Easy Lentil Stew
Creamy without cream and packed with plant protein, our Easy Lentil Stew is a nutritious and delicious vegan, gluten-free meal. It’s a tasty way to kick off some fresh clean eating in the new year!
Bring on all of the healthy winter soups! I don’t know about you, but by the time January comes around, we are in serious need of a little healthy reset and when it’s cold outside, there’s nothing better than a big ol’ bowl of a hearty soup. One of our goals for the new year is to introduce more lentils into our lives, so our hearty healthy nutritious, and delicious Easy Lentil Stew was born!
Soup vs. Stew
While soups and stews are of course very similar, the main difference between the two is that soups have much more liquid than stews. Our Easy Lentil Stew starts with quite a bit of liquid, but most of that is used to cook the dried lentils and then simmered to reduce to create a nice thick stew.
Ingredients Needed
- Dried Lentils – Red lentils are best for soups because they cook softer and blend easier than the bit firmer green lentils. Dried lentils are preferred over canned for this recipe, but you can of course use canned too, just see my recipe notes on making that substitution (although dried lentils are even more affordable than canned!).
- Veggies – This is a powerhouse of nutrition with onion, ginger, garlic, celery, carrots, diced tomatoes, and fresh spinach.
- Vegetable Stock – Have you made your own yet? Chicken stock is also delicious for a non-vegetarian version.
- Spices – Just the right amount of paprika, cumin, coriander and of course salt and pepper.
- Olive Oil and Lemon Juice – Olive oil to start the cooking process and a little lemon juice to add some acidity at the end!
Lentil Nutrition
Lentils are little nutritional powerhouses! Packed full of plant-based protein, fiber, iron, vitamin B6, folate, magnesium, potassium, and more! They’re an inexpensive, low fat option for meat replacement and delicious nutrition!
Easy to Make
Saute Veggies
As with most of our soups, this Easy Lentil Stew is also incredibly easy to make. The first step: Saute the veggies and toast the spices before adding the tomatoes.
Cook the Lentils
Next, it’s time to cook the lentils in stock, which will use most of the stock added, which is what makes this a nice thick stew. Also, to add a lovely creaminess without any cream, we give a couple of cups of the cooked stew a blend in our blender and then return it to the pot and give it all a good mix before adding the final touches of spinach and lemon juice.
Easy Lentil Stew, done! It’s not the most glamorous looking soup, but it is an affordable hearty, healthy, warming meal that has everything you need in one pot!
Which Lentils to Use
There are multiple kinds of dried lentils avaialble. The best lentils for this stew are red/yellow because they have a shorter cooking time and a softer and lend better to a creamy soup. Brown will also work, they’re a bit firmer still when cooked but also will blend nicely, but we prefer the color that provides to this stew. Green lentils still have their seed coats and take longer to cook and maintain their texture more when cooked.
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It’s my new favorite creamy without cream vegan and gluten-free friendly flavor-packed dinner!
Serve it With
- Easy Crusty French Baguette
- Homemade Sweet Potato Rolls
- Garlic Naan From Scratch
- Homemade Hawaiian Rolls
- Saltines From Scratch
- Dan’s Como Bread
Kick off the new year and new healthy soup season with this delicious one, friends!
Enjoy! As always, if you make this recipe or any of my others, I love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, email me, or you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
If you want to see more, be sure to sign up for my 5 Easy Ways to Start Cooking From Scratch!
Easy Lentil Stew
Equipment
- dutch oven or large soup pot
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried whole red lentils 400 g
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 onion diced, 1 cup
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced
- 3 carrots chopped, 1 1/2 cups
- 3 celery stalks chopped, 1 1/2 cups
- 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup spinach packed
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Saute Veggies: In a dutch oven or large pot, heat olive oil over medium and add onions, garlic, ginger, carrot, and celery and saute for 5 minutes, stirring often.
- Toast Spices: Add paprika, cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper, mix and toast for 1 minute. Add tomatoes and mix.
- Add Lentils: Add the lentils and stock and turn heat up to high. Bring it all to a boil and then lower heat to medium low and a simmer. Cover and let simmer for 15-20 minutes until lentils are tender and most of the stock has been absorbed.
- Blend: Remove about 2 cups of the soup and add it to a blender and blend until creamy. Return to the pot and stir.
- Finish: Add spinach and lemon juice and stir and let cook until the spinach has wilted, about 1-2 minutes.
- Serve and Enjoy!
