This recipe makes twelve savory muffins by combining my Lentil-Rice Loaf and Mashed Potatoes recipes! You can serve them with Creamy Mushroom Gravy, Ketchup, or Cranberry Sauce! These are a fun and tasty alternative to a traditional loaf entree.
Savory Holiday Muffins
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
Ingredients
Scale
- 1¾ cups water
- ½ cup dry/uncooked brown-green lentils
- ½ cup dry/uncooked short-grain brown rice
- 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon granulated onion
- 1 medium yellow or white onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
- 5 medium white or cremini mushrooms, chopped (about 2 cups)
- 1 large rib celery, sliced (about ½ cup)
- 1 tablespoon freshly chopped garlic (4 to 5 medium cloves)
- ¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 can tomato paste (6 ounces)
- 2 ounces pecans or walnuts, chopped (about ½ cup; optional)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh sage (or 1 ½ teaspoons dried rubbed sage)
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- 1 ½ teaspoons minced fresh rosemary (or ¾ teaspoon dried)
- Half recipe mashed potatoes (Yukon potatoes work best for this recipe)
Instructions
- Place the water, lentils, rice, poultry seasoning, and granulated onion into a medium saucepan over high heat. When it begins to boil, reduce the heat to low, then cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes with the lid still on. (Prepare your remaining ingredients while the rice and lentils are cooking.)
- Place 1 tablespoon of water into a medium frying pan over high heat. When the water starts to sputter, add the chopped onion, mushrooms, and celery, and cook while stirring for 3 to 5 minutes, adding a little water, as needed. Add the garlic and stir for 2 minutes more until the vegetables have softened. If you're using dried herbs, stir them in with the garlic; if using fresh herbs, you will add them in step 4. Remove from the heat.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a muffin pan with parchment paper liners.
- Place the oats, tomato paste, and nuts (if using) into a large bowl. If you're using frsh herbs (sage, thyme, and rosemary), add them to the bowl as well. When the cooked vegetables, rice, and lentils have cooled for at least 10 minutes, add them to the bowl, and stir until all of the ingredients have been mixed thoroughly. Set aside.
- Make the half recipe of mashed potatoes if you have not yet done so.
- Scoop the mashed potatoes evenly among the 12 muffin liners, and pack down firmly (I tried this with the mashed potatoes on top, but they dried out too much). Do the same with the lentil-rice mixture, mounding on top.
- Bake for 30 minutes, until medium brown. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve as is or with Creamy Mushroom Gravy, Better Ketchup, or Cranberry Sauce.
Notes
Herbs: During the holidays I like to use fresh herbs in this recipe, especially fresh sage, as its aroma and flavor are very "holiday." But fresh herbs aren't always practical, so feel free to use the measurements for dried. Or even a mix of fresh and dried.
- Prep Time: 50 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
Awesome
Thanks Jim! 😉 Hope you had a nice TG!
These are so good! Can they be frozen?
Hi Susan, I've not tried, but potatoes generally don't freeze well. They thaw a different texture, kind of chalky. But if you don't mind that, I think it would be fine. Next time you make them, freeze one and test it and out; and then let me know how it goes. 😉 Thanks!
We loved this recipe! Takes a long time, but it’s worth it. You don’t miss the salt and oil at all. We were also pleasantly surprised by how well the muffins stayed together (potato layer and topping layer) after removing the muffin papers.