Serves 8
Active cooking time: 20 minutes
Total cooking time: 40 minutes
This is one of my winter staples, especially if I’m having a busy week, have no one to impress and don’t want to use a million dishes (big ups to the disherwasherless!) You get your beans, greens and grains all in one pot; in this case I use white beans, kale and quinoa. You also get about 8 servings out of it so you can either freeze it or keep it in the fridge for 4 days or so, having it for lunch or dinner or… stew for breakfast? Why not!
It’s really versatile so make up your own spice blend, use different beans and grains (although cooking time may vary for the grain) and, you know, just do whatever you want, this stew is your canvas. Prep the herb blend before proceeding with the recipe, that way you just dump everything in at the same time without much fuss.
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cups leeks, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
1 teaspoon salt
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, peeled, diced medium
1 large parsnip, peeled, diced medium
8 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 pounds yukon gold potatoes, diced medium
1 cup dry quinoa
1 15 oz can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 bunch kale (about a pound), rough stems removed, torn into bite sized pieces
Herb blend:
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed (see crushing fennel tip)
1 teaspoon dried majoram
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
Fresh black pepper, to taste
Preheat a 4 quart soup pot over medium high heat. Saute leeks and garlic in oil with salt for about 3 minutes, or however long it takes you to prep your carrot and parsnip. Add carrot and parsnip, along with the herb blend, turn heat up to high and saute for a few seconds.
Add vegetable broth, potatoes and quinoa. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes, until potatoes and quinoa are tender. Add kale and beans, and stir frequently until kale is wilted. Cover and simmer on low for 5 more minutes. Taste for salt
When you serve you may want to add a little lemon juice or a splash of balsamic vinegar or hot sauce – whatever your thing is. Or you may not.
This is a test comment
what is the fennel crushing tip? Also I guess once you’ve crushed them you just add them with the dried herbs?
I crush fennel the same way I crush coriander–use a garlic press. Put the fennel in the press, crush it down a few times, works great!
I made this the other night because we had leeks from our CSA box to use, and it was FANTASTIC!!! And it feels like a big bowl of delicious nutrition with all those goodies in there! Reheating some as we speak. Thank you for a new fave recipe! =)
I too want to know the fennel crushing tip! I despise cleaning garlic presses so I don’t have one do do it Libbie’s way.
I used a mortar and pestle to crush it. This recipe is the bomb diggity.
LOVE THIS. Even my very meat loving husband said several times how much he liked it. I might add mushrooms next time to bring it up another notch. Also we needed more stock. Thanks for this great recipe!
The boyfriend’s not a huge fennel fan, so we made it fennelless, but it was deliiiiiiiish, especially on a rainy day.
I have some frozen kale..do you think it would work well as a substitute in this recipe?
Yesssss…new recipes on the ppk! I made this tonight and am eating a big bowl with sriracha as I type, so good!
Not sure if I did this right–I’ve never made stew (or had it in a long time), but is it supposed to have a broth to it, or is it just supposed to be thick, delicious and porridge-y? Mine turned out really thick. So nice on a freezing rainy day, but I think I’m gonna reduce the salt next time–1 tsp was too much for me 🙂
I made this tonight and it was delicious ! roommate and boyfriend approved. My local grocery store was out of white beans so I used romano, still tasted great. Also switched up the spice blend to what I had lying around.
Holy crap, I made literally almost exactly the same thing about a month ago without ever having seen this recipe. right down to the leeks and parsnips, a kale white bean quinoa stew. it’s a delicious fall concoction, that’s for sure.
I made this! Super delicious yummy times!
Wow~ It looked kinda ordinary on paper, but taste amazing!!! Plus, it’s enough to last for a few days. Very nutritious, tasty – it’s got it all~ I used Japanese yams instead of potatoes.
best. soup. EVER.
I love this recipe- thank you for sharing! Especially that is it a blank slate and let me be a bit of an artist in the kitchen. I used it to clean out my pantry so I substituted orzo instead of quinoa, canned carrots instead of fresh, onion for leeks, garbanzo as my bean and a russet potato instead of yukon gold. All but the potato worked out and made for a great treat after work! Off to bring the leftovers to a friend.. thanks again!
I made this stew last night and it was DELICIOUS!! I didn’t have any Yukon Gold potatoes, so I used Russet instead. It probably changed the flavor slightly, but not enough for me to dislike it. I also subbed spinach in for the kale because I didn’t have any. Wonderful flavor, very versatile. I can’t wait to start playing with this recipe and coming up with my own concoction.
Wonderful recipe. I’m so excited to have this for lunch all week. I’m not very good at following directions, so I added cumin and turmeric for added kick and corn for some extra veg. I just discovered your site. It’s fantastic! It’s my new daily fave.
This was completely and totally awesome. I added the juice of 1/2 a lemon at the end… even my husband– who hates “stews” LOVED it. Kudos and thanks!
you should totally make a vegan soup cookbook
Hi, I discover your sitr from natural awakenings . I am to try the recipe. I keep you posted.
Amazing. This is what I’ll be eating for lunch all week. Yum…
Also, I love the way Isa writes the recipe. It feels more like a good friend giving me advice than a dry and linear cookbook, which is awesome. <3
My husband and I love this soup!! it is a wonderful recipe and added to our faveorite’s list. One bowl fills you right up!
This turned out super yummy and it looked really pretty in the bowl to boot! Super flavorful!
you’re a breath of fresh air. thank you
Thank you for this recipe. It was delicious! I would definitely recommend the addition of lemon juice and some fresh parsley before serving.
Just Made it …delish!
Has anyone tried this in a slow-cooker? Good or bad idea?
ive made this a couple of times..it truly is delicious. swapped ingredients about a little today. same herb blend, sweet potato, white cabbage, onions,potatoes, chickpeas and then the kale. a splash of balsamic vinegar and soya sauce at the end perfected it.
Just made this today and I love it. The herb blend is terrific. I used water and two cubes of vegan bouillon (Rapunzel brand) instead of the veg broth, and needed to add 2 cups of water toward the end so there would be enough liquid to cook the kale. Even with the extra water, this turned out so, so flavorful and delicious. I’m going to take some to share with my omnivore parents tomorrow.
I made this a couple months back but just pulled some leftovers out of the freezer and oh man…. so good! It was great because I had never used parsnip before. I think the herbs really make this soup though. You don’t need to use vegetable broth (kind of redundant anyway). I used a fennel bulb instead of fennel seeds but next time I’ll try it your way. Thanks!
I just bought this book, and as expected, Isa has, once again, outdone herself. I have always thought I was a good cook…and I am, but Isa is a FABULOUS cook!!! Thanks for the recipes and keep on cookin’……..
ISA – what brand of vegetable broth did/do you use?
I have tried college inn and swanson… did not like either of them 🙁
Hey would you be able to give me the Nutritional info for this? it looks good 🙂
This may be the next soup that I’ll have to try. My husband and I absolutely loooove Veganomicon’s Baked Potato and Greens soup; it will be a regular meal in our household, especially as the weather gets cooler. This one sounds just as yummy.
I modified this to make it in my slow cooker. (left out the olive oil.) Also didn’t have any fennel, so omitted that. I had red quinoa, so that should be interesting. It will cook all day. I can’t wait to try it. Since this is the VeganMoFo, I’m going to veganize the Irish Soda Bread recipe from Recipes for a Small Planet & have that with it.
just made this…came out great!
things i changed- i added a zucchini, and used herbs de provence….which is basically the same thing as isa’s herb mixture….instead of 8 c. veg broth i used ten cups of filtered water, and added yellow miso paste…i used whole wheat orzo instead of quinoa and butter beans (baby limas) instead of white beans.
its really chunky, even with the extra water, but good good good!!
i really recommend the miso broth….fermented things are good for vegans!!! 😉
I just have to say that we are brand NEW to eating vegan (my husband doesn’t claim to be so…yet), and ALL of these recipes on this site have been delicious! Looking forward to trying more 🙂
Why isn’t there a handy link to e-mail this to myself and family???
I didn’t change a thing in this recipe, and it was amazing. My whole family loved it. I’ll be making this again for sure, we just made the switch over to vegan food last week and this is definitely one of our favorite recipes. Vegan or not, this is genuinely good food.
The only thing I added was mushrooms (when I added the potatoes and quinoa)…….amazing! Squeezing lemon juice over your bowl at the end is a must! It was the first time I had parsnip or kale…. Very hearty, soothing and comforting….it will be my ‘go-to’ stew from now on. Thank you!
Fantastic recipe from the ppk, as usual! made this for Christmas Eve dinner with friends tonight. It was a hit! And bonus – I doubled the recipe and have plenty left for hubby and I for Christmas tomorrow. Soup’s always better the next day ;o)