(One Pot) Rich Beef & Lentil Ragu | More Ways Than One
Welcome back to series 3 of more ways than one, where I’m making one prepable pot and showing you how to turn it into 4 deliciously different dinners. It all starts with one weekly shop that gets up throughout the week across the dinners so there’s minimal food waste, but you still get to eat something different every night. The base of this series is my beef and lentil ragu. The aim with this base is to develop a rich flavour that can be adapted to different flavours and cuisines later in the week. A rich and flavourful ragu that uses beef mince for depth and added lentils for an easy boost of gut-loving fibre.
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This beef and lentil ragu is a rich, slow-developed base recipe designed for batch cooking and repurposing across the week. Made in one pot, it combines beef mince for depth with red lentils for body, fibre, and nourishment. While cooked in a single large pan, it’s intentionally portioned to create multiple future meals rather than a single sitting. The flavour is savoury, tomato-forward, and adaptable, making it ideal for transforming into dishes across different cuisines. It’s a practical, low-waste approach to cooking that keeps solo meals varied without repeating yourself.
Why You’ll Want to Make This Recipe
Cook Once, Eat Well All Week
This recipe forms the backbone of four completely different dinners, saving you time and mental energy while still keeping meals exciting. One prep session, multiple outcomes.
Designed for Low Waste
Using lentils alongside beef stretches the mince, boosts fibre, and makes better use of a single pack of ingredients across several meals — perfect for solo cooking.
One Pot, Big Flavour
Everything happens in one pan, building flavour layer by layer. Browning the beef properly and cooking out the tomato purée gives you a deeply savoury base that tastes far richer than the ingredient list suggests.
Flexible and Adaptable
This ragu is intentionally neutral but flavourful, meaning it can lean Moroccan, Italian, Korean-inspired, or comfort-classic depending on how you finish it later in the week.
Eleanor’s Top Tips for the Perfect Beef & Lentil Ragu
- Let the beef mince really brown before moving on — colour equals flavour here.
- Don’t rush the tomato purée step; cooking it until dark removes bitterness and adds depth.
- Stir the lentils regularly to prevent sticking, especially as the ragu thickens.
- Add water gradually if needed — the texture should be spoonable, not soupy.
- Season in layers, but always re-taste at the end once the lentils are fully cooked.
- This ragu thickens as it cools, making it ideal for reheating and reshaping into new dishes.
Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need
Essential Ingredients
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil – for sautéing and richness
- Red Onion – sweet base flavour
- Garlic – depth and savouriness
- Beef Mince (12% fat) – richness and body
- Tomato Purée – concentrated umami
- Dried Red Lentils – fibre, thickness, and balance
- Water – cooking liquid
- Beef Stock Cube – seasoning and depth
- Salt & Black Pepper – essential seasoning
Essential Tools
- Large, deep sauté pan or casserole dish
- Wooden spoon or spatula
- Knife and chopping board
- Measuring jug
Dietary Variations
Gluten-Free
Naturally gluten-free as written.
Dairy-Free
This base contains no dairy.
Adding Protein
You can replace half the beef mince with turkey mince or add finely diced mushrooms to further stretch the ragu.
Different Flavour Directions
This base is designed to be adapted later — spices, herbs, cheeses, or sauces are best added when transforming it into its final dishes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is this recipe meant to be eaten on its own?
A: This ragu is designed as a base recipe. While you could eat it as-is, it’s intended to be transformed into multiple different meals across the week.
Q: How many portions does this make?
A: It makes enough for approximately four solo dinners once adapted into other recipes.
Q: Can I freeze this ragu?
A: Yes — let it cool completely, then freeze in individual portions for up to 3 months.
Q: Why use lentils with beef mince?
A: Lentils add fibre, help thicken the sauce naturally, and make the beef go further without sacrificing flavour.
Q: What pan size works best?
A: A large sauté pan or casserole that comfortably holds 2–2.5 litres allows proper browning and easy stirring.
This is exactly the kind of recipe that makes cooking for yourself feel generous rather than repetitive — one pot, one prep, and many comforting dinners still to come.
Ingredients
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Red Onion, finely diced
3 Cloves of Garlic, finely diced
500g Beef Mince (12% Fat Minimum)
2 Tbsp Tomato Puree
100g Dried Red Lentils
500ml Water
1 Beef Stock Cube
Salt
Black Pepper
Instructions
- Start by adding a little olive oil to a large pan over a medium heat.
- Add the onion and garlic and let that sauté for 6-7 minutes until soft and translucent.
- Next, add in the beef mince. Turn the heat up to high and use a spoon or spatula break up the mince into smaller pieces. Let that cook for another 8-10 minutes until the meat has started to brown and for a slight crust (this is extra flavour!).
- Add the tomato puree and cook for another 4-5 minutes until dark in colour. Then add the lentil, water, beef stock and season with salt and a good crack of black pepper. Place a lid on the pan and turn the heat back to medium. Let it cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently and adding more water if necessary.
- The final ragu should be rich in colour and have thickened slightly. Taste and season again if necessary then use in another of the recipes mentioned above.
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Meal Plans & More...
Subscribe to my newsletter for weekly meal plans, for one! I select 5 one pot one portion recipes that use similar ingredients and include your shopping list plus recipe notes, ingredient swaps and tips and tricks for using up leftovers. Take a look at the first one here...
Ginger Chicken Rice Bowl
Usually I would consider a brothy meal that you eat with a bowl and a spoon a form of comfort food, however, the flavours in this dish are so fresh and vibrant that it has to go in this chapter. I love the fiery freshness of ginger and it’s the predominant flavour in this rich chicken broth. The finished dish isn’t a soup as such, but there is just enough broth to make every mouthful deliciously juicy. It also takes minimal time to make so it’s a useful recipe to have on hand for days when you’re short of time.
Curried Chicken Skewers with Satay Slaw
I have an affinity for crunchy slaws, as I think they provide more interest, more texture and are more filling than many other salads. However, I’m not partial to excessive quantities of mayonnaise. Here I opt for coconut milk instead, which delivers the same creaminess in a less monotonous way. The fresh coriander and bite of roasted peanuts keep this slaw lively and interesting and are perfect with the lightly charred curried chicken skewers. This would also be great sandwiched between a burger bun, or on a soft flatbread.
Creamy Green Linguine
In a way, this linguine changed my life. It was the first recipe in the series to take off on social media, bringing new people and new opportunities into my life. It’s an exceptionally simple recipe that uses the same water to cook both the pasta and the vegetables, which you then use to create a velvety, carbonara-esque sauce with the cheese and egg. I’ve retested this and tweaked it since its original conception and, though I can’t promise it will change your life, I can promise it will be delicious.
Vegetable Pancake with a Chilli Crisp Egg
This vegetable pancake has its origin in Korea (where they’re known as yachaejeon) and is the perfect dish to use up odds and ends of any vegetables you have lying around. Cabbage, spring onions, carrots and courgettes work really well and provide a nice balance of moisture and crunch, but peppers, potatoes, mushrooms or leafy greens are good alternatives. Depending on the vegetables you use, you may need more or less water to make the light batter so adjust as necessary.
Prawn & Mango Salad
The perfect fresh, but still flavourful, summer salad! This is a beautiful fragrant salad with a creamy, zingy coconut milk dressing. With just a little bit of chopping and a minute of whisking, you’ve got a gorgeous summer lunch, perfect for working from home, taking lunch to the office or a sunny meal in the garden this weekend.
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"One Pot One Portion is, to borrow from The Parent Trap “a brilliant beyond brilliant idea”…I know many feel that it’s too much bother to cook ‘just’ for themselves — a sad admission, I feel — and to those people, and many others besides, I say: get this book and prove yourself liberatingly wrong!…Thank goodness for books! And thank goodness for Eleanor Wilkinson, a young talent to lift the spirits…There are so many people who could benefit from this book…this book is a boon and a blessing"
"A genius approach to bringing joy to every meal, Eleanor gets that good food is the best form of self-love."
I buy a lot of cook books and this is genuinely one of the best l've ever bought. I've tried 6 or 7 recipes so far and they're all winners. I'm well used to scaling recipes down to one portion, but not having to calculate measurements as l go along feels like a little luxury. One of the best things about the book is that all the recipes are actually cooked in one pot - in a lot of other so-called books you still have to make your side dish in a separate pot. With these recipes, even if they include rice or pasta, it's all cooked together. No mountains of washing up! Highly recommended.
I have been following Eleanor on IG for a while and have made several of her dishes before the cookbook came out. I was thrilled to see so many new things to try and have already made about 6 of them. Her recipes are approachable, the dishes are delicious, and they make me feel like I can cook! Highly recommend.
If you love eating good home cooked food but can't be bothered to cook just for yourself, then this is the book for you. Using ingredients that are easy to find, then mixing, cooking and eating from the same pan or dish means a minimum of washing up. Every recipe I have tried so far has been delicious and have all turned out well which isn't always the case with many cookery books. Definitely recommend!
Following Eleanor on Instagram and seeing her recipes come to life is one thing but then having them in my own kitchen is quite another. Not only are the recipes easy to follow and delicious she also help you not to waste food. This book is like having all your favourite foods in one place with the added bonus of an old friend showing you the ropes. Congratulations Eleanor when can I pre-order the next one?
Bought this for my sister who cooks for one. She absolutely loved it finding it inspiring! So many great recipes to motivate and keep you cooking when it's just you eating!
Follow Eleanor on socials and knew I NEEDED this book immediately! SO glad I paid extra and had it shipped from the UK (to US). Eleanor's voice is loud and clear in every recipe. The pictures are beautiful, the instructions are perfectly clear, and I want to make EVERYTHING. I cannot recommend this book enough!
This is perfect, as far as influencer chefs go, I find this book refreshing in what has become a cohort of lauded influencers who really aren't doing much more than the bog standard meals most people make anyway, or making googled recipes and adding their own "flair". This book is different as it's your normal fare you'd likely make yourself, given a little bit of a twist to speed up the process / use less utensils / ingredients / food waste, in really creative and tasty ways, all perfectly portioned for one.
Great present! Bought this for my sister who cooks for one. She absolutely loved it finding it inspiring! So many great recipes to motivate and keep you cooking when it's just you eating!
Great present! Bought this for my sister who cooks for one. She absolutely loved it finding it inspiring! So many great recipes to motivate and keep you cooking when it's just you
Follow Eleanor on socials and knew I NEEDED this book immediately! SO glad I paid extra and had it shipped from the UK (to US). Eleanor's voice is loud and clear in every recipe. The pictures are beautiful, the instructions are perfectly clear, and I want to make EVERYTHING. I cannot recommend this book enough!
This recipe book is stunning and fulfils its role brilliantly in catering for individuals who want to eat delicious meals, but don't want to prepare family sized portions or devote their entire evening to cooking. Who'd believe you could make an entire roast for one person and only use one pan in the process! She is a genius and I couldn't recommend this book any more highly.
One of the best things about the book is that all the recipes are actually cooked in one pot - in a lot of other so-called books you still have to make your side dish in a separate pot. With these recipes, even if they include rice or pasta, it's all cooked together. No mountains of washing up!
This is the book I've been waiting for! I (very happily!) live alone, love to cook and read cookery books, but every recipe is for two people or more. This gorgeous book contains recipes perfectly proportioned for one person (and I'm always a very hungry one person!) which ensures more variety, less food waste, and pure, gluttonous joy.
It's so nice to finally have a recipe book that I can go to if I want a quick easy meal with minimal cleaning up required! Everything l've tried so far is delicious. And I salivate at the thought of everything in there!
Totally reignited my cooking mojo which had been MIA for a while. I'm going to buy my daughter a copy to take back to Uni too as everything is simple and delicious - perfect for a student!
Best cookbook for somebody single!
The fact I know I won't have loads to wash up really feels motivating and l've earmarked so many of the recipes already.
This book is like having all your favourite foods in one place with the added bonus of an old friend showing you the ropes. Congratulations Eleanor when can I pre-order the next one?