Cheesy Mexican Lentils

If you are a Mexican flavour loving family like we are, yours will just love these budget-friendly Cheesy Lentils. I use warming spices only, making this lentil dish mild enough for the whole family to enjoy, even babies! 

These Cheesy Mexican Lentils are very versatile too, they can be served with white rice, toasted pitta, or even as a jacket potato filler! They’re also great for fussy eaters, as the vegetables are either grated or finely chopped and once cooked, are unrecognisable. And this is a great first lentil meal to try for cheese loving kids. 

If you have a toddler, weaning baby or fussy eater and are wondering how to adapt this recipe for your family, see here >

The Stars of my Cheesy Mexican Lentils

Lentils

I use dried red lentils for this recipe, they cook quickly and you should be able to get ones that don’t need any soaking before cooking. Lentils provide great nutrition for your family, they are high in fibre, protein and essential vitamins.

The Mexican Seasonings

I’m keeping this meal mild, warming spices only. I use cumin, smoked paprika and dried oregano. I’ve not added any cayenne or chilli powder not only to keep it mild for the kids, but also because, I don’t feel that every Mexican dish needs to be spicy! You can top adult servings with jalapeños if you like, but this meal is just so delicious and comforting as is, I really don’t think it needs it.

Vegetables

Grating the onion and carrot instead of dicing them, really lends themselves to more of a consistent, less chunky lentil sauce, similar to a lentil dahl. Having diced onion and sliced carrot would give you a much chunkier sauce. Just a quick note on grating the onion; choose a large one as you’ll find it hard to grate the whole thing safely (without grating your fingers too!). And so inevitably, you will waste some.

I also recommend using finely chopped tinned tomatoes, or even crushed tomatoes if you can get them, again ensuring no large chunks are popping out amongst the smooth lentils. You can of course use regular tinned chopped tomatoes if that’s all you have, it will just give you a slightly chunkier texture. Also, if you have a tomato hater in the family, it’s best to use a a tin of smaller cut tomatoes, and then they won’t even notice it.

FAQ’s For My Cheesy Mexican Lentils

Can I prepare this Cheesy Mexican Lentils in advance?

Yes! You can grate the carrots and onion and refrigerate until ready to cook. You can also measure your spices out into a small bowl with your crushed garlic and refrigerate too. Measure out your lentils and your oregano, and leave covered at room temperature. Your cheese can also be grated, covered and chilled in the fridge until ready to cook.

Can I feed more people with this recipe?

These Cheesy Mexican Lentils are so easy to double, or even treble, making them perfect for feeding a crowd! 

How can younger children help make it?

They can help you start grating the carrots and onions, under close supervision. You should take over once they get down low so their fingers aren’t in danger of being grated. They can also help with measuring everything out.

Can I Store Cheesy Mexican Lentils leftovers?

You can store any Cheesy Mexican Lentils leftovers in an air-tight container or resealable food bag in the fridge for up to 3 days (cook day + 2). Leftovers can also be frozen, just defrost for 24 hours in the fridge and reheat in the microwave, stirring halfway, until steaming hot all the way through.

For more on safe food storage and reheating read here >

What diets is this recipe suitable for?

My Cheesy Mexican Lentils are suitable for vegetarian’s, as well as egg, nut and gluten-free diets.

Adapting My Cheesy Mexican Lentils For Your Family

Eating together is beneficial for families of all ages and stages, for a multitude of reasons; nutritional, behavioural, psychological and for healthy family functioning. This section will show you how to tweak this Cheesy Mexican Lentils recipe for sharing with a weaning baby, toddler or a fussy eater, which will help make it easier to eat together as a family.

Keeping Fussy Eaters and Young Children Happy

This is the perfect meal to test out lentils on your picky eater.  Especially if they like meals with cheese! Even if your fussy eater has tried a lentil dish before and not liked it, they may well surprise you and enjoy this one. My picky eater son, Nate, has never liked lentil dahl when I’ve made it, so I had been wary of cooking other lentil meals for the whole family. But actually, this has turned out to be one of his favourite meals.

Nate’s also not a fan of tomato chunks, but he never even notices them in this meal. That’s because it’s a bit of a hidden vegetable meal. I always use a tin of finely chopped tomatoes (or you can use crushed tomatoes if you can get them) and as we grate the onions and tomatoes, they end up being unrecognisable in this dish.

The kids prefer these Cheesy Mexican Lentils served with rice, and I gave them a few lightly salted tortilla chips to make it more appetising to them the first time they had it, which they really enjoyed. And yes, I do have to do this every time I make this meal now! So it’s up to you if you want to start that or not. Obviously, don’t give salty tortilla chips to babies.

See more from me on fussy eaters here >

Add On’s for Adults

Hubby and I personally enjoy the mild spice level of these lentils, but if you like heat with everything (especially when it’s Mexican), I would recommend chopping up some jalapeño’s and sprinkling those onto adult servings.

Making My Cheesy Mexican Lentils Suitable for Baby Weaning  

As the lentils are so small and we are already using vegetables prepared in a suitable way for babies to eat, nothing different needs to be done prep or serving wise. We are grating the onions and carrots, and you can use a tin of finely chopped or crushed tomatoes. Just don’t add any salt into the lentils, you can stir some through once you have dished up their serving instead. 

I’ve also added these notes to the bottom of the recipe so you have them to hand when you come to cook. For more info on how I keep my family meals suitable for baby weaning, read here >

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