One Hearty Vegetable Stew Recipe (Vegan, GF) (2024)

FAQs

What are the healthiest vegetables for stew? ›

Carrots and other root vegetables, onions, chard, spinach, and lettuce are ideal for stewing while potatoes, leeks, cabbage, and porcini mushrooms are optimal for braising. Browse the photo gallery above for stewing and braising tips for seven different vegetables.

Yellow onion, garlic, celery, and carrots provide the soup's aromatic base. Potatoes add a bit of heft. I like the buttery, creamy flavor of Yukon gold, but any all-purpose potato like red gold or purple majesty will work well. Red bell pepper adds bright, sweet bursts of flavor.

There are 56 calories in 100 grams of Vegetable Stew (without Meat).

For most types of stew, it takes time to develop great flavor. Stew uses collagen-rich, tough cuts of meat, which need at least two hours to break down. If you try to rush it and boil the stew, the muscle fibers will shrink and become tough. So give yourself a few hours to let it do its thing.

Although I added carrots, little red potatoes, rutabaga and cremini mushrooms, you have plenty of options. Parsnip, turnip, pearl onions, squash and fennel will also work. Stir them in gently and immediately return the pot to the oven for the final hour of cooking.

Cooking certain veggies can break down their cell walls to release more of their nutrients. When cooked, these vegetables can provide more antioxidants like lutein, beta-carotene and lycopene than when you eat them raw. Cooking vegetables can also increase your mineral intake.

Eating soup and salad every day can be part of a healthy eating plan, but it's important to ensure that your diet is well-rounded and provides all the necessary nutrients. Soups and salads can be nutritious options, as they often contain vegetables, lean proteins, and other healthy ingredients.

While certain vegetables can work just fine added directly to simmering soups and stews (say, carrots and celery), other vegetables (onions, garlic, and the like) will almost always need at least a brief sweat in a fat-based liquid before adding the remaining ingredients.

Vegetables are generally a great source of vitamin C, but a large amount of it is lost when they're cooked in water. In fact, boiling reduces vitamin C content more than any other cooking method. Broccoli, spinach, and lettuce may lose up to 50% or more of their vitamin C when boiled ( 4 , 5).

Vegetable stew without meat contains 134 calories per 239 g serving. This serving contains 2.3 g of fat, 6.4 g of protein and 23 g of carbohydrate. The latter is 4.7 g sugar and 4.3 g of dietary fiber, the rest is complex carbohydrate.

Is homemade stew good for you? ›

A stew can be a nutritious and well-rounded meal if it contains a variety of vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats. For example, a vegetable stew with legumes or lean meat as the protein source can provide essential vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein, while also being low in calories and fat.

Stews are generally thicker than soups, being made up primarily of larger, solid chunks of ingredients. In other words, stews are thicker and chunkier—and always have solid ingredients. Generally speaking, if there is so much liquid that the ingredients are fully submerged, it's a soup.

Tomato-free swap: Roasted red peppers, refreshing cucumber slices, roasted beets, and figs are just a few options to replace that slightly sweet, juicy tomato. You might find that you prefer your gourmet tomato substitute!

Plus, it's packed with nutrients! You'll get the protein from the beef, healthy carbs from the potato, and vitamins and fiber from the vegetables. If you're on the fence about making a beef stew, I encourage you to give this one a try. I know you'll be pleasantly surprised.