This North African lentil stew features a flavorful base of onions, garlic, tomatoes, and herbs with a generous amount of lentils and spinach. It’s such an easy one-pot meal for cold days and it will be finished after roughly thirty minutes in the pot.
You’ll love how filling and how comforting this delicious one-pot vegan lentil stew will be for your family. Make a pot and be sure to enjoy the leftovers as this kind of dish only seems to get better with age.
WHY THIS LENTIL STEW RECIPE
This thick and savory spinach and lentil stew is as simple as can be. With very few ingredients, this meal is cooked all in one pot for less than 30 minutes, and it keeps you full for a long time!
It’s a must try recipe, especially if you’re looking for a vegetarian or vegan meal to sneak in to your busy week. I’m really excited about this North African-inspired lentil stew recipe. Like many other recipes on the blog—this one pot meal has a special place in my heart.
You see my mom used to make it when I was a kid and I resented tasting it just by the look of it. Horrendous I know.
Especially now that I keep pushing my kids to “just taste” anything even if it doesn’t look familiar. I’m hoping one day they won’t judge food by the look of it like I did lol. Now that I’m an adult it looks so much better than I remember!
HOW TO MAKE LENTIL STEW
This recipe is actually a really old one, and it’s very popular in North Africa so I made it as is without changing or twisting a thing about it.
It’s very unlike me, you know how I always love twisting recipes. But I thought this time, I’ll just watch my mom make it her way. The same way my grandma made it too. And I didn’t feel I needed to change a thing.
This lentil stew is perfect the way that it is— a flavorful base of onions, garlic, tomatoes and herbs to which a generous amount of lentils and spinach are added and cooked through.
Ingredients for Lentil Stew
Olive Oil. Used as the base for sauteeing onions and garlic because of it’s high burn point.
Garlic Cloves. Freshly minced garlic makes a huge difference in the final taste of a dish. If you need to use jarred minced garlic, use less because it adds a bitter edge to the flavor.
Roma Tomatoes. Diced into 1/4 inch dice. You can use canned roma tomatoes if necessary.
Tomato Paste. You’ll just need a little bit to up the intensity of the tomato flavor in this dish.
Parsley and Cilantro. Chopped and mixed.
Salt.
AllSpice. A surprising spice many people consider to be seasonal adds the perfect touch to this dish. You should use it more often!
Dried Coriander. Ground.
Tumeric. This bright yellow spice is warm and bitter, similar to black pepper.
Paprika. You can use smoked paprika if you love that smokey flavor.
Vegetable Stock.
Red Lentils. Use orange lentils or brown lentils if that is what you have on hand.
Fresh Spinach Leaves. Loosely packed.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Since I’ve been lucky to have my mom stay with me the last couple of months, I’ve been asking her to make those meals I rarely make on my own.
Don’t ask why, I just don’t know. Like those amazing Juicy Spicy Turkish Meatballs, why on earth didn’t I make them for so long! They’re another MUST try by the way if you’re looking to jazz up or swap your everyday meatballs.
Here’s the thing — it’s straightforward to make. First, you will sautee the onion and garlic with the olive oil until they are soft and golden. I recommend using a dutch oven if you have one and get it good and hot before you add the onion and garlic. Then, you add the tomatoes and tomato paste and keep them over heat until the tomatoes release all the water. Keep cooking this until most of the tomato juices have evabporated.
At this point, add the herbs and spices and sautee for a couple more minutes until it begins to look olike a thick paste. Then add the stock and bring to a boil. Once it boils, add the lentils and cover your pot. Cook those lentils for about fifteen minutes until they start to soften up and then add then spinach to the pot.
Continue cooking all for ten more minutes until the spinach is wilted and the lentils are tender and fully softened. Garnish with the remaining herbs, and then taste and adjust for salt before serving hot.
TIPS FOR THE BEST VEGAN LENTIL STEW
- Sautee your onions and garlic on medium heat and don’t be tempted to rush through this step by turning up the heat. The garlic should not brown as it will make your lentil stew bitter.
- You can use a cup of canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes.
- Fresh spinach can be substituted with frozen, thawed spinach.
- Add extra broth to make this a lentil soup instead. Both the soup and stew are delightful.
- You may wish to have coarse salt and freshly cracked black pepper for seasoning at the table.
- Garnish with slices of fresh lemon. The lemon juice will add a little brightness to the dish.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH NORTH AFRICAN ONE POT SPINACH AND LENTIL STEW
Classically this lentil stew with spinach is served with bread. I had some naan bread which I just warmed up a bit and it did the job! Any crusty bread will be perfect. You might also enjoy it with our ultimate garlic bread.
On the side, my lovely mom had made some of her famous pickled lemons.
HOW TO STORE LENTIL STEW LEFTOVERS
Refrigerate leftover stew for up to four days in an airtight container in your refrigerator. If you prefer, freeze individual servings in airtight containers for up to three months. Microwave to thaw. Lentils may be more mushy when re-heated from frozen, but the overall taste should be preserved.
MORE ONE POT MEALS
I just love simple comforting one-pot meals like that—quick, delicious, nutritious and heart warming. You just can’t go wrong. Here are more one-pot meals to try.
One Pan Chicken Potato Bake With Zaatar
One Pot Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad
One Pan Pierogies Alfredo Recipe
15 Minute One Pan Ravioli Recipe
Lentil Stew
This North African lentil stew features a flavorful base of onions, garlic, tomatoes and herbs to which a generous amount of lentils and spinach are added and cooked through. An easy one-pot meal for cold days!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 Roma tomatoes diced into 1/4 inch dice
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 cup mixed parsley and cilantro chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon dried coriander ground
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 3 cups vegetable stock (or water)
- 1 cup red lentils
- 5 cups fresh spinach leaves loosely packed
- 1/4 cup mixed cilantro and parsley chopped
Instructions
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In a medium-sized pot, sautee the onion and garlic with the olive oil until soft and nearly golden. Then add the tomatoes and paste and keep sautéing until the tomatoes release all the water, and keep cooking until most of the tomatoes water is evaporated.
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Add the herbs and spices and sauté for another couple of minutes until the mixture looks like a thick paste.
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Add the stock and bring it to a boil, then add int he lentils and cover the pot. Cook the lentils for 15 minutes until they start to soften up and then add the spinach.
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Keep the pot covered and allow it to cook for 10 minutes more until the spinach has wilted and the lentils have cooked completely. Add the remaining herbs. Taste and adjust the salt. Serve right away and enjoy 🙂
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- Sautee your onions and garlic on medium heat and don’t be tempted to rush through this step by turning up the heat. The garlic should not brown as it will make your lentil stew bitter.
- You can use a cup of canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes.
- Fresh spinach can be substituted with frozen, thawed spinach.
Quite tasty. We like a bit of spice, so I added in about a teaspoon of vindaloo curry powder. Brought this dish to the next level. I am adding this to our rotation as it is quick and easy to make.
So happy you liked this Page!! Seriously love the curry powder addition, we love spice too!!!
This is an amazing recipe – easy to cook, tastes really good and very healthy.
So happy you made this Laarni!
So happy you enjoyed it Laarni!
Delicious! I’m always on the lookout for vegetarian recipes with plenty of protein and not too much in the way of complex preparation or expensive specialty ingredients, yet still with interesting flavor. This hit the spot. I’ve already made it twice in the past month.
Yaay Sparrow! You made my day Thank you!
do you boil the lentils with the spinach? or do you set aside the spinach mix and combine them when the lentils are soft?
I add the spinach towards the end when the lentils have softened.
I tried to cook this and my lentil all burnt to the bottom of my pot. I even switched to a different pot after and the same thing happened. I followed the instructions exaclty. Do you know why?
Hi Stacy, did you try lowering the heat a bit, or adding a bit extra liquid to the lentils? I think it’s either of these reasons. Sometimes you stove could run high and evaporate the liquids before the lentils are cooked enough so they end up sticking to the pan. Or, the lentils were stored at your grocery store for a while and need a bit extra liquid than usual to cook all the way through. Please try it one more time, keeping an eye on the amount of liquid to cook the lentils all the way through. Just keep adding liquid as needed.
Delicious! My husband and I both thought it was great and neither of us eat lentils normally and are not vegetarians. Very pleasantly surprised. Made this to try to eat healthier.
Thanks Monica!! You really made my day!! I know the feeling with recipes that don’t look super appealing like this one! So happy you enjoyed it and didn’t judge it hhahahahah 🙂 Hope you try more recipes!