The other day I was perusing Pinterest and I found a pin for Rachel Ray’s Meatloaf Muffins. If you have been reading my blog awhile, you know I love individually portioned food. So of course I needed to make some Meatlessloaf Muffins. Then I thought…why make muffins when you can make cupcakes?
Earlier this week I made Mashed Butternut Squash with Sage inspired by this recipe. I loved them! The butternut squash was much more wholesome than mashed potatoes while adding more complexity to the flavors as well; a must remember for Thanksgiving.
I figured it would be hard to say “No” to lentil/walnut meatless “cupcakes” with a sage butternut squash puree “frosting”. And when the kids ask, “What’s for dinner?”
You can reply, “Cupcakes.”
And it might, just might, be the perfect way to get them excited about lentils and squash.
Meatless Loaf Cupcakes with Butternut Squash Puree
Gluten & Soy Free
makes 9 “cupcakes”
“Meatloaf”
1 cup brown lentils, dry
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp liquid smoke
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup red onions, diced
1/3 cup green pepper, diced
1 (6) ounce can tomato paste
1 cup walnuts
2 tbsp chick pea flour
salt and pepper to taste
Butternut Squash Puree
1 small butternut squash
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sage
1 garlic clove, minced
2-3 tbsp non-dairy milk
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Slice the squash lengthwise. Remove seeds, brush with olive oil and place face-down on a baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, until tender.
Meanwhile rinse the lentils. In a medium pot combine lentils with vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer, cooking until lentils are soft (about 45 minutes). Add Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke. Remove from heat and set aside.
Reduce oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray or oil a muffin tin and set aside.
In a small pan heat up vegetable oil. Saute onions and peppers over medium high heat for 5 minutes, until cooked. Stir together onion mixture, lentils, and tomato paste. In a food processor blend together walnuts and chick pea flour until combined. Add the lentil mixture and mix until well combined. Salt and pepper to taste.
Scoop lentil/walnut mixture into muffin tins, filling to the top. Bake for 20-23 minutes until edges brown and begin pulling away from the edge. It’s okay if it’s still a little underdone on the inside, it will harden as it sets.
Let cool in muffin tins at least 20 minutes. When ready to serve, release by running a knife around the edge.
To make the butternut squash puree, remove cooked squash from peel and place in a food processor. Add sage, garlic, salt and pepper and mix. With motor running add non-dairy milk one tablespoon at a time just until squash is smooth and creamy. With a piping bag, “frost” the slightly cooled “cupcakes”.
*If you don’t have a piping bag, you can use an ice cream scoop to scoop the puree atop the cupcakes.
Serve immediately.
Eden is too young to be a picky eater yet, but watching children grow up around me I know it may be a battle I will have to fight. Making food fun and interactive is one of my goals for Eden, something I write about here.
In what ways to do get your kids to eat healthy foods they may not want to eat?
Thanks for stopping by! The Sweet Life is a vegan food blog combining my love for good food, beautiful pictures, and compassionate eating. I am a long time vegan, trained in both photography and French Patisserie, excited to share my passions. Take a look around and enjoy The Sweet Life
These are brilliant! I don’t need any persuading to eat healthy food anyway but fun food is extra delicious in my book
Ahhh, I love this! I make my veg meatloaf in cupcake tins too. When I try making it in a loaf pan, it’s always so mushy in the middle. Topping these with butternut squash puree is perfect. Totally gonna do this!
Yeah the consistency turned out much better than my loaves have in the past. I was glad to come across this idea. The squash is a perfect compliment of flavors. I might make these as the meat alternative to thanksgiving.
Awesome idea, putting this on next weeks menu.
These look amazing!
Any idea on whether these would freeze (sans puree). I’m the only vegan in my household and I’d love to have some quick meals on standby
They should freeze fine. I made a similar recipe for “meatballs” and froze them and they cooked up great later.
These are so cute and sound wonderful. Would I be able to sub the chickpea flour for regular flour?
Yeah, that should be fine. The chick pea is a good binding flour but I don’t think the texture would be too altered with that substition. However if you have high gluten-flour or vital wheat gluten I would use that over regular flour.
I’m chowing on my second cupcake as I peck this out.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU for the inspiration.
I already had 2 cups of leftover chili lentils in the fridge. I was out of walnuts so I used 1/2 cup buckwheat flour with 2 tbsp chickpea flour. It made enough for six muffins.
As a topper, I used good ol’mashed tators. I knew I could get my family to try these if I topped it with their favorite food. ;D. I served them with a side of sweet peas. BIG HIT!
I discovered your site today after trailing off today’s Veg News recipe post.
I’m glad you found me and are enjoying the meatless loaf cupcakes!
For anybody that cares, I just did the math for calories. I made 12 cupcakes (using red lentils and vital wheat gluten instead of chickpea flour), and it came to 150 calories per cupcake and 35 for the ‘frosting’. (If you made 9 cupcakes with the same ingredients, they would be 200 calories each. I just had enough batter for 12!) Pretty good! Oh, and I am obsessed with the butternut squash puree! I over-roasted mine, so it’s not pretty, but it sure tastes good!
Thanks for taking the time to do that! That is awesome how low calorie they are!
These look absolutely delicious! Are there any substitutes for lentils? I have a mild lentil allergy, so would welcome a substitute! (black beans or pinto beans? or the like)
Yeah, you could sub out another bean like black or pinto,
just make sure the are well mashed. I’m not sure if the amounts would be exactly the same but I would think close enough to still be tasty. Let me know how it turns out.
Excellent! Thank you Sarah! I’ll try it out and respond back!
Is there anything you can use instead of liquid smoke? Never heard of it here in the UK. Thanks, Barbara
You could try smoked paprika. It’s also called Hungarian or Spanish paprika. I’m not very familiar with it, so I don’t know the amount you would want to use. I would start with a tsp and adjust it to taste. good luck!
what does the green pepper do for the recipe? do you think texture would be altered without it?
it’s just for flavor, the texture would be fine if you omitted it.
How much puree would you say it makes? I don’t have any butternut squash on hand, but I do have a can of puree.
1 think one can should be enough.
I currently have sweet potatoes, would that be ok for the frosting?
I think that would be fine. Just make sure they are baked until very soft.