This Hearty Vegan Stew With Potatoes is the perfect old-fashioned stew for cold nights. It has a thick and warming broth and is full of carrots, celery, potatoes and herbs. Serve with a crusty piece of bread for a comforting meal.
This stew has great flavor from the fresh vegetables and dried herbs. It reminds me of a vegan beef stew (without any meat substitutes). The chunky vegetables make this stew a hearty meal, especially if served with biscuits or bread.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- So flavorful: The herbs and savory broth give it an amazing flavor.
- Make ahead: This rich and chunky stew tastes even better the next day!
- Nutritious: It's a good source of fiber!
Ingredient Notes
- Onion - I use a yellow onion.
- Mushrooms - I like cremini mushrooms, white button or baby bella mushrooms in this cozy vegan stew.
- Potatoes - You can use any type of potato you like. I often use russets.
- Vegetable broth - homemade broth or packaged
Instructions
1. To start, prepare your vegetables. Dice a medium yellow onion, the mushrooms, and the celery. Peel and chop the carrots.
2. In a large pot, add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add the chopped onions, mushrooms, celery and carrots to the pot and stir. Sauté the veggies for 7 minutes.
If you want to make this oil free, substitute vegetable broth for the oil.
3. While the veggies are cooking, peel and dice the potatoes and set aside.
4. Add in the oregano, garlic powder, thyme, black pepper, sage and salt and stir well.
5. Add the flour and stir while cooking for an additional minute.
6. Add the soy sauce and tomato paste and cook for another 2 minutes.
7. Add the remainder of the ingredients: the vegetable stock, balsamic vinegar, potatoes, and the bay leaves. Use the spoon to scrape the bottom of the pot to get all the “brown bits”.
8. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 35 minutes.
9. Taste for seasoning. Remove the bay leaves, stir and serve the hearty stew.
Storage Tips
Refrigerator
Once cool, store the leftover soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freezer
You can also freeze this stew. Once cool, put portions in freezer safe containers and freeze. For best results, use within 4 months.
Reheat
You can reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave. If reheating from frozen, thaw overnight in the fridge first.
Serving Suggestions
This soup is very hearty and filling. Serve with some Vegan Herb Drop Biscuits or warm Irish Brown Bread.
Recipe FAQs
I love potatoes in stew but mostly any vegetable can work. Corn, onions, carrots, green peas, celery, kale, sweet potatoes and green beans are delicious in stew.
Yes. If you are eating oil-free you can just eliminate the olive oil and cook the veggies in a little vegetable broth.
Yes. For best results, I’d follow the recipe through adding the tomato paste and soy sauce in a regular pot. Then, pour the cooked veggies and herbs into the crock pot. Add a little veggie broth to the bottom of the pot to deglaze it and pour that into the crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and set it to high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
If you prefer having plant meat, you can add some rehydrated soy curls to this.
Yes you can do this easily. Instead of using flour as a thickener, you'll need to make a cornstarch slurry. Do not add any flour to the vegetables. Instead, you need to add 2 tablespoon cold water to about 2 tablespoon of cornstarch in a small bowl and stir well. Add this slurry to the pot while the stew is simmering.
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Recipe
Hearty Vegan Stew With Potatoes
Equipment
- Large soup pot
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil (see notes for oil-free)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 8 oz. mushrooms, quartered
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon sage
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Prepare all your veggies by peeling, chopping or dicing.
- In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms and sauté for 7 minutes.
- Add all of the herbs and stir well.
- Stir in the flour while it cooks for 1 minute.
- Add the tomato paste and the soy sauce and stir to combine.
- Add in the remaining ingredients: the vegetable broth, balsamic vinegar, potatoes and bay leaves. Stir to scrape the "brown bits" from the bottom of the pan.
- Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 35 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaves, stir and serve. Enjoy!
Notes
- If you want to make this oil-free, substitute vegetable broth for the olive oil. You can also dry sauté them if you are familiar with that technique. You'll just have to be very careful when adding the flour and tomato paste to make sure it doesn't burn or stick.
- Try to chop your veggies in uniform pieces for even cooking.
- Once cooled, transfer the soup to an airtight container. It can be stored in the fridge for up to 3-5 days.
Jen says
This sort of tastes like beef stew but with no fake meat. I love it - especially with biscuits for freshly baked bread!