Vegan Lentil Stew (One Pot & Easy)
This Vegan Lentil Stew is packed with amazing coconut and curry flavours layered deeply into lentils simmering in a rich and creamy curry broth. The perfect one-pot meal! It’s such a comfort dish!
We all have a bag of lentils in the back of our pantry. Sitting there, waiting for us, ready to create an unexpected protein-packed dish. That’s how I stumbled upon making this delightful lentil stew. After whipping up another batch of my coconut curry lentil soup, Gav devoured it yet again. Then he tried something different – he cooked it down. He just wanted to reduce some of the liquid, make it more like my chickpea curry. Then he left it on for a few more minutes and made a stew. It was a simple step but truly blew our minds. Why have we never made a stew yet?!
This Lentil Stew is the ultimate comfort dish. Layered with coconut flavours, curry flavours, it’s one bowl, delightfully simple and tastes phenomenal.
How to make Lentil Stew
Lentil stew is as simple as simmering down the ingredients and letting them do all the magic. Feel free to add more seasonings and truly make it your own.
What goes well with Vegan Lentil Stew?
This lentil stew is best enjoyed in a few wonderful ways:
- Over a plate of rice
- With some fresh bread
- With some Vegan Naan Bread
- You could transform it into a wrap, into tacos
- with a side salad
- Dip some No Knead Bread (Dutch Oven Bread) into it to soak up the flavour!
This, a glass of red wine, some rustic bread and a side salad? YES please!!
Vegan Lentil Stew
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste - I use this vegan one
- 1/2 large red onion, minced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, (to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon to 1 tablespoon coconut sugar or any sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce, or liquid aminos/gluten free tamari/coconut aminos
- 1 1/2 cups dry green lentils, rinsed and picked over
- 1 13.4 ounce can of coconut milk (full fat or lite), (383g)
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- juice of 1 lime
- 1/2 tablespoons sambal oelek or Sriracha, (optional, for heat)
Instructions
- In a pan over medium-high heat, heat the sesame oil. Add in the minced ginger and curry paste to fry it, stirring into the oil, for about 1 minute.
- Add in the chopped onion and the garlic and cook until the onion is slightly translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Place the sea salt, black pepper, coconut sugar, and liquid aminos on top and stir everything together. Add in the lentils and stir again.
- Add in the coconut milk and the veggie broth. Bring the soup to a boil and then lower to a simmer, allowing to simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes, until your lentils are fully cooked through. Stir the stew occasionally. You can let it simmer even more if desired.
- Squeeze the lime over, stir, and then remove from heat. Taste and add more salt if needed.
- Add in any of the optional add-ins/toppings. Stir in the sambal oelek (or Sriracha) or scotch bonnet pepper sauce if using.
- Enjoy!
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So so good. My husband was complaining about the meatless dish but he ate three plates of this with bread! It is that good. I used cooked lentils. Followed same recipe but added 2 tablespoons of tapioca flour at the end to thicken the sauce. So yum! Will be on repeat in our #meatlessmonday.
Oh wow we’re so happy that you and your husband like it Serene. Thank you!
Such an easy to make dish but the taste profile is so rich! Really one of my favourites! Thanks Jess
Thank you so much for reading Ashley! We’re so happy that you love it.
This recipe was awesome, even my mother who only likes retro food liked it 🙂 Also, it gave me my Thai fix without having to drive to the nearest Thai place for food. I served it with white rice. Very Delicious and will be on my rotation for dinner meals. Thank you for sharing!
Nice Pricilla! We’re happy that you and your mom enjoyed it! Thank you for such a sweet comment.
Just made this and it is so delicious! There is a vegan restaurant in East Nashville called The Wild Cow with the best lentil stew. This tastes so close to it. So happy to have found this recipe and have signed up with Jessica for more yummy dishes!
Wow what a compliment Mary. Thank you so much we’re so happy that you enjoy it.
This came out soooooo good! So savory and flavorful. Didn’t have curry paste – so I used 2 TB of tomato paste and 1 TB each of chili powder and yellow curry powder. Worked beautifully in a pinch! Awesome recipe!
Love this recipe! I’ve made it several times in the past several weeks. I do typically need about twice the amount of water/broth to fully cook the lentils and I do like to add a bag of kale once the lentils are mostly cooked through.
Also served this with some rice cooked with tomato sauce and nutritional yeast recently which worked well. Thank you!
I tried this and it was to die for! I had no veggie broth so I just used water and I made a homemade curry paste, but it was so delicious! It warmed me up! I will be making this again very very soon!
Hi love this!!! Just be of my favorites!
I was wondering how it freezes?
Thank you 🙏
Hi Laura,
Thanks so much so happy to hear that! Yes it does! You can freeze it portion by portion in flat freezer safe bags so you can stack it or if you have a soup freezing container like soupercubes that’s the best way to store it! Hope this helps and enjoy!