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Vegan Beef Stew – Hearty Comfort Food, Cruelty-free!

This vegan beef stew delivers all the flavors of this classic dish. So, whether you are having meatless Mondays or looking for family-friendly vegan meals, this is a satisfying and easy dish to pull together. Vegan Beef Stew, it’s what’s for dinner. 😉

What’s This Vegan Beef Stew All About?

Now, what we are actually doing here is “beef-less” stew. Back in the pre-vegan days, a hearty, hot beef stew was our favorite satisfying comfort food, and it still is for lots of omnivores. We don’t have a “can’t eat that anymore” attitude, and we love recreating our old favorites into new vegan staples. That means our approach is about getting the taste, texture, and experience – but with all plant sources. 

Plant-based Meat Makes it Happen

Of course, we could have made a nice veggie stew and just dropped the whole “vegan beef stew” idea. However, there are many plant-based meat products on the market (and more appear all the time), so we looked around for one that would work. One of our essential criteria was to find a readily available product. You know, something that people could find in popular markets and not have to go searching around the health-food/co-op/online scene. After trying a few options the product that we settled on is the Homestyle Beefless Tips from Gardein. Right from the start, we had a high level of confidence about these because Gardein is a reliable company, and they have been at this game for years- so we got to work.

Two packages of Gardein Homestyle Beefless Tips on a kitchen counter
The Beefless Tips from Gardein are really excellent!

So Quick, You’re Going to Love This!

The process is easy and fast. Track down and buy the Beefless Tips first – hopefully, that should be easy since we’ve been able to find these in several different markets. If you can’t find the Gardein brand, see what else is available! If you try a different beefless product, let us know how it went in the comments!

All you need to do is get out your veggies, hand a knife to a spouse, friend, child, or visitor and get cutting. Meal prep like this is a great way to complete a task and share time with someone. Doing it this way enhances the enjoyment of the result. On the other hand, if you’re super fast with a knife and time is short – by all means, go for it. If that is you, the whole process will only take 5-10 minutes. 

Bonus: as with all vegan meals, none of that raw meat to cut, or the bacteria-laden cleanup worries! (another +1 for the plant-based eating) 

potatoes, beans, and carrots on a cutting board
The simple veggie ingredients

The Final Result: Delicious Vegan Beef Stew

We love this dish, and it has found its place in the regular rotation at Full of Beans. As with our Chili, it is a big pot* meal that often provides several days of fantastic leftovers and as the stew is cooking, the aroma will fill the house. The flavor is rich, and the texture of the Gardein Tips is excellent. You’ll want to look for a loaf of some crusty bread, too, as the broth is wonderfully rich and savory – just perfect for dipping a slice of bread into! Even non-vegans will be happy – and you don’t even need to tell them a thing! 

This is one of those dishes that delivers 100% on the flavor and “mouth-feel” of the animal-product based version. And if you can get all that without harming animals, why do otherwise?

*Check out some more of our other crowd-pleasing Big Pot recipes, too!)

What if You Can’t Find the Tips?

The supply of plant-based meats can be uneven, we’ve all experienced that. Therefore, if you can’t find the Beefless Tips consider trying our Turky Seitan as a direct replacement. You could also substitute something meaty like portabella mushroom caps, cut into chunks, and cooked as the recipe directs for the tips.

Disclaimer: the Full of Beans kitchen acknowledges that a whole-food plant-based vegan diet, with minimally processed foods, supports optimum health. There is an abundance of delicious vegan food options available in the market, including vegan cheeses and meat analogs. They can be fun, fast, and a great introduction to veganism. Even though they can be a little expensive, and not-so-healthy for every-day, they are great as an occasional player in your meals!

Big “Thanks!” to reader Enid for her feedback on this recipe. 🙂

vegan beef stew in a white bowl
Vegan Beef Stew, warm from the oven!
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Vegan Beef Stew

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  • Author: Georgia @ fullofbeans.us
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 90 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
  • Yield: 8-10 1x
  • Diet: Vegan

Description

Yummy, hearty big pot stew that will hit all your comfort food button – completely meat-free!


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • two packages Gardein Home Style Beefless Tips
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 5 to 6 medium potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
  • 6 to 7 carrots, peeled and thick-sliced
  • 3 Tbs dried minced onion
  • 1/3 cup ketchup
  • 1 pound frozen green beans
  • 1 Tbs cornstarch
  • 1 Tbs flour
  • 3 Tbs low sodium tamari
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. preheat oven to 350°F
  2. heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large dutch oven or stew pot
  3. add the frozen Beefless Tips and garlic powder, stir to coat
  4. cook for several minutes and turn to brown on all sides. The tips will start to thaw and cooking faster, so keep an eye on them
  5. remove the tips from the pot, and leave the brown crusty leftover in the pot
  6. place potatoes in the bottom of the pot, and sprinkle the minced onion over them
  7. Layer the carrot slices over the potatoes, breaking larger ones in half if desired. Finally the green beans
  8. whisk together 1 cup water with the flour, cornstarch, ketchup, tamari, salt, and pepper
  9. pour the mixture over the layers.
  10. add enough water to almost cover the stew
  11. Cover and place in the oven for one hour and 15 minutes
  12. remove from the oven and add the reserved tips
  13. stir gently to combine
  14. return to oven for 5 – 10 minutes

Notes

  • We use a large Dutch oven to make dishes like this. Like a stew pot, it is made from cast iron and makes a difference in how the food cooks. These pots are made to be used in an oven. We have had feedback that using a steel (or aluminum) sauce-pan requires a different approach so you may have to simply cook on the stove-top.
  • if you can’t find minced onion, onion flakes will do
  • If the tips are hard to find, our Turky Seitan, other “beef” products, or mushroom chunks are all good alternatives

The Turky Seitan: https://www.fullofbeans.us/instant-pot-vegan-turky-style-seitan/

Gardein Beefless Tips: https://www.gardein.com/beefless-and-porkless/classics/beefless-tips

Big “Thanks!”  to reader Enid for her feedback on this recipe. 🙂

 

Georgia is an unpretentious foodie who, at 50, transitioned from a vegetarian diet to a whole foods plant based diet and is loving it. She works as a nurse, plays as a quilter, loves to run, hates to race.
She thinks dogs are actually angels (in dog suits).

This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. I found the Sizzling Szechuan Strips in the store, and bought up every bag so that I could make your old recipe, but I think I threw away my print out!! Do you still have the version that uses the Sizzling Szechuan? Can you share it with me somehow? They might come back to your area too. Other people have reported to me that they are starting to see these in stores again. Maybe you can share BOTH versions on this page?

  2. I made this recipe when it was based on the Sizzling Szechuan Strips, which I guess Gardein has discontinued, and why you switched to the Beefless Tips. It was the best vegan stew recipe ever. I am trying the new recipe right now, and after 90 minutes in the oven at 350F, the potatoes are still hard as rocks. Not sure why this stew goes into the oven instead of cooking on the stovetop: I feel like it would have been done by now if it had been boiling/simmering for 90 minutes on a burner. I’ll update this review tomorrow after I have let the stew bake in the oven for another 60 minutes at 400F (which is what I think it needs).

    1. Hi!

      Thank you for your comments. We’re sorry it has taken us a little while to get back to you and that you’ve had problems with the recipe. You are correct that we switched because we couldn’t find the Szechuan Strips (and still can’t) but Gardein apparently still makes them (https://www.gardein.com/beefless-and-porkless/classics/szechuan-style-bef-strips).
      I’m not sure why you had the problem with the potatoes although, every now and then, I get potatoes that seem to take forever to cook and it seems completely random. Honestly, I started making this stew in the oven because I started when we had kids at home and life was busy so popping it in the oven was simpler (and safer). Cooking on the stove-top is perfectly fine—and we’ll make a note in the recipe. We really appreciate your feedback!

      Georgia

  3. I’m so confused. Didn’t you used to use the Gardein Sizzling Szechuan Strips in this recipe, including the flavor packets? I used to make that all the time and it was delicious. Now I see you are using the Beefless Tips, which I don’t like the texture of nearly as much. Why the switch? Do you still have that original recipe posted somewhere?

    1. Hi Tracey!
      Sorry this response took so long, yikes! You should be able to just cook it on the stove-top with the recipe as-is. Simply stir occasionally and check the vegetables for “done-ness”. Thanks for the comment and please let us know how you like it!

    1. Hi!
      It should be OK in a slow cooker, as long as you can follow the recipe (more or less) and cook the “beef” in the same pot and then add it at the end of the cooking. We haven’t tried that ourselves, so let us know how it works out!

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