Vegan Traditional ‘Beef’ Stew!

Vegan Traditional ‘Beef’ Stew is a bowl of satisfying goodness.

Vegan ‘Beef’ Stew can be left gently bubbling for at least 60 minutes, or longer if your like me and just enjoy the aroma and thoughts of having a stuffed pot of simmering, savoury, yumminess on your stove.

Since ancient times all civilizations and cultures have appreciated the life-affirming properties of a hearty dish of stew. And its easy to see why as a steaming bowl of stew fills you up, is easy on the budget, and is so satisfying on a chilly day.

Also a stew is really time saving as its quick to bung together and then leave to do its own thing with only the odd stir or two.

Which leaves us more time to get all the other hundred-and-one things we need to get done!

My Vegan ‘Beef’ Stew recipe has a tomato base as it uses tomato passata and puree.

If you would prefer use a vegan-friendly gravy powder.

When I need a gravy quickly I usually use Marigold gravy as its recently become available locally where I live. Although many popular supermarket brands are actually accidently vegan-friendly.

A few tablespoons of gravy powder can be added to this stew in place of the tomatoes depending on how thick you prefer the gravy.

Vegan ‘Beef’ Stew is gluten-free as I have used Marigold stock cubes which are gluten-free and Doves Farm gluten-free plain flour.

I purchased the Doves Farm gluten-free plain flour from Amazon, UK, when they had a deal on for a bulk-buy 6 pack. A useful tip to remember is that you can store flour in the freezer if your flour is close to its best-before date.

If you don’t need this recipe to be gluten-free then just use whatever ingredients you have to hand at home. Wholemeal flour will work just as well and is equally as tasty.

Vegan Traditional ‘Beef’ Stew

Serves 4-6 hearty portions depending on appetites!

Vegan Traditional 'Beef' Stew

Jacq

Beef stew has been a classic family favourite for hundreds of years.

Vegans, vegetarians, and plant-based eaters don't have to miss out with this kinder 'beef' stew!

Vegan 'beef' stew is a umami flavour bomb! So tasty and satisfying.

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 20 mins

Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, tea

Cuisine British

Servings 6 servings, or 4 big servings!

Equipment

• Large saucepan/casserole pan or even a jam making pan which is what I tend to use for stews!

Ingredients

  

• 1 whole onion, chopped with all the vegetables including the onion and garlic, you can just rough chop and leave them quite chunky for a nice rustic stew!
• 3-4 cloves garlic halved or quartered. if your cloves are small use a few extra
• 2-3 medium carrots thick chopped to about 3/4 inch. I scrub the skins and leave them on
• 3 stalks celery Thick cut about 1 inch pieces. Add the inner leaves as well, I do.
• 4 medium potatoes halved or quartered. Makes about 3 cups chopped.
• 130 grams mushrooms about 1 and 1/2 cup. Cut in half through the stalks. If using little button mushrooms leave these whole, if larger mushrooms just rough chop. Use more mushrooms if liked.
• 100 grams Textured vegetable protein, about 2 cups. Or any other vegan/plant-based 'meat' alternative. If using a fresh alternative use about 300 grams.
• 1 tablespoon mixed herbs or use a few sprigs of fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, sage. If you have a bay leaf chuck that in to.
• 2 teaspoons paprika I use a smoky variety
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• 250 ml tomato passata
• 1 tablespoon vegetable extract/marmite
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce Use Tamari soy sauce if your recipe needs to be gluten-free. Also Tamari has less sodium.
• 1.5 litres vegetable stock Or 1.5 US quarts/ 6 cups (250ml each cup). Made up with one vegan stock cube. I use Marigold stock cubes. Marigold stock cubes are GF. If necessary make sure your stock cube/powder is gluten-free.
• 2 tablespoons gluten-free plain flour alternatively you could use a plain flour or a plain wholemeal flour
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley, optional to garnish when the stew has been served. Nutritional yeast is also a nice addition as is a dollop of tomato ketchup!

Instructions

 

• Add all the dry ingredients to a large saucepan.

  Mix through the flour.

  Next add all the wet ingredients.
• Gently simmer for at least 60 minutes. I did mine for 70 minutes.

  Check the seasoning. Add salt and pepper if desired.

  Garnish with chopped parsley if using, Sprinkle nutritional yeast over each bowl.

  Serve!

  Or....
• I highly recommend to have this stew the next day. The flavours will have more time to develop.

  Leave to cool and then store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat to piping hot and simmer for at least 5 minutes before serving. Stir often to prevent burning as the stew will likely have got thicker overnight. Add a splash of water to loosen up if needed.

  Alternatively freeze for around 3 months. Although I have eaten homemade freezer food way after the 3 month mark and it has been fine.

Keyword beef stew, Comfort food, meat alternative, meat free, Plant-based, Stew, Textured Vegetable Protein, TVP, Vegan, Vegetarian

Vegan ‘Beef’ Stew Recipe Notes:

Why not make your own vegetable stock?

Its super easy, saves money and reduces food waste!

Making your own stock can be as easy as saving all your vegetable and potato cooking water and using this in place of  stock.

Or take your stock making one step further and keep all your vegetable peelings, scraps, leaves, stalks, roots etc., and simmer these with a litre or 2 of water for up to an hour. For extra savoury flavour add some peppercorns, fresh herbs, a couple of bay leaf’s, or dried herbs. Use a mix of anything that you like as a flavour.

After about an hour of gentle simmering strain the stock through a sieve or colander. Cool and then place in the refrigerator for about 5 days.

Alternatively, after cooling, pour into a large freezer bag or a few smaller serving bags, and freeze until you need it. Vegetable stock can also be frozen in an ice-cube tray and popped out once frozen and added to a freezer tub or bag.

I like to keep a large freezer bag in my freezer where I add vegetable scraps each day and make stock when I take the notion.

For an Asian-inspired homemade stock:

Add a teaspoon or two of Chinese five spice, Thai spice, curry powder, a few tablespoons of soya sauce, dried mushrooms, a chunk of ginger or turmeric root, etc. Strangely enough I managed to buy about 500 grams of fresh turmeric root from Amazon, UK. I washed and scrubbed it clean and popped it into the freezer. I also keep my ginger root in the freezer. When I need to use either fresh turmeric or ginger I simply grate it when its frozen. I don’t mind leaving the peel on while grating. Then if needing smaller bits just chop finely.

Save even more time by cooking your Vegan ‘Beef’ Stew in a slow cooker.

To save even more time you can chuck all the ingredients into a slow cooker but use much less water as slow cookers need much less water than conventional stewing. Also pre-soaking your dried TVP chunks would be advisable. Just pour boiling water to cover the TVP and leave for at least 30 minutes. Drain or use the liquid for the stew.  A stew in my slow cooker usually takes about 4-5 hours on high or about 6-7 hours on medium. If your putting it on early morning and not eating till evening then I would set it for low. Although check your slow cooker instruction book for more precise times.

Serving suggestions and modifications for Vegan ‘Beef’ Stew

• My Vegan ‘Beef’ Stew will feed 4-6 servings depending on portion sizes. For smaller servings and if accompaniments are added the portion size could extend to 8 servings. Leftovers can be frozen or used for a quick lunch the next day. For smaller families the stew ingredients can be halved.
• A nice crusty bread to dip into the stew and mop up the savoury goodness is a tasty addition.
• Why not make this stew even better by adding some chopped greens about 10 minutes before the end of simmering? Chopped kale, spring greens, cabbage, or chard would be ideal.
• For a change try adding chunky chopped turnip, swede or parsnips. These are all traditional stew vegetables and guaranteed to taste yummy.
• Spice this stew up by adding a grinding of chilli flakes.
• My son loves a sprinkling of nutritional yeast on all his soups and stews. Try a teaspoon or two scattered over your stew for an added umami, cheesy hit!
• For a ‘beef’ pie top the stew with a vegan-friendly puff pastry or a homemade wholemeal shortcrust pastry.
• Turn this Vegan ‘Beef’ Stew into a yummy hotpot by topping it with mashed potato, sweet potato mash, or even a cauliflower mash. A root vegetable mash is particularly yummy. Just bake in the oven at about 180 Fan/200 Celsius/400 Fahrenheit/Gas 6 or put under a grill, until the topping is crisp and golden. Why not top it with my Vegan Wartime Champ?
• If you have some individual mini pie dishes then use these to make cute little pot pies. My kids love hotpots and pot pies served individually.

Looking for more meal ideas and inspiration?

Check out my delicious Scottish Vegan Stovies which are perfect to enjoy for a Robert Burns Supper (25th January), especially if you don’t like vegan haggis or your local shops don’t stock them.

To finish off a Scottish feast try a slice of my Vegan Scottish Border Tart

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Made my recipe?

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Many thanks and Stay Safe!

Vegan Beef Stew