Last week when I asked our GSO Facebook followers what recipes you all would like to see on the blog this fall, two top requests quickly emerged: vegetarian recipes and slow cooker recipes.
So your wish is my command — I made you some Slow Cooker Root Vegetable Stew!
I prepped everything this morning, and could hardly wait for the slow cooker to do its work for dinner tonight. This stew turned out to be absolutely delicious, and is a fantastic way to use up some of those seasonal root veggies. You can substitute in whatever your favorite root veggies may be, but I used some butternut squash, sweet potatoes, Yukon potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and onions from my farmers’ market. Then seasoned the stew with some bay leaf, lots of garlic and sage, and finished it off by wilting in some fresh kale. Spectacular! It was all of the goodness of sweet and savory together, and wonderfully hearty and filling without any meat or grains. And if you make it with vegetable stock, this stew is vegetarian and vegan. And the best part is that it was totally simple to throw together. The main work is just chopping up all of your veggies, then your slow cooker will take over and do the rest of the work.
Definitely a simple, comforting and delicious stew that your friends and family will love.
Slow Cooker Root Vegetable Stew
Ingredients
- 1 large white onion OR 2 leeks (white portion only), chopped
- 1 lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped
- 1 lb. carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 lb. parsnips, peeled and chopped
- 1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 2 celery ribs, stems removed and chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 Tbsp. fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
- 1 tsp. freshly-cracked black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 2 cups chopped fresh kale
- optional: fried sage leaves for garnish (see note below)
Instructions
- Add first eleven ingredients to a slow-cooker, and carefully stir to combine. Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours, or until the vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf, and carefully stir in the kale. Let the stew continue cooking for 10 minutes or so until the kale is wilted. Season with additional salt and pepper if need be.
- Serve immediately, with the option to garnish with fried sage leaves or Parmesan cheese.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
I love the flavor, but I found that the vegetables cooked at different rates. The potatoes and carrots were perfectly done, tender but still firm, while the squash and yams had dissolved into mush. I think I’ll try adding them at different times next time.
Sorry, but I also found this to be very bland. I added some Italian seasoning, a can of tomatoes, and I happened to have some confit oil I could add, and that improved the flavor. I also had beef in my soup. Also 6 hours may have been too long to leave mine on the slow cooker, as I wound up with the same uniform mushy texture of canned soup in the end.
Hi Kim! We’re sorry to hear you didn’t care for this recipe. :( We hope you can find another recipe you like!
i added beets.. It’ll be done in about an hour..and I’m scared it’ll be completely ruined and taste like dirt because of those damn beets. Notorious mention the bright purple broth! I added THREE BEETS! Ugh..hoping it’s not ruined and is salvageable. May have to make a vegetable mash or puréed soup if it’s too beety..anyone else do this? Or have suggestions?
Oh no, we’re sorry! We definitely think it could be salvageable though if it tastes too beet-heavy to eat as a stew. We think you’re on the right track with a vegetable mash, or a puréed soup. Please let us know how it turns out!
This sounds great. Is there a good way to freeze the ingredients to make later? Has anyone tried this?
Thanks Becky, we hope you enjoy this! And hmmm, we wouldn’t recommend using frozen ingredients for this (though you can always freeze some ingredients and thaw before putting in the slow cooker). But yes, we think you could freeze the already chopped veggies, and just thaw a day before you want to make the soup.
This dish is very versatile – I added pork and rutabagas (some of us love those!) and as a sweet touch, a few frozen dark sweet cherries right at the end. . Could also choose apple chunks and change up the liquid with apple cider for half of it or even beer. Lots of options!
Thanks for sharing Donni, we’re happy you enjoyed this, and those are delicious sounding additions/swaps!
Thinking that my latest discovery would work well in this…CHOYOTE SQUASH! Gonna try that and some JICAMA too!
Just hope I can remember where to send my “snapped pic” once I do that! Yum – looks so so good too!
Oooh that sounds interesting, we haven’t tried that kind of squash before! We hope you enjoy this! :)
This soup is incredibly bland, literally vegetables and broth, not good. If you do make please add your own spices or you’ll end up disappointed.
Thanks for your honest feedback Brittany. We’re sorry you didn’t care for this recipe, and we hope you can find another recipe that you do like.
love love love the soup ,,,served on the side a delicious piece of fish …..
do you do recipes in the crock
with lamb shank ? would enjoy one if you do ….
thanks for the inspirations..
Thanks Gloria, we’re happy you enjoy the stew! We haven’t tried lamb shank in the crockpot, but we think that sounds delicious!
This soup sounds absolutely perfect! Just wondering however…the 3 cups broth seems very little for all those wonderful veggies. Can you add more, or will it over sofen everything?
This looks wonderful and delightfully nourishing! My husband isn’t as big a fan of soups/stews as I am, so I have to add meat for him to enjoy them at all.
If I wanted to add chicken, would I have to just throw in cooked chicken at the end with the kale, or could I cook it with everything else somehow? If you could advise this new cook, it would be so helpful to know when to put it in & for how long, etc.
Thanks so much for your time and help!