{"id":29105,"date":"2025-09-09T15:46:02","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T19:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bowlofdelicious.com\/?p=29105"},"modified":"2025-09-09T15:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T19:46:07","slug":"mujadara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bowlofdelicious.com\/mujadara\/","title":{"rendered":"One Pot Mujadara (Middle Eastern spiced lentils and rice with caramelized onions)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This easy one pot Mujadara is a twist on a popular Middle Eastern comfort food where warmly spiced lentils and rice are the base and deeply caramelized onions are the star. Recipes for Mujadara often use three different pots for caramelizing the onions, cooking the lentils, and cooking the rice. Here, we’re doing everything in one pot. It’s incredibly inexpensive to make, super nutritious and healthy, high protein and high fiber, and absurdly delicious. It also happens to be completely vegan\/plant-based, if that’s your thing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In my research for this recipe, I found most Mujadara recipes not only use three separate pots, but also use white rice. I love white rice, but here I’ve opted for brown rice. This not only adds nutrition and fiber, but it cooks in the same amount of time as the soaked lentils. Which makes the Mujadara easy to cook in one pot with less hands-on time. The nutty, earthy flavor of brown rice works really well here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The caramelized onions are a must here, so be sure to plan ahead. It will take about 40 minutes <\/em>to caramelize the onions properly, but it’s worth it and pretty hands-off. A slow sauté on low-ish heat will turn the onions a deep golden color and bring out a natural sweetness without the risk of burning them. We’ll remove about half of the onions before continuing to cook. Those are going to top of the Mujadara before serving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always think lentils need an acid – it’s why adding red wine vinegar to Greek lentil soup<\/a> makes it so delicious. So for serving, I squeeze a bit of fresh lemon juice over each serving, which to me really balances everything out. I also add a little Aleppo pepper for some heat to balance out the sweetness of the dish from the caramelized onions. Yum!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients and Substitutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A disclaimer before this list of ingredients that there are SO many versions of Mujadara throughout the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. It’s called a few different things. It can be made with different types of spices, and sometimes uses bulgur instead of rice. Some are more stew-like, and some are more pilaf-like. This ingredients list represents only one version of this very diverse dish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n