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This healthy vegetable chickpea stew (chickpea soup) is the ultimate winter-warming comfort food recipe. Jam-packed with a rainbow of vegetables to keep your body healthy, this vegan stew is gluten-free, paleo and delicious.
I’m not sure what the weather is like for everyone else, but here in London, we saw a little bit of snow the other day. And it doesn’t look like the weather is set to warm up any time soon – which means it’s the perfect time to post this healthy vegetable chickpea stew. A delicious vegetable-packed vegan chickpea stew to keep you warm on the coldest of days.
What I love about this recipe is that it’s actually a mix between a healthy vegetable stew and a chunky chickpea soup. The recipe can be adapted more towards either, depending on what you want and is hearty, warming, healthy and utterly delicious.
Not to mention that this vegetable stew is super plant based and absolutely packed with vegetables of all different colours and types so this meal is incredibly nutritious. I love to keep my winter warmer comfort foods as nutritious as possible, especially with all the germs being passed about through colds/flu.
During the winter months, more than any other time, it’s critical to eat a rainbow of produce. Take advantage of all the wonderful nutrients, vitamins & minerals that plant-based foods have to offer to help keep your body healthy.
In terms of healthy meal prep ideas, this healthy stew is a wonderful option. It can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days. However, it can be frozen for up to two months. So it’s a great recipe to use up all your leftover veggies and then freeze into portions.
What Is The Difference Between Soup and Stew?
When it comes to thinking about what exactly a stew is, my mind has always gone towards very meaty dishes. Because of this, it took me a long time to wrap my head about what vegan stew recipes vs a thick/chunky vegan soup would be. Thus this recipe is kind of a mixture of both, technically.
Generally speaking, soup tends to have more liquid, often with a vegetable broth/ stock base. Soups can have a ‘clear broth’ with added ingredients (like this chickpea soup) OR be blended into a thicker soup.
Stew, however, is slightly different. Although many of the elements are the same – stew usually contains less liquid and is a lot ‘thicker’. Stews are also usually cooked over a long period of time for the liquid part to reduce and thicken and sometimes flavoured with beer/red wine.
Typically speaking, soups are served alone whereas stews are served as an accompaniment to rice, mashed potato etc.
If you’re wanting for more soup recipes to dig a spoon into then you may like my recipes for Coconut Curry Pumpkin Soup, Healthy Lentil Soup with Rainbow Chard, or Tumeric and Ginger Spiced Pumpkin Soup. I also have a recipe for Japanese-inspired Ramen Noodle Soup that can easily be veganized by omitting in the soft boiled egg topping.
How to change this recipe depending on what you want
With the above section having been mentioned, you can probably see that this recipe is a lot closer to a soup than a stew because of the large amount of liquid ‘broth’. For a heartier vegetable stew-like dish, there are a few adjustments you can make. One of the easiest adjustments is to use less liquid and/or blend or mash some of the chickpeas so that it’s thicker.
You could also choose to cook more of the vegetables within the actual stewing liquid – like the carrots and potatoes. These would then soften a lot more as they cook and break down slightly, for a thicker ‘stew’.
Note* As you can tell, I roughly chopped all the vegetables for this healthy vegetable chickpea stew into very chunky bits. If you’d like them to be smaller then just adjust the roasting time, as necessary.
Rainbow vegetable chickpea stew – warming, hearty and healthy.
You can also mix and match the veggies based on what you have available.
The base for this vegan stew is chickpeas, which go amazingly with the tomato paste. You can combine the chickpeas with lentil too if preferred.
How to Make The Healthy Vegetable Chickpea Stew
For the base:
- chickpeas
- tomato paste
- olive oil and salt
- and filtered water
Then you can just mix and match your favourite veggies. I used:
- courgette (zucchini) and aubergines (eggplant)
- bell peppers
- carrots and potatoes
- green beans and mangetout peas
- broccoli and cauliflower
- onion, garlic, and cereli
Steps
First, chop the harder veggies – aubergines, courgettes, onion, garlic, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli. I kept them very chunky – but you can chop them finer if preferred.
Brush them with some olive oil and roast them in the oven at 175ºC for about 15-25 minutes.
I like the additional flavour roasting the vegetables adds to the dish. Certain veggies can be boiled in with the stewing liquid though – like the potatoes, carrots etc.
Pro tip: separate the veggies in two trays – all the harder ones on one tray, the rest on the other. The softer veg would cook faster, so then you can take it out of the oven sooner.Â
In the meantime, chop the rest of the ingredients – the bell peppers, the celery.
Pour the water in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Add the bell peppers, celery, green beans and mangetout peas.
Add the chickpeas and tomato paste. Stir and simmer for 10-15 minutes. This allows the veggies to soften.
Then add the freshly roasted veggies into the pot. Stir and simmer for another 5-8 minutes then serve immediately.
Keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
This stew recipe can also help you save money/ reduce waste by using all your leftover veggies to create this vegetable stew and then freezing it into portions.
Note – I use this glass pot very rarely and over low/medium heat. I just need it for visual purposes so I could take photos of the soup and would not recommend it for regular usage.*
If you give this Chickpea Stew Recipe a try, then I’d really appreciate a recipe rating. I also really love seeing your recreations, so feel free to continue tagging me on Instagram @AlphaFoodie.Â
Rainbow vegetable stew
Ingredients
- 2 cups courgette
- 1.5 cups broccoli
- 2 cups cauliflower
- 1 onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 cup red pepper chopped
- 1 cup yellow pepper
- 5 carrots
- 3 potatoes
- 2 aubergines
- 125 g celery
- 1 cup green beans
- 1 cup mangetout peas
- 500 g chickpeas
- 1/2 cup tomato paste
- 2 liters filtered water or vegetable stock
- 2 tBsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- First, chop the harder veggies - aubergines, courgettes, onion, garlic, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli. I kept them very chunky - but you can chop them finer if preferred.Â
- Brush them with some olive oil and roast them in the oven at 175ºC for about 15-25 minutes. I like the additional flavour roasting the vegetables adds to the dish. Certain veggies can be boiled in with the stewing liquid though - like the potatoes, carrots etc.Â
Pro tip: separate the veggies in two trays - all the harder ones on one tray, the rest on the other. The softer veg would cook faster, so then you can take it out of the oven sooner. - In the meantime, chop the rest of the ingredients - the bell peppers, the celery.
- Place the water in the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Add the bell peppers, celery, green beans and mangetout peas.Â
- Add the chickpeas and tomato paste. Stir and simmer for 10-15 minutes. This allows the veggies to soften.Â
- Then add the freshly roasted veggies into the pot. Stir and simmer for another 5-8 minutes then serve immediately.
- Keep any leftovers kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- This stew recipe can also help you save money/ reduce waste by using all your leftover veggies to create this vegetable stew and then freezing it into portions.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious! And Easy. And Quick. And Nutritious. I followed the recipe and divided the roasting veggies in two trays per the picture. I did not boil anything extra besides what the recipe says.
AlphaFoodie never disappoints me <3 Thank you!!