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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Nutrition
Video
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!
Thank you so much for the recipe. It tastes sooo yummy despite I do not have dijon mustard and thyme. My daughter (who is a fussy eater) said she loves it! I am so happy because I don’t think so I will ever get her to eat celery. I had it with homemade naan bread and everything works sooo perfect together.
Thank you for this awesome recipe!!! It was so good and so simple at the same time!!!
Seriously the best stew, I used vegan beef stock and kiwi marmite in it too which added to the flavour.
I froze it and the texture and flavour was even better.
Serve with ciabatta toasted with evoo. So good. I really miss stew as a vegan. 👍
Such humble ingredients, but wow was this delicious! Thanks. Beth. I’ll be making over and over. I used canned lentils because I had them. Perfect!
How long would you say this would last in the fridge? And has anyone tried freezing it?
We recommend storing for 3-5 days in the refrigerator. But it does freeze wonderfully!
Beth – Thanks for this wonderful recipe! I made it last night and we loved it! I added an extra carrot and celery since my potatoes weighed in a little higher than the 2 lbs.
I love cooking lentils but almost all of my recipes use Indian spices (which I love but my wife does not care for), so I was looking for a recipe to use lentils without Indian spices and this one is great!
Not sure how you got your 6 cups of broth for only 78 cents. I like the Orrington Farms vegan broth base, which costs about $5 and makes 28 cups. I might try adding some nutritional yeast next time…
Thanks!
Hi, would anything be changed if I omit the potatoes? I’m always eating stews with rice so potatoes might be redundant
The starch from the potatoes helps thicken the stew (you mash the potatoes into the stew a little towards the end of the cooking time), so you may need to reduce the broth a bit to keep it from being too soupy.
Hello I dont have any dried lentils, can I use canned lentils in brine (425gram can)? Would I need to use 2 cans and reduce stock?
Thanks in advance.
Yes, you can use two cans (drained) and reduce the broth, but keep in mind that when you reduce the broth you’re also reducing some of the flavor.
It was wonderful. We all enjoyed and it is gone. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks for this tasty, healthy and filling recipe – it has been a big hit in our house. I’ve made it once a week since finding your website 😊
Made this before with frozen peas but ran out. Would canned peas suffice?
Of course, they will just taste different. I would add them in at the end, just like the frozen peas. Since they are canned, they don’t need a lot of time to “cook”.
Really tasty!!!! I substituted honey for sugar and used English mustard and added in couple tsp plain flour to thicken it at the end. I chucked in a cup of frozen mixed veg instead of peas and used tin of green lentils.
Marvellous. A truly wonderful dish!
Can this be adapted for a crockpot?
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.
Made this for a smalll group home bible study and it was beautiful… I think next time I make it I won’t add sugar as it was too sweet. I love lentils and this was great for my calorie counting healthy eating plan. Quite filling. My husband had 2 bowls… thank you for sharing
Such an easy recipe! I’m not a great cook, and this came out perfectly. Suggestion… leave out the sugar in this recipe, was already sweet because of all the carrots! Will make this again for sure.
This was so great. Thank you so much. Will be back to make it again and try some of your other meals.
Delicious!
I wanted to reduce the sodium since I gave it to my 11-month old as well, so I used low sodium broth and substituted Worcestershire sauce for the soy sauce. SO good! I needed to add some salt back for the adults, but we all loved it and I will definitely be making this again!
Sounds yummy. Just a note for vegetarians and vegans that Worcestershire sauce is usually not vegetarian.
It’s the anchovies or fish sauce that’s in it, right?