Serves 6 to 8
Time: 45 minutes
I’ve been on a mission to build a better vegan beef stew. Anyone can throw some wine and tomatoes into a pot but even with all the right ingredients, it’s all too easy to make a flat stew. I wanted deep complex flavors, a thick and silky base, chunky carrots and potatoes cooked just right. And of course, beefiness. And I wanted it to all happen in one pot. A simple filling stew shouldn’t destroy the entire kitchen.
Put plainly, I wanted the “DAAAAYAMN!” factor. Nothing too fussy, but a bowl that not only comforts you on a cold winter’s night, it straight-up makes you look forward to the snowiest, windiest, all-the-roads-shut-downiest night possible, just so you can make stew.
So I pulled a Cook’s Illustrated and made vegan beef stews all week. Chipping away at the recipe, then building it back up. I tried several different “beefs”; tofu, tempeh, and seitan, finally settling on a mix of homemade vegan sausage and dried porcini mushrooms. Tofu was a little too mushy, or took too much work to make it not mushy. Tempeh just crumbled too much, despite my best efforts. The seitan sausage provides flavor and hearty texture without needing to be sauteed, while the porcinis create a sultry broth and a falling-off-the-bone meatiness (that phrase isn’t gross when you consider that there aren’t any actual bones here, right?) that just sings “Beef Stew.”
For the base I knew I didn’t want a limp tomato sauce. In fact, I wanted to steer away from tomato as much as possible. I tried lentils as a backdrop but it was too…lentil-y. I also tried starting with a roux, and it was yummy but too thick…more like a sauce than a stew, plus it made the veggies cook unevenly. Finally, I settled on a slurry — a mix of water and flour that can be added after the veggies have cooked. When slowly heated it becomes thick (but not too thick) and velvetty, and holds in all the great flavor from the wine, mushrooms and spices. Just a touch of tomato paste provided even more body and a hint of tang.
The other challenge was getting the veggies to cook perfectly. Potatoes overcook easily and I didn’t want potato soup. Adding the potatoes after the initial ingredients come to a boil and then simmering them until tender is a fool proof method. Then the slurry is added and cooked just long enough to marry the flavors and create TSH (Total Stew Harmony.)
So yeah, long-story-that-I-just-made-you-read-short: I love this stew! The one thing that maybe isn’t ideal is that you need to have the sausages on hand, but they are so very easy to whip up. Make a batch the night before and you’ll have more than you need for this recipe so it’s totally worth it. But there are some alternatives, see below.
Anticipated questions:
Can you make this gluten free?
Yes! Sub the flour for 2 tablespoons organic cornstarch or 1/4 of your favorite gluten free flour mix. Sub the sausages for thawed extra firm frozen tofu with the water pressed out (this was my second favorite “meat” while experimenting.) Slice tofu into 1/2 inch thick triangles. Add an extra 1/2 teaspoon crushed fennel seed to the stew for sausage-y flavor.
Can you use a different dried mushroom?
Yes! Shiitake or portobello will work. But chop them up a little finer before adding.
Can you use seitan instead of sausages?
Yes! Use 2 cups of sliced seitan but saute it first, then remove it from the pot and add later, otherwise it will be rubbery.
Can you make this in a slow cooker?
I haven’t tried it. Why don’t you give it a shot and let us know?
Ok, now let’s stew!
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, quartered and thickly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium carrot, peeled, sliced on a bias, 1/2 inch thick
1 cup red wine
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground fennel or crushed fennel seeds
Fresh black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 oz dried porcini mushrooms
3 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 pounds potatoes (any type), lazily peeled, cut in 1 1/2 inch chunks
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 vegan sausages, sliced into chunky half mooons
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)
Preheat a 4 quart pot over medium high heat.
Saute onions and a pinch of salt in oil until until translucent, 4 to 7 minutes. Add garlic, for about a minute, until fragrant.
Add carrots, wine, rosemary (crushed in your fingers), thyme (crushed in your fingers), paprika, fennel, fresh black pepper and salt and bring to a boil. The liquid should reduce in about 3 minutes.
Add porcinis and vegetable broth, cover and bring to a full boil for 5 minutes or so, to quickly cook the procinis. Now add the potatoes, lower heat and bring to a simmer (not a full boil). Let the potatoes cook just until fork tender, about 15 minutes.
In a measuring cup, mix the flour into the water with a fork until no lumps are left. Slowly add the broth/flour to the pot, mixing well. Mix in the tomato paste. Let thicken for 5 minutes or so. Add the sausages and continue to cook. In about 5 more minutes it should be perfectly thick but still smooth. Taste for salt and seasonings, and serve! Sprinkle individual servings with fresh parsley if you want to be 70s food chic.
I made this last night for a dinner guest, and we both loved it!! I used packaged seitan and some left over Field Roast celebration roast. Wow!! so rich and tasty! Definitely a keeper.
I just got done making seitan for seitan nuggets tonight, but I’m going to make this stew with it, instead. My stew will be different, in that I hate fennel, so that will be out. I only have sweet potatoes in the house. In place of dried porcinis, I’m going to saute some fresh, though past their prime, button mushrooms, and put them in, because that’s what I’ve got. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m going to make a pathetic version of this stew, but I’ll follow the recipe as closely as I can.
P.S. I kind of love rubbery seitan. Is that weird?
Has anyone made this in a slow cooker yet?
I never liked stew growing up… but now, after making this, I’m pretty sure it was only because I didn’t like meat. I made this last night and it was amazing. My omni-bf, tasted it and said, “You should make this more often!”. This may become a weekly winter meal.
This was like straight-up Dinty Moore beef stew from my childhood. Totally rad, thanks!
This stew was fabulous, but I think I put too much fennel in my sausage and it was too “Italian-y” for the stew. Next time, I may just leave the sausage out. The stew alone has such depth of flavor that it really needs nothing more than a side of vegan cornbread!
I made a double batch of the sausage and it’ll be great with onions and peppers, or in sauce!
Thanks for another fab recipe!
No snow but the stew was still fab. I added some dumplings which I cooked before adding the thickener, and… there are leftovers for tomorrow 🙂
made this today in the slow cooker.Fabulous!!!!!!! I also made it gluten free and it was so good my husband packed some for lunch tomorrow and he has a catered lunch meeting!
It’s only 8:15 am, and I just finished the sausages…(making them that is). I will be making this for dinner tonight. Can’t wait!! This looks (I eat with my eyes first) fabulous…I can almost smell it!!! Those sausages are DIVINE!!!
And, I find myself back here, yet again….the stew is in the slow cooker. I haven’t added the sausages (from this morning) yet, but I have cooked the stew for about 5 hours, have just added the slurry, and am about to brown up some nice thick sausage slices, and eat myself silly……….whoops, I think that ship sailed quite awhile ago……….GREAT RECIPE!!!! Thank you, Isa. You really do make eating vegan a whole lot easier!
Did I happen to mention THIS STEW IS ABSOLUTLEY DE-FREAKEN-LISH-US!!!!
Now, I promise, I’m done…
Hee hee. Thank you!
First time I’ve gotten veggies in my toddler’s belly in God knows how long!He loved it and so did I. Thank you, this was delicious!
Wow! This looks incredible! For a long time after going veg, I missed my mom’s beef pot roast at the holidays. This stew reminds me of that pot roast – I can’t wait to make it.
This was really good. Loved the depth of flavor – with almost no fat!? My husband and I agreed… the only addition that made this recipe THAT MUCH BETTER, was a splash of dry sherry on top before eating. It was the icing on an already good cake. Thanks IsaChandra!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!! Very nostalgic meal! Very rich!! Muchas Gracias!!
My husband and I just mmmmmmmmmmmmmm’ed all the way through dinner. Holy cannoli. We browned the sausages a bit in a cast iron skillet before throwing in the pot and it added some nice chew and texture to the otherwise soft ingredients. The potatoes held their shape but turned to creamy deliciousness in my mouth. I added some frozen corn and peas to the leftovers I had for lunch and that was tasty too! We couldn’t get any dried mushrooms (I happened to have only a bit on hand), so we subbed with baby bellas and they were perfect.
I always make notes on my recipes, and my notes for this recipe say this at the top:
TO. DIE. FOR.
Isa, you are my hero.
I made this last night and it got rave reviews. I used a fresh portobella, because that’s what I had. And for the meat eaters, I added some bison stew meat. Everyone loved it!
Made this for dinner last night and had the left overs for lunch! SO delicious and filling! Love it, thank you! Please publish a stews ‘n’ loafs cookbook! 🙂
I made this in a slow cooker with red seitan from Viva Vegan instead of sausages, no carrots (I’d used them all in carrot salad), regular mushrooms instead of porcinis, a couple tablespoons of tapioca for thickener instead of flour. Excellent! Thanks again for the recipe.
This is seriously so yummy and not too bad on calories either. Thanks Isa for being dependable. It’s nice to be able to open one of your books or come to this site and pick anything and know that it will be fantastic!
This was really, really, really good! I used dried shiitake mushrooms instead of porcinis, because that’s all I had. I think I reduced the wine or broth too much in the early steps because there wasn’t much liquid left by the time I got to adding the sausages. But that was easy to fix – just added some water and cooked down a bit
I started this on the stove (onions, then garlic, then reduced the wine), then added that mixture and all the veggies to the crock pot with the broth. A few hours on high, and finished it (thickener, tomato paste, sausage) on the stove.
I am not a huge beef stew fan, but my Irish-born husband is. It’s one of the cravings he gets that we’ve never managed to find a vegan cure for. Until now. I think he died and went to heaven. And, although I prefer lighter-style dishes, I have to admit it was really damn good. Thank you!
Oh, one thing I forgot to add: I did a mixture of carrots and parsnips instead of just carrots. Really nice addition.
This dish is delicious. Thanks so much for it. I’ve started to substitute kabocha (other kinds of pumpkin or squash would probably work) for the potato and have found it to be really tasty. The kabocha has a nice silky texture. I also use fresh shiitake instead of the porcini and they’ve worked well.
Loved it! I thought it would be hard because it seemed like a lot of steps, but it wasn’t. Delicious. After a few bites my husband said, “We are definitely making this again!”
Love this stew!!! Just made it with the olive oil bread <3 <3
this was so easy and delicious!! Just one questiopn– how long can you refrigerate or freeze the sausage. I am the only one who eats this way and don’t want to waste anything!!!!!!
This stew is delicious! Very impressed. I would probably forgo the sausages next time though – mostly because I didn’t even like sausage when I ate meat so it’s not surprising that I didn’t like this vegan version either. But they do actually taste just like sausages, which is a great achievement for those with a craving 🙂
This is by far the best vegan stew I have ever had! When my husband and I went vegan we figured we were giving up homey, thick, meaty stew. Little did we know. It is awesome! The first time I made this stew I did have some grit from the porcinis so the next time I made it I soaked them in hot water. Just enough to cover them. Strained the liquid and used it as part of the veg broth. I sooo did not want to loose any of their wonderful flavor. Thank you Isa for this wonderful recipe.
Wow, thanks! I’m happy you had success with it.
Oh my my my…I made this tonight. I have a nearly vegan husband and a not so vegan daughter. She loves this type of dish so I made it mainly for her. It was LOVED by all!! And my husband isn’t even a ‘stew’ lover. Man Isa, you just never ever disappoint. Thanks AGAIN!
I made this a week ago and it was wonderful! I used baby bellas instead of dried porcini because the store had only 1/2 ounce in stock.
Since i have leftover sausage(WOW!) I’m going to make a half batch with my 1/2 ounce of porcinis. Thank you, Isa! Since I stumbled onto your vegan runzas(yeah I’m from Nebraska) being vegan has been so easy and a delicious adventure!
You are a genious!! Had the best day cooking this and then eating. Thanks so much.
This was sooo delicious. I added celery, because why wouldn’t I? The only problem I had was with the porcinis. They ended up having a grittiness to them after cooking, as a previous commenter stated. After doing some research, I found other suggest rinsing the porcinis to help reduce the gritty sediment. Aaide from this little mishap, this stew was fantastic.
Made this tonight and OMG… let me just say, my partner said, “This is company worthy – flavors I havent tasted in years!” The only change I made was added a few extra carrots because I love them. Oh, also I used Field Grain Italian sausages. Simply amazing, brilliant and will DEFINITELY be making this one again! BRAVO!
This is great. I didn’t have tomato paste (I certainly didn’t use ketchup instead) and I used whatever the little white button mushrooms are called for the mushrooms, and it was great. My mom made one just like this, with meat, and this is even better. Best use of old Charles Shaw in a long time.
rainy jersey day + a ton of leftover seitan sausages from last weekends brunch party + 3 bottles of red wine = beef stew for sure <3
Well, It’s may 25th and it snowed today. So I think that the weather calls for some comfort food and this recipe looks so, so good! I can’t wait to try it. Maybe I’ll even get a fire going. Who cares that its almost June when you have something this delicious to look forward to?
I’m commenting awfully late, but I wanted to add that instead of the slurry I tried this with a “Picada”. This is something commonly used in Catalan cooking to thicken stews and recipes and it consists of a few ground almonds (or hazelnuts), a biscuit or a piece of stale bread, some liquid and maybe some garlic and few herbs. It’s delicious!
Hey there! I’m a belgian vegetarian, and stew-lover. 🙂 Everybody has their little tricks for the perfect stew, of course, and yourse sound really good. Especially the muchrooms (wich have been in my pantry for like forever, I don’t really like them in a risotto).
My favorite trick is a good, full-bodied brown beer, wich adds al LOT of debt to any stew. Seriously, so much better then wine!
And baking a little bit of finely chopped potatos in the biginning with the onions, because they give an amazing taste (like they form a crust, really, you wouldn’t expect it to be that good) and they thicken it in the end.
And also (but i can’t take credit for this, as it is in every housewife’s not so animal friendly stew here) a bit bread with mustard on it to thicken.
I made this with homemade seitan, yummmm. We’re so eating this tonight with fresh crusty bread!
1st week of going Vegetarian with my daughter and this is going to be my 1st made from scratch meal except for the sausages! I had to use shitake mushrooms and couldnt fins seitan but i found some vegetarian beef chunks from the Asian grocer Im going to try ( they look so much like real meat im hoping to fool my meat loving husband) Wish me luck 🙂
I can’t wait for our first rainy, winter night to make this!!!
Hi there, in my quest of meat replacements which taste good, I found your website and… 10000 times thanks!!
I have a questions: besides me wanting to cook as vegan as possible, my husband does not eat anything cooked in wine, and occasionally does not eat garlic either. Do you have any suggestion on what might replace the two of them in a stew like this?
Perhaps caramelizing the onions a bit would add extra flavor without garlic, and a splash of balsamic vinegar might do well to replace the wine.
Making this in the slow cooker as I type and it’s coming along great.
I took the potatoes, carrots, and onions and sauteed them with olive oil on medium on the stove until the onions caramelized and the potatoes and carrots started getting a little less firm.
After that, I threw that mixture into the slow cooker along with the mushrooms and everything needed for the broth (spices, water, veggie broth, garlic etc) and cooked it on High for about 2 hours.
After that, I threw in the meat substitute (Gard-in beef tips) and some frozen peas.
I used shiitake mushrooms (just because they’re my favorite) and needed to add a bit more salt than recommended (didn’t measure, just to taste) but it’s coming along great. Going to serve it with a nice crusty bread and some cheese while we watch Lord of the Rings. :p