This is the first no-meat loaf I made, and it’s my favorite! Now, don’t get your hopes up: this isn’t going to taste anything like beef meatloaf, but the texture and taste it has is great on its own. I haven’t been able to sell Erik on this, but I like it!
I’ve adjusted the ingredients and cooking steps from Engine 2′s original recipe to be more in line with cooking and eating wfpb. The recipe itself is pretty easy to make, it just takes an hour to cook.
Ingredients:
Servings: 6-ish? Enough for 3 hungry adults with a small amount of leftovers
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- ½ onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 10 oz. firm tofu, drained (I use a 12.5 oz. package of extra firm and it works fine)
- ¼ cup walnuts, finely ground
- 1½ cups cooked brown lentils (about ¾ cup dry)
- 1 ¼ cups quick-cooking oats (or gluten-free oats)
- 3 tbs. soy sauce
- 2 tbs. ketchup (& more for topping)
- 1 tbs. dijon mustard
- 2 tsp. dried parsley
- ½ tsp. each: thyme, sage, rosemary
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°.
If you have not already cooked them, get the lentils going first and do everything else while you wait on the lentils to cook. Cook them according to package directions, using ¾ cup dry lentils.
Sauté (in water) the celery, onion, garlic on high heat for 5 minutes or until tender. Add water as it cooks to keep veggies from burning.
While veggies are cooking, pour the walnuts into a sandwich bag…
And smash the crap out of it however you want to. Smash it REAL GOOD!
If the lentils and veggies are still sautéing, start adding everything to a large mixing bowl. Eventually everything is going to get mashed together in the bowl, so add things whenever you have time between/after cooking the lentils and veggies.
Put the tofu, crushed walnuts, oats, soy sauce, ketchup, dijon, parsley, and spices in a bowl. Mash it all together. Add the veggies and lentils whenever they’re done and mash it all up.
This looks pretty weird before being cooked
Spoon the mixture into a loaf pan or any smallish non-stick baking dish. (I don’t recommend using silicone unless it specifically says it can go above 375° on the packaging. Most silicone tops out at 350°.) Top with a layer of ketchup, or not, up to you!
Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I’ve found that sometimes it takes up to 70 or so minutes before it’s done. The loaf should be very browned.
65 minutes of baking on this loaf. The picture lightens it up a lot; the top is a dark brown
Cut however you like and serve! The loaf stays together well when I cut it into squares as opposed to long strips or thin “bread slices” in an actual loaf pan.
My Whole-Foods Plant-Based Kitchen 