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This Sweet Potato & Peanut Butter Vegan Stew is comforting, creamy and totally delicious. Perfect for vegans, vegetarians or if you’re simply trying to reduce your meat intake, it’s a convenient and easy slow cooker recipe and fantastic vegetarian family meal.
This recipe is everything we all want from slow cooker comfort food – easy to make, filling, super tasty, nutritious AND it just happens to be vegan.
When I was brainstorming vegetarian slow cooker recipes, I thought about the ingredients I find indulgent that also happen to be vegan.
For me, peanut butter is right up there as food of the gods. Add some chickpeas for texture, sweet potatoes for bulk and flavour, coconut milk for a silky sauce and here we are… my simple Slow Cooker Vegan Stew. I am OBSESSED.
Hope you love it as much as we do!
Why you’ll love this Vegan Stew recipe
⭐️ Just throw everything in
⭐️ Creamy, silky sauce
⭐️ All the family love the mild, sweet taste
How we came up with this recipe
I have plenty of recipes for slow cooker stews and casseroles that contain meat in my collection, but I wanted to add a vegan addition that was just as good.
Even better, if we could make it filled with ingredients that could be bought from frozen, that were pre-peeled and pre-chopped too, it meant speeding up the process for preparation, and offering the option to make this a true ‘dump’ recipe (apologies for the phrasing).
It can be so satisfying when the results are a dinner filled with nutritious, healthy ingredients, even on those days when we have so little time but can just about stretch to 5 minutes of prep.
I also made this an adaptable dish, so you can eat it on its own or with a side dish, or you can add meat if you like (I like adding chicken thighs before cooking – just be sure to check they are fully cooked through before serving).
Vegan Stew Ingredients
- Sweet potatoes – You can chop and peel fresh ones or buy chunks of frozen pre-prepared
- Chickpeas
- Coconut milk – I use reduced fat but any type is fine
- Chopped tomatoes – Tinned
- Onion – I use pre-prepared frozen. An onion weighs about 150g, so replace with that
- Garlic – I also use pre-prepared. Garlic is about 5g per clove so I use 15g (3 teaspoons)
- Peanut butter – I prefer crunchy for texture but smooth is also fine if you prefer
- Ground ginger
- Ground cumin
- Tomato puree
- Ground coriander – Optional
- Chilli flakes – Optional
How to make Vegan Stew
- Put all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and stir well.
- Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 6 hours.
- Stir well and serve.
Substitutions
- Coconut milk – This does really make this vegan stew as it adds a silky, creaminess, but if you’d rather substitute it an extra can of tomatoes instead, go for it
Leftovers
In the fridge You can keep this recipe in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat fully before serving.
In the freezer
You can freeze all of the ingredients – uncooked – in a ‘dump’ bag and throw in from the freezer (allow extra cooking time).
OR
You can also freeze the finished stew. Before serving, allow it to defrost and heat through thoroughly.
It will be much thicker as the sweet potatoes absorb the sauce, but you can add some water or stock to thin it out again.
Top tips
Alternative to slow cooking
If you want to make this vegan stew and don’t have a slow cooker, I’d recommend cooking it in a pan on the hob on a low heat. It will take about 30-40 minutes (depending on how soft you want the sweet potato to be).
You will need to add some water or stock to thin the sauce.
HACK: Prepare this the night before
If you’re really pushed for time in the morning, you can prepare this the evening before to save even more time on the day.
Throw everything for the initial cook into the slow cooker, pop the lid on, then store in the fridge overnight. In the morning, put it into the slow cooker (and don’t forget to switch it on!)
More Vegan Recipes…
Vegetarian
Vegan Chilli {Easy Recipe}
Curry
Chickpea Curry
One Pot Vegetarian
Tomato Pasta {Easiest Ever ONE Pan Spaghetti}
FAQs
I use the Morphy Richards Sear & Stew Slow Cooker (it’s light and you can use it for browning on the hob too).
I recently wrote a whole slow cooker review post though, so this might shed some light on which type might work best for you.
Also! Top tip, buy a WiFi plug for it so you can switch it on or off from your phone when you’re out? What a time to be alive. I have this: Tp Link Tapo Smart Plug (Also you can set up with your Google or Alexa to say “switch on slow cooker” WHATTT 🤯
It has warmth from the cumin and ginger but it’s not spicy. Suitable for children, I’d say. I like to add some chopped chillies to the top of the adult portions.
This dish is absolutely fine on its own, but if you want it to stretch further or have a bit more variety, you could try these on the side:
Rice
Wraps or soft tortillas
Cous cous
With crispy tortilla chips
A dollop of yoghurt (or vegan alternative)
Chillis on top
In hard shell tacos
Peanuts and fresh herbs on top
Bread to dunk
Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.
Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
Sweet Potato & Peanut Butter Vegan Stew {Slow Cooker Recipe}
Ingredients
- 1 kg Sweet potatoes, Peeled and chopped into chunks
- 400 g Chickpeas, Drained and rinsed
- 400 g Coconut milk, I used reduced fat, either type is fine
- 400 g Tinned chopped tomatoes
- 1 Onion, Peeled and chopped
- 150 g Crunchy peanut butter
- 3 Cloves of garlic, Peeled and chopped
- 3 tsp Ground ginger
- 3 tsp Ground cumin
- 1 tsp Ground coriander, Optional
- 1/2 tsp Chilli flakes, Optional
- 3 tbsp Tomato puree
Instructions
- Put all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and stir well.
- Cook on HIGH for 4 HOURS or LOW for 6 HOURS.
- Stir well and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Absolutely loved this! Really fragrant creamy and filling. The instructions were easy to follow and we prepped the night before. I’m not a fan of over spicy this was just right.
We added chicken thighs and some freshly chopped coriander served with brown rice and quinoa – 10 out of 10 a DELICIOUS super comforting meal. Can’t wait to make again.
Sarah, please consider removing the note about adding meat. Why mess with a perfectly delicious cruelty-free recipe?
💯
I made this for Christmas dinner with friends. I thought it was really nice, but missing something (probably the tomato paste I didn’t have lol). I’d like to make it again for Family Christmas in a few days, but I have a Nephew who is allergic to peanuts. I was wondering if I made almond meal, with crunchy roasted almonds in the mix, if it would still have the same/similar flavours? OR, use the almond meal and then roasted cashews for crunch. Anyone have any thoughts or similar experiences trying a different type of nut?
I found this spicy. I followed the recipe to the book! Bit too spicy for my taste as couldn’t finish but I’m sure others would have loved it.
What could have possibly made this too spicy? If you don’t like spice maybe don’t add the OPTIONAL chilli flakes 🤦♂️
So easy to make and delicious! I added a splash of lime juice at the end. Also have added cauliflower florets, and another time spinach.
Can this be cooked for longer than 6 hours on slow? It looks amazing but I need something that is 8 hours at least 🙁
Hello
New to all this slow cooker and dump bag thing! I read somewhere not to put liquid ingredients in the freezer bag, is this correct? So for this recipe do I pop in the tinned tomatoes and coconut milk?
Thanks
This is my favorite recipe of yours which I’ve tried yet. It was so flavorful and felt indulgent. Got a little carried away with the chilli flakes, so was on the spicier side ! I like to have a few meat free meals a week, so this is definitely going on my rotation.
Delicious!
I didn’t peel the sweet potatoes, because the skin is nutritious, and I added a large can of seasoned collard greens. I sprinkled a little bit of hot sauce before serving the stew over rice and it was a meal that I will definitely add to my rotation!
Obsessed. It is perfect.