This lentil potato stew is another recipe that’s a great staple pantry meal using what you likely have on hand. With just a handful of ingredients plus spices, it’s a truly excellent classic dish.
The basics are made a bit more interesting here with rosemary, thyme, and Dijon mustard adding loads of flavour for a surprisingly complex vegan meal. This is winter comfort food all the way.
It’s sort of a cross between a soup and stew, really. That being said, the leftovers from this are fantastic and it will thicken up significantly by day two. This was inspired by a blog favourite, this red lentil and carrot soup, and my oma’s lentil potato soup.
Need some more soup and stew inspiration? Check out this collection of cozy cold weather soup recipes!
Scroll to the bottom of the post or click “skip to recipe” above to see the recipe card with full ingredient measurements and instructions.
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Potatoes
- Carrot(s)
- Garlic
- Rosemary
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- Sweet paprika
- Cayenne pepper (optional, see notes)
- Apple cider vinegar
- Vegetable broth
- Brown lentils (or black or green, see substitutions)
- Coconut sugar or honey (see notes)
- Dijon mustard
- Thyme
- Spinach, rucola, or other hardy greens (see substitutions)
Tips and Notes
You might be wondering about the honey (or coconut sugar, if vegan) listed in the recipe. This isn’t to sweeten the stew, but rather to round out the flavours. It’s fairly typical in (good) vegan recipes to ensure that there’s a proper depth of flavour in the dish and I don’t encourage leaving it out.
If you have cooked lentils on hand, you can use them instead of dried if you have to use them up. Dried lentils are preferable because they’re being cooked alongside everything else and pick up plenty of seasoning from the broth. To use cooked, reduce the amount of broth by a cup.
In the pictures I peeled the potatoes because they were a little green. I wouldn’t peel them otherwise, because the most nutritious part is the skin. Try to use organic if you can as potatoes are one of the most heavily sprayed crops in conventional agriculture but the skin is excellent.
Rosemary and thyme flavour the stew. Both are good go-to herbs just about year round depending on where you live as 1. they probably over-winter, and 2. unlike basil, both are excellent options dried.
Mustard is key. It’s a tiny amount, just half a teaspoon, but is very important in this recipe.
Substitutions
You can leave the herbs out if you don’t have any or don’t want to buy a whole bundle for such a small amount. I have made it without herbs when I haven’t wanted to go out in the rain to cut any, but they really do improve the dish and I don’t really recommend ditching them.
Alternatively, try subbing in a tablespoon of herbes de Provence – the recipe includes a note on how to use it instead of fresh herbs. Here are some good substitutes for thyme.
I have had some comments that this recipe is too spicy despite just a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper for flavour. If you have a hard time with any spiciness, you can leave it out or just add a tiny pinch. Make sure you’re not using hot paprika.
An earlier iteration used water interchangeably with stock and let me tell you that there were some very grumpy readers. I use water all the time and just up the salt a bit to make up for it (if you’re using store-bought stock, it’s really just salt anyway). So if you don’t have vegetable broth please feel free to use water and then season to taste.
If you’re not too keen on eating so many potatoes, you can switch the carrot/potato amounts and use more carrots and less potatoes.
More Lentil Recipes
Roasted Carrot Salad with Lentils
Lentil Rice Soup with Butternut Squash
Curried Potato Salad
Lentil Bolognese
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Lentil and Potato Stew
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 small onion chopped
- 500 grams potatoes cut into 2cm pieces
- 250 grams carrots cut into 1 cm slices
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon rosemary leaves finely chopped*
- 1 teaspoon sea salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 750 ml vegetable stock
- 150 grams brown lentils soaked if possible**
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar or honey***
- ½ teaspoon dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons thyme finely chopped
- 70 grams rucola arugula or other greens****
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the oil over medium. Add the onion and sauté for a couple of minutes or until softened and fragrant. Stir in the potatoes and carrots and cook for another five minutes, stirring occasionally, to brown slightly.
- Add the garlic and rosemary, cook for an additional minute, then add the spices and stir for about 30 seconds. Pour the apple cider vinegar into the pot and stir, then the stock.
- Increase the heat to high and bring the stew to a rolling boil. Add the lentils and reduce the heat to medium-low, then simmer for 25-30 minutes, or until the carrots and potatoes are tender.
- Take the pot off the heat and stir in the coconut sugar, mustard, thyme, and greens. Serve hot and keep leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days. The stew will thicken slightly as it sits.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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This post was originally published in October 2017. It has been last updated with improvements to the text and recipe as of October 2020.
Dimitri says
Thank you for sharing this recipe! However, I was wondering what adjustments I would need to make if I wish to double the amount of lentils?
Thank you!
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Dimitri, you’ll just have to increase the amount of broth. For another 150g (1 cup) lentils, you’ll need about another 400ml broth (1 3/4 cups). Hope this helps!
Mel says
I volunteer at a Community Pantry so thought this one pot meal would be ideal when cooking for many people. I made a huge pot & the smell in the kitchen was amazing. The guys pop in for coffee in the morning & ask what’s for lunch & when I told them lentil stew, their faces screwed up in disgust (they’re all big meat eaters). Most of them came back for a second bowl with comments like “I didn’t think I’d like this but it’s really good”. This is definitely one of my go-to recipes from now on.
Jen says
I was looking for a good lentil soup recipe, and found this one in my old pins. Surprisingly, I even commented on the pin that my husband had loved it–but then I never made it again. Went ahead and made it yesterday, and fell in love with it. So delicious. I’m putting a copy in my recipe book so I don’t forget about it again.
NIKKI says
Already left my comment separately 🙂 5 stars
NIKKI says
Thanks for sharing this recipe, has been really handy while we’re waiting for our grocery delivery to arrive and have low supplies. Just used potato (no carrot unfortunately) and canned brown lentils (added them in at the end). Used honey and yellow mustard as substitutes, and also omitted greens as we have none. Made this two nights in a row and it was superb! Will keep coming back to this recipe and I look forward to making the full recipe once we have the right ingredients!
Angela Mattingly says
Wonderful!!! The right balance!!!
Escaitlin says
Best, most wholesome and extremely delicious winter recipe!
The flavors and ingredients seem simple, but are incredibly delicious. Definitely making it a staple in our dinners
Aria says
My lentils didn’t cook all the way through.. I don’t know what I did wrong.
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Aria, this is probably due to the age of your lentils. Sometimes they’re quite old by the time they get to shops, and old lentils (and and legumes) take longer to cook depending on their age. If you have more lentils from the same package, try soaking them overnight first. Hope this helps!
Samantha says
Thank you for the recipe! I did make a few changes. I added two cups more liquid as we wanted it more soupy and omitted the salt as the boullion paste we use is pretty salty already. At the end I also dissolved a tsp of red miso and added it in. I used dried spices but would be excited to try it with fresh. We will definitely be making this again!
Roxanne says
Beautifully earthy and herbaceous! Truly satisfying, particularly after a nice walk on a cold winter’s day
Carla @ Foodie Digital says
This is a delicious and perfectly balanced lentil stew! I made it with beluga lentils (the black ones). I used kale, which was delicious, but next time I want to try the arugula option.
Roxana says
I accidentally added 1 teaspoon of cayenne instead of 1/4 and 1 whole teaspoon of paprika instead of 1/2! I feel so dumb! And of course it’s spicy ! Spicy !
Naomi says
❤️❤️❤️ this recipe!! Just bought an instant pot and would love some advice on how to make it in there!!
Alexandra says
Hi Naomi! Unfortunately I’ve never used an instant pot so I can’t really advise on how to use one for this recipe. Sorry about that! Maybe another reader will know this, though.
Mandy says
I was wondering the same thing! How to do this in an instant pot.
Alexandra says
My mom has one so I’m getting her on testing now! I’ll either share in this post or make a new post with the recipe.
Sara Thomas says
I love this recipe so much! I wanted to stop by and say I did another version. I chopped the vegetables smaller and used less liquid. I sweated the spinach separately, then spread it over a puff pastry sheet. Then I added the ‘stew’ in a sausage shape, wrapped it up and baked it. A truly delicious vegetable Wellington, which I’m going to have for my Christmas Dinner!
Alexandra says
That sounds absolutely delicious, Sara, thank you for the inspiration!
Sophie Mackenzie says
This stew is delicious !
Sara Thomas says
Absolutely delicious! I used the herbes de Provence and threw in some mushrooms. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you!