Can I add red lentils to minced beef?

[LifeInAHamsterWheel]

I'm going to do some batch cooking today including meatballs and chilli. I have a packet of split red lentils and am wondering if I could add some to bulk out the dishes (and improve the nutritional content)

Will they affect the taste of the final dish? Do I just throw them in and mix up? A cup full? Do they need to be cooked for longer? Google search just tells me about vegan dishes but joy about adding to meat dishes.

I do that. I just chuck in about a quarter of lentils to one of meat, add enough water so it's not too stodgy and carry on as normal.

Works well, tastes better and gets some fibre into my kids.

Would be interested to know if there is a proper way of doing it!

As long as you put stock in at the same time:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/beef-lentil-cottage-pie-cauliflower-potato-topping

I wouldn't add them to the meatballs because they'll affect the capacity to stay shaped into balls (in that they'll prob fall apart!) but I'd add them to chilli for sure and also to a Bolognese sauce or a shepherds pie type dish. I'd pre-cook but try and keep them fairly dry. Maybe a third bulk-wise if you don't want them too obvious.

I know that's not chilli but good for proportions

Yes! When I do Bolognese these days for my family I do 250g of mince and a tin of lentils, rather than 500g of mince, which I used to do. It's really nice and so much healthier!

We add them to cottage pie all the time as I’m not a huge mince beef fan, so do half and half beef to red lentils. I prefer it with the lentil in personally and always add a load of chopped veg too.

The only thing to be aware of is you’ll need more liquid, be that water / stock / tin toms etc

Yes! I do it all the time, for spag bol sauce, chilli, shepherd’s pie, etc. A good handful to say 250g of mince. And something that’s labelled SDM in the freezer, aka what we call School Dinner Mince - a favourite of dh - which always has a lot of finely chopped veg added, too.

Red lentils break down in a relatively short time, so anyone inclined to be fussy will not even know they’re there.

I add them, and also sometimes oats to bulk out too but only really good for this cooked for a long time.

Red lentils break down, green and brown ones stay more whole but all are nice. You might need to season a bit more than normal though

If you add lentils make sure you only add the tomatoes after the lentils are tender. Acidic ingredients like tinned tomatoes can stop lentils softening.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

Yes! I do it all the time, for spag bol sauce, chilli, shepherd’s pie, etc. A good handful to say 250g of mince. And something that’s labelled SDM in the freezer, aka what we call School Dinner Mince - a favourite of dh - which always has a lot of finely chopped veg added, too.

Red lentils break down in a relatively short time, so anyone inclined to be fussy will not even know they’re there.

Sainsbos do a bag of frozen chopped teeny tiny onion/celery/carrot combo.

It's genius. I chuck a bag of that into the batch cooking too.

Not for the meatballs because I'm not sure they would hold as well but definitely for the chilli and other similar mince meals. I don't usually use lentils for bulking out these days because I tend to use grated carrot instead. I use anywhere between a quarter carrots to mince and half carrots to mince. It makes the meals so much tastier than just the beef mince and you would never know there was carrot in it.

For meatballs, I use my late dad's recipe. no beef at all.

Pork mince, 1/3 fresh breadcrumbs (great for bulking out too), an egg, a really finely diced/minced onion, a tbsp of sage and at least a tsp of salt (I don't use much salt normally in my kitchen but it works here). Roll into 1" diameter balls. Fry them up in batches, cool and throw in a ziplock bag in the freezer.

I usually add them to mince meals, I just throw a handful in and they seem to dissolve without any issues.

Thank you all so much for replying

Grated carrots are a great way to bulk out too

I add to meatballs too but at the end of cooking I fish the meatballs out, blend the sauce smooth (to hide vegetables from fussy dc!) and pop meatballs back in.

Salt makes lentils hard so add salt once they're cooked.

I tend to book the kettle and put lentils and boiling water in a jug whilst I start cooking, then rinse them and bung them in. Stops the foam.

Do you add dried lentils straight from the packet or do you have to cook them first?

Split red lentils - I just chuck a handful in from the packet. They cook in 20 min or so for me.

I add dried lentils straight from the pack to loads of dishes like curry, chilli, spag Bol, stews etc. not sure about meatballs maybe you would have to soak them first? But for most stuff I brown the meat, soften the veg then add the lentils when I put in any “wet” ingredients like chopped toms etc. makes the meat go much further and the sauce seem thicker and nobody notices. I think the dried ones do take a while to go soft but I tend to put dishes like that on in the morning and leave it bubbling all day.