Helllooooo 2021!!! Happy New Year, gang!! Now that we made it through the holidays, we’re kicking off the year right with this hearty, healthy Red Wine Braised Lentils with Spinach & Pearl Onions. It’s chock-full of nutrients and rich, earthy flavor. This vegan, gluten-free stew is comfort food at its finest and perfect for meal prepping.
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Key Ingredients & Substitutions
This dish is so packed with flavor and texture it’s a delicious way to incorporate more plant-based meals into your diet. The recipe calls for french green lentils which have a deeper earthy taste than traditional brown lentils. You can certainly use brown if you prefer, and black beluga lentils would work as well. However, red lentils would most likely become too soft in this recipe.
Cooking Steps
The stew starts with a mirepoix base of onion, celery, and carrot along with a good amount of garlic in a medium-size Dutch oven.
Tomato paste, dijon mustard, and fresh sage further enrich the flavor of the stew.
Sweet, caramelized pearl onions add a perfect pop of flavor and contrast to balance the robustness of the lentils and red wine. Baby spinach wilts in once the lentils are tender. Sturdier greens like kale or swiss chard can also be used, just cook a little longer until softened.
Next, just grab a ladle and toast up your favorite crusty bread to soak up all that deliciousness. Cheers to the new year and eat well, friends! xx, Kim
More Delicious Vegan Recipes!
Thai Butternut Squash & Pumpkin Curry
Roasted Cauliflower Potato & Beet Soup
Moroccan Butternut Squash Stew
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Red Wine Braised Lentils with Spinach & Pearl Onions
Ingredients
- ¾ cup lentils, rinsed (French green, black beluga, or brown)
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
- ¾ cup carrot, chopped
- ½ cup onion, chopped
- ½ cup celery, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
- 1 ½ cups dry red wine
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black ground pepper
- 1 ½ cup frozen pearl onions, thawed
- 5 ounces fresh baby spinach
- Bread of choice for serving
Instructions
- Parboil the lentils 5 minutes and drain.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrots. Sauté 5 minutes until lightly browned.
- Add garlic, tomato paste and sage. Cook 1-2 minutes more, stirring frequently.
- Stir in wine, water, mustard, lentils, bay leaf, sea salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer. Simmer partially covered for 30 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add pearl onions; season with salt and pepper. Sauté 5-7 minutes until tender and caramelized, stirring frequently.
- Once lentils are tender, add the spinach a couple handfuls at a time allowing each addition to wilt before adding the next.
- Stir pearl onions into the lentils. Remove bay leaf.
- Serve warm in bowls with toasted bread of choice. Enjoy!
Notes
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Happy New Year Kim! You’ve started it off wonderfully with such a delicious recipe. That’s actually a perfect post-holiday dish – satisfying and comfort yet light and packed with veggies. Absolutely gorgeous!
Happy New Year Ben! Thanks so much! This is definitely one of our favorite vegan dishes. 🙂
This recipe had a really unique and hearty flavor and was so fun to cook. The fresh sage at the store was moldy (ewww) so I ended up using dried but otherwise followed the recipe to the letter. The combined flavors of the wine, mustard, tomato paste and sage went together surprisingly well. I want to try this again sometime w/ black beluga lentils.
Excellent! Thrilled it was a hit!
This recipe sounds delicious but why does it call for frozen as opposed to fresh pearl onions? Thanks for your help!
Because I’m too lazy to peel fresh ones!😄