Lentil Vegetable Wellington

A lentil vegetable wellington you can be proud of. Stuffed with an easy lentil vegetable mixture loaded with lentils, celery, mushrooms and onions seasoned well with paprika, fennel, and garlic. Easy to make, and you can make it look as fancy as you like too.

Two freshly cut pieces of wellington ready for serving. Wellington is cut on a small cutting board and fairy lights are strung around the scene to make it look festive.

Why you need this wellington at your next celebration

  • It’s the perfect dish for impressing without all the extra labor.
  • Simple ingredients that should be easy to find at your local market.
  • It’s perfectly flakey, filling and loaded with flavor. Did I mention it’s vegan?

Fully braided wellington straight out of the oven and topped with some minced parsley.

Key Ingredients

  • Vegan Puff Pastry: Pepperidge Farms makes puff pastry sheets that are accidentally vegan! You can find them in your local grocery store in the freezer section.
  • Lentils: We used brown lentils here, but you can opt for green lentils. Just make sure to cook according to package.
  • Flax Egg: This will help hold the lentil mixture together.
  • Mushrooms: A classic earthy flavor in most wellington recipes. Feel free to opt for more veggies if you aren’t a fan of mushrooms.
  • Soy Sauce & Nutritional Yeast: Helps add a little umami to the filling.
  • Fennel Seeds, Cumin, Smoked Paprika, Basil and Cumin: We can’t make food without flavor, so load it up and change to your preference.

Cutting board with diced celery, mushrooms and onions on top and a thawed pastry sheet folded and set to the side.

How to make a lentil vegetable Wellington

  1. In a sauce pan add lentils and vegetable broth. Bring to a low boil and allow to cook until soft and all liquid has been absorbed by the lentils (or drain remaining liquid if necessary).
  2. While lentils are cooking, mix flax and water together and set aside.
  3. When most of the liquid is absorbed, put a separate pan on a burner and add in onion, celery and mushrooms with a sprinkle of salt. Allow to cook down and soften.
  4. To the pan add the garlic and allow to become fragrant while sautéing. Add in tomato paste and sauté for about 2-3 minutes. Then add in soy sauce, lentils, remaining seasonings and flax egg. Combine and allow to sit and cool for 10 minutes while preparing the puff pastry.
  5. Preheat oven to 400F. Spread pastry sheet out on a floured surface and lightly roll it a little flatter.
  6. Place lentil mixture in the middle of the pastry. To wrap easily, wrap the sides of the dough around the lentils almost as if you were going to swaddle a child. Cut off excess pastry leaving about an inch enough to fold up to make a log.
  7. Seal edges and place the lentil loaf seam side down on a lined baking sheet. Cut at least 4-6 venting slits into the pastry.
  8. Place pastry in oven on the middle rack for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Step by step up prepping the wellington. First cook the lentils. Next, cut strips on either side of the pastry for braiding. Place the lentil mixture in the middle and then crisscross the ends together to braid. Finally, once fully wrapped you can brush with a little almond milk before baking.

Tips for braiding your wellington

If you choose to braid your wellington at step 6, my first tip is to be patient with yourself. I am by no means a master at this, and made lots of mistakes in this one I’m showing. Luckily, as you can see, puff pastry is very forgiving when it cooks. So have fun!

  1. Start by thawing your puff pastry sheet completely. You just need one for this recipe.
  2. Flour a clean working surface and unfold your pastry overtop. To make it easy to transfer, I’d suggest doing this whole process over parchment paper so you can just transfer it to a baking sheet at the end. Regardless, sprinkle a little flour overtop your pastry and with a rolling pin, roll your sheet a little flatter.
  3. Identify the center of your sheet, you should see some lines from the folds to help guide you. With a sharp knife, start to cut equal sized strips on both sides, starting from the fold line to the edge. The center of your pastry should fit your lentil mixture, so make sure you do not cut into the very middle.
  4. Now add in you lentil mixture to the very center and form it into a log. With a pastry brush or hands, splash a little plant based milk over the cut strips.
  5. Starting from one end, pull up one strip up at a diagonal over the lentil mixture. Then cross the opposite strip over top the previous strip. Go back to the other end, cross over, and repeat on the other side. Continue back and forth until you get to the center of the loaf and then go to the other end of your pastry and begin the process till to meet back in the middle.
  6. I left my ends untucked to allow the pastry to vent as it cooks. Just make sure your lentils are not falling out of the roll. At this point, carefully transfer your wellington to a baking sheet for baking.

Front view of the sliced up wellington.

More center pieces to try

Close up shot of a slice of wellington sitting on a cutting board.

Print
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Fresh slices of wellington ready to be served.

Lentil Vegetable Wellington

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 5 reviews
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 45 minutes
  • Total Time: 60 minutes
  • Yield: 4 People 1x
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: American

Description

A lentil vegetable wellington you can be proud of. Stuffed with an easy lentil vegetable mixture, this dish comes together quickly.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/2 cup dry brown lentils (rinsed well)
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 tbsp ground flax
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1 stalk celery (sliced)
  • 1/2 small onion (diced)
  • 4 Bella mushrooms (cubed)
  • 4 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp dry basil
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1 thawed vegan puff pastry sheet

Instructions

  1. In a sauce pan add lentils and vegetable broth. Bring to a low boil and allow to cook until soft and all liquid has been absorbed by the lentils (or drain remaining liquid if necessary).
  2. While lentils are cooking, mix flax and water together and set aside.
  3. When most of the liquid is absorbed, put a separate pan on a burner and add in onion, celery and mushrooms with a sprinkle of salt. Allow to cook down and soften.
  4. To the pan add the garlic and allow to become fragrant while sautéing. Add in tomato paste and sauté for about 2-3 minutes. Then add in soy sauce, lentils, seasonings, nutritional yeast and flax egg. Remove from heat and stir well to combine. Allow lentils to sit and cool for 10 minutes while preparing the puff pastry.
  5. Preheat oven to 400F. Make sure pastry is completely thawed. Spread out on a floured surface and lightly roll it a little flatter.
  6. Take lentil mixture and place in the middle of the pastry. You don’t need to do anything super fancy with the dough, but if you’d like to braid it, please refer to notes below. For an easier option, wrap the sides of the dough around the lentils almost as if you were going to swaddle a child. For the ends, cut off excess pastry leaving about an inch enough to fold up to make a little log.
  7. To seal just brush with a little plant based milk or water. Once sealed, place the lentil loaf seam side down on a lined baking sheet. Brush the surface with a little more plant based milk or oil and cut at least 4-6 venting slits into the pastry.
  8. Place pastry in oven on the middle rack for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow 10 minutes to cool before cutting and serving.

Notes

Vegan Pastry

Pepperidge Farms sells puff pastry sheets that are accidentally vegan. You can find them in the freezer section of your local grocery store. There are other puff pastry options that are vegan that you might be able to find at Whole Foods, but note that I was unable to find any at my own, so it might be hit or miss. 

Cooking Your Lentils

If you notice that your lentils are still hard after cooking, try adding more liquid and cook for a little longer. Some lentils if they are older can sometimes take longer to cook. 

To Braid Your Pastry

Starting from one end, pull up one strip up at a diagonal over the lentil mixture. Then cross the opposite strip over top the previous strip. Go back to the other end, cross over, and repeat on the other side. Continue back and forth until you get to the center of the loaf and then go to the other end of your pastry and begin the process till to meet back in the middle.

I left my ends untucked to allow the pastry to vent as it cooks. Just make sure your lentils are not falling out of the roll. At this point, carefully transfer your wellington to a baking sheet. 

Did You Try This Recipe?
Then let me know what you thought! Share your creations by tagging me on Instagram with the hashtag #plantbasedrdeats

 Catherine

7 Comments

  1. I’ve made this twice now. What a lovely main dish to serve for plant-based friends and family on special occasions! Braiding the puff pastry was not as complicated as it looked, and the whole recipe really was easier than I expected it to be. Mine needed 40 minutes in the oven for the braided pastry to cook through. Tasted fantastic. Thanks for the great recipe!






  2. Perfect festive main dish! Felt like a special treat but wasn’t hard to make at all. Might become a Christmas tradition!






  3. This was absolutely delicious! Next time I will transfer pastry to parchment paper before filling and braiding to make it easier to place on baking sheet without disturbing the art work.






    1. I’m so thrilled you got to try this recipe. Thank you so much for trying it and for the kind review Cathy. 🙂

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