I had seen recipes for Peanut Stew and all of it’s many variations around the internet for years before I finally gave it a try, and I’m only kicking myself for not trying it sooner. This stew, inspired by several peanut based stews made in West Africa, is seriously DE-LIC-OUS!! This rich and creamy tomato-peanut stew is so incredibly flavorful, super comforting, and is truly a meal in a bowl. You’re going to love this flavorful stew!
What is Peanut Stew?
This delicious stew is inspired by the many versions of peanut stew made in several countries across West Africa. The recipe and names for the stew vary from region to region, some of the names being: groundnut stew, maafe, or domoda, to name a few. The common thread between these regional recipes is a tomato broth made rich and creamy with peanut butter, and seasoned with plenty of delicious spices. The flavors are simply incredible. While most versions of this dish are made with chicken, I made a few subs to make it vegan, but I promise you won’t even miss the meat.
Substitutions
I love the texture and flavor of the collard greens in this Vegan Peanut Stew, but I’ve seen versions using all sorts of different greens, so feel free to substitute with kale, spinach, mustard greens, or whatever hearty greens you prefer.
Either chunky or smooth peanut butter will work here, but make sure it’s natural style, with no added sugar, to maximize the peanut flavor.
How to Serve Vegan Peanut Stew
Brown rice is my carb of choice to go with this dish because of it’s slightly nutty flavor and extra texture, so I like to scoop a bit straight into my bowl of stew. That being said, it can certainly be served without rice as well, or even with some bread (maybe some naan) for dipping. I also like my stew a bit spicy, so I like to top it off with a little drizzle of sriracha, even though that’s totally mixing and matching cultures. :) I’m all about fusion!
Meal Prep or Freeze for Later!
This recipe holds up really well both in the refrigerator or freezer. I like to pack up my bowls with rice and everything, then refrigerate for a few days or freeze for longer term storage.
Vegan Peanut Stew
Servings 6 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger ($0.30)
- 1 sweet potato (about 1 lb.) ($1.47)
- 1 medium onion ($0.21)
- 1 tsp cumin ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper ($0.02)
- 1 6oz. can tomato paste ($0.45)
- 1/2 cup natural style peanut butter ($0.55)
- 6 cups vegetable broth ($0.78)
- 1/2 bunch collard greens (4-6 cups chopped) ($0.99)
Optional Garnishes
- 1/4 bunch cilantro ($0.25)
- 4.5 cups cooked brown rice ($0.53)
- 1/3 cup chopped peanuts ($0.16)
Instructions
- Peel and grate the ginger using a small holed cheese grater. Mince the garlic, and dice the onion. Sauté the onion, ginger, and garlic in a large pot with the olive oil over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, or until the onion becomes soft and translucent.
- While the onion, ginger, and garlic are sautéing, peel and dice the sweet potato into 1/2-inch cubes. Add the sweet potato cubes, cumin, and red pepper to the pot and continue to sauté for about 5 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste, peanut butter, and vegetable broth to the pot. Stir until the peanut butter and tomato paste have mostly dissolved into the broth. Place a lid on the pot and turn the heat up to high. Allow the stew to come up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and allow it to simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are very soft.
- While the soup is simmering, prepare the collard greens. Use a sharp knife to remove each stem (cut along the side of each stem), then stack the leaves and cut them into 1/2-inch wide strips. Place the chopped collard greens in a colander and rinse very well
- Once the stew has simmered for 15-20 minutes and the sweet potatoes are very soft, stir in the collard greens. Let the stew simmer for about 5 minutes more, then begin to smash the sweet potatoes against the side of the pot to help thicken the stew.
- Finally, taste the stew and add salt or red pepper, if desired. Serve the stew with a scoop of cooked rice (about 3/4 cup), a few chopped peanuts, fresh cilantro, and a drizzle of sriracha, if desired.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Peanut Stew – Step by Step Photos
Dice one onion, mince four cloves of garlic, and grate about 1 Tbsp fresh ginger. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger to a large soup pot along with 1 Tbsp olive oil, and sauté over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, or until the onions are soft and translucent.
While the onion, garlic, and ginger are sautéing, peel and dice one sweet potato (about 1 lb.) into 1/2-inch cubes. Add the sweet potato cubes to the pot along with 1 tsp cumin and 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes. Continue to sauté for about 5 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup natural-style peanut butter, one 6oz. can of tomato paste, and 6 cups of vegetable broth to the pot. Stir until the peanut butter and tomato paste are mostly dissolved into the broth (it will look a little weird and grainy at this point). Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to high, and bring the stew up to a boil. Once boiling, turn it down to medium-low and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are very soft and mashable.
While the stew is simmering, prepare the collard greens. Run a sharp knife down the side of each stem to remove the stems.
Stack the leaves and slice cross-wise into 1/2-inch wide strips. Place the sliced collard greens in a colander and rinse very well (they tend to be very sandy).
Once the stew has simmered for 15-20 minutes and the sweet potatoes are very soft, add the rinsed collard greens. Stir them into the hot stew and let them simmer for about 5 minutes more.
Use a large spoon to smash some of the sweet potatoes against the side of the pot to help thicken the stew. Give the peanut stew one last taste and add more salt or red pepper flakes, if desired.
To serve the Vegan Peanut Stew, ladle about 1.5 cups of stew into a bowl, top with 3/4 cup cooked brown rice, a tablespoon or so of chopped peanuts, a light sprinkle of cilantro, and a drizzle of sriracha (if desired). Enjoy!
Not sure how to rate this. I love each ingredient but was not fond of the combination. There was a sweetness I was not fond of. But very healthy.
This stew is so delicious!!! A perfect recipe. In case people don’t have all the ingredients, just wanted to flag I’ve also made this with kale (instead of Collard greens), farro (instead of rice), and I never peel my sweet potatoes, and it all comes out just as good. An incredibly forgiving recipe with so much flavor. Thanks for posting this!
Has anyone tried this with almond butter? I know it would work with a good thick almond butter I’m more curious about the taste.
Last week there was a segment on The Today Show about Soupergirl and their best selling soup — Vegan West African Peanut Stew. I googled it and, no surprise, it brought me here. Your version sounds perfect. I haven’t made it yet because I need to get the peanut butter. I’ll make it this weekend.
Will attempt this tomorrow. Just want to thank you for the clean and budget friendly recipes. You’re a god send!
Our family lived in Togo, West Africa for a number of years and ‘sauce arachide’ is one of our favorite Togolese dishes. Each West African country has its version which to me, varies greatly in taste. It is challenging to reproduce the same flavor here in the US, but we have been trying. We add about a tablespoon or two of red palm oil when sauteing the onions, then add ginger and garlic and other ingredients including spinach. We use creamy peanut butter with no added sugar and no whole peanuts. We use Nutiva Red Palm Oil from Amazon. It’s quite good and we also use it in Togolese gombo (okra) soup. The red palm oil adds a whole new dimension of flavor (just be careful and start off with tablespoon amounts and never more as it can overpower the flavor of the other ingredients.) We usually leave out the pepper as there are some in our family who can’t eat it. I add La-Yu chili oil at the table as I find it’s the closest I can get to the flavor of Togolese small round green peppers which are not found in the US. It is also delicious served with boiled banana plantain!
That sounds amazing!! Now I really want to find some red palm oil to try. And adding plantain sounds incredible! Thank you for sharing that. :)
I’ve made this before and it was absolutely delicious!!
I’m looking to make it again and had a thought…Would I be able to substitute the chunky peanut butter with powdered peanut butter?
I’ve never worked with powdered peanut butter, unfortunately, so I’m not sure how it would do in this recipe.
The powdered peanut butter usually has a fair amount of sugar in it, so while it may save you calories I think the taste would be off.
Ohmygoodness. This is probably one of the best things I have made in years!!!! I have never commented on a recipe before, but felt that I need to just share how much I loved it! I did add a canned of diced tomatoes and more PB, like others suggested. Ate it will some garlic naan from Trader Joe’s and I was in heaven!
I love this recipe! Inexpensive, nutrient-dense, filling, great for batch cooking and reheating, and best of all, delicious.
I like to substitute a bottle of dark beer (such as porter, stout, or brown ale) for some of the water I use for the broth in this recipe. Rather than using broth out of a box, I like to use Better than Bouillon concentrates, so I will add 6 tsp of base + 1.5 c beer +4.5 c water.
I also notice that once I add the tomato paste and peanut butter, the mixture thickens very quickly, so I slowly add a little bit of the beer (or broth) about 1/4 c at a time to prevent scorching.
I love this stew!! My favorite additions are toppings- I like to add peeled, minced broccoli stems (also great for dipping in hummus etc), green onions, and chickpeas dry roasted with some oil, salt and cumin. I also often add a can of diced tomatoes to the soup
Just made this tonight and ate it with quinoa and brown rice. It was hearty and delicious. I added sriracha at the end as suggested, and it added just the right amount of heat. Thanks for this recipe!
I made this last night!! Simply AMAZING!!!!
I love this recipe! Good replacement for the greens, beans, and grains frozen meal from Trader Joe’s that was discontinued. Thank you!
What the hell ia african stew?! You do realize that Africa is not a country?
My dad is from Ghana and that’s what it’s called. West African peanut stew/soup or West African groundnut soup.
No. It’s a continent. Where they came up with this delicious recipe. Enjoy!
It’s a stew from Africa. Which, yes, is a continent. What’s your point?
West Africa is a region with shared cultural cuisines, much like Mediterranean or Scandinavian, or even Southern or New England here in the US. The recipe title reflects that shared tradition.
That said, I really like this recipe. It’s got a lot of flavor, and feels hearty and comforting during these frigid January days. I usually make it with leftover Christmas turkey, but lately we’ve skipped the meat entirely, because it is really that good all on its own. I’m planning to make it tonight, what with the impending polar vortex threatening, and it’ll be a satisfying lunch option this week.
Can you show us where it says Africa is a country anywhere in the recipe?
very tasty! Is delicious as is, but I made a few additions the second time round: two sweet potatoes, a little more peanut butter (maybe 2 extra tbsp), and a tsp of chili flakes.
Amazing, thank you Beth! We added grilled tofu and grilled chicken after cooking to add protein. The other sub I made was 10oz pasta sauce instead of 6oz tomato paste 😂 not an ideal sub but it was still good!!