Creamy cubes of potatoes, vibrant slices of carrot, and your favorite vegan protein are simmered in a savory broth–Beefless Stew is the perfect fall or winter comfort food. Serve it with slices of hearty bread.
Yesterday was supposedly the first day of Spring, but you wouldn’t know it from our weather. It’s been raining for days and the temperature has been pretty chilly for Mississippi. So last night I resorted to a favorite family comfort-food: Beefless Stew.
I try not to use many processed “meats” in my cooking, but every now and then they come in handy for making a childhood favorite dish into something I can still enjoy as a vegan. When I first became a vegetarian, I made this stew with tempeh. Later I discovered Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) and liked it even better. But after reading about the health concerns associated with the soy protein isolates in TVP, I now make the stew with soy curls or with seitan, which turns out to be the tastiest option.
The basic recipe for Beefless Stew is endlessly adaptable; I never make it the same way twice, adding herbs to taste and varying amounts to fit the ingredients I have on-hand. For instance, that batch of stew you see in the photo at the end of this post contained only about 2 ounces of mushrooms and they were baby portabellas, because that’s all I had in the fridge. And I didn’t use the millet this time around, so it’s completely optional. And ditto for the wine: the red wine adds a great deal of flavor, but I didn’t have any so I skipped it. And I had yukon gold potatoes instead of red.
Anyway, you get the picture. It’s home-style cooking at its easiest–just toss it all in a pot and cook. If you make it and use any new ingredients, please drop me a comment and let me know. It’s my mom’s recipe, but I won’t tell her you changed it!
For more hearty soups and stews, be sure to visit my Stews and Chilies Archive, featuring Pasta Fagioli with Cranberry Beans and Kale, Black and Red Lentil Chili, and Smoky Refried Bean Soup.
Beefless Stew
Ingredients
- 8 small red potatoes cut into 1″ cubes
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 celery ribs chopped
- 8 ounces mushrooms quartered or halved then quartered, if large
- 2 large carrots sliced thick
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon rosemary crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup red wine optional
- 1/2-1 pound cubed seitan or 1 cup soy curls or 2 packages tempeh cubed
- 1/4 cup millet uncooked (Optional)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Fill a 5-quart saucepan or dutch oven 2/3 full of water (about 8 cups). Add the first 13 ingredients, potatoes through pepper, and bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes, until the onions are cooked and the potatoes start to soften.
- Add the red wine (if desired), seitan (or other protein), and millet, if you're using it. Check to make sure there is enough liquid and add water if necessary. Cook until the millet is completely cooked (not hard anymore), about 20 minutes. Add peas.
- Mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup water (or additional red wine, if desired). Stir the mixture into the stew and cook until the stew thickens slightly. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper as needed.
- Remove the bay leaves and serve in bowls with fresh bread.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
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Original Beefless Stew photo
Rachael West
November 24, 2009 at 3:45 pmStew is the perfect meal this time of year. I'm sitting here feeling the cold just work its way through my body. Delicious idea Susan.
I am not the biggest fan of beef as is so a beefless stew is right up my alley. I have several things I would gladly throw into this, especially some mushrooms and pasta noodles.
Thanks for sharing this,
Rachael West
Shirley
January 5, 2012 at 3:59 pmI live in a city with a Whole Foods Market, central Market, and a Sprouts has anyone found the TVP chunks in these stores? I really want to try this recipe and would rather avoid shipping charges.
Susan Voisin
January 5, 2012 at 4:04 pmNowadays I use seitan chunks rather than TVP. They’re easier to find/make and don’t raise some of health concerns that TVP does.
shirley
January 6, 2012 at 8:10 amWhat are the health concerns with TVP?
Susan Voisin
January 6, 2012 at 8:53 amMost health experts now advocate that we avoid isolated soy protein (concentrated protein that has been extracted from soy beans), which is what TVP is. Here’s part of an article by Dr. John McDougall: “Another recent study showed how 40 grams of soy or cow-milk protein concentrate added to the diet significantly increases levels of a powerful cancer-promoting growth hormone, called Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 – IGF-1.29 However, soy protein was almost twice as powerful as the milk protein concentrate – doubling the levels of IGF-1 with 40 grams of soy protein isolate. This growth promoter has been strongly linked to the development of cancer of the breast, prostate, lung, and colon. Excess IGF-1 stimulates cell proliferation and inhibits cell death – two activities you definitely don’t want when cancer cells are involved.” from http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/pdf/pdf050400nl.pdf
Vegi-K
April 6, 2012 at 7:15 pmI dry roasted the vegetables in the soy sauce and spices before adding to give extra flavor. Yum!
Lorene Johnson
November 20, 2013 at 8:24 amI do appreciate your healthy low fat recipes and personalization. Thank you.
Suzanne Pedersen
February 11, 2018 at 7:28 pmDelicious flavor and getting a soup. I did add two or three dry cloves in addition to the already mentioned spices and herbs. I used TVP beef which needed to be rehydrated. Is there anyway to tenderize it? I added boiling water and let it soak for 10 minutes, but it still was tough after simmering. Granules seem to be the most tender. Thank you in advance for any feedback.
Susan Voisin
February 11, 2018 at 8:18 pmIt may be a difference between brands, but I’ve never had trouble getting TVP to soften. I just put it into the stew and let it simmer with the vegetables.
Suzanne Pedersen
February 12, 2018 at 1:02 pmIt was not that it does not soften but it is tough when you bite into it. After reading about TVP isolate and cancer-causing hormones, I might just decide to go another route. I am not sure total vegetarian without soy would have enough protein though.
Susan Voisin
February 12, 2018 at 7:35 pmThere’s plenty of protein in beans and grains, but if high protein is what you’re after, try seitan (wheat gluten.)
P
November 1, 2019 at 7:47 pmGreat recipe! I added another 1/4 cup of red wine, a bit more corn starch mixture at the end and extra carrots/celery. I also added a handful of bulgur wheat I had in the pantry for texture. The seitan idea was great. I browned it first which appealed to the kids. Thank you for this recipe!!
Lyn
January 29, 2020 at 7:59 amI immediately saved this to make! Looks fabulous and I love all the extra notes and advice. I had never heard of soy curls, so now have those in my Amazon cart!
Nathan
November 14, 2020 at 1:06 pmI made this today with wild rice and barley because I only had one potato and no millet. I used homemade seitan that I had in the freezer. I also added cabbage that I had left over. Turned out awesome!