As the name suggests, this slow cooker vegan stew is cooked in a slow cooker. Slow cooker meals are great because they require minimal effort, you pretty just chuck everything in and press starts and they make your house smell like delicious food for hours!

I actually found that since going vegan, and even vegetarian I haven’t used my slow cooker very much. I’ve used it for the odd soup and mulled wine but that’s about it. I think I just kind of thought it was mainly for meat based dishes. Maybe because growing up it was really only ever used in my house for meat as far as I can remember. I specifically recall it being used for silverside beef and really not liking it, even though I was an omnivore at this time. A slow cooker meal had barely crossed my mind since then, as I thought they were just used for unappealing meat dishes. When my now husband and I moved in together many years ago he brought with him a slow cooker and I remember thinking “cool, doubt I’ll use that”. And it took years even to start doing the very occasional aforementioned soup and mulled wine (if you haven’t used a slow cooker for mulled wine, do it!). But then I thought, well surely I can you use this for more than just soups? Maybe I could put a mix of veggies into the slow cooker with some sort of liquid and they’ll cook and I’ll have a meal. 

Side note: I know so many of you will be reading this thinking “what? Are you serious? OF COURSE you can make vegan meals in a slow cooker!!”, yes I know I was slow (no pun intended) to get there, but get there I finally did! 

So anyway, adding some veggies and liquid into the slow cooker was essentially what I did. I was actually intending to make a casserole but I think the veggies produced a lot more water when cooked than I was expecting resulting in more liquid, so it’s more like a stew. But if you do want a thicker sauce I’d suggest just adding less or no veggie stock. I made this a few times before finalising on the below recipe, and the reason I never added less liquid is because every time there was barely any liquid in the slow cooker before I added the stock, so I felt like it needed it. But considering there ends up being a lot more liquid at the end, I think you would be fine omitting the stock or using less, if you do this please let me know in the comments how it came out!

What’s in this slow cooker vegan stew?

A tasty, colourful mix of veggies including red onion, garlic, carrot and celery as well as mixed beans and tofu. 

I chose to add beans as they provide a lot of protein making this meal nice and filling, they’re also very high in fibre and a bunch of other nutrients including potassium (blood pressure reducer) and magnesium (good for your nervous system and heart). 

I also added tofu as I wanted to do something a little different. I’ve baked tofu before and it came out really nicely so I thought it’d work in a stew too and would soak up lots of flavours while cooking for so many hours. You will need to use a firm tofu, if you use silken or soft tofu it will likely just fall apart and crumble in the slow cooker. I used Bean Supreme Firm Style Tofu. Tofu is also high protein but low carb. 

Then for the sort of saucy base I’ve added tinned tomatoes, veggie stock, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, smoked paprika, cinnamon and a trio of dried herbs. The result is a nice punchy, smokey flavour, it’s so good! And because it all sits in the slow cooker for a few hours all the veggies and tofu also take on the delicious sauce flavour. 

I cooked this on high for 4 hours, but if you’re going to be out most of the day you could also set it on low and cook for 8-9 hours. Try not to cook it for longer than 9 hours on low as the veggies may start to get a bit soft and overcooked.

This stew makes 4 serves, and each serve has about 14g of carbohydrates. This may of course vary depending on which beans are in your mixed beans.

For more vegan dinner ideas check out my other recipes 

What kitchen tools do I need to make this vegan slow cooker stew?

The most important item is of course a Slow Cooker

You will also need:

A Vegetable Peeler

Chopping Board

Knife

And that’s pretty much it! Happy cooking! (And eating!)

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