Vegan Black Bean Stew

This easy vegan black bean stew is the perfect fall and winter comfort food dish. Simple, filling, and full of plant based nutrients!

This simple and easy vegan black bean stew is packed full of flavor and makes you feel like you have a warm hug with every single bite.

Often times people feel like they can’t have both a flavorful meal and a healthy one, but we are here to show you that you can!

This completely homemade black bean stew with sweet potatoes is made in just one pot.

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Why You’ll Love Vegan Black Bean Stew

Easy

While this dish does take a bit of time to cook, the recipe itself is super easy to make and the waiting for the flavors to come together and the sweet potatoes to cook will be the hardest part of the whole dish.

One Pot

We all love a one pot meal. Not only is the vegan stew recipe easy, but it’s completely made in one pot so you don’t even have a big mess to clean up at the end either! It’s a win win!

Versatile

One of our favorite parts about the whole dish is that it’s super versatile.

You can replace the sweet potatoes with another hearty vegetables like butternut squash or pumpkin. You can also switch out the black beans for another protein like chickpeas, black eyed peas, or lentils!

You can also add even more nutrients by add in some greens like kale or spinach towards the end of the dish.

Vegan Black Bean Stew Ingredients:

Gather your ingredients!

Below are notes about the ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make vegan stew:

• onions and garlic – These are our aromatics and the base to our dish. We start the flavor right away by adding these at the beginning. We are using a red onion in the photo; however, you can use any color onion for this particular dish
• black beans – our protein of choice is black beans for the stew. They are packed full of nutrients and the texture is delicious when cooked in with these flavors
• sweet potatoes – are great at adding a filling component to the dish but also a different texture when combined with all the other ingredients
• coconut milk – we are making this stew with coconut milk in order to provide a creamy element to the dish instead of just stock or water. We are using full fat canned coconut milk to almost mimic a heavy cream consistency
• vegetable stock – We need a bit more liquid to the dish and a low sodium vegetable stock works great to add some flavor and that liquid we need
• spices – we are choosing salt, fresh thyme, smoked paprika, cumin, chili powder, onion powder to add more flavor to the dish and really bring it all together
• sriracha – for a bit of a spicy element to the dish, we are adding some sriracha, but it is optional

Substitutions and Variations:

• black beans – if you wanted to switch it up, try pinto or kidney beans, but you could also do chickpeas or white beans or even lentils. Lentils could also be used as an addition with the black beans instead of just a replacement too
• sweet potatoes – you can replace sweet potatoes in this stew with something like butternut squash or cubed pumpkin chunks as well.
• coconut milk – you can use another carton non-dairy milk that is creamier like soy milk or extra creamy oat milk. Be mindful that you could alter the flavor some and that with carton milks, you’ll need to reduce a bit longer
• vegetable stock – you could use water, but you will take away from some of the flavor
• spices – we wouldn’t recommend too many changes to this dish, but if you don’t have smoked paprika, you can use regular. It does add a smoky component to the dish though so if you still want that you could try a bit of liquid smoke.
• sriracha – you could also do some hot sauce instead

Step by Step Instructions:

To start, you’ll want to heat up some oil in a high walled large pot or skillet. Once heated, add in your onions and salt and stir with a wooden spoon often until translucent and lightly caramelized. This will take you about 6 to 8 minutes. Then add in garlic and thyme and cook for another minute.

Then, add in your black beans, sweet potatoes, and spices. And stir that together well.

Next, you’re going to add in coconut milk, vegetable stock and sriracha (if adding). Work to scrape off any browning at the bottom of your pot so all of those flavors get incorporated into the dish.

Without adjusting the heat, let mixture come to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook until sweet potatoes are fork tender, stirring every few minutes. This will take about 30 to 35 minutes.

Serve warm with fresh herbs sprinkled over with rice or quinoa, with mashed potatoes, or just bread on the side. Enjoy!

Frequently Asked Questions:

What other vegan fall meal ideas could I make?

If you love this easy vegan dinner recipe, you may love even more:

• Vegan Chili Mac and Cheese
• Vegan Instant Pot Tex-Mex Rice
• Vegan Cheesy Hamburger Helper
• Vegan Swedish Meatballs
• One Pot Creamy Vegan Garlic Parmesan Pasta

Pin this vegan black bean stew for later!

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