or all of the broth has dissipated.
- To make the vinaigrette, combine the lemon juice, garlic, mint, and parsley.
- Garnish individual servings of mujadara with the remaining onions and lemon-herb vinaigrette.
- Store any leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- To reheat on the stove or microwave, add water. This keeps it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Notes
- Split red lentils work best for this recipe as they need the same time to cook at the bulgur. If you use whole red lentils, follow the recipe as written. It will take about 10 minutes longer. You may need to add a bit more broth.
- Be mindful that you have all your ingredients ready to cook. Once the onions are cooked, add the rest of the ingredients quickly to avoid scorching.
- I can’t recommend bulgur highly enough; however, you could substitute rice if you want a gluten-free option. The cooking time will be longer if you start with dry rice, so be mindful of preparation times.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 plate
- Calories: 260
- Sugar: 6.2 g
- Sodium: 451.9 mg
- Fat: 1.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 53 g
- Protein: 12.7 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Nan
Since I don’t go shopping too often, can you please tell me what I can sub for the mint (or give me a few choices)? I know I can leave it out, but would like to keep the enhanced flavour. Thanks.
Denise
Hi Nan, I completely understand about not shopping so much. Honestly, I think you could use plain old lemon juice with a clove of crushed garlic. You might add 1/2 a teaspoon of dry mint if you have it. Cumin would also be a nice addition (different flavors). I appreciate the question and I'm always substituting like that because we've also cut way back on shopping. If you have access to fresh herbs cilantro or parsley would be good as well. My best to you in this new year. Cheers.