Vegan Stew with Potato and Chickpea

This vegan stew is packed with nutrients from chickpeas, potatoes and spinach. It simply exudes flavour and you’re sure to love it as much for lunch the following day!

You know it’s stew season the moment you start thinking about the clocks falling back. And for gluten-free vegetarians (and vegans) this is the time of year when those chicken noodle soups and beef stews start to fill up our Instagram feeds. 

So this is a dish you’ll want to add to your repertoire. It’s a guaranteed crowd pleaser, as well as being chock-full of good hearty ingredients to make sure your body gets what it needs as the cold weather approaches.

This vegan stew is:

• Inspired by Spanish flavours. It contains potatoes, chickpeas and a smoked paprika spice mix that adds so much to this dish.
• Great for meal prep – you’ll look forward to leftovers for lunch in the office!
• A true winter warmer, with hearty potatoes, and a warming sauce.
• The ultimate vegetarian one-pot meal. But you can also serve with rice or gluten free bread.

Ingredients

How to Cook the Onions, Peppers, and Garlic

This vegan stew starts like so many of my dishes, with softened onions, peppers, and garlic. 

Using these ingredients as a base brings so much flavour to the rest of the dish. But be sure to cook them all the way down and soften the veg before you add the tomato puree. If your onions or peppers are still crunchy when you add the puree, they won’t continue to soften as much because of the acidity brought by the tomato. 

Trust me when I tell you that you don’t want crunchy onions in this one!

What Type of Tomatoes should I use in this stew?

This is the base flavour upon which all of the others are built.

You can use canned tomatoes here if you wish, but for me that concentrated flavour of tomato paste (or tomato puree, depending on where you live) is the best option. I find that canned or even fresh tomatoes add a lightness to this dish. And for me, when it comes to a hearty vegan stew like this I want a heavier tomato hit.

But as I always say, if you’re using the tomato paste / puree then make sure you give it time to cook along with the other ingredients. 

Allowing it time to cook releases its flavour and you’ll be rewarded with a much tastier final product in any dish you’re using it in!

Which Spices are best for this stew

The addition of smoked paprika is what really brings this dish to life. I use 1 tbsp of my smoked paprika spice mix recipe, but I also supplement it with a pinch of dried chilli flakes for an extra kick.

The base spice mix is a blend of sweet smoked paprika, hot smoked paprika, onion granules, garlic granules, and oregano. Any combination of these will work great, but I absolutely love the flavour of Spanish smoked paprika and I find it works perfectly with the potato and chickpea mix.

Can I use Canned Chickpeas in this stew?

If you read this blog, you’ll know I love the creamy texture of jarred chickpeas over the canned ones. 

But if tinned chickpeas are what you have on hand then go for it. The flavour comes from the veg base, the tomatoes, and the spice mix – not the chickpeas!

What Potatoes are Best for Vegan Stew?

Potatoes are what make this stew so hearty and comforting.

Firstly they provide creamy, carb-filled deliciousness. But more importantly, by cooking them directly in the stew you allow starch to ooze out of the potato and into the broth. This creates a satisfyingly thick sauce that binds everything together.

This is the technique used in the best Irish stews, and it’s one you should use here! That means using a potato of the more floury variety (which are more common in Ireland) will give you a thicker stew. 

Ironically though, if you happen to be in Ireland I would stay away from the flouriest varieties such as Kerr’s Pink, which I find are just *too* fluffy for this stew, and disintegrate too much!

Spinach

I love adding spinach to vegan stews and curries as the weather gets colder. Not only does it add a sumptuous texture to your dish when wilted, but it also adds a pop of green colour, too.

Spinach is really an add-in right at the end, which really helps the whole thing come together. 

To get what I consider the best texture from the spinach as well as the most ‘coverage’ throughout the pot, I like to chop it before adding. But this is personal preference, and if you don’t feel it’s worth the effort then just add it whole and let it wilt before stirring into the stew at the end.

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Yield: 4

Vegan Potato and Chickpea Stew

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

This vegan stew is packed with nutrients from chickpeas, potatoes and spinach. It simply exudes flavour and you’re sure to love it as much for lunch the following day!

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Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 red or green bell pepper, diced (or ½ green and ½ red bell pepper)
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika spice mix (see note below)
• Pinch, dried chilli flakes
• 1 jar (540g) chickpeas
• 4 medium potatoes, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 500ml veg stock
• 250g spinach (chopped if desired)

Instructions

1. Heat a heavy bottomed pot over a medium heat and add the oil.
2. When the oil is hot, add the diced onion and pepper. Cover and cook until soft, but not browned, about 10 minutes.
3. Add garlic and cover again. Cook until soft but not browned, about two to three minutes.
4. When all of the vegetable base is soft, add tomato puree and stir. Allow to cook, stirring frequently for two to three minutes.
5. Add smoked paprika spice mix and stir. 
6. When the spices are incorporated into the pepper and onion mix, add chickpeas and chopped potatoes. Stir to coat, and add stock and the bay leaf.
7. Cover and simmer until the potato is tender and the sauce has thickened, stirring every now and then. This should take around 30 minutes. If the sauce looks too thin, take off the lid and reduce, if it’s too thick add some more water bit by bit.
8. When the potato is soft, add the spinach and cover. 
9. Wilt the spinach until soft, and stir through the stew.
10. Serve up in bowls, or accompany with rice or gluten free bread.

Notes

The smoked paprika spice mix used here is the same one as I have previously written up in the blog. If you don’t have all of these spices to hand, any combination will be fine. You can substitute smoked paprika for regular paprika or chilli powder, but the end result won’t have the same flavour profile!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 242Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 422mgCarbohydrates: 47gFiber: 7gSugar: 5gProtein: 7g

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