Awhile back, I posed an important question on Instagram: what kind of recipes would you like to see more of? I got a lot of different responses, but some of the most common replies were:
- Gluten-free recipes
- Plant-forward dishes
- Savory comfort food
And today’s recipe for a Creamy Mushroom and Black Beluga Lentil Stew is all of those things! It’s vegan and gluten-free, heavy on plants, and definitely qualifies as delicious savory comfort food.
Why you’ll love this recipe
This stew boasts a healthy dose of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and protein from the lentils, mushrooms, garlic, and kale. And then gets hit with a flavorful mixture of tahini, miso paste, tamari, and coconut milk.
The resulting taste is electric and unique, packed with strong notes of umami and a rich, creamy mouthfeel. It’s the kind of comfort food you can feel good about eating without a single ounce of guilt.
Ingredient Rundown
Now that I’ve obviously sold you on this dish, let’s talk about the ingredients, shall we?
The heart of this dish are mushrooms and black beluga lentils. I use a combination of cremini mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms to balance out taste and cost. Shiitake mushrooms bring a bold, savory flavor, but since they are quite pricy, I only use a small portion and rely on inexpensive cremini mushrooms for the bulk of the stew.
And for the lentils, I absolutely adore black beluga lentils, which are tiny black lentils that look almost like caviar once cooked (hence the name beluga). They have a delicate yet full-bodied taste, absorb other flavors really well, and pair particularly well with meaty vegetables (hi, mushrooms).
I love using black beluga lentils because the lentils stay firm-ish in this stew, so it feels heartier and adds some textural differences (instead of having a one-note, soft, mushy stew). And second, the lentils take on the flavors of the remaining ingredients, including the earthy, umami-packed flavors of the mushrooms, miso, and tahini. And bonus: black lentils, like dark-colored fruits (i.e., blackberries and blueberries) contains anthocyanin, a powerful antioxidant that prevents cellular damage caused by free-radicals. #antioxidants
Substitute: black beluga lentils are sold in most grocery stores (or online), but if you can’t find them, use French green lentils (also called Puy lentils). They’re similar in size and texture and also hold their shape well when cooked.
If you’re looking for more flavor-forward lentil recipes, you gotta try my Lentil Salad with Fresh Herbs! And if it’s the big umami flavors you’re after, my Creamy Umami Noodle Soup with Crispy Mushrooms is out of this world.
Tips for cooking this recipe
To cook the lentils, the easiest method is to pressure cook them in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker. Just pop the lentils in the pot with the vegetable broth or water and flavoring ingredients and pressure cook for 6 minutes. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, I’ve also included stovetop instructions below.
While the lentils are cooking, you can work on the other part of the stew, which is quite easy once you’ve prepared all your ingredients. If I can be a bit of a food snob for a minute, I recommend using a high-quality tahini and balsamic vinegar. If your tahini is chunky or bitter, the stew is not going to taste as great as it could. And for the balsamic vinegar, if all you have is a cheap $2 vinegar, you’re better off adding a squeeze of fresh lemon juice instead.
Serving suggestions
This Creamy Mushroom and Black Beluga Lentil Stew is hearty enough to serve on its own, but if you want to spread it across more mouths (or more days), serve it over a bed of your favorite grain (my choice would be millet or quinoa). Or, it’s great with a side of rustic, freshly baked bread (duh).
If you try this recipe out, be sure to leave me a comment below and tag me with your creation on Instagram!
Introducing
Big Vegan Flavor
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Creamy Mushroom and Black Beluga Lentil Stew
Ingredients
Lentils
- 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 spring of fresh rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup (200g) black beluga lentils (can substitute French green lentils)
- 1 3/4 cups (420mL) low-sodium vegetable broth or water (2 cups / 480mL) if cooking lentils on stovetop)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (1/4 teaspoon for stovetop method)
- 8 whole black peppercorns
Mushroom Stew
- 2 tablespoons (28g) olive oil (you can use less if you’re using a nonstick pan)
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 16 ounces (~450g) cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 4 ounces (~110g) shiitake mushrooms (caps only), sliced
- Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup (60mL) dry white wine (such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc)
- 1 ½ tablespoons white or yellow miso paste
- 3 tablespoons good-quality tahini
- 1 ½ tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
- 2 cups (480mL) low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup (120mL) “lite” coconut milk or unsweetened oat milk, cashew milk, or soy milk
- 1 head of Tuscan lacinato kale, tough midribs removed and leaves sliced
- 1-2 teaspoons good-quality balsamic vinegar
Instructions
Lentils
- Use kitchen twine to tie the bay leaf, thyme, and rosemary (this makes it easier to fish them out of the cooked lentils). If you don't have twine, leave herbs whole.
- Cook the lentils – Instant Pot method: Add the lentils, herb bundle, 1 3/4 cups (420 mL) broth or water, 1/2 tsp salt, and peppercorns to the inner pot. Select the Pressure Cook setting at high pressure for a cook time of 6 minutes. Allow a natural pressure release. Drain the lentils and set aside.
- Cook the lentils – stovetop method: Bring the 2 cups (480 mL) broth or water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the lentils, herb bundle, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and black peppercorns. Simmer the lentils for 20-25 minutes, or until just tender. Drain the lentils and set aside.
Mushroom Stew
- While the lentils cook, prepare the ingredients for the mushroom stew (chop the vegetables, measure out the ingredients, etc.).
- Heat a Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the onion and cook until lightly browned, about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently.While the onion cooks, in a glass, combine the miso, tahini, and tamari. Whisk well to dissolve the miso as best you can.
- Add the sliced mushrooms and let them sit undisturbed for 3 minutes. Stir, then season generously with salt and pepper. Add the garlic, thyme leaves, and red pepper flakes, and stir frequently until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Pour in the white wine and allow to bubble for 3 to 4 minutes, scraping up any browned bits as needed, or until the smell of alcohol cooks off. Add the miso-tahini mixture and stir well into the mushrooms to coat them. Add the cooked & drained lentils, 2 cups (480 mL) vegetable broth, and the lite coconut milk. Stir well, and bring to a boil.
- Once it's boiling, turn off the heat. Carefully pour half of the stew into a stand blender. Blend until the mixture is completely pureed and smooth, and then pour the mixture back into the pot and stir to combine. Alternatively, use an immersion blender directly in the pot to partially blend the stew.
- Once the stew has been partially blended, add in the sliced kale. Bring the stew to a boil until it is thick and creamy and the kale has wilted. Remove from the heat and stir in the balsamic vinegar. Taste for seasonings and adjust to taste.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this? Leave a rating below!
Great recipe! Wow. I think black beluga lentils might just be my new favorite.
I had to make a few substitutions: curly kale instead, ran out of tamari so I used vegan oyster sauce for the rest, vegan mushroom broth instead of vegetable broth, and I left out the pepper flakes (gives me heartburn). I loved it! 😍
Thanks for sharing, Julie! It’s great to know you loved the recipe.
Thanks for posting this recipe! Came out pretty well, all things considered, but a lot of the ingredients are hard to source. Couldn’t find black beluga lentils, miso paste, peppercorns, or that specific kind of kale. Nonetheless, the base recipe must be pretty great, because even with the substitutions it came out well.
Substitutions:
Black Beluga Lentils – Generic lentils, I think the Puy Lentils you mentioned? They don’t have a type on their label, unfortunately.
Miso paste – extra Tamari, 1 to 1 ratio
Peppercorns – I found a peppercorn grinder, but couldn’t get the cap off to get to the whole peppercorns, so I just grated some into the soup.
Kale – generic kale at the grocery store, not sure what kind
Also, this was my fault, I forgot to get tahini sauce. I used peanut butter instead and mixed it with the Tamari to coat the vegetables. That went surprisingly well!
Overall, this recipe was delicious, and I learned quite a bit from making it! It was also safe for me to eat, so I appreciate that it was vegan and gluten free. My one thing is I wish the ingredients were more accessible!
Hi Julian, we’re glad you enjoyed the recipe but are sorry to hear you found some of the ingredients hard to source. Oftentimes you can swap out ingredients in the RPL recipes for other ingredients. Feel free to comment to ask ahead of time if you have specific substitution questions, we also try to include substitutions in the blog posts now. 🙂
I loved the flavors and will definitely make this again.
We’re over the moon to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Shawn. Thanks for your kind words!
This recipe is soo good! I followed it almost exactly, the only thing I left out was the coconut or other milk at the end as it was thick and rich enough without it. Will definitely make again. Thank you for sharing! I’m not vegetarian but loved that this recipe was vegan.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review! You’re welcome for the recipe 🙂
I loved this recipe! Its going on the regular menu at our house.
Thank you for your lovely comment, Lisa! It makes us happy to know that you enjoyed the recipe.
I love this recipe. I make lentil soup a LOT, and I was getting tired of my normal tomato-based soup. This will be my new go-to lentil recipe!
Hi Leanna, Thank you so much for such a fantastic review! Appreciate you taking the time!
What an amazing dish! Will definitely be making this measl
again.
Thank you so much
Thanks for the awesome review, Nahema!
This was absolutely fantastic. I just made it for the first time, and it will be a regular here at my house!
Oh and I didn’t have white wine, so I used red. It was great!
So awesome to hear you loved the stew, Lisa! 🙂
I used French lentils as I can’t find beluga lentils, and it turned out really dark grey, it looked super unappealing and i was nervous but the flavours were lovely
Hi Toni, sorry to hear it didn’t turn out as expected. Were you able to blend just half of the soup? That can help with it not turning too grey. We’re happy you enjoyed the taste, though!
Sorry, totally forgot to leave the 5 stars in my previous review.
Thank you, Frank!