This hearty stew has everything you love about beef stew, but without the beef! It has large chunks of potato, carrot, celery, and onion, and portabella mushrooms stand in for the beef. Garlic, paprika, and fresh rosemary provide excellent flavor.
Beefless Stew
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6 to 8 (makes about 10 cups)
Ingredients
- 1½ large yellow or white onions, chopped into ¾-inch pieces
- 3 ribs celery, chopped into ¾-inch pieces
- 3 medium carrots, sliced lengthwise and cut into ¾-inch pieces
- 2 portabella mushrooms (about ½ pound), cut into ¾-inch pieces
- 1½ tablespoon finely chopped garlic (5 to 6 cloves)
- 5 cups water
- 2 pounds white potatoes (I use about 3 large Yukon Gold), cut into ¾-inch pieces
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon dried Italian herb blend
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1½ cups green peas (if frozen, thaw first)
- ½ cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
- Ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large soup pot on high with 1 tablespoon of water. When the water begins to sputter, add the onion, celery, and carrot, and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently as the edges of the onion browns slightly, and adding a little water as needed to prevent sticking.
- Stir in the mushrooms and garlic, and continue to cook while stirring for an additional 5 minutes, adding water as needed.
- Add the 5 cups of water, potatoes, tomato paste, dried Italian herbs, and paprika. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a low boil. Stir in the rosemary and cook covered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the peas, and cook for 5 minutes more, or until the carrots and potatoes are tender.
- Place 2 cups of the stew (broth and vegetables) into a blender, and blend under very smooth. Stir this back into the pot to thicken the stew, and stir in the parsley. Serve with a few twists of ground black pepper and, if you like, add a small sprig of rosemary as garnish.
Notes
Peeling the potatoes: I like to peel my potatoes before cooking them, but you can also leave the skins on.
Fresh rosemary: Fresh rosemary is wonderful in this stew, but if you only have dried, use ½ teaspoon.
Fresh rosemary: Fresh rosemary is wonderful in this stew, but if you only have dried, use ½ teaspoon.
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Anyone try this in an instant pot? How long did you cook it?
I would love to know as well. Thinking manual about 7 minutes
I do 9 minutes. 🙂
I am a new instant pot user. So you put everything together and cook on manual for 9 minutes? Do I cook it 9 minutes where it says cook for 15 minutes?
I put everything in for 9 mins (with natural pressure release for 10-15 mins) except the parsley and peas (add those when done; they don’t need to cook). 🙂
HI! Mine has an option for low pressure or high pressure. What pressure would you recommend for 9 minutes?
High pressure. 🙂
Yummy Stew ….i added 2 sweet potatoes and black beans and added more potatoes and used vegetable broth instead of water .Really good stew it looks so good and really tastes great 😀….thanks so much for the receipe
I made this tonight and followed the recipe almost to the T. I used cremini mushrooms instead and tomato sauce instead of paste. The recipe was absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing!
How much tomato sauce did you use?
About 1/4 to 1/3 cup
Love your page, will try the stew. Thanks.
Absolutely delicious! Thank you.
Made the stew it was very good. I didn’t use mushrooms and used chicken broth instead of water. I also just pureed one cup of the soup to thicken it.
Made this yesterday and my husband (75) and I (73) loved it. Love your cookbook too!
My husband loves date bar cookies, any idea on good way to make them??
I have not tried date cookies but I may, since I only have 1 cookie recipe. 🙂 Thanks!
I just made this recipe and other than using veg broth in lieu of the water I found it a bit bland. I added some tamari sauce and it helped a bit. Any suggestions as to what went wrong of what I could have done differently? Thank you.
If you’re used to using salt it may seem bland since I don’t use salt in my recipes. You could increase the herbs/spices in the recipe. 🙂
I found that simply adding a few shakes of onion powder and a teaspoon of red wine deepened the flavor.
This recipe tastes just like beef stew! Changes I made: sauteed in olive oil, deglazed with red wine, vege broth instead of H2o, in addition to recipe spices I added: bay leaves, oregano, coriander powder, celery salt, skipped beginning of step 4 and used flour plus cornstarch/warm h2o as thickener. Definitely adding this to my go-to recipe list!
How do you store it after cooking: refrigeration or freezing? How long will it store for?
Either will be fine. I don’t keep anything frozen beyond 3 months. In the fridge, 4 to 5 days I’d say.
Hi Cathy, I am new to cooking and eating this way, so I was surprised my stew turned out like your picture. It smells, looks, and tastes great. I admit I added salt and pepper. This is the first whole food/non oil recipe I shopped for and cooked, and I’m excited to try some more.
Wonderful! Thanks Lois! 😉
What else could be uesd instead of.mushrooms as im allergic .what would you recommend
Using anything else will alter the flavor and color, and “beef” effect, but you could use some zucchini, eggplant or just more of the other vegetables in the recipe (potato, carrot, etc.) In this case it will just look like a veggie stew, which is still good. But if you’re going for the beef stew look and texture, I haven’t found anything that comes close to portabella mushrooms.
This looks amazing…I’m making this for tonight’s dinner as we eat a mainly plant based diet.Hubby suggested I add parsnip, swede & turnip as he loves his root vegetables, so will do that. We make our own tomato sauce base so I’ll pop some of that in to add depth of flavour too. Thanks so much for a scrumptious looking recipe.
This was sooooo delicious!!! My hubby and I switched to a whole foods, plant based way of eating about 5 weeks ago. This hit the spot for a hearty meal!
Hi I just made this and it’s terrific! Would love to know the nutritional breakdown if possible. Thank you!