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
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
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!
This is sooo good!! I’ve made it several times. And love it every time!! I served it over a brown rice quinoa mix this time. I’m going to add other grains next time.
WOW. So easy and delicious and of course cheap. And even better the next day. Substituted kale, which worked perfectly. Also substituted regular Kraft crunchy peanut butter.
Such a delicious soup! We amped up the spices. We had spinach on hand so we used that instead of collards and it turned out nicely. Saving this for future use. Simply delicious!
Made it tonight for Sabbath dinner. Used kale instead of collards. Anxious to see how it turns out!
We love this one! We do this with sun butter as we have a peanut allergy in the house, and it works great. I’ve played with the ratios some (adding a little more tomato paste and/or sun butter, and a little more sweet potato so that we can mash some into the broth and keep some pieces whole). We haven’t added the rice out of laziness and it’s been plenty filling. We also have doubled it, but used less water in our broth to make it fit in the pot and just simmered with the lid on to keep the final water content about the same.
I don’t know if this will get read, but is there any possibility of adding search functionality to the comments? It would be so helpful to search for what others have done in general, but especially as a household with a bunch of allergies to see what substitutions others have successfully used.
Hi Savannah! I will ask the tech gods. XOXO -Monti
I often use ctrl f or the find feature (if I’m on mobile- you can search how your phone browser does it it) for the word allergy or whatever phrase I’m looking for to search the comments of recipes!
I made this last night for dinner as our inaugural soup of the fall season. As is always the case with Budget Bytes recipes, the recipe is easy to follow, the # of servings reflects actual serving sizes at our house, and it is made with ingredients I usually have on hand – although I did substitute baby kale for the collard greens since that’s what I had in the fridge.
I served it with a nice whole grain crusty bread and it was phenomena: layers of flavor, unctuous mouth feel, and very filling. The flavors were even richer today when I reheated it for lunch. My partner finished his bowl and declared it one of the best soups I’ve ever made and asked that it go in the regular meal rotation, which is very high praise since we love soup and have so many favorites fighting for a spot on the menu..
This fully meets the high expectations I had after reading through the reviews. The flavour is outstanding (I added extra crushed red pepper and
Sriracha). I served it with black rice, which offers a nice chew. Highly recommend this recipe!
I have made this several times after visiting an African market in Minneapolis. This is an awesome recipe. I modified a bit and used two types of sweet potatoes, kale, spinach, a pinch of chili powder, and some acorn squash. The squash dissolved and created an extra thick stew. Another time I added a bit of creamy coconut milk. A very fun and forgiving dish to modify that never disappoints! Make it an you will be handsomely rewarded.
Made this for dinner last night and BOY do I wish I had doubled the recipe. I used ground ginger from the spice aisle because that’s what I had on hand and I also immersion blended it after letting the collards simmer. I am already planning on making this again. So easy, delicious, and filling.
This recipe is delicious! I have made is several times and every time I love it. Such a strange sounding combo but so good. I serve it over brown rice but you could do any grain or a combo of grains. Healthy, hearty and just delicious! Thank you
I was on the site looking at other recipes. Everything here is great. I love that there is a huge selection of vegan recipes!
I’ve make this every single week since the beginning of April. I cannot get enough!!
This was FANTASTIC. Reduced peanut butter to 1/3 cup (only because natural PB is expensive), turned out great. My fiancé who is a classic meat and potatoes guy, and shudders at anything meatless or vegan, really liked it. Success!
If you have a food processor, you can make peanut butter in less than 5 minutes. Just process the whole shelled peanuts until the mixture is the consistency of peanut butter.
This is my 1000th time making this recipe and every time I make it I wish I made more. I love that it is not easy to mess up and even when i decide to try my luck with it when I don’t have the exact amount, it’s always delicious. Me and my family have been eating this recipe for a few years and it’s life changing
I am making this recipe for the second time. I love it. I also substituted kale for the collard greens and only used half an onion.
Easy, healthy and delicious. Any green will do at the end-I used kale. I also used an immersion blender because I’m not a huge fan of sweet potatoes and found that blending it marries the savory flavors quite well. Excellent recipe!