This chickpea stew with sweet potatoes and spinach is an easy one–pot recipe ready in about 30 minutes.
Serve it with fluffy basmati rice or a homemade pita bread for a tasty, satisfying, and healthy meal.
Introduction
Our chickpea stew is inspired by Mediterranean and Eastern flavors; recipes like Middle Eastern spinach stew, Moroccan chickpea stew, and Indian chana masala.
You can expect a warm dish consisting of tender, nutty chickpeas.
They are hugged by a rich, umami-packed tomato sauce flavored with aromatic spices and enriched with melt-in-your-mouth sweet potato cubes and spinach 🤤.
You can make this recipe with canned chickpeas or with dried chickpeas that you previously cooked in water. Here’s our guide on how to cook dried chickpeas.
The stew is delicious with breads such as mediterranean pita, Indian naan, or Italian piadina. It’s also excellent with a side of yellow saffron rice, fluffy couscous, or basmati rice.
Louise recommends adding a dollop of Greek yogurt and a squeeze of lemon 👱♀️! Enjoy.
Ingredients
Find complete ingredient list, quantities, and substitutions in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
- Flavor base: you’ll need olive oil, onion, garlic, and ginger.
- Spices: we recommend ground cumin, turmeric, and red pepper flakes.
- Chickpeas: canned or dried. If you use dried cook them first in water until tender. Substitute black beans or pinto beans for chickpeas.
- Sweet potato: substitute regular potatoes, eggplants, broccoli, or cauliflower florets.
- Spinach: substitute other leafy greens and collard greens such as kale, bok choi, and chard.
- Canned tomatoes: diced, crushed, or tomato puree.
Instructions
Step 1: Sauté chopped onion in olive oil for 4 minutes. Add grated garlic, ginger, cumin, turmeric, and sauté one more minute.
Add the chickpeas and stir for 1 minute.
Step 2: Add peeled and diced sweet potato, tomatoes, vegetable broth, salt and black pepper.
Cover, bring to a boil, crack top open, and simmer for about 20 minutes until sweet potatoes are tender.
Stir in the spinach and cook 1 more minute until they wilt. Taste and adjust for salt.
Step 3: Serve chickpea stew as a main dish with either bread (pita, naan, piadina, flatbread) or grains (basmati rice, saffron rice, couscous, barley).
You can add a dollop of thick Greek yogurt on top, fresh cilantro or parsley, a squeeze of lemon or lime, and a drizzle of Tadka or chili oil.
More easy chickpea recipes
As you probably realized by reading this blog, Louise and I love chickpeas 😍. They are easy to cook with, versatile, and contain wholesome dietary fiber and protein.
Here are some recipes with chickpeas we think you’ll love. They are all really easy to make and of course delicious:
STEWS & SOUPS: pasta e ceci (Italian chickpea pasta), chickpea curry, chickpea soup, cauliflower curry.
SALADS: quinoa chickpea salad, chickpea pasta salad, chickpea salad, Greek chickpea salad.
OTHER: Masabacha, chickpea fritters, hummus, falafel.
For even more ideas, check out our compilation with 35+ easy chickpea recipes.
If you tried this Chickpea Stew recipe or any other recipe on our blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it goes in the comments. We love hearing from you!
Chickpea Stew
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic grated
- 1 inch ginger grated
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 cans (15 oz each) chickpeas or 3 cups cooked chickpeas.
- 2 cans (15 oz each ) diced tomatoes
- 1 cup vegetable broth or water
- 12 ounces sweet potato about 2 medium, peeled and diced
- 1 teaspoon salt + black pepper to taste
- 3 packed cups spinach
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pot or Dutch oven, add 1 onion (chopped) and sauté for 4 minutes. Add 3 cloves garlic and 1 inch ginger (both grated), 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon turmeric, ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes and cook 1 more minute.Add 2 cans (15 oz each) chickpeas (drained) and stir in the spices to coat.
- Add 2 cans (15 oz each ) diced tomatoes, 1 cup vegetable broth, 12 ounces sweet potato (peeled and diced). Season with 1 teaspoon salt a black pepper to taste.Cover, bring to a boil, crack top open, and simmer for about 20 minutes until sweet potatoes are tender.Stir in 3 packed cups spinach and cook for 1 minute until they wilt. Taste and adjust for salt.
- Serve chickpea stew as a main dish with either bread (pita, naan, piadina, flatbread) or grains (basmati rice, saffron rice, couscous).You can add a dollop of thick Greek yogurt on top, fresh cilantro or parsley, a squeeze of lemon or lime, and a drizzle of Tadka or chili oil.
Video
Notes
- Spices: substitute rosemary, sage, and bay leaves, for cumin, turmeric, and ginger.
- Chickpeas: substitute pinto beans, cranberry beans, black beans, kidney beans, and black-eyed peas for chickpeas.
- Sweet potato: substitute regular potatoes, diced eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower florets, or mushrooms for sweet potato.
- Canned tomatoes: substitute chopped fresh ripe tomatoes.
- Spinach: you can substitute kale, Swiss chard, or bok choi but they’ll require longer cooking time (about 5 – 10 minutes) so add them earlier.
- Chickpea stew can be made ahead as its flavor improves over time.
- Store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze it for up to 3 months.
- To thaw, defrost in the fridge or microwave.
- Reheat on the stovetop with a little water or in the microwave.
This looks delicious and so healthy.
So delicoius , easy to make thank you for sharing your talent.
I’m going to try these recipes, I have to get less cholesterol in me, also I’ve enjoyed other plant based meals over the last 3 months.
Thank you so much for this bulk cook recipe whether freeze or refrigerate. I don’t have the patience for a lot of the “quarter of a teaspoon and 3 grams of this etc”. I will love to cook your way. Thanks again Tony
Fantastic, Tony, I’m happy that the meal-prep style recipes appeal to you 🎉
I’m curious to hear how you like the stew, do let me know. Happy cooking, and all the best,
Louise
Haven’t made it yet but sounds nice! Celery gets a mention initially, but isn’t in the pic and then seems to leave the stage.
Good catch, Tim! You are absolutely right, celery is not part of the (updated) recipe.
We have corrected the text, so you can now follow the recipe instructions without worry.
Thanks again 🎉🙏
Hi – I always struggle with getting any type of potato to cook in sauces, so I tried something I borrowed from one of your curry recipes. I peeled and sliced the potatoes (russetts) then I tossed them in olive oil, turmeric (1 teaspoon), and salt and black pepper. Next, I baked them for 30 minutes in an oven set at 425 degrees and added them to the stew (which had simmered for the same length of time). The only other change I made was to substitute vegetable broth for water. The final result was excellent and flavorful. Please consider adding an option to your recipes with potatoes for baking them for those of us who struggle with getting potatoes to cook. I think this has something to do with the potatoes sold in the United States.
Delicious! I subbed the sweet potatoes for 1/4 cup of uncooked quinoa, increased the water by 1 cup to compensate and it turned out great.
That sounds delicious, Bob.
Great idea with quinoa, thank you for the idea and for your comment 😊
All the best,
Louise
This is heaven! So packed with flavor, healthy comfort dish, even kids loved it! The amount of spices is great, it’s not too strong for young kids palate. Thank you! ❤️
Hi Sonia,
That’s fantastic – I’m really happy that the whole family liked the stew!
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.
Kindest,
Louise
Delicious and very easy to follow recipe. I didn’t have sweet potatoes so used aubergine instead. Highly recommend serving with the cauliflower rice.
Hi Diana! I’m delighted you like the recipe – especially served with cauliflower rice 🙂 Thanks for making my recipes and for leaving a comment! Cheers, Nico