This recipe for the slow cooker works really well. Combine ingredients, then cook. Delicious! This vegetable-filled lentil stew will keep you warm all year long and is spiced with cumin, coriander, and tomato paste. Excellent with a slice of warm, homemade rustic bread! vegan and vegetarian. Serve with some bread to use as a dipping vessel.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 3 hrs 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 5 cups water
- 2 ½ cubes vegetable bouillon, or more to taste
- 2 cups dry lentils
- 5 small carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
- 3 teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ (6 ounce) can tomato paste, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- ½ (8 ounce) package fresh spinach, torn
Instructions
- Warm water and vegetable bouillon in a slow cooker on High until dissolved. Add lentils, carrots, and potatoes.
- Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add cumin and coriander and cook and stir until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add oil, followed by onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and transfer to the slow cooker. Stir. Add tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Stir in spinach.
- Cook on High, stirring every 30 minutes, until lentils are tender and stew has thickened, 3 to 4 hours.
- You can use 5 cups pre-made vegetable broth instead of water and bouillon.
- Add more liquid if it’s too thick for you. It’s so flavorful that adding water won’t affect it much. But only add an extra cup or so, no more.
- You can follow these directions using a large pot and cooking on your stove over low heat for several hours instead of using a slow cooker.
Reviews
Thanks for sharing this Great recipe!!! It is #1 in dinner Rotation
Easy and absolutely delish. I served it with warm cornbread. Perfect healthy dinner.
I liked the ease of making it in the crock pot, but the flavors were not my favorite. I will use this as a base with other spices next time.
I used the vegetable broth instead of cubes. It was really good. I couldn’t quit tasting it, so I fixed a bowl as a snack.
It took longer than 4 hours to get the lentils software and 3 to 4 cups more broth. But overall it was great.
Delicious! I added chicken broth in place of vegetable bouillon & kale in place of spinach. We also served it over rice. I did not soak the lentils & they were perfect.
Great recipe! Just made it this afternoon- love the cumin, coriander spices, may add 1 tsp more of each next time. I had all ingredients on hand so it came together quickly- house smells divine! And it tastes wonderful!
*Instead of water & bullion I used veggie stock- only change A seemingly longer version of vegetable soup. Everyone liked it. It’s missing a little something but I wouldn’t kick it out of bed. The children ate it which was surprising, normally they protest too much. I’d make it again. Next time- green beans and ham
I’ve made this several times. Today, in an attempt to get at least one of my kids to eat it, I put in extra potatoes, no carrots, and two whole cans of tomato paste. Hasn’t even been in half an hour and it smells divine.
We all liked this, including the kids! I used 3 beef bouillon cubes because that’s what was on hand. I also used a large white onion which didn’t overpower, 5 red potatoes, a whole bag of baby spinach, and added 2 extra cups of water. I don’t think you could go wrong throwing in a little extra of any of the ingredients. Really hearty, healthy, tasty and filling.
I love the flavours and the texture. I used 3 small russet potatoes and 2 yellow nugget potatoes. I used beef bouillon because that is what I had on hand.
Absolutely wonderful. One time I ended up putting leftover ham in, but this absolutely doesn’t need it.
Really easy to make Ann’s very Tasty!
Nice spice level, though we agreed that it needed just a tad more salt. I’m sure it varies depending on the brand of veggie broth. Cooking time was spot on. Lentils were completely cooked after 3.5 hours. Would agree with others that it needed 1-2 more cups of water/liquid. Great vegan dish, thanks for the recipe!
I’m always afraid of cooking with lentils – I’m always afraid they’ll be bland. This was an excellent recipe, however. I did add a little bit of ham flavoring to it, because I love that flavor combo. Served it to guests on a spontaneous “soup night” (after the famous three days of no power in Texas!), it hit the spot. I’m not a fan of strong flavors, I used the spices exactly as written, and the amount of spice was just right -a good combination. I’m excited to have another use for lentils and will definitely make this again!
Delicious! I used chicken bouillon added 1 teaspoon of curry powder and added 1 extra cup of water from the beginning. Served with a splash of red wine vinegar. Next time I will add an extra potato…because so good. I didnt have spinach and dont think it seemed missing. And I missed the part about about stirring every 30 min gave it a stir toward the end and it was fine.
Delicious and hearty. This is going into the rotation!
Added some extra garlic and an extra cup of stock near the of cooking time; used a slow cooker. Delicious – this recipe is a keeper! Perfect warm, hearty meal for winter.
Not a huge lentil fan but I thought this recipe was great! I was shocked that I had every single ingredient on hand (not normally the case). I read all the reviews since there weren’t that many. I agree that it needs more liquid so I started w/6 C. water. Ended up adding 2 more cups over the cooking time so I would say this stew/soup needs 8 C. water. I used Better Than Bouillon Veggie Base and I probably went a little overboard on that but it was still good. I’m not a vegetarian so I might try chicken or beef broth next time. Might back off a little on the cumin and experiment with other spices. To the reviewers who say their lentils were still crunchy…did you cook it on high? Mine came out perfect & by the way mine looked exactly like the picture ?? Very hearty soup and will def make it again!
Versatile recipe. Didn’t have the 3 hrs 30 minutes before supper, so I sauteed the onions in oil, cumin, and curry instead of coriander. Threw it all in the pressure cooker with a package of frozen carrots. Pressure cooked on high for 45 minutes. Thickened up more than expected, but the water added after cooking brought it back to a good consistency. It was delicious.
This was delicious and easy. I know it was a vegiterian recipe, but my husband asked me to add stew meat. I used a dutch oven to brown the meat first, then followed the recipe, adding meat back in before simmering. It turned out great. Looking forward to having the original recipe in the future as well.