Easy to make, this hearty and nutritious roasted vegetable lentil stew is a family favorite for chilly evenings. This vegan dinner is rich in flavor from roasting vegetables and garlic at a high heat which creates sweet undertones. Enjoy with a thick slice of your favorite bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
If you’re like me and always feel short on time and don’t want to babysit something on the stove for hours, this is a great easy vegan dinner recipe for you. The vegetables are roasted so they hang out with only one toss during baking. I really love the simplicity of red lentils – they cook so quickly compared to most other legumes, and they don’t need to be soaked. All you need is 15 minutes to cook them! The’re mild in flavor, rich in nutrients and easily digested making them perfect for little ones, too.
The lentil stew base cooks quickly and then it’s a matter of blending up half of the roasted veggies with some stock and pouring it back into the pot with the remaining roasted veggies. Add in some kale and you’re done!
From start to finish, this lentil stew takes an hour to get on the table, but only about 15 minutes of this involves you being active.
How to Make Roasted Garlic Vegetable Stew with Red Lentil & Tomatoes
- Roast the vegetables and garlic
- In the meantime, saute onion and garlic in a large pot
- Add lentils, spices, tomatoes and soup stock and simmer
- Puree half of the roasted vegetables with balsamic and remaining ingredients
- Combine the puree and remaining roasted veggies into the pot
- Stir in the kale, simmer for 1 minute and serve!
Love easy red lentil stew recipes like this one? Be sure to check out my Creamy Curried Carrot, Ginger and Red Lentil Soup , and my Red Lentil and Cauliflower Dal.
If you make this Roasted Garlic Vegetable Stew with Red Lentils & Tomatoes, please give it a rating in the recipe card or let me know in the comments! I love connecting on Instagram where you can tag me in your creations using my recipes. You can also follow me on Pinterest and Facebook. Thank you for reading along!
Roasted Garlic Vegetable Stew with Red Lentils and Tomatoes
Ingredients
For the Roasted Vegetables:
- 4 tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 medium cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced 3/4 inch cubes
- 2 red bell peppers, seeds/stem removed, chopped
- 1 head garlic
For the Stew Base:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 28 oz canned fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup red lentils
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 6 cups kale, de-veined and torn into bite size pieces
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Instructions
For the Roasted Vegetables:
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper. Place the roasting vegetables on the tray (except the garlic), drizzle with olive oil and toss well with a large spoon or your hands ensuring that all the veggies are evenly coated.
- Slice the pointed end of the garlic bulb off exposing the garlic cloves. Drizzle with 1 tsp of oil. Wrap tightly with foil and place on the baking tray with the vegetables. Bake for 30-40 minutes, tossing every 15 minutes or so and checking the garlic at 25 minutes to make sure it doesn't burn or dry out.
For the Stew Base:
- In a large pot over medium heat, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil for 3 or 4 minutes until the onion is softened. Add the oregano, basil, thyme, canned tomatoes, vegetable broth and red lentils. Turn the heat up to high until the stew comes to a boil, lower the heat, cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until the lentils are cooked, stirring occasionally to prevent lentils from sticking to the pot.
- Squeeze the roasted garlic out of its skins into a high-powered blender. Add tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, about 1/2 of the roasted vegetables, and ladle in about 2 cups of the soup. Blend on high until smooth. Pour this mixture back into the soup pot with the other half of the roasted vegetables. Over medium heat, stir the kale into the soup and cook about a minute until it's just wilted and bright green. Enjoy!
Janelle
Sunday 6th of August 2023
Great stew and I’ve made it several times. I noticed you don’t have any seasoning ingredients or instructions in your recipe. I added salt and pepper to my vegetables before I roasted them. I used unsalted broth but found that the stew wasn’t salty enough to my tastes so also added salt with the kale.
Bronwyn Fraser | Crumbs & Caramel
Saturday 19th of August 2023
Thanks so much for the feedback, Janelle! I'm so happy you enjoy the stew! Yes, you're right about the seasonings - I need to update the recipe a little as my ingredients during testing (the tomatoes, stock etc) all contained adequate salt for the final stew but not everyone's do! Thanks for taking the time to share, I appreciate it! ~ Bronwyn
Koreen
Sunday 23rd of April 2023
This Roasted Garlic Vegetable Stew with Red Lentils and Tomatoes recipe Is delicious and fun, I enjoyed making it so much.
Emily
Thursday 6th of April 2023
So delicious and hearty for cool nights! Thank you!
Bronwyn Fraser | Crumbs & Caramel
Tuesday 11th of April 2023
Thanks Emily! I'm so happy you enjoy this recipe! :)
T
Sunday 8th of January 2023
Hi! I’m curious if you’ve had any issues with the lentils not cooking fully, due to the acidity of the tomato and tomato paste. I recently discovered that acids can keep beans and legumes from fully softening. I learned that you should put any tomato or other acids in after the cooking is mostly done. This recipe sounds wonderful but I’m hesitant to follow the directions because of my own recent mishap! Thanks!
Bronwyn Fraser | Crumbs & Caramel
Thursday 2nd of February 2023
Hi there! No, I haven't had any issues with the red lentils in this amount of tomatoes (nor have I had any reports from readers who have tried the recipe). BUT you're absolutely right, beans and other legumes with their seed coat/hull intact should not be cooked in acidic foods until the legumes are most cooked. The acid interferes with the seed coat's ability to absorb water so you get a tougher legume (and a longer cooking time). Red lentils have had their seed hulls removed so this is not as much of an issue (which is one of the reasons they cook so much faster than other lentils, and are easier to digest for some people.) Other types of lentils like brown, green, beluga etc lentils which have their seed hulls intact should be mostly cooked before adding the acidic ingredients so they cook properly. I hope this helps, and that you enjoy the stew! ~ Bronwyn
Laura
Saturday 29th of October 2022
How would this turn out with regular brown lentils?
Bronwyn Fraser | Crumbs & Caramel
Tuesday 8th of November 2022
Hi Laura! I haven't tried this recipe with brown lentils but here are some thoughts: red lentils take about 10 minutes to cook, provide a pretty reddish hue, and break up to thicken the stew. Brown lentils can take 30 minutes to cook, tend to hold their shape so aren't as great for thickening (so it'll be more soupy than stewy), and will add a brownish color to the broth as they cook. So you will get a different result, it just depends on what you prefer. Let me know how you make out! ~ Bronwyn