Mujadara Baked Rice and Lentils is straight up comfort food. Made richer with full-flavored spices and brought to your dinner table in a pretty casserole.
Mujadara Baked Rice and Lentils is straight up comfort food. Mujadara is a classic recipe that is not normally baked but it becomes so much easier that way? Very inexpensive and a staple in the Middle East.
You can serve it as a main dish with other smaller sides such as Rolled Cut Braised Carrots or Pure Delicious Cauliflower. You could add a loaf of crusty bread too but definitely a salad. So good!
So now you have it. Lentils and rice made richer with full-flavored spices and brought to your dinner table in a pretty casserole.
Mujadara Baked Rice and Lentils Casserole
Mujadara Baked Rice and Lentils is straight up comfort food.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil to coat a 8" x 10" casserole
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil to saute the onion
- 1/2 cup onion chopped
- 3 cups Vegetable Broth use low sodium to watch for your sodium intake
- 1 cup Brown Lentils
- 2/3 cup Brown Rice
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Lightly oil the casserole and set aside.
- In a skillet heat the oil to medium high and then turn it down to medium and saute the onion until it is translucent - about 10 minutes.
- To the casserole sprinkle in the rice, lentils, all the spices and the sauteed onion.
- Heat the 3 cups of vegetable broth to a boil.
- Be careful and pour the broth over everything in the casserole dish.
- Stir until all is evenly dispersed. The rice and lentils will settle on the bottom.
- Cover with the lid or cover tightly with foil. Leaving enough foil to go over the edges, liberally.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 60 to 70 minutes.
- Check after an hour and see if the liquid has absorbed and the rice is tender.
- It will still be very moist.
- Serve and sprinkle with fresh parsley - if you like.
Recipe Notes
IF FREEZING:
Please follow any of the directions defined in my article How to Prepare Food for the Freezerr.
TO PREPARE AFTER FREEZING:
If you have frozen leftover mujadara in smaller rigid containers then take out the containers and put in the fridge the day before serving. Heat in a microwave on high, stirring about every 2 minutes until heated through.
bree says
Hey, this might be a silly question but is the rice raw when you put it in the oven or is it precooked?
Ginny McMeans says
Not silly at all Bree! It is raw and it cooks in the broth while baking. That really makes it an easy recipe. 🙂
Angela says
Thanks for all these inspiring recipes! I tried this recipe for Madajura, and something went wrong. After 70 minutes hardly any broth had evaporated and the lentils and rice were not cooked. I raised the temp to 375 and cooked it for another 30 minutes to get the lentils and rice cooked. But it was like a mushy soup.
Has anyone else had this experience? I am uncertain about reducing the broth in the future–how much? OR raising the temperature in the oven. Oven is working fine. I did cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil, not a lid, but the foil was tight and don’t think that was the problem.
Any tips? Thanks!
Angela
Ginny McMeans says
I am so sorry Angela! I don’t know what could have happened. That is the recipe and if you scroll back with the comments you’ll see some that there are very good comments. It sounds as if you have thought of suggestions that I would have made. I hate to leave such a comment where I can’t even help you. Maybe the foil was too tight? It would let any steam out for the ater to cook down? Was the oven preheated? That could make a big difference.
Angela Curran says
Thanks!! I used a pan that was a bit smaller than the one you used. I am going to try the recipe again tonight with a larger pan and see if that works better. Thanks for these great recipes.
Angela Curran says
I made it again Ginny. I used a lasagne sized casserole dish and also added 3 large carrots. It spread out as it cooked and turned out great. So glad. Next time I will use cumin instead of cloves. Thanks!
Ginny McMeans says
Wonderful Angela! I am so very glad and thanks so much for letting me know.