Peanutty Stew

Name: Peanutty Stew
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Yield: 8 cups
Ingredients: 1 cup instant brown rice 2 cups low-sodium broth (any type) 1 teaspoon dehydrated minced onion 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 4 cloves garlic ½ teaspoon ground ginger ⅛ teaspoon red pepper (optional) 2 cups medium diced peeled sweet potato or yam 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with liquid ½ teaspoon salt ½ cup creamy peanut butter 1 ¼ cups nonfat or 1% milk 3 cups baby spinach leaves; coarsely chopped ¼ cup chopped dry roasted peanuts (optional) green onion; thinly sliced (optional)

A hearty and satisfying stew with filling whole grains, flavorful veggies, and crunchy nuts.

Medium bowl of vegetable and peanut soup on a plate served with crackers.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Makes: 8 cups
Nutrition Facts: View label

Ingredients

1 cup instant brown rice

2 cups low-sodium broth (any type)

1 teaspoon dehydrated minced onion

1 teaspoon garlic powder or 4 cloves garlic

½ teaspoon ground ginger

⅛ teaspoon red pepper (optional)

2 cups medium diced peeled sweet potato or yam

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with liquid

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup creamy peanut butter

1 ¼ cups nonfat or 1% milk

3 cups baby spinach leaves, coarsely chopped

¼ cup chopped dry roasted peanuts (optional)

green onion, thinly sliced (optional)

Directions

Wash hands with soap and water.
Combine first 9 ingredients in a soup pot. Bring to a boil, then turn down to medium low. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in peanut butter and milk. Return to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for 5 minutes.
Stir in spinach and cook until wilted, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Top with peanuts and green onion, if desired.
Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours.

Notes

Broth can be homemade, canned or made using bouillon. For each cup of broth use 1 cup very hot water and 1 teaspoon or 1 cube bouillon.
Substitute a 10 ounce package of frozen spinach for the fresh spinach.
Flavor boosters: chopped cilantro, red and green peppers, raisins.
To avoid peanuts or peanut butter, try sunflower seeds or sunflower seed butter.

Comments

Submitted by rfallihee on Thu, 02/22/2024 - 09:47

This Peanutty Stew recipe was a real hit for everyone in a group cook-along class! We adjusted it slightly by bumping up the ginger and adding 1 Tbs. ground cumin, as well as adding in cooked brown rice instead of the instant rice. I gave the option to add a small amount of cooked chickpeas or chicken to slightly bump up the protein content and make it a delicious and hearty meal.

Submitted by Jennifer Pettit on Mon, 01/08/2024 - 12:07

This recipe sounds very unusual with its ingredient combination which may create hesitation with willingness to taste. We made this for a Cooking Matters class and although there was the initial hesitation to try it, when it was, everyone really enjoyed it! There was a class consensus that it tasted great :)

Submitted by kokeshc on Sat, 04/25/2020 - 14:39

This was an amazing dish. Peanut butter being (what seems like) a major food group in my life, this stew hit the spot.

It was so easy to throw everything in the pot and go! One thing I recommend though is that if you use sweet potato, leave the stew simmering for longer than you think. After 10ish minutes of cooking as the recipe states, the cubes of potato were still fairly hard. So I left it on low heat and went for a little 25-min walk and it was perfect after that (and the flavors were even better after soaking on the heat for longer).

PLUS my younger brother who "hates chunky vegetables" ate an entire bowl. So if you have a picky eater in the house like I do, try this on them :)

Submitted by walscaro on Tue, 05/14/2019 - 20:29

I made this for dinner tonight using a 10-oz. box of frozen chopped spinach as suggested and bulgur since that's what I had on hand. It was very easy and quite good, but we added some extra garlic, ginger and some red pepper flakes to spice it up a bit. I will definitely make this again.

Submitted by comeram on Mon, 05/06/2013 - 15:20

Made the recipe with no changes or modifications. Made the soup with 10 kids and we all loved it! We were all surprised at how good it was since there are tomatoes and peanut butter in the same pot. Everyone went for seconds.

Submitted by tierrabonita on Tue, 03/27/2012 - 16:27

Wonderful super quick dinner! Made this with the spring green salad recipe as they both have spinach in them so I used up all the spinach I bought. Made some changes: used some spinach leaves for the garnish, used veggie broth versus chicken broth, added extra red pepper to give it more of a kick. Oh, and bought one large yam and that was 2 cups. Will make again -- family loved it!