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
- 1/2 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!
Did not roast veggies and used chopped uncooked Brussels sprouts instead of kale and put all in crockpot for 3 hrs. Partially mashed with potatoe masher and cooked another hour. Served with dollop of fages Greek yogurt or sour cream. Delicious! Thankyou
Love that you added Brussels sprouts and that you had it going in the crock pot! So glad you enjoyed it, thank you for letting me know! 🙂 ~Bronwyn
Delicious stew. Followed the recipe but included additional spices at the end since it was reaching the flavor profile I wanted. Eyeballed a few additions: paprika, maybe 4 or 5 tbsp; ~3 or 4 tbsp turmeric; ~tbsp coriander; more salt than you would think necessary; ~3 tsp of white sugar
Hi JP, So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing the spice additions, too! 🙂 ~Bronwyn
Can you use chicken stock or will that change the flavor?
Hi Robinn! I don’t use chicken stock so I’m not sure how it would be different. That said, I’ve used a vegan chicken broth and it was great! Hope you enjoy the stew! ~ Bronwyn
I’ve never cooked lentils before. For this recipe, do I just add the lentils to the sauté pan as is, or do I need to cook them before hand and add them to the sauté pan with the garlic, onions, spices, and broth? Thank you for your help!
Hi! Yup, you add them raw with the broth etc. Red lentils cook very quickly compared with other kinds of lentils. Hope you enjoy the stew! Let me know if you have any other questions! ~Bronwyn 🙂
I don’t want to be rude but the roasted veggies were better alone than in the stew. I felt it lacked flavor and I not a grain of salt. It was very one dimensional like an off marinara. Not a fan. All those organic veggies ruined.
Hi Eileen, sorry this tomato-based stew wasn’t what you were expecting! There’s no added salt in this recipe b/c we found it salty enough when prepared as written with approximately 975 mg of sodium per serving which is actually pretty high (for context, Health Canada recommends healthy adults 14-50 years old aim for 1,500 mg per day and to not exceed 2,300 mg per day). If you made any alterations to the recipe such as using just water instead of broth (a source of salt and flavor), omitting/reducing the balsamic vinegar or tomato paste (both sources of salt and flavor), or any other changes, the outcome would be different. Thanks for the feedback, though, and hopefully you added salt to your liking and enjoyed it after all as a sauce over some noodles or toast. ~ Bronwyn
I can’t get enough! Mouthwatering stew exactly as recipe is written. Grabbing seconds now. Thank you, this will be a regular dish around here. Even my four year old enjoys it.
So happy to hear this, Kate! Thanks for the lovely comment and feedback 🙂 ~Bronwyn
I made this last night and enjoyed it! I love garlic and could really taste it in the stew. I think it needs some other seasonings in addition to the thyme, oregano, and basil, but I am not quite sure what it needs. The balsamic helped bring out the flavors wonderfully!
I was wondering if it freezes well? I am an expecting momma and am looking for meals to have on hand in the freezer to minimize cooking after the little one arrives. Thanks!
Hi Sarah! Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it! Yes, it freezes well. You may need to add in some broth as you reheat it to achieve the consistency you prefer. This is true for leftovers containing lentils stored in the fridge. And congratulations! Such a special chapter in life! 🥰
Thank you for the great recipe. I used brown lentils because that is what I had on hand. I cooked them separately since they take longer. Othwise I followed the recipe and it was very good. I also forgot to buy red peppers so they were missing too. I’ll make this recipe again.
Hi Carrie, thank you for taking the time to comment! I’m so happy you enjoyed the stew and that you made it work with the ingredients you had on hand! ~ Bronwyn
Loved this stew! Hearty and full of veggies. I can see it being a great stew to substitute with whatever veggies I have in the fridge. I added some smoked paprika and cumin. I found it even better the second day.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Aurora! Love how you’ll be making it work with whatever veggies you have on hand, and added some extra spice! Thank you for taking the time to let me know 🙂 ~ Bronwyn
My new favorite soup/stew!! Amazing flavours!
Thank you for taking the time to let me know, Bernadette! I’m so happy you enjoyed it! ~ Bronwyn
Made this tonight. Didn’t change a thing in the recipe. Little extra salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon at the end. Very, very good.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to let me know 🙂 ~ Bronwyn
This stew was hearty, healthy, and oh so satisfying. Served it with a loaf of artisan rosemary bread and it did not disappoint. Will definitely be making this again.
Oh that rosemary artisan loaf sounds amazing for dipping in the stew! Thanks so much for the feedback, I’m so happy you enjoyed it! ~ Bronwyn
Made this and it was delicious! The flavors were amazing.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know! 🙂 ~ Bronwyn