This Quinoa Vegetable Stew is the ultimate healthy comfort food! Vegan, gluten free, and full of nourishing vegetables, it’s hearty and filling. 
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Heads up! This post was first published January 2012. Photos have been updated and recipe notes to reflect variations I’ve made through the years. Enjoy!
These days, it’s a major accomplishment when I’m able to get into the kitchen and make a meal that takes longer than 15-20 minutes to prepare. When I do, it’s got to last me a few days.
This stew is perfect because I made a big pot and we were good to go for three days of lunches. And what’s better than a bowl of warm, comforting stew on these dark, wintery days? Not much.
Completely vegan and filled with vegetables, this stew is as healthy as it is comforting. What are you talking about? Healthy comfort food is not an oxymoron. Try this stew and you’ll be convinced.
Quinoa vegetable stew
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
This Quinoa Vegetable Stew is the ultimate healthy comfort food! Vegan, gluten free, and full of nourishing vegetables, it’s hearty and filling.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 2 medium potatoes (sweet, white, or red all work), cubed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
- 1 teaspoon marjoram
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 3 cups greens, such as kale or baby spinach, chopped
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
- 2–3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot or dutch oven. Add the onion, carrots, celery and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook over medium heat 5 minutes.
- Add the potatoes, oregano, marjoram, the rest of the salt, pepper, and broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer about 15 minutes.
- Add the quinoa and allow to simmer another 15-20 minutes.
- Optional: Take 2-3 cups of the stew and transfer it to a blender. Blend and then return the blended mixture back to the pot.
- Add the chopped greens and lemon juice and cook until the the greens are wilted, about 5 more minutes. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if desired. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of recipe
- Calories: 264
- Sugar: 9.7 grams
- Fat: 8 grams
- Carbohydrates: 39.2 grams
- Protein: 9.7 grams
If you make this Quinoa Vegetable Stew recipe, I would LOVE to see it! Please take a pic and share it on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @happyhealthymama ?
Also, if you try it, would you mind rating the recipe? It’s VERY helpful for me and other readers if the recipes have ratings and reviews. I appreciate you!
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Does this freeze well?
I’m sorry I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure!
I just made this! Halved the recipe and, although it was more watery than anticipated, it tasted so good! I’ll be making this again!
It was also my first time trying quinoa; I’ll be adding more in next time!
Thank you!
Thanks for the feedback, Amy! 🙂
Thank you so much for posting these recipes! So, so appreciated.
I know your time is important and limited and if you’re able to answer this question, many thanks.
For someone who is bad with math, for the serving size ( 1/6) of the recipe…..how would you figure that out? Just trying to think of the easiest way.
Would I have to transfer the entire meal to another bowl and weigh that in grams/ounces and divide by 6 and that’s how I know what a serving is?
Just didn’t know if an easier way. Again, thank you!
Hi Jenny! I really should do a better job of measuring out exactly how much a serving is, but I never do. We just don’t measure out everything we eat. I know a pot of this gives us 6 servings, but I don’t know exactly how much that serving is. Most cookbook recipes just give you the number of servings (not exact weights or cups, etc) for this reason. If you need to know the exact weight of a serving, then yes, you’d have to weigh the entire recipe and divide by 6. If you don’t need to be exact, you can look at the entire pot, estimate what 1/6 is, and just weight that amount. Sorry I’m not more help! I hope you enjoy this. 🙂
I loved it! Thank you for sharing.
So glad, Jeannine! 🙂 Thanks for letting me know.
I LOVE this stew! LOVE it! I’m so glad I found this recipe! Thanks for sharing with all of us!
This was really good. Only problem was we had to have seconds because it was so good and so had no leftovers. I will have double next time. And I might try sweet potato next time too. Thanks!
You’re welcome! 🙂 Yes, I think sweet potato would be great. My husband doesn’t love sweet potatoes like I do, though, so he’d probably be grumpy with that substitution.
Thank you for this recipe! My husband and I loved the flavor of this stew. Healthy and delicious. 🙂
Glad you liked it! 🙂
Thanks for this recipe! I made it on the spur of the moment and since we had all the ingredients except kale I just omitted it and added in some sweet potato. It was delicious! We loved it – including our 11 mo son who devoured his little bowl and then ate half of mine. 🙂
Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it!
We have just finished up the last of the chicken soup I made last weekend. Now I have something new to try. It looks delicious. I am also in need of quick but healthy meals in the week!
this looks amazing. I have been experimenting with quinoa lately and i am absolutely falling in love!
It really is an amazing grain!
This is the second quinoa post I have read now…I have to give it a try. The first time I tried it, I did not like it. I just have not gotten the courage to give it another try yet. I will though!
Did you rinse it well when you tried it? If you don’t it can definitely have a bad taste. Give it another try–it’s a great grain!
Looks delicious! It’s awesome that you’re still getting healthy meals put together with your hands full from your two little ones!
Looks so hearty, comforting and WARMING…. love these kind of bowls of veggie-joy 🙂
This sounds yummy! I am definitely going to try it soon. I actually just had my second child (also a boy) and I have a 19 month old daughter, so I totally understand where you are right now! Honestly, the most stressful part of my day is getting dinner on the table. Do you have go-to meals that are quick and still healthy for those days when you don’t have time to cook what you planned? I am really struggling with trying to stay healthy and also have some easy meals on hand when we are having a crazy afternoon around here 🙂
Oh, and a big thank you to all your healthy snack recipes- they have been great to have for my daughter!
Wow–2 under 2!! That must be pretty crazy. My go-to quick meals are usually either some kind of pasta dish or a bean+rice/other grain+veggie combo. I typically just throw things together and hope for the best. 🙂 I will work on getting some actual recipes for these meals and post them as I know quick and healthy meals are the most requested by busy moms. Of the recipes I have already posted, these are the ones I turn to most when I need a quick meal: vegan sloppy joes, vegetable crockpot casserole, roasted portobello fajitas, and spaghetti and meatless balls (I often have the meatless balls in the freezer because I always make a double batch). Good luck with dinner time, mama!
This sounds both warming, delicious and nutritious! We have tons of snow in Sweden at the moment and this dish is exactly what I need.
I have tried a few of your soup recipes and LOVED each of them! You are always adding so much flavor with each ingredient—- speaking of your stews, I think I need to make your corn chowder one. I LOVE that one!
Hope you and the angles of yours are falling into the groove and that you’re having a great week!
Thank you, Julie! Soups and stews are one of my favorite things to make. 🙂
I’ll have to remember this one for next week. It looks & sounds delicious! Totally my type of meal.