I Made This Vegan Meatloaf for Dinner and My Family Loved It

Y'all bless it. I might get kicked out of Mississippi for this one because today we're making meatloaf out of lentils. No meat, no oil, just lentils, oats, and pantry stuff. And it's about to mess with everybody's head at the dinner table. Hey everyone, welcome back to the kitchen here in the Shane Shed. So glad you're here. Today is a fun one. We're gonna be making meatloaf, but not just any meatloaf. We're making my own plant-based spin on meatloaf. Why is that a big deal? Because you see down here in the South, meatloaf's not just a recipe, it's a birthright. I mean, it's right there next to grits and church potlucks. And so today I'm gonna be making it with lentils. No meat, no oil, no eggs. Most folks around here would consider that blasphemy. It's a pretty big deal. But I'm willing to bet once you make this and serve it to your mom, your dad, your friends, your family, even good old meemaw and peepaw, I don't think they're gonna be able to tell a difference. So if you haven't, please subscribe. And if you like the recipe, give it a thumbs up. All right, let's go. So here's the deal. This ain't some fussy tweezers and microgreens situation. This is simply dump it in a bowl and squish it cooking. Y'all can handle that. We start with cooked lentils. Now, before they're cooked, I want you to look at these because they look like nothing, like sad little brown pebbles. But these are protein bombs. They're fiber bombs. And once they're cooked, this is what's gonna give your meatloaf that hardiness and that meatiness that you love. Lentils are also an excellent meat replacement. Oats go in next. This is our glue. Oats are a great source of protein and fiber as well. But oats are gonna hold all of this together so that our meatloaf doesn't fall apart on us like your third cousin Merle's fifth marriage. Next, we go in with our chopped onion, our celery, and our peppers. Because a meatloaf with no crunch is just a sad oat brick. And we're better than that, people. We're better than that. Now, the herbs. This is what makes meatloaf meatloaf. Not the meat. The meat's just the vehicle. But if you don't get the herbs and the spices right, you're not gonna have a good meatloaf. And yes, I realize this is genuinely an embarrassing amount of parsley. But don't question it. Just dump it. Next, you got ketchup, soy sauce, and Dijon going in for that tang. I'm gonna ask you not to question me on this. This is tradition. We're not creating some truffle rhubarb glaze for our meatloaf. It's ketchup. It's always been ketchup. Every Mississippi mama at some point in her life has had a ketchup bottle upside down over a meatloaf. It's what we call Mississippi science. It just works. Ketchup, ketchup, ketchup. Now it's time to use our hands. And yes, it's gonna feel a little weird. It might even feel a little gross. And fair warning, it's gonna look like something out of a crime scene for a minute. But you wanna get in there and you wanna squish it good. And your hands are the best way to do this. But don't go crazy because we want texture. We don't want baby food. All right, little ketchup on the bottom first. That's the move because you want ketchup on the bottom and the top of your meatloaf. Topping time. Spread it on thick. This is not a light drizzle situation. All right, into the oven it goes. And now we wait. And I'm just gonna have to pretend this isn't the hardest part of my day. All right, that smell coming from the oven, it just walked in and introduced itself. If you're not hungry right now, you need to check your pulse. Wow, look at that. That is a full on meatloaf. And it's never seen a piece of meat in its life. Now the real test. I'm starving, so let's cut into this sucker and see what it's got to say for itself. This is so good. Sorry, I can't stop. Okay, you've got that tang up front coming from the ketchup and the Dijon. And then it hits that hearty, savory thing in the middle. And that's coming from the lentils, oats, and the veggies, all coming together to do the heavy lifting. And there's no oil anywhere in this, none. So there you have it. This is the meatloaf that nobody will believe is vegan. There's no meat, no oil, no fuss, just real food coming together, doing what it's supposed to do. If you make this, tag me, because I want to see you fool your family. The recipe is linked below now. Go mess with somebody's expectations. See you next time.