Lentil and Vegetable Rice Skillet
A hearty vegan skillet with lentils, ready-made flavored rice, and fresh vegetables that tastes like you spent all afternoon cooking.
- Per serving
- $1.35
- Serves
- 4
- Time
- 20 min
- Whole dinner
- $5.40
Ingredients
2 pouches Walmart Royal Mexican rice and street corn
On sale at Walmart: Royal Mexican Rice and Street Corn - Ready-to-Heat Basmati Rice - 8.5 oz Microwavable Pouch.
$0.50$1.671.5 cups (about 10 oz) Brown lentils
about $2.001 cucumber Fresh cucumber
On sale at Walmart: Fresh Cucumber, Each
$0.50$0.762 lemons Fresh lemons
On sale at Walmart: Fresh Bulk Yellow Lemons
$0.33$0.683 cloves Garlic
about $0.503 cups Vegetable broth
about $1.002 tablespoons Olive oil
pantry1 teaspoon each Cumin and chili powder
pantryto taste Salt and pepper
pantry
Prices are from Walmart the week of October 4, 2026. Sale prices change every week and differ by store.
Steps
- Bring vegetable broth to a boil and add the lentils with a pinch of salt. Simmer for 15 minutes until lentils are tender.
- Meanwhile, mince the garlic and cucumber. Zest both lemons and juice one of them.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cooked lentils, spices, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
- Heat both pouches of the flavored rice according to package directions.
- Fold the warm rice into the lentil mixture along with the diced cucumber. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Divide among four bowls.
Why it’s cheap
3 of the 9 ingredients were on sale at Walmart the week of October 4, 2026, led by walmart royal mexican rice and street corn at $0.50 instead of $1.67.
The sale items rang up $1.78 under their regular prices.
Penny Meals prices a dinner by the share of each package you actually cook, adds an estimated shelf price for anything that wasn’t on sale, and counts pantry staples like oil and salt as free. That came to $1.35 a serving, or $5.40 for 4 servings.
More dinners like this
- Corn and Bean Skillet$0.61 a serving · 15 min · ALDI
- Toaster Strudel Breakfast with Fruit$0.62 a serving · 10 min · Publix
- Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal with Fresh Peaches$0.64 a serving · 10 min · ALDI
- Black Bean and Rice Skillet$0.68 a serving · 25 min · Dollar General
- Pear and Avocado Toast$0.70 a serving · 10 min · Walmart
- Creamy Cheddar Mac with Green Beans$0.72 a serving · 20 min · Walmart
Browse cheap recipes
This week’s deals
Recipes from this week’s sales at your stores
This recipe was written from one store’s sale prices in a past week. Penny Meals Plus writes new dinners every week from what is marked down at the stores near your ZIP code, priced the same way.
Find deals near meFree to browse: 5 deals a store without an account, 10 with a free account. Plus shows every deal and writes dinner recipes from your stores’ sales.