I’m already declaring THIS my favorite recipe of the winter of 2018/2019, and we haven’t even gotten to winter yet! That’s just how excited I am about this Lentil Stew. I’ve made it twice in a row and am not even tired of it yet. I’ve even eaten it twice for breakfast. My want for this hearty lentil stew knows no boundaries.
I had been craving beef stew but felt like I’d been eating a bit more meat than usual lately, so I decided to try to craft something just as rich, hearty, and flavorful, without meat. I modeled this Vegan Winter Lentil Stew recipe after my Slow Cooker Beef Stew, but I made a few substitutions to make it 100% plant-based. The medley of vegetables and herbs creates a thick, flavorful, and comforting stew that is just begging for some crusty bread to sop it all up. I served mine with a batch of No-Knead Bread and was in heaven.
Ingredients for Lentil Stew
- Aromatics: Any good stew will start with aromatics for a nice deep flavor. I used onion and garlic (four cloves, but you can measure with your heart!).
- Vegetables: A medley of vegetables adds flavor, color, and texture to this hearty stew. I used carrots, celery, potatoes, and green peas, but you could also try other vegetables like mushrooms, parsnips, or turnips.
- Lentils: Lentils are what make this stew so thick and hearty. They provide a ton of fiber and other nutrients, yet are super budget-friendly! We used green or brown lentils (not French green lentils), which cook quickly, in about 20 minutes, with no soaking needed.
- Broth: The liquid base for this stew is vegetable broth, which provides tons of complex flavor and an appealing stew-like brown color. The type of broth used will definitely impact the flavor of your stew, so I suggest using Better Than Bouillon.
- Seasoning: To flavor the stew even further we add dried rosemary, dried thyme, a little Dijon mustard for some zing, soy sauce for umami, and a little brown sugar to add a sweetness similar to what you’d find in Worcestershire sauce.
What to Serve with Lentil Stew
This hearty lentil stew is truly a complete meal in a bowl that is packed with nutrients. I wouldn’t typically serve a side dish with lentil stew, except maybe some bread for sopping up all that delicious gravy. Try our no-knead bread, garlic bread, beer bread, or drop biscuits.
How to Store and Reheat Lentil Stew
This stew will stay good in the refrigerator for up to five days. To reheat, simply microwave until hot or place in a saucepot and heat over medium-low, stirring frequently, until heated through.
To freeze this stew, I suggest dividing it into single portions, cooling it completely in the refrigerator overnight, and then transferring it to the freezer. And don’t forget, always label and date your freezer food! The stew will stay good in the freezer for about three months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before heating, or use the defrost function on a microwave.
Vegan Lentil Stew
Servings 8 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 4 carrots (about 1/2 lb.) ($0.45)
- 4 stalks celery ($0.75)
- 2 lbs potatoes ($0.70)
- 1 cup brown lentils ($0.49)
- 1 tsp dried rosemary ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme ($0.05)
- 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard ($0.09)
- 1.5 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.09)
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.04)
- 6 cups vegetable broth ($0.78)
- 1 cup frozen peas ($0.38)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the olive oil, onion, and garlic to a large soup pot and begin to sauté over medium heat.
- While the onion and garlic are sautéing, dice the celery, then add it to the pot and continue to sauté. As the celery, onion, and garlic are sautéing, peel and chop the carrots into half rounds. Add the carrots to the pot and continue to sauté.
- As the onion, garlic, celery, and carrots are sautéing, peel and cube the potatoes into 3/4 to 1-inch pieces. Add the cubed potatoes to the pot along with the lentils, rosemary, thyme, Dijon, soy sauce, brown sugar, and vegetable broth.
- Briefly stir the ingredients to combine, then place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to high, and bring the stew up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Toward the end of the simmer time, when the potatoes are very soft, begin to mash the potatoes a bit as you stir. This will help thicken the stew.
- Finally, after 30 minutes, stir in the frozen peas and allow them to heat through. Taste the stew and add salt if needed (this will depend on the salt content of your broth, I did not add any extra). Serve hot and enjoy!
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Vegan Lentil Stew – Step by Step Photos
Begin by dicing one yellow onion and mincing four cloves of garlic. Add the onion, garlic, and 2 Tbsp olive oil to a large soup pot. Sauté over medium heat.
While the onion and garlic are sautéing, dice or slice 4 stalks celery (depending on how chunky you want your stew). Add the celery to the pot and continue to sauté. Peel and chop four carrots into half-rounds, add them to the pot, and continue to sauté.
While the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic are sautéing, peel and cube 2 lbs. potatoes into 3/4 to 1-inch cubes. Add the potatoes to the pot along with 1 cup brown lentils, 1 tsp dried rosemary, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard, 1.5 Tbsp soy sauce, and 1 Tbsp brown sugar.
Finally, add 6 cups vegetable broth to the pot and give everything a brief stir. Place a lid on top, turn the heat up to high, and bring it up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low, and let it simmer for 3o minutes, stirring occasionally.
Toward the end of the simmer time, when the potatoes are very soft, begin to mash them a bit against the side of the pot as you stir. This will thicken the stew. After 30 minutes, add 1 cup frozen peas, and allow them to heat through. Finally, taste the stew and add salt if needed (I did not add any salt because the broth I used had enough).
Enjoy your Vegan Lentil Stew with a big chunk of crusty bread to sop up all that richness!
Delish! I made a few modifications – I didn’t have peas, but did have some chopped frozen kale which I added at the end. I also had an extra sweet potato which I threw in. I also went a little heavy on the sugar (my fault for not measuring exactly) but overall a wonderful, warming winter dish. We enjoyed it with hot crusty french bread & my new love, Milkadamia vegan spread. Super yummy and I’ll make it again.
Ooh what is this spread? I’ll have to look for that it sounds amazing! Glad to hear you used what you had on hand to make this stew work for you!
I’ve made this vegan stew 5 or 6 times and everytime it just gets better. It’s SO easy to feed a larger group of people and tastes even better the next day as leftovers. SO comforting and cozy, especially during the winter. Thanks for an amazing vegan recipe!!
You’re so very welcome Cindi!
This has become one of my staples :) It’s probably the Budget Bytes recipe I make the most often. Since my husband doesn’t like garlic, I usually substitute it with another onion or then just put one or two garlic cloves. Tastes good nevertheless :)
Happy to hear it!
Are the lentils put in dry or do they have to be cooked first?
They’re dry lentils :)
I made this twice already! Once as a “test” and again for a meal train. I added about a tablespoon of the Trader Joe’s Umami Seasoning and it really kicked it up a notch! My boyfriend really loved it too and didn’t even miss the meat. We aren’t vegan, but the meal train for a cancer patient who is vegan. I wanted something hearty to give them. I hope they enjoyed it!Thanks for the yummy recipe! Can’t wait to try more!
Oh that seasoning is amazing. And so are YOU for bringing a meal to a friend!
Made this 3 times already. Love it!
Happy to hear it’s a favorite Loretta!
This was so good. I’ve been vegetarian for almost one year now & the only thing I was really missing was hearty beef stew in the middle of a snowstorm. This is a great substitute (in fact it’s probably better than the beef one I used to eat)!
That’s great Hayley!
This was a yummy day-after-Thanksgiving meal. We topped it with Crispy Fried Onions (because day-after-Thanksgiving)!
Hooray! Happy to hear it Kat!
This is probably my fifth time making this recipe and I enjoy it more and more each time. I usually change up the type of broth and frozen veggie at the end to keep it interesting.
Oh that’s a great idea to switch up the broth every so often.
How long would you advise to cook it in an InstaPot?
Hi Dominique! We haven’t made this in the IP yet. But previous commenters have: I made the entire recipe in my Instant Pot pressure cooker. Dry sauteed the onion first on saute mode, then dumped everything else in (used 4 cups of liquid) for 15 minutes on manual setting and let it release pressure naturally. I added baby spinach after I removed the lid. It was perfect.
Can you make this in a slow cooker ?
I think this one would convert very well to a slow cooker. You may need to mash things up a bit more at the end, but it should work if you just dump everything in and press go! Not sure how long, but probably 3-4 hours on high, 6-8 hours on low.
How long should you saute each of the ingredients? I’m a beginner and I really have no sense of these things yet. Thanks!
I’d say 3-5 minutes just until they start to get soft.
Would sweet potatoes work in place of white potatoes?
Yes you could certainly try it out!
Really really good. Made exactly as is, except I blended half to make it a little creamier. Perfect, quick, easy, yummy.
Happy to hear it Sunny!
This was a hit. I did substitute cauliflower chunks for the potatoes only because I had one single “new” potato in the house. My lentils were also a mix of brown and french green lentils (again, using what I had). I used the instant pot for 10 minutes. I diced the small potato and subbed in 4 cups of cauliflower and guess what, my husband ate all the leftovers and mentioned that it tasted okay. He never eats leftovers past one day! (Did I mention hubs hates cauliflower? I think it was the creaminess and the spices that fooled him.)
Hooray!