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!
This recipe is absolutely AMAZING! So fast and easy to make. I didnt have any veggie stock on hand so I used chicken stock instead. Delicious 😁😁😁 Thank you so much for this!
This is amazing…I will be making this often! I don’t even like mustard and I loved this. I didn’t have rosemary so I just used extra thyme. I also used chicken broth instead. Phenomenal recipe.
This was so good! Since we are not vegetarian I used beef better than bouillon and it was delicious. It definitely hit spot for comfort food just like beef stew would. This will be on heavy rotation for our lunches this winter!
This hits that sweet spot of easy, cheap, nutritious, and delicious! I think the mustard and sound sauce are the ingredients that really take this to the next level — they add a new dimension of flavor. Thanks for the recipe. It’s already a favorite in this house!
This says it’s freezer-friendly, but I’ve always been told that freezing potatoes causes them to change texture and become inedible– do you have any experience in freezing potatoes? Is there any technique that makes them freeze better?
I freeze recipes with potatoes all the time and have never noticed any changes in texture, but I do get comments asking about it from time to time. So I’m not sure if it’s an issue with freezing RAW potatoes (which I’ve never tested), or if there is something happening in the technique people are using when freezing their potatoes, but I have never in all my years had a problem with it. :) Also, there are a ton of frozen potato products in grocery stores, so it definitely can be done without adverse effects.
We loved this! I made it just as written (except we used chicken broth – we’re not vegetarians and it’s what we had on hand). I was surprised by how hearty it was! Great recipe!
I have told my husband over and over again that if it’s a budget bytes recipe, it will be a winner. Well, this recipe is no exception!! I made it over the weekend for my family and everyone was raving about it. I just ate the leftovers today for lunch and they were also delicious. My only complaint is that it didn’t make enough to freeze this time around so I will have to make it again soon when it’s just my husband and I :) Thank you so much budget bytes!! Keep the awesome recipes coming!!
Very delicious, but this is not a stew.
Pulled from Wikipedia (the infallible resource): “A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy.”
So I was looking forward to making this soup all day long and I’m in the middle of simmering it on the stove and turned around and saw the cup of peas on the counter. I was talking on the phone and got distracted and immediately thought I forgot to add them. So what did I do? I added the peas.. waaaaay before they are supposed to be in there. Crossing my fingers this doesn’t have any detrimental effect on this amazing soup!
It should be just fine. :) The only reason I add them at the end is so they stay bright green and pretty.
Any recommendations on the type of potatoes to use, the recipe did not list a specific one.
I used russet potatoes, but any type will work. :)
This makes my day. I love the Dijon-herb combo in that beef stew, but dislike the beef. Every time I make it (husband and kids like it) my house smells heavenly but then I take a bite and I’m like, “Oh yea…beef…” SO excited to make this soon.
Ok… so I made a ton of changes, due to my own dietary restrictions, what we had on hand, and my fiances preferences. Firstly, I nixed the onion and garlic (sadly I am allergic), and substituted in some large pieces of ginger (which I then removed before serving). I started out with sauteeing some beef stew meat (getting my fiance to eat veterinarian was a struggle I did not feel like fighting tonight), and followed everything else more or less as stated. I didn’t have dijon mustard, so I used spicy mustard, and I doubled the peas. Oh! I also cooked it in a slow cooker for 30 minutes (to make sure the meat was fully cooked) then added the peas and let it cook for just a few more minutes till they started to shrivel.
So ultimately, the recipe sort of resembled your Vegan Winter Lentil Stew (kind of), But it was delicious! We were both full on a single bowl. It was so warm and comforting! I can not wait to make it again!
I’m glad it was able to inspire you to make something that fits within your dietary needs! :)
Sabrina, thanks for posting your changes! I’m also allergic to garlic, and other FODMAPs are rough on me. I was on the fence about trying this recipe without them, but I’m glad to hear the recipe didn’t suffer too much from removing them. I’ll probably give this a shot with the ginger substitution.
This was so good! I made the recipe exactly as written, except I accidentally put in a little more dijon (got a little overzealous with my squeeze when measuring over the pot). Next time, I will add a bay leaf while simmering, and will toss in some mushrooms if I have them on hand. Very filling, and complex flavors. Similar to beef stew, but totally vegan.
Thank you for this recipe – I have tried many recipes from your site and they often end up in my regular rotation. My favorite recipe is your slow cooker not-refried beans, I’ve probably made them ten times!
Hey Stefanie,
I added mushrooms at the same time as the peas, and they were a great addition. I’d definitely recommend them!
Just made this and the whole family loved it! Even my 12-year-old commented, “I like this a lot more than I thought I would!”
Delicious! I feel this food blog is making it much, much easier for my family to eat vegetarian, something we’ve been trying to do to be more environmentally conscious (as well as budget-friendly!). Thank you!