Last updated September 2021.
We are two weeks into September and already I’m craving soups and stews! They are such a comforting and tasty way to eat more vegetables. All of the great squash available right now at my local farmer’s market inspired me to create this low FODMAP vegan stew. It combines squash, lentils, sweet potatoes, and a great blend of spices to make a hearty stew (no meat necessary)!
Low FODMAP Squash
Acorn squash or kobacha/Japanese pumpkin are low FODMAP squash options. Winter squashes are rich in nutrients, including beta carotene and potassium. You can learn more about the nutrition, storage and availability of winter squashes from Foodland Ontario.
Note: butternut squash is different than buttercup; Monash recommends to limit butternut squash to 1/4 cup per serving.
The squash and sweet potato need to be washed, peeled and cubed. The smaller you make the cubes the faster the stew will cook! If you cut them very small the stew can cook in 20 minutes. I think the hardest part of this recipe is peeling and cubing the squash. But in the end, it’s so worth the effort! I also prefer kabocha squashes over acorn because they are simpler to peel.
Lentils
Most legumes are high FODMAP. However, lentils do have safe serving sizes. Dried lentils are low FODMAP at 1/4 cup, and canned lentils have a higher maximum serving size at 1/2 cup. I recommend using canned red lentils in this recipe. It’s essential to rinse the lentils very well before adding to the stew. Canned lentils are lower FODMAP than dried because some of the FODMAPs leach into the canning liquid.
Low FODMAP Spices
To make this vegan stew low FODMAP, I had to find alternatives for garlic and onion. I like using fennel bulb in stews as it adds a nice flavour and has a similar texture to onion. The green parts of green onion are low FODMAP but still have a tasty onion flavour. I wrote an entire blog post on my favourite ways to add flavour to low FODMAP foods!
Most chili powders sold in Canada are not pure chili powder; they usually contain garlic and/or onion and a blend of other spices. Pure chili powders are low FODMAP. Ancho chili powder is a type of pure chili powder that is fairly mild. Chipotle chili powder is also low FODMAP, but is much spicier. Spicy foods can be a non-FODMAP IBS trigger for some people. Personally, I can’t tolerate spicy foods so I use ancho chili powder. The blend of ancho chili, turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper makes this stew so mouth-watering and aromatic.
When the stew is finished cooking make sure to taste it and add more spices as needed. The amount of salt needed will vary depending on how much salt is in your broth and/or canned tomatoes. I recommend starting with a small amount of salt and slowly increasing. You can always add more salt but you can’t take it out!
If you want an extra boost of flavour you can add some fresh herbs. I like topping this stew with a bit of fresh parsley!
In Canada, many commercial stocks contain onion and/or garlic. GoBio has low FODMAP chicken broth powder and chicken bouillon cubes – I have found this brand in many different grocery stores in Ontario, Canada. However, please note that their no salt added chick bouillon cubes contain onion and are high FODMAP.
FODY sells low FODMAP foods online, including a chicken soup base and a vegetable soup base. This is the only low FODMAP vegetable broth I have found for sale in Canada.
It’s not necessary to buy stock! A recipe for low FODMAP chicken stock can be found here. Or here is a recipe for low FODMAP vegetable stock powder. If you can’t find any low FODMAP stock and don’t have time to cook some, it’s okay to replace the stock with water (but you will need to add more salt).
My Favourite Low FODMAP Vegan Stew
One of the best parts about stew is how well it freezes. When you cook up a big batch you can freeze the extras for up to 3 months! Having a pre-made healthy low FODMAP meal in your freezer is a huge time saver for busy days.
FODMAP serving size is 1/10th recipe (approximately 1.5 cups) to keep it low FODMAP.
I’d like to thank my friend and fellow Canadian FODMAP dietitian Audrey for reviewing this recipe for me. She has some great low FODMAP recipes on her blog IBS Nutrition.
This recipe was adapted from Oh She Glows!
Lentil Squash Sweet Potato Stew
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1.5 cups diced fennel bulb
- 0.5 cup diced green onion green parts ONLY
- 5 cups cubed kabocha squash OR acorn squash
- 3 cups cubed sweet potato approx. 1 large or 2 small
- 3 cups low FODMAP broth
- 400 ml canned diced tomatoes
- 400 ml canned coconut milk
- 2 cups canned lentils rinsed well
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1.5 cups destemmed and chopped spinach packed down (can also use kale or chard)
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley optional
Instructions
- Rinse all of your fresh vegetables (including the squash). Small dice the fennel bulb and green onion. Chop the squash in half, remove the seeds and peel. Cut into small cubes. Peel the sweet potato and cut into small cubes. Make the cubes no bigger than 2 cm (3/4 inch)(try to make the cubes approximately the same size; the smaller the cubes the faster the stew will cook).
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the fennel and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the green onion and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the squash and sweet potato and cook for 2 minutes longer.
- Pour in the broth, diced tomatoes and coconut milk. Stir in the lentils, tomato paste, turmeric, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high. Once the stew starts to boil decrease the heat to medium-low and let simmer uncovered until the cubes of vegetables are soft (approximately 30 minutes but will vary based on cube size). Stir occasionally.
- Turn off the heat and add the apple cider vinegar. Option to use an immersion blender to thicken the stew. Use the blender in 1 second increments until desired thickness is achieved; avoid over-blending.
- Stir in the spinach. It will wilt down after one minute. Option to also stir in the parsley. Taste the stew and add more seasoning as necessary (salt, pepper, vinegar, cumin, chili powder and/or turmeric.
- Serve hot and top with extra parsley. Cool off extra stew and store in fridge (up to 5 days) or freezer (up to 3 months).
Notes
- FODMAP serving size is 1/10th recipe (approx. 1.5 cups of stew).
- It is essential to rinse the canned lentils well. Canned lentils are lower FODMAP than dried lentils because some of the FODMAPs leach out into the canning liquid.
- Buttercup squash is not the same as butternut squash. Butternut squash has a FODMAP limit of 1/4 cup per serving according to the Monash app; other winter squashes do not have a FODMAP limit. You can use buttercup, kabocha/japanese pumpkin or acorn squash.
- Many commercial stocks contain onion and/or garlic. Onion or garlic may also be hiding under the name “natural flavours” in the ingredients list. If natural flavours is in the ingredients list, you should contact the company to learn if it contains onion or garlic.
I hope you enjoy this low FODMAP vegan stew! If you are on Pinterest, check out my new Autumn/Fall Low FODMAP Recipes board.
I also have two other soup/stew recipes on my blog:
This sounds amazing and I’d like to try it with dried lentils (since that’s all I could find in the store). If I cooked the lentils separately then rinsed them well, would that be comparable to using canned lentils?
You could try that. I use canned in the recipe because the serving size is larger – 1/2 cup max for canned lentils vs 1/4 cup max for dried lentils. Since the stew cooks for about 30 minutes you could also just add the dried lentils in at the start along with an extra cup of broth. I have not made this with dried lentils yet but I’m confident it would still work.
So excited to try this recipe! Thankyou!! It’s cooking on our old wood stove and smells delicious. Nice way to welcome in cold Autumn nights!
Yes I love making this stew because it makes my kitchen smell so wonderful! I hope you enjoyed it 🙂
Hi Lauren,
Looking forward to trying this recipe.i was wondering what broth brand was the link for the low for map broth? The link no longer goes the product. Thank you!
Thanks for letting me know Joy! The brand is GoBio – I have updated the post 🙂
Thank you so much! 🙂
This looks delicious, but I thought that fennel bulb was high FODMAP?
It really us delicious and I’ve made it about 3 times now. A low fodmap amount of Fennel Bulb is 48g. I had no issues whatsoever with this recipe.
We really enjoyed this recipe! Thank you Lauren, for sharing it. We followed the recipe exactly, and used shiro miso paste/water as the FODMAP broth. Also added some chilli flakes at the end for a little more “heat”. Delicious. Came across your recipe via Alana Scott’s “alittlebityummy” website. Thanks again.
Hi Christine, sorry for the delay in my response. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for the tips with using misopaste and chili flakes 🙂
I have just come across this recipe and would love to try it but am worried my IBS symptoms may be triggered by certain spices. I seem to be sensitive to both capsicum and chilli and have been told that capsicain? is a common denominator. Do you think the recipe would still be flavoursome if I omitted the chilli and reduced the cumin by about half. Or, better yet, can you suggest any gentler alternatives that would give an equally good result?
Hi Maree,
I haven’t personally tried this recipe with other spices yet. I like having a good Italian seasoning blend on hand because it tends to go with most foods! Or if you can find a curry powder without any chili that could be nice as well.
Hope that helps
Lauren
Hi Lauren,
I have a question about the amount of canned diced tomatoes when I change the serving size. For every serving size I entered, it always says 398 ml for how much of a small can to use, and I don’t know how to judge the size of a small can .
What would be the net weight of a small can for your recipe? Is that what you mean by 398 ml? If not, is there some way to change the measurement in milliliters to correspond with an increase in serving size?
I sure hope that my questions are understandable! I have all the vegetables cut, but I don’t know how to proceed. Thank you for your explanation!
Hi Debbie, sorry for the late reply! I changed the recipe so the mL will change when the serving size of the recipe is adjusted. Thanks for bringing this to my attention!
I have just started the Low Fodmap Diet under the guidance of a Dietician and I made this yesterday and would like to say a huge thank you Lauren, it tasted absolutely delicious and I now have 9 more servings in the freezer – bonus. I used my liquidiser and made it a smooth stew. What I did do with mine is added some homemade smooth roasted peanut butter i.e. 10 teaspoons = 1 teaspoon a serving.
So easy to follow and make.
I would highly recommend this recipe.
I LOVE this recipe and so does my 19 year old son! Do you know what that calories are per serving ?