Sweet Potato Lentil Stew Recipe
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Earthy Sweet Potato Lentil Stew recipe with deep notes of cumin, coriander and smoked paprika. Hearty, packed with clean protein and micronutrients from fresh dark leafy kale and spinach, this recipe needs to stay on repeat all year long.
Sweet Potato Lentil Stew
This wintery lentil stew starts with a base of aromatics, the usual suspects: garlic, onion, carrots and celery. To that you’ll add in tons of deep comforting flavors with a few earthy spices that will all slowly be absorbed into the sweet potatoes and lentils as they simmer away together.
To make it thick and creamy without the addition of any oils, i simply pureed about a third of it and mixed it all back into the pot. Perfection! Plus our kitchen shack smells simply amazing by the way!
You can get creative here and use a mix of lentils and split peas in which case remember to soak your split peas in hot water for a couple of hours or overnight before using. I don’t like using the red lentil variety here just because they cook in about 15 minutes and literally turn into much. If you insist however, make sure to cut back the cooking time and simmer them together with the sweet potatoes from the start.
You’ll Love this Lentil Stew! It’s:
One Pot
Easy to Make
Comforting
Hearty & Filling
Brimming with Nutritious Clean Protein
Dairy & Gluten-Free
WFPB Vegan No Oil
Divine!
On Storage
This soup also makes great leftovers and reheats well, you might need to add a splash of water or veggie stock to stretch it out to your liking. As it is the case with most soups and stews, I beg to argue the flavor also gets better with time, so make a big batch to have for two, three days of leftovers.
If you prefer to turn it into more of a thinner lentil soup rather than a stew, simply add more veggie stock and adjust seasonings to taste. It’s magical like that.
Lentil Recipes
- Potato Red Lentil Stew
- Lentil Loaf
- Cucumber Tomato Lentil Salad
- Best Vegan Lentil Soup
- Vegan Lasagna.
Sweet Potato Lentil Stew
Earthy Moroccan Sweet Potato Lentil Stew recipe with cumin, coriander and smoked paprika. Hearty, detoxing and loaded with protein and micro nutrients from fresh kale and spinach, this recipe needs to be on repeat all winter long.
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups organic green or brown lentils
- 1 large sweet potato (cut into small cubes)
- 1/2 yellow onion
- 1 large carrot -diced
- 1 rib celery -diced
- 5 cloves garlic -minced
- 9-10 cups water or veggie stock (low sodium)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp smoked paprika (sweet or hot)
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 leaf bay
- 2-3 tbsp red wine vinegar or fresh lime
- 1 pinch red chili flakes (to taste)
- 3-4 cups kale or baby spinach
- sea salt + black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add a splash of water and saute the diced onion with a pinch of sea salt until translucent. Stir in the carrot and celery cook a few more minutes until softened.
- Add the garlic and give it a good stir before adding the spices: cumin, smoked paprika, coriander, onion powder, turmeric and bay leaf.
- Meanwhile rinse the lentils then add them into the pot. Cover with the veggie stock or water and bring to a simmer. Cook covered on low flame for 30 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasonings with sea salt and black paper then add the sweet potatoes to the stew. Cook another 10 to 15 minutes until softened. Discard bay leaf.
- Ladle about 1/3 of the stew into a blender and puree until smooth. Add it back into the pot with the stew and stir to combine. If the stew is too thick for your liking just add more water or veggie stock to stretch it out a bit. Remember to adjust seasonings.
- Add the kale or spinach and cook just a couple of minutes until wilted. Remove from heat and stir in some red wine vinegar or a hit of lime to balance out the flavors. Serve hot with spicy chili flakes on top. Note: If you want to turn it into more of a soup rather than a stew, simply add more veggie stock and adjust seasonings.
Crock Pot Method:
- Add all the ingredients to your crock pot and cook on high for 6 hours or on low for 8 hours. Discard bay leaf, remove about 1/3 of the soup and carefully transfer to a powerful blender. Puree until smooth and add back into the stew. Taste and adjust seasonings with sea salt and black pepper.
Notes
- If you want to make this more of a soup rather than a stew, simply add more veggie stock and adjust seasonings.
Nutrition
Calories: 211kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 14g | Sodium: 47mg | Potassium: 713mg | Fiber: 15g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 6375IU | Vitamin C: 34.9mg | Calcium: 92mg | Iron: 4.5mg
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 211kcal
This is most definitely the best soup I’ve made this winter. The flavors are on point but what I really love is how filling and hearty this is leaving you completely satisfied after one bowl. Thank you for another fabulous recipe Florentina.
My husband and I lOOOved this stew soup, best yet. I usually make leek and lentil soup but this was so much more flavourful!!
Thank you and I will post it.
Absolutely delicious!!!
I made this as a stew. Last week. I used the slow cooker method. It was amazing. I made enough to freeze for nights when a quick dinner is necessary. I plan to also try it as a soup. 5 stars for this recipe.
Do u use dried lentils or canned?
Dry lentils 🙂
What can I use instead of kale or spinach. Both are too high in oxelates.
You could just omit them or add some swiss chard, collard greens, dandelion greens, mustard greens and even baby arugula.
Do I add the spinach and kale in the beginning, if I’m using a crockpot, or do I add them later? I have all these ingredients and I can’t wait to make it!
At the very end, they just need a few minutes to wilt into the soup.
This soup has all the flavours I love but i am allergic to turmeric. If i leave out the turmeric, will it change the flavour profile?
The flavors are still great without the turmeric so feel free to leave it out.
The instructions don’t say when to add the sweet potatoes?!
Just about 10 minutes before your stew is done, they cook really fast.
can I use butternut squash instead of sweet potato?
Definitely!
Really enjoyed this. Modified it a little too cook it in my instant pot. I used 1 cup green lentils and 1 cup red because I ran out of green, that worked fine. I also added a tin of tomatoes . I left my sweet potatoes in bigger chunks so I could put them in at the beginning, they still ended up very soft though. I cooked on high pressure for 8 minutes but I’d reduce that the next time and just do 6 minutes. I liked the spices, might add some chili flakes into the pot the next time to spice it up a bit. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I made this today, Nov 3 2021, and though I’m not vegan yet, I have to say, this was delicious!!!!
I cooked all this in an Instant Pot, 14 minutes on normal pressure cooker setting and did a quick release of pressure. Perfect!
I LOVE this soup! So flavorful, and great way to add in more lentils to my diet. Thank you!
Hearty and delicious – a stew I’ll eat during any season! I loved this flavor profile and the soft texture that the sweet potato adds. Thanks, Florentina!
I haven’t made this yet, but I have it saved so I can! I always appreciate the details in your recipes and the beautiful photography.
I’ve made a lot of lentil stews and soups, but I’ve not yet used turmeric or sweet potatoes. It sounds delicious.
One thing I need to say is that the word “detoxifying” is really thrown around a lot, but the body and food digestion doesn’t work like that. Yes, this sounds full of nutrients, but the liver is what detoxifies or bodies. Even if this was the only thing we’d eat for a week, our livers would still have the job of using what our bodies needed and getting rid of the rest. I just think the word is misleading, especially used by the general public.
Yes that is correct, our internal organs like the liver and kidneys detox our bodies. Because that word is indeed thrown around a lot and that is how people search for this recipe, I put it in the post to reach that specific group of people and quite frankly to give a signal to google about it and show the recipe to those people. The recipe is delicious and really nutritious, hope you give it a go 🙂 ! Florentina Xo’s
WOW!! Absolutely fantastic soup! I added spinach (just cuz it was in the fridge and didn’t want to go to the store for just kale), and a can of Rotel tomatoes (another reviewer’s suggestion) and I’m so glad I did!! Also added the dash of red chili flakes into the soup at the same time as the sweet potato. Will definitely make this again.