A Vegan Stew with light fluffy vegan dumplings is a great one-pot dish and the perfect comfort food for colder days. This easy recipe is cheap to make and needs just 10 minutes of prep time.
Seasonal vegetables are cooked in a thick tomato sauce. For more easy vegan one-pot recipes, why not try my Aubergine and Chickpea curry, Mixed Bean Goulash, or easy Vegan Sausage Casserole?
Also, check out my tips for different flavours to add to your vegan dumplings to make them even more delicious!
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Ingredients
This is a simple vegan stew recipe with minimal ingredients. See tips below for other vegetables and extras you can add to make it go further and avoid food waste.
- Fresh thyme adds lots of flavour. Use dried if you don't have fresh
- Tinned or canned tomatoes. As always, buy the best quality you can afford. Cheaper varieties have a higher water content. If your sauce is not thick enough, add some plain flour or cornflour/cornstarch to thicken it (see tip below)
- Worcestershire sauce is not vegan as it contains anchovies, but you can buy a vegan version.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Gather all your ingredients together and slice or chop the vegetables into small pieces about 2cm in diameter.
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Heat the oil in a large casserole pan and fry the onion and leek for around 5 minutes until soft.
Add the carrots, parsnips, and sweet potato and cook for 5 minutes until soft.
Add the tinned tomatoes, passata, vegetable stock, Worcestershire sauce, and thyme, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Make sure the liquid covers the vegetables. Bring to a boil then cover it and place it in the oven for 30 minutes.
Make the dumplings (see below) then carefully place them on top of the stew for the last 20 minutes of cooking and leave the stew uncovered.
Tips and Variations
Vegetables. Root vegetables are in season in autumn and winter and go well in a vegan stew as they benefit from slightly longer cooking without turning mushy. In this recipe, I've used onions, leeks, carrots, parsnips, and sweet potatoes. There are no hard and fast rules about which vegetables you can include and it's a good way to use up any leftover bits. Some root vegetables such as butternut squash and swede will need slighter longer cooking as they are a bit denser. Test them with a fork to check if they are soft enough at the end of the cooking time. You could also add some mushrooms.
The sauce. I've used tomato sauce as the base for this vegan stew as it brings lots of flavour and is nice and thick. The tomato flavour goes well with the sweetness of the root vegetables and is one more vegetable, making this a great nutritional dish.
Herbs. Thyme has a lovely earthy flavour but is also slightly sweet and peppery. Fresh thyme leaves are best but you can also use dried. In the image below, I've topped the stew with fresh parsley. Parsley has a lighter crisper flavour.
Vegan Dumplings
Vegan dumplings are a great addition to any stew or casserole and are very easy to make. These dumplings are made with flour and a vegan suet, which is made from vegetable oil and wheat flour and are not what some also call potstickers or Asian dumplings. They are baked on top of the stew and have a light fluffy texture.
How to make Vegan Dumplings
For a simple dumpling, all you need is self-raising/self-rising flour, vegetable suet, and cold water!
You can either keep the dumplings simple or add in some flavours. My favourite is pesto as it gives a nice flavour and colour too. The self-raising flour will make nice fluffy vegan dumplings.
If you don't have self-raising flour, mix 1 teaspoon of baking powder with every 100g of plain flour. Give it a good stir to make sure the baking powder is evenly distributed. The baking powder is the raising agent and will ensure the dumplings are light and airy.
Mix the dumpling ingredients with a little cold water (a few tablespoons) until you can mold the mixture into small balls about the size of ping-pong balls.
If you want to add any flavours (see below) add this before you form the dough into balls.
Flavours to add to Vegan Dumplings
The following can be added to your vegan dumpling mixture to bring extra flavour to your dish.
- Vegan Cheddar Cheese. Grate the cheese and add around 100g for every 125g of flour. Some cheeses are stronger than others so you may wish to add a little less if you have a stronger cheese.
- Chives Freshly chopped chives can be added and go particularly well with cheese.
- Thyme As well as adding thyme to the stew, you can add a couple of teaspoons of fresh leaves to the dumpling mixture before bringing the dough together. Dried thyme won't work as well as there is not enough moisture in the dumplings to hydrate the dried leaves.
- Pesto Green basil or red sun-dried tomato pesto can also be added to spice the dumplings up a little. Add four teaspoons of the pesto to the dumpling mixture before bringing the dough together.
What to serve with Stew
Stew is a delicious one-pot dish, especially if you add dumplings so you don't necessarily need to serve it with anything extra. Sometimes, people like to add something green on the side, just to brighten up the plate. I recommend peas but anything green such as cabbage or broccoli will do. This vegetable stew already contains potatoes. If your stew doesn't have potato in it, you might like to serve some mash on the side. Mash is also useful for mopping up gravy or sauce. Crusty bread is also a great accompaniment.
Sustainability
A stew is perfect for using vegetables in season. Try to buy your vegetables loose, free from plastic packaging, and from local sources which will help minimise the carbon footprint as well as support your local economy. Buying loose also means you can buy exactly what you need which will avoid food waste. As with many things now, you may also be able to buy organic vegetables. Organic produce has a lower environmental impact. For more information, check out my Eating Sustainably page.
Storage
You can keep this stew in the fridge for 3 - 4 days. You can also freeze it although root vegetables can go a bit mushy when they've been frozen.
Top Tip for Leftover Vegan Stew
As an alternative to freezing any leftover stew, you can easily turn any leftover stew into soup. Just add some vegetable stock and blitz the vegetables and you will have a lovely thick vegetable soup. Adding milk will make it a little creamier. If you've got any other vegetables left over, this is a great opportunity to use them up. Chop them into small pieces and add in. Once they are soft enough, you can mash them up or put the soup through a food processor.
FAQ
Root vegetables go well in stews such as carrots, parsnips, potato, sweet potato, squashes, pumpkin. You can also add celery, mushrooms, peas.
If you want to make your stew go further, you can also add beans or pulses or grains such as pearl barley or lentils.
If your tomato sauce is not thick enough, add a tablespoon of plain flour. To keep it gluten free, use cornflour or cornstarch. Mix a tablespoon of cornflour into a paste with a little cold water and stir in. Add a little at a time so you can judge how much you need.
📖 Recipe
Easy Vegan Stew with Dumplings
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 onion organic, diced
- 1 leek organic, diced about 500g
- 1 carrot organic, diced about 2cm cubes
- 1 parsnip organic, diced about 2cm cubes
- 500 g sweet potato organic, diced about 2cm cubes
- 400 g chopped tomatoes organic, tinned
- 500 g passata organic
- 300 ml vegetable stock organic
- 2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce organic
- 2 tablespoon fresh thyme organic, leaves only
- 1 dash salt
- 1 dash black pepper organic, fairtrade
Vegan Dumplings
- 125 g self raising flour organic
- 60 g vegetable suet
- 3-4 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Heat the oil in a large casserole pan and fry the onion and leek for around 5 minutes until soft2 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 onion, 1 leek
- Add the carrots, parsnips and sweet potato and cook for 5 minutes until soft1 carrot, 1 parsnip, 500 g sweet potato
- Add the tinned tomatoes, passata, vegetable stock, worcestshire sauce, thyme and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Make sure the liquid covers the vegetables. Bring to a boil then cover with a lid and place in the oven for 30 minutes400 g chopped tomatoes, 500 g passata, 300 ml vegetable stock, 2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoon fresh thyme, 1 dash salt, 1 dash black pepper
Vegan Dumplings
- Mix the dumpling ingredients together with a little cold water until you can mould the mixture into small balls about the size of ping pong balls. If you want to add in extra flavours, add these to the mixture before you form the dough together into balls125 g self raising flour, 60 g vegetable suet, 3-4 tablespoon cold water
- Carefully place on top of the stew for the last 20 minutes of cooking and leave the stew uncovered.
- When the dumpling are cooked and slightly browned, serve everything together
Notes
Vegan Dumplings
For a simple dumpling, all you need is self raising / self rising flour, vegetable suet and cold water. You can either keep the dumplings simple or add in some flavours. If you don't have self raising flour, mix 1 teaspoon of baking powder with every 100g of plain flour. Give it a good stir to make sure the baking powder is evenly distributed. The baking powder is the raising agent and will ensure the dumplings are light and airy.Additional Flavours for Dumplings
The following can be added to your dumpling mixture to bring extra flavour to your dish.- Vegan Cheddar Cheese. Grate the cheese and add around 100g for every 125g of flour. Some cheeses are stronger than others so you may wish to add a little less if you have a stronger cheese.
- Chives Freshly chopped chives can be added and go particularly well with cheese.
- Thyme As well as adding thyme to the stew, you can add a couple of teaspoons of fresh leaves to the dumpling mixture before bringing the dough together. Dried thyme won't work as well as there is not enough moisture in the dumplings to hydrate the dried leaves.
- Pesto Green basil or red sun dried tomato pesto can also be added to spice the dumplings up a little. Add four teaspoons of the pesto to the dumpling mixture before bringing the dough together.
Serving Suggestion
A stew is a great one pot dish, especially if you add dumplings so you don't need to serve anything extra. Sometimes, people like to add something green on the side. I recommend peas but anything green such as cabbage or broccoli will do. This vegetable stew already contains potato. If your stew doesn't have potato in it, you might like to serve some mash on the side. Mash is also great for mopping up the gravy or sauce.Storage
You can keep this stew in the fridge for 3 - 4 days. You can also freeze it although root vegetables can go a bit mushy when they've been frozen.Leftover Vegan Stew
As an alternative to freezing any leftover stew, you can turn your leftover stew into a soup. Just add some vegetable stock and blitz the vegetables and you will have a lovely thick vegetable soup. Adding milk will make it a little creamier. If you've got any other vegetables leftover, this is a great opportunity to use them up. Chop them into small pieces and add in. Once they are soft enough, you can mash them up or put the soup through a food processor.Nutrition per serving
The Nutritional Values are computer generated estimates based on industry standards and are provided as a helpful guide only.
Average Carbon Emissions
Nikki
Looks so hearty, comforting and delicious! Love the dumplings on top too!
Beth
This looks amazing! Those dumplings are so huge, they look like biscuits!
Tavo
The stew was so yummy and comforting! I especially loved the dumplings!
Suja md
This was a such a delicious and easy recipe! I went perfect with my dinner meal. So good!
Beth
Such a delicious and hearty vegan stew. Perfect winter comfort food.
Catherine Horrigan
This is super tasty, I have made this a few times and love it every time. The cheese in the dumplings is perfect.
Ann Bower
The Winter Vegetable Stew with Cheesy Dumplings was really delicious: the sauce was surprisingly rich, going very well with the slightly cheesy flavour of the dumplings. I made it on the spur of the moment when I happened to see the recipe and my husband an I both enjoyed it very much. Nice to have a recipe where I could vary the ingredients to fit what I happen to have in, if necessary.
REALMEALDEAL
So pleased you enjoyed it. It's always good to be able to make use of what you already have in rather than let it go to waste.