Lentil Cakes (With Homemade Garlic Sauce)

Last updated on December 29th, 2020 at 11:45 pm

I’m crazy about these lentil cakes, and I can’t wait to share this phenomenal recipe with you. Lentils are a truly amazing food that offer so many unique benefits. You can improve your diet in a variety of ways just by adding lentils. They are a good source of fiber and protein which makes them a useful alternative to bread or meat depending on how you use them. They are also a food that makes you feel “full,” and that can help support weight loss. A study from 2018 shows that replacing certain starchy foods with lentils can even significantly reduce blood sugar levels. According to the study, lentils can mitigate the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Suffice it to say, I’m a big fan of foods like lentils that provide so many unique health and dietary advantages. Lentils are a shapeshifter among food ingredients because they can take on the characteristics of so many things we normally eat. If you’re not already, I highly recommend incorporating them into your diet. One note — when you overdo it on any food that’s high in fiber, symptoms like gassiness can be an issue, so as with everything, enjoy these lentil cakes in moderation, and you will love them.

Patty. Cake.

Let’s talk about lentil cakes. What is a lentil cake and how is it different from a patty? The short answer is, it’s not. Whether you refer to a salmon patty or a crab cake, there is more to the composition than just the cakey appearance of the patties. A patty is generally constructed out of one ingredient with some flavor enhancements like herbs and spices. A cake is more of a composite mixture. These lentil cakes are a team effort made up of quinoa, mushrooms, and other key ingredients that bring them to absolute perfection.

Meatless Protein

When looking for meatless proteins you are likely to come across certain ubiquitous food options that are preferred for whatever reason. Soy, tofu, and more recently peas, are pretty high on that list. Although gluten and vegan diets are not mutually exclusive, there is a high population of vegans who avoid gluten and gluten-free dieters who don’t like meat.

Lentil cakes, including this recipe, are vegan, and they are mostly gluten-free. The only gluten comes from the soy sauce. If you are gluten-free, then you probably have gluten-free soy sauce at home, so that’s an easy fix. Because lentils make such a great alternative to carbs as well as protein, you can enjoy these lentil cakes with or without a bun, although I prefer to use these to build a traditional burger, bun and all.

Breakfast Meat Alternative

These lentil cakes can be modified to be used as a breakfast side dish to replace sausage patties too. All you need to do is add is a little bit of pepper, sage, and thyme to create the typical breakfast sausage seasoning blend. For extra points, you can add real maple syrup. Then, for added authenticity, you’ll want to make the lentil cakes smaller than a burger patty if you are using them for breakfast “meat.” The small patties also make excellent sliders, by the way. And, speaking of flavor, the lentil cakes are only half of this incredible recipe.

Enhanced with Garlic Sauce

You really have something special when you add our delicious garlic sauce to this lentil cakes recipe. This takes these lentil cakes from an unassuming meatless patty to amazing burger status. As I mentioned, you can enjoy these lentil cakes sans bun, but a burger topped with garlic sauce is the best way to enjoy this recipe. The flavor-enhancing garlic sauce makes everything come together with unbelievable results. You could just add a sauce of your choice to the burger, but it only takes a few minutes to whisk up our amazing garlic sauce. Believe me, you’ll be glad you did.

Toppings and Sides

You can enjoy the lentil cakes as meatless patties with any of the sides that you prefer. Steamed carrots or pureed cauliflower make excellent choices. You can also make the lentil cakes a topping of sorts by shaping them into meatballs and enjoying them with your favorite type of pasta. You can even serve them up as a meatless meatball appetizer with your favorite glaze. Chopped up or crumbled, you can use them in stuffed peppers or as a pizza topping. There are all kinds of ways to repurpose this recipe and incorporate side dishes, or make the lentil cakes themselves into a side dish or part of a different entree.

When using my lentil cakes to build the perfect burger, just be careful not to jeopardize the vegan or gluten-free status, if those are essential to your diet. If you are gluten-free you probably have gluten-free buns at home, If you’re vegan, you’ll want to avoid cheese or use dairy-free cheese. What’s great about a lentil cake burger is that it’s so packed with great flavor that once you add the special garlic sauce, nothing else is needed. I recommend toasting the bun for the best results. Then, serve with fries or a side salad.

I hope you enjoy our recipe for lentil cakes with garlic sauce. It’s one of my favorites. I really love the way these ingredients come together. I hope it becomes your new favorite meatless burger. Try it out, and let me know what you think in the comments. 

Lentil Cakes (With Homemade Garlic Sauce)

Gather your ingredients. 

Sauté the onion, garlic, and mushrooms in olive oil until tender and cooked through. 

Blend the walnuts into a coarse flour.

Add half of the lentils and the mushroom mixture, salt, spices, and ground flax mixture. Mix everything until it’s well combined and forms a thick dough using a hand blender.

Then, stir in the remaining whole lentils.

Form this mixture into 12-15 cakes.

These lentil cakes are baked in the oven. While they bake, you can make the garlic sauce.

This garlic sauce is so good and so easy to make. Just whisk together all the ingredients in a pan until thickened.

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Lentil Cakes (With Homemade Garlic Sauce)

Ingredients

Lentil Patties

• 2 cups cooked lentils
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ onion diced
• 4 garlic cloves rough chopped
• 8 ounces mushrooms sliced
• ½ cup cooked quinoa
• ½ cup walnuts or cashews
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon dry or fresh parsley
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground flax + 2 tbsp of water Combine together to form an egg-like mixture.
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce

Garlic Sauce

• 1 cup of soy milk
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 chopped garlic or 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp cornstarch or another thickener
• salt and lemon to taste

Instructions

Instructions for Lentil Cakes

1. Cook dry lentils in simmering water until tender. Drain. You will need 2 cups cooked.
2. Sauté the onion, garlic, and mushrooms in olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add a little water if it gets too dry. Turn heat down to low, and cook until very tender and cooked through. Set aside.

3. Blend the walnuts into a coarse flour. Pour that flour into a medium bowl.

4. Add half of the lentils and the mushroom mixture, salt, spices, and flax mixture. Mix everything until it’s well combined and forms a thick dough using a hand blender. Then, stir in the remaining whole lentils.

5. Using wet hands, form into 12-15 little cakes.

6. Put cakes on a baking sheet with a little oil. Bake them in a 375 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until they form a crust, before flipping. Cook them for 5 more minutes on the other side.

7. Serve with the garlic sauce.

Instructions for Garlic Sauce

1. Pour all the ingredients into a heated pan, whisking all the time until thickened, about 3-5 minutes, then remove from heat.

Also read —
Quinoa & Spinach Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Mexican Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa & Black Beans (vegan and gluten-free)
Fiesta Quinoa Salad Recipe (vegan and gluten-free)

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