Our Vegan Nigerian Red Stew needs to be in your rotation, stat! This fiery, flavor-packed stew is not only addictive, it’s incredibly easy to make.
Our hometown of Houston is actually home to the largest Nigerian expat population in the U.S. There are many Nigerian restaurants throughout the city. And because West African food is a backbone of some of our favorite cuisines (Creole and Caribbean), it was destined we’d become OBSESSED with Nigerian food.
Red stew is not traditionally vegan or vegetarian. So it was a welcome surprise that a number of Nigerian restaurants in Houston served a vegan version of the dish. One taste, and we were HOOKED. We knew we had to learn how to make the dish at home.
If you love this recipe, make sure to check out our Air Fried Sweet Plantains or our Easy Vegan Shakshuka.
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🇳🇬 WHAT IS RED STEW?
Red stew is a rich, fiery pepper-and-tomato-based stew. Every Nigerian household has its own recipe for this comforting staple dish. Red stew is typically served with white rice, plantains and/or yams.
Traditionally, red stew contains meat or seafood and is made with a meat-based stock and/or bouillon. Some recipes use crayfish (shrimp) powder as a seasoning. Red stew is also eaten as a dipping sauce. We’ve enjoyed it this way at Nigerian restaurants with fufu, which is a starchy dough-like delicacy made of pounded cassava and green plantain.
We veganized red stew by using water and vegetable bouillon and adding chickpeas for protein.
Our recipe is adapted from traditional recipes by Onyi Udeh of Tasty and Lois of Yummy Medley. Do check out their authentic (non-vegan) preparations.
We love to make red stew and do so often, because it’s ridiculously simple to cook and is composed of pantry staples.
❤️ WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
- Spicy
- Bold
- Tangy
- Aromatic
📝 INGREDIENTS
- Red bell peppers, tomatoes and red onion: Make up the base of the stew and provide its characteristic bright red hue
- Neutral oil: To cook our stew
- Scotch bonnets (or habanero peppers): Add wonderful flavor and heat
- Garlic and rosemary: Fragrant aromatic elements
- Yellow curry powder (preferably Nigerian): Seasons our stew with an earthy, complex flavor
- Sweet paprika: Seasons our stew with mild sweetness and provides red color
- Tomato paste: Reinforces the tomato flavor of the tomato in the stew base and adds volume and thickness
- Water and vegetable bouillon: Used in place of the traditional meat-based stock and bouillon cubes to add umami and depth of flavor
- Salt and pepper: Season our stew
- Bay leaves: Infuses stew with floral, herby notes
🎥 RECIPE VIDEO
🔪 STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
***Check out our recipe video below!***
- 1. In a food processor or blender, purée the tomatoes, bell peppers, half the sliced red onion, Scotch bonnet pepper, garlic, tomato paste, salt, black pepper and water.
- 2. Sauté remaining onion over medium-high heat until golden brown.
- 3. Add rosemary, paprika and curry powder and cook until fragrant.
- 4. Add the blended tomato-and-pepper mixture, bouillon, chickpeas and the bay leaf, bringing to a boil, covering, then reducing to a simmer for 20 minutes.
- 5. Remove bay leaves, garnish with green onions, and serve with white rice and fried plantains.
💡 RECIPE TIPS
- Adjust your level of heat: If you’re sensitive to heat, remove the pith of your hot pepper, which is where the heat-producing compound called capsaicin is most concentrated. But if you are crazy for spice, feel free to add an extra Scotch bonnet or two. We do this when we’re feeling frisky!
- Substitute habanero: Scotch bonnets can be trickier to find. Your best bet is to shop at an Afro-Caribbean or international grocery store. But habanero peppers make solid stand-ins.
- Vegetable bouillon options: You can use paste or cubed vegetable bouillon. Our favorite brands are Better Than Bouillon and Edward & Sons. If you are using vegetable bouillon in cube form, substitute in 1 cube.
👩🍳 DID YOU MAKE OUR VEGAN NIGERIAN RED STEW?
Did you make this recipe? We’d love to hear about it! Please comment and leave a 5-star🌟 rating below. Share your dish with us on Instagram and tag us @plantbased.passport. We would love to seeing your delicious creations! Still hungry? Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest for more global vegan recipes and travel tips!🍴✈️
💕 MORE RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE:
👩🏽🍳 RECIPE
VEGAN NIGERIAN RED STEW
Ingredients
- 5 Roma tomatoes quartered
- 2 red bell peppers chopped
- 1 red onion sliced. Separate half the onion for the purée and the other half to be sautéed.
- 1 Scotch bonnet pepper stem removed (or substitute habanero)
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 12 oz tomato paste
- 4 teaspoon salt divided
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup water
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 15-oz can of chickpeas drained (optional)
- 2 tablespoon fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoon curry powder
- 2 teaspoon vegetable bouillon paste or 2 vegetable bouillon cubes
- 2 bay leaves
To serve:
- cooked white basmati rice
- fried or baked plantains
- sliced green onions to garnish
Instructions
- In a food processor or blender, combine the Roma tomatoes, red bell peppers, half the sliced red onion, Scotch bonnet pepper, garlic cloves, tomato paste, 1 tablespoon of salt, black pepper, and water. Purée until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the remaining half of the sliced onion and the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt. Sauté until onion is golden brown.
- Add rosemary, paprika and curry powder. Sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add the blended tomato-and-pepper mixture, vegetable bouillon, chickpeas and bay leaves. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
- Remove bay leaves, garnish with green onions, and serve with white rice and fried plantains. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Adjust your level of heat: If you’re sensitive to heat, remove the seeds of your hot pepper. If you are crazy for spice, feel free to add an extra Scotch bonnet or two. We do this when we’re feeling frisky!
- Substitute habanero: Scotch bonnets can be trickier to find. Your best bet is to shop at an Afro-Caribbean or international grocery store. But habanero peppers make solid stand-ins.
- Vegetable bouillon options: You can use paste or cubed vegetable bouillons. Our favorite brands are Better Than Bouillon and Edward & Sons. If you are using vegetable bouillon in cube form, substitute in 1 cube.
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This design is spectacular! You definitely know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Excellent job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
Jan Rivera
This stew was so simple to make and packed with flavor!
Nick Jackson
First time trying Nigerian food. Won’t be my last. Thanks for a great recipe.
Mike
Those flavors sound bomb.
Bridge
This was my first time trying Nigerian food and wow, I’m definitely eating this again! The flavors were tasty and unique, and it was a fun recipe to break up the monotony of my other recipes. The list of ingredients seemed a little daunting but it was simple and easy to make.
Thanks Val and Mani!
plantbasedpassport
So happy to hear that!
Dan
SO good and SO easy to make 🤤
Kesha J.
My partner and I loved how easy this was to make. It was packed with so much flavor.
William Sandoval
Wow! This recipe was amazing. I was having some friends over and wanted to try something a little different. All of my guests loved it!! They were all asking for the recipe and I sent them to your website. ❤️❤️❤️