Hearty Vegetarian Stew

As soon as the temperature drops hearty warming meals are called for, and this vegetarian stew is perfect for a filling and warming dinner. Button mushrooms and root vegetables cooked in a rich red wine sauce make this vegetable stew a delicious cosy dinner!

Jump to:

• 📝 What Do We Need
• 🔪 How To Make It
• 👩‍🍳 Expert Tips
• 📌 Variations/Substitution
• 🍽 How To Serve It
• 📖 FAQS
• 🍽 More Warming Veggie Dinners
• Hearty Vegetarian Stew

Being Irish, I grew up having beef stew at least once a week during the colder months. There was nothing better than coming home from school to a big bowl of piping hot stew with creamy mashed potatoes! Since we went vegetarian I made it my mission to make a really good veg stew that the whole family would love.

This vegetable stew recipe is the closest thing to those stews I grew up with. It's rich, filling and so tasty! Everything a good stew should be. This root vegetable and mushroom stew is all of those things and more. And it's really easy to make!

📝 What Do We Need

• Root Vegetables - I use carrots, parsnips and swede, also known as rutabaga or neeps.
• Mushrooms - Button mushrooms are great in this stew, I use chestnut button mushrooms which are similar to crimini mushrooms. You could also use baby bellas or white button mushrooms.
• Herbs - I use fresh rosemary and thyme for this veggie stew and a couple of dried bay leaves.
• Stock + Wine - I use a vegan vegetable bouillon to make my stock and a red wine to make the sauce. You could use a good non-alcoholic red wine if you wish.
• Henderson's Relish - this is an English sauce, it looks like Worcestershire sauce, but is a relish, not a condiment. It has a distinctive sharp, spicy, yet sweet taste. If you can't find this you could use vegan Worcestireshire sauce.
• Flour - To get that lovely rich sauce you will need to use plain (all-purpose) flour. If you need to you could use a gluten-free flour or leave it out, you will have a thinner sauce though.

🔪 How To Make It

1. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or stockpot. Add the chopped onion and celery and cook for 10 minutes, then add the chopped carrots and cook for another 10 minutes. Once the onion is soft add all the mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes.

2. Once the mushrooms have released some of their juices add the garlic, rosemary and thyme, cook for a minute then stir in the tomato puree (paste), soy sauce and vegan Worcestershire sauce. Then add the flour, stir until the flour is absorbed.

3. Now pour in all the wine, stir it into the vegetables and cook for a minute or two. You should have a thick sauce now.

4. Add the parsnips and swede (rutabaga), stir so they are covered in the sauce.

5. Now pour in all the stock, stir well then season with salt and black pepper. Add the bay leaves now too.

6. Finally, bring the stew to a boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 45-50 minutes. You should have a rich slightly thick sauce and all the vegetables should be cooked through. Remove the bay leaves and serve in bowls with mashed potatoes or bread.

👩‍🍳 Expert Tips

• Cooking the onions - I know it seems like a long time to cook the onions but it really makes a difference to the flavour of the stew. Cooking the onions longer over a low heat until soft reduces the acidity of the onions and makes them sweeter. This adds so much flavour to the stew. So I recommend cooking them for at least 20 minutes.
• Wine - the wine makes this stew so I recommend using it. I used a Malbec but you can use whatever red you like. If you are serving this to young children then you could omit the wine as no matter how long you cook this you will not "cook-off" all the alcohol. To replace the wine I would add a little more stock and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar.
• Root Vegetables - Make sure and cut the swede (rutabaga) into equal bite-size pieces. The carrots and parsnips should also be cut into equally sized pieces, this will ensure that the vegetables cook at the same time.
• Mushrooms - Bigger mushrooms should be cut in half and smaller mushrooms left whole. Again, this will ensure even cooking.

📌 Variations/Substitution

• Add more veggies - you can definately add more veggies to this stew, try adding leeks, turnips or butternut squash.
• Add some protein - you could up the protein of this vegetable stew by adding in some red or puy lentils. You could also add chickpeas, kidney beans or black beans.
• Add in some greens - try adding kale or baby spinach to this to add some greens. Cabbage would also work, my mum just to sneak that into our stews when I was a kid!
• Skip the mash and add potatoes - you could add potatoes to the stew of you wanted to make this an easy one pot meal. Add them when you add the other vegetables and make sure they are cut into bitesize pieces to ensure they cook ar the same time as the other veggies.
• Add a little marmite - if you are a fan of marmite or veggiemite then you could add a teaspoon to the stew, this will give it a little extra flavour.

🍽 How To Serve It

We love this served with a generous serving of mashed potatoes, you could go all out and serve it with some very tasty cheesy mashed potatoes or with traditional Irish colcannon. You could also serve this stew with a side of soda bread if you want to skip the potatoes. It's best to leave this cool slightly before serving as it will be piping hot!

📖 FAQS

🍽 More Warming Veggie Dinners

We love our comfort food especially when the weather gets cooler. One of our all-time favourites is my Vegan Sausage Casserole, it's warming and filling and so easy to make. Another family favourite is my Vegetable Pot Pie, this is perfect for a cosy Sunday lunch! And if you fancy a really cosy pasta dish my creamy Mushroom Stroganoff is exactly that, cosy and delicious!