Easy Spanish Lentil Stew with Sausages Recipe

This simple recipe for Spanish lentil stew packs a real flavour punch. Braised lentils are combined with herbs, spices, fresh vegetables and vegan sausages and my lot absolutely love it!

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Spanish Lentil Stew

Braised lentils pop up in various forms globally, no doubt because people have known how good they are for us for a very long time!

My recipe for Spanish lentil stew is a vegan version of a braised lentil dish from Lanzarote.

Full of herbs and tomatoes, it is a substantial meal if served as a main with garlicky mashed potatoes and makes a fabulous vegan tapas dish, scooped up with torn flatbreads.

Cooking With Vegan Sausages

The original recipe for Spanish lentils calls for garlic sausage and bacon which I have replaced with delicious herby vegan sausages.

There is a huge variety of vegan sausages available now in UK supermarkets. My current favourites are from Richmond, they hold up really well during cooking, and I will always have a soft spot for Linda McCartney’s fabulous sausages! Their new Lincolnshire sausages work really well in this dish as do the Red Onion and Rosemary ones.

An authentic meat-based Spanish stew requires the lentils and the meat to be boiled together which can be a disaster for vegan sausages! I fry mine first and then add them into the pot with everything else towards the end of cooking.

Spanish Stew Ingredients

Once you have decided on your sausages it’s time to gather the rest of your ingredients together!

How many recipes begin with these ingredients do you think?

I send my children to gather onions, carrots, tomatoes, garlic, thyme and bay as the base for a meal so often that they are surprised if I go off-piste!

Here I’ve added vegan sausages, paprika, green lentils and green peppers. The smell, as it was all bubbling away, was mouth-watering!

Luckily I had lovely big tomatoes in my organic veg box last week so they went happily into this dish, unfortunately, they are lacking in flavour at this time of year so I adapted the recipe and chucked in some tomato puree to pep it up a bit!

Serving Suggestions

I served my braised lentils up with some red pepper focaccia bread and some cavolo nero kale, wilted in a little olive oil but this would also work really well with:

garlicky mashed potatoes.
chunky homemade spicy oven chips.
a crisp and crunchy roast cauliflower salad.
topped with vegan grated parmesan or cheddar and baked in the oven for 20 minutes.

These braised lentils are a firm family favourite, they are super easy to make, tummy-filling and full of flavour. I make them often both at home and at sea!

More Easy Vegan Family Meals

If you like this recipe, you might also like:

Easy Lentil Meatballs with Fresh Tomato Sauce
Vegan Fish Pie
Easy Vegan Cauliflower Cheese
Red Pesto Pasta

Spanish Lentil stew

This simple recipe for Spanish lentil stew packs a real flavour punch. Braised lentils are combined with herbs, spices, fresh vegetables and vegan sausages in a real crowd pleaser.

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
150 g dried green lentils
1 large onion peeled and chopped
2 large carrots scrubbed and sliced
2 large cloves of garlic peeled and crushed
2 bay leaves (fresh or dried)
1 tbsp fresh thyme, pulled off stalks and roughly chopped
4 large tomatoes diced
1 green pepper deseeded and diced
1 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp tomato puree
6 vegan sausages cooked according to packet instructions and sliced
sea salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste

UK Measurements - US Measurements

Instructions

Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add the green lentils and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes until just tender but still with bite.
Add the carrots and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Drain, reserving the cooking liquid.
While the lentils and carrots are cooking heat the olive oil, gently in a large, heavy bottomed pan. Add the onions, cover, reduce the heat to very low and cook for 5 minutes or so until soft and just beginning to brown.
Add the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, most of the tomatoes, most of the green pepper (keep a few pieces of each aside to use later), paprika and tomato puree. Cook gently for a further minute or so until aromatic.
Add two tablespoons of water, cover and stew on the lowest temperature for 10 minutes. Add a little more water if necessary.
Add the cooked lentils, carrots and sliced sausages plus 4 tablespoonfuls of the reserved cooking liquid.
Cover and cook gently for 10 minutes.
Add sea salt and ground black pepper to taste.
Serve topped with the remaining uncooked green pepper and tomatoes.

Notes

Nutritional information is only an approximate guideline. Calculations will vary according to the ingredients you use and your cooking methods.

Nutrition

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Easy Spanish Lentil Stew with Sausages Recipe | Thinly Spread (2024)