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
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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!
can i add red lentils or chickpeas instead of brown lentils?
I usually never leave comments, but this is fantastic! I was looking for vegetarian friendly recipes for a friend and found this, expecting to be the only one in my household to eat it, yet there are never any leftovers. Delicious! We swapped out potatos for sweet potatoes due to food allergies and it is just as tasty.
Really delicious and filling. Your directions were once again super accessible to a person like me who survives mainly on toast so thank you! I really wanted to give it a 4.5, the stew is super filling, but I wanted the seasoning to pack a stronger punch which is usually my preference. Thanks for making these recipes that I can understand using ingredients that I can afford to buy!
Cold-weather comfort food, indeed! This is warm, hearty, filling, and delicious – just the thing for a cold night. I was a little worried the potatoes wouldn’t cook through, but the texture is absolutely perfect: soft enough to mash against the sides, but firm enough to hold their shape in the stew. I agree that the Dijon adds a lot of depth and flavor…without actually being identifiable as Dijon at all.
Can this stew be frozen?
Yes, it freezes great!
Another fabulous recipe!
Can I use caned lentils instead of dried?
Canned lentils are already cooked and won’t absorb any more liquid, so you’d need to reduce the broth. But if you reduce the broth you’ll also be reducing the flavor. So while you can probably make it work, it won’t turn out exactly the same. :)
Hey! This looks like a great recipe and I can’t wait to try it! Is there a crock pot variation? Or can I just toss all the ingredients in and set it? Thanks!
I don’t have a slow cooker variation of this one, unfortunately, but soups like this usually convert very easily. :) You should be able to just add everything and press go.
Love the the blog and I made great use of your vegetarian meal plan throughout Covid! I was wondering your thoughts for making this recipe in the instant pot. Would you happen to have a guess for a pressure cook time if I sautéed the garlic and veg first as per usual and stirred in the peas after? Thanks for all the meal ideas!
Hello! I don’t think I’m well versed with the IP enough to have a guess for the correct time, but if I were to experiment with it I’d probably just try the soup function first and then see how tender the lentils and potatoes are after that, adding more time if needed. :)
If I use the Trader Joe’s steamed lentils and just add towards the end, how much broth do you think I should use? Thanks Beth!
Hmm, that’s really hard to say because I don’t know exactly how much liquid the lentils absorb. Maybe cut it down to four cups?
This is addictive. Easy to make, and so, so tasty.
This is quite possibly the best lentil stew I have ever eaten! I probably would never have thought to use Dijon mustard which gives this stew depth. I used cauliflower instead of potatoes. I added it about 15 mins before I added the peas.
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
This is such an incredibly delicious, hearty and warming meal. Very healthy and nutritious too, and a great way to get your veg in. I had it three nights in a row (made the whole lot one night and then had it sitting in the fridge) and I still looked forward to it every evening. So good! I did use canned lentils (X2, but reduced the stock to four cups + added them close to the end of the cooking time) which worked great, but I’ll definitely try cooking my own next time.
Really great meal. So tasty and will definitely be making it again soon! But first I’m going to make some other vegan soups and stews from this site :) I’m sure they’ll be great too!
I love lentils and am trying this recipe for thé first time. It smells awesome, can’t wait for it to finish cooking to eat it. I also added fresh mushrooms. Thanks for thé recipe!
This stew was amazing! Even my non-vegan husband loved it and wants to add it into our regular dinner rotation. Score! Can’t beat the fact it’s so good plus real easy to make with common ingredients so no special trips to the store needed.
I made it as is ingredient wise, though to thicken it used an immersion blender and pureed around a cup and a half or so instead of just smashing the potatoes against the side of pot.