This Chickpea Peanut Stew is filled with veggies and plant-based protein. It’s a vegan slow cooker recipe that’s easy to meal prep and freeze! In partnership with my friends at iHerb.
Slow Cooker Chickpea Peanut Stew
Let’s set the stage. It’s cold outside. Like really cold. The kind of cold that feels like you’ll never feel warm again. So what do you want for dinner? Something that feels like a warm hug, that’s for sure! Maybe something like this Slow Cooker Chickpea Peanut Stew!
There are plenty of reasons why soups and stews can’t be beat in the dead of winter. They warm you up from the inside out and are typically super simple to make. Plus, when they’re made with plant-based ingredients, they leave you feeling comforted AND nourished.
This peanut stew is a super easy, insanely delicious, plant-powered dinner recipe made with mostly pantry ingredients. It’s one of those vegan slow cooker recipes that you’ll keep reaching for on those super cold evenings.
My mission here with Emilie Eats’ is to create approachable, easy, realistic recipes that people actually feel like they can make in their own kitchen. There is a time and a place for intricate, fancy recipes, but here, I like to stick to simple stuff that won’t intimidate a new cook or a busy mom. And my friends, this peanut stew is exactly that.
Ingredients for This Peanut Stew
Part of making approachable recipes means using mostly simple ingredients that are accessible to the majority of people (like beans, grains, vegetables, fruits, and nuts). Who wants to have to buy a ton of special ingredients at the store just to make one weeknight dinner recipe? Not me! That’s where pantry recipes like this chickpea peanut stew come in.
I purchased almost all of the pantry items for this chickpea peanut stew through iHerb, which carries over 5,000 grocery products and delivers right to your door. Shopping on iHerb is a great opportunity to snag some healthy pantry staples like dry beans & grains, organic spices, nuts & nut butter, and so much more if you don’t have access to a giant health food store. Plus, the prices are great, and iHerb delivers to 160 countries! I even got you a discount for your next iHerb order – you can redeem it by clicking here!
Here are the ingredients I used in this Slow Cooker Chickpea Peanut Stew so you can order them, too:
- Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil. I love using avocado oil because it’s amazing for high-heat cooking!
- Better Than Bouillon Organic Vegetable Base. This bouillon paste gets our stew going with an incredible, umami-packed base.
- Bionaturae Organic Diced Tomatoes. You could also use a can of whole peeled tomatoes, but that means you’ll need to take the extra step of hand-crushing them.
- Spices. I used Simply Organic Cumin, Curry Powder, Turmeric, and Ginger, plus some good ol’ salt and pepper.
- Bob’s Red Mill Garbanzo Beans. I used dried chickpeas because it helps save a few bucks, but this means you will need to pre-soak and cook your chickpeas according to the package instructions. To save some time, you could just use canned chickpeas.
- Sunfood Wild Jungle Peanuts. Peanuts not only add an extra dose of plant protein to this chickpea stew, but they also give the most satisfying crunch!
- Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Medley. We’re serving our peanut stew over grains to help round out the meal. This medley includes 9 different kinds of grains and seeds! You could also use something like brown rice or barley.
- Fresh Veggies. You’ll need a yellow onion, 3 cloves of garlic, carrots, celery, bell pepper, spinach and cilantro.
- Peanut Butter. Since we’re adding actual peanuts into this stew, you could use smooth or chunky!
How to Make Chickpea Peanut Stew in the Slow Cooker
Not only are simple recipes all about using simple ingredients, but also minimal kitchen equipment. Because, let’s be honest, I do not need fancy $500 single-use kitchen appliances taking up space in my kitchen. No way!
You know what I do have room for? A slow cooker. Those things are magical. If you don’t already have one (here’s a really affordable one!), let this recipe be your encouragement.
What I love about slow cooker recipes is that they take little hands-on time and can cook while you’re sleeping, at work, or running around like a crazy person running errands. Just set it and forget it!
To make this peanut stew, you’ll start by throwing in your oil, bouillon, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, peanut butter, spices, fresh veggies and 3 cups of water into your slow cooker. You can either cook on high for 4 hours, or set it to low and let it cook for 7 hours.
Once your peanut stew is in the last 15-20 minutes of cooking, you’ll add your cooked (or canned) chickpeas and spinach to the slow cooker and give everything a good stir. While the peanut stew finishes up, cook your whole grain medley according to the package instructions and chop up some cilantro and lime wedges.
Once your chickpea peanut stew and grains are finished cooking, serve the stew on top of a scoop of grains and top everything off with your peanuts, some cilantro and a lime wedge!
How to Make Chickpea Peanut Stew on the Stove
If you don’t have a slow cooker, or if you forgot to get your slow cooker out in the morning and now are scrambling for dinner, you can still totally make this peanut stew on the stove!
Start by heating some oil in a pot on the stove. Once the oil is hot, add your onion and sautee until soft, about 6-8 minutes. Next, add your garlic and cook for another minute or two until fragrant. Next, add your carrots, celery and bell pepper and continue to cook for 10 minutes, or until all the veggies are tender. Then, add your tomato paste and spices and cook for a couple minutes until the tomato paste darkens in color. Next, you’ll add in your bouillon, water, canned tomatoes, and peanut butter and let everything come up to a simmer. Let the stew cook for about 20-25 minutes, then add in your chickpeas and spinach and allow the stew to simmer for another 15 minutes.
Once your stew has thickened, serve it up on top of your grains and finish with peanuts, cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime!
How to Freeze This Peanut Stew
This peanut stew is very flexible and easy to play with, so feel free to use whatever vegetables you have in your fridge and to switch up the beans and grains!
This stew also makes an excellent vegan meal prep recipe to prepare for the week’s lunches! To stash it in the fridge, pop any leftovers into an airtight container separately from your grains and it’ll stay fresh for about 4 days.
You can also freeze this peanut stew, so it’s a great vegan slow cooker recipe to make a big double-batch of so you can load up your freezer with a ready-to-go dinner! All you have to do is scoop your chickpea peanut stew into a freezer safe container and pop it in the freezer! Since it’s a stew, I highly recommend freezing it into servings that you’re likely to enjoy in 1-2 sittings so that you don’t have to thaw an entire batch that you don’t plan on eating right away.
More Vegan Slow Cooker Recipes
This chickpea peanut stew is insanely creamy & rich thanks to the peanut butter and nutritious thanks to all of the fresh vegetables, beans & whole grains. It’s also full of plant protein to keep you full and satisfied! And the best part is that it all comes together in the slow cooker for an easy, hands-off dinner!
If you’re looking for more vegan slow cooker recipes for those busy, cold winter nights, check out delicious dinner ideas!
- Vegan Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup
- Slow Cooker Vegan BBQ Meatballs
- Vegan Slow Cooker Tofu Tikka Masala by Ambitious Kitchen
- The Easiest Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili by Simply Quinoa
- Slow Cooker Jackfruit Tacos Al Pastor by The Nut-Free Vegan
Slow Cooker Chickpea Peanut Stew
This Chickpea Peanut Stew is filled with veggies and plant-based protein. It’s a vegan slow cooker recipe that’s easy to meal prep and freeze!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 2 medium celery stalks, diced
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- 3 cups water
- 1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon Organic Vegetable Base
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
- 1 28-ounce can Bionaturae Organic Diced Tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons Napoleon Co. Tomato Paste
- 1 teaspoon Simply Organic Cumin
- 1 teaspoon Simply Organic Curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Simply Organic Ginger
- 1 ½ cups cooked Bob’s Red Mill Garbanzo Beans
- 3 cups spinach, chopped
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup Sunfood Wild Jungle Peanuts, chopped
- 3 cups cooked Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Medley*
- Lime wedges, for serving
Instructions
- Place all ingredients (except garbanzo beans, spinach, whole grain medley, cilantro, peanuts) in a slow cooker. Stir to combine evenly.
- Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 7 hours.
- In the last 15-20 minutes of cooking, add cooked garbanzo beans and spinach. Stir.
- Serve stew on a bed of cooked whole grain medley. Top with cilantro, peanuts and a squeeze of lime juice.
Notes
*This medley is not gluten-free. Choose a gluten-free grain like quinoa or brown rice if you need!
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