Creamy Gochujang Black Bean Stew with Crispy Garlic
This Creamy Gochujang Black Bean Stew with Crispy Garlic builds up its incredible savory flavor all in one pan. Budget friendly and packed with nutrition!
Why You’ll Love This Creamy Gochujang Black Bean Stew
- Budget-friendly. Using in season fall veggies and bean makes this filling meal friendly for your wallet.
- Hearty and satisfying. Combining complex starches and protein together in meals makes them so much more filling and satisfying.
- Packed with fiber. We can all stand to consume more fiber from our meals! The beans and squash here help to make this soup a significant source of fiber.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Butternut Squash: I used butternut squash, but feel free to use acorn squash, kabocha squash, or sweet potatoes.
- Black Beans: Feel free to use red kidney beans or chickpeas as an alternative.
- Gochujang: This is a spicy and fermented Korean red pepper paste. It is much easier to find this condiment in stores now. If you can, please stick to this ingredient without swapping.
- Onion: I used yellow onion, but red onion can work here too.
- Aromatics: I used a combination of ginger and garlic. If not a fan of ginger feel free to leave it out and add a little more garlic.
- Scallions: For an extra fresh taste, I like to use the scallions at the end to garnish the bowl.
- Tamari: This is a wheat free soy sauce, but feel free to use regular soy sauce.
- Maple Syrup: You can use whatever sweetener you like and feel free to adjust the amount based on your preference. Feel free
- Broth: I can’t emphasize enough how important a good quality vegetable broth is when making soups or stews. You can absolutely make your own or use a brand you know you love. I personally like to use Better Than Bouillon or Edward & Sons to reconstitute my own broths for recipes.
- Peanut Butter: Use natural runny peanut butter. I personally use a ShopRite branded natural peanut butter (just peanuts and salt). You can also swap with almond butter, cashew butter or even a good quality tahini.
How to Make Creamy Gochujang Black Bean Stew and Crispy Garlic
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium low heat. When hot, add the sliced garlic, making sure the garlic is touching the oil. Allow the garlic to cook in the oil until it starts to become golden brown in color, about 3 minutes. Make sure to monitor the garlic as it cooks because some garlic slices may finish cooking faster than others. Transfer the garlic slices to a bowl lined with paper towels and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.
To the same pan add the onions with a pinch of salt and saute for 4-5 minutes until the onions have softened. Add the minced garlic, ginger, and the white portion of the scallions and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Stir in the gochujang into the onion mixture and continue to saute for about 3 minutes.
Add in the cubed squash along with another pinch of salt. Saute the mixture for about 5 minutes. Add 1-2 tbsp of the vegetable broth then partially cover the pan with a lid and allow to cook undisturbed for about 5 minutes. Remove the lid and use your spatula to scrape and stir the squash well then place the lid back on for 5 minutes or until the cubes have partially softened.
As you wait, add the vegetable broth, tamari, vinegar, and maple syrup to a large measuring cup or bowl and whisk together.
To the pan, pour in the black beans and vegetable broth mixture and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a simmer then partially cover with the lid and cook for 20 minutes or until the butternut squash is fully cooked through.
Remove the lid, add the peanut butter, lime zest and juice and stir until everything is evenly mixed together.
Serve the stew over some cooked rice, then top with some of the remaining scallions, crispy garlic slices, sesame seeds and sesame oil if desired.
Hack the Recipe
- Save time. I feel like the thing that takes the longest with this recipe is handling the squash. If you feel this is a barrier to you enjoying this recipe, use pre-chopped butternut squash. This time of year it is typically always available in the produce section. And if wanting to enjoy this with rice, get frozen rice from the frozen section to reheat for this meal.
- Make grating ginger easier. For the easiest time grating ginger, clean/peel your ginger root and stick it in the freezer. Freezing it helps make grating it so much easier without the fibers getting in the way to clog your grater.
- Adjust the spice. If you are really sensitive to spice, feel free to adjust the amount of gochujang being used. Personally, I like things spicy so I will tend to use more gochujang than the recipe instructions sometimes. However, you may need less, so feel free to cut it back to just 1 tbsp if needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Once the stew cools to appropriate temperature, store it in an airtight container and place in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze this stew. I’m a big fan of freezing meals in individual portions, it is one of the reasons I really love these souper storage containers.
Ensure you use a gluten-free tamari or soy sauce as well as a gluten-free gochujang to keep this recipe gluten-free.
Consider stirring in some baked shredded tofu or tempeh at the end of cooking.
Make It Balanced
These are a lot of ways to enjoy a stew, but my favorite options include serving it over a grain like rice or quinoa or try enjoying it with some bread (some toasted crusty bread or a warm pita instantly come to mind). Serving it this way ensures that you are getting a protein, vegetable, and carb all in one, which also helps optimize your nutrient intake.
More Hearty Plant-Based Dishes
- Buffalo Tofu Cutlets with Celery Ranch Slaw
- Double Lentil Sweet Potato Soup
- Creamy Chipotle Bean Salad
- Roasted Butternut Squash Gnocchi Soup
- Mango Chickpea Salad
If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog, then let me know what you thought in the comments below! And if you loved it, don’t forget to rate it too. Feel free to follow on Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok for the latest nutrition tips and recipe videos.
PrintCreamy Gochujang Black Bean Stew with Crispy Garlic
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 48 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 3 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: One Pot
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Creamy Gochujang Black Bean Stew builds up its incredible savory flavor all in one pan. Budget friendly and packed with nutrition!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 6 cloves garlic (3 cloves thinly sliced and 3 cloves minced)
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green ends separated)
- 2 tbsp gochujang
- 1.5 lb butternut squash, peeled and cubed
- 2, 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cups good quality vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp tamari
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp natural peanut butter
- Zest and juice of 1 lime
- Kosher salt
For serving: cooked rice or toasted bread, toasted sesame seeds, sesame oil
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium low heat. When hot, add the sliced garlic, making sure the garlic is touching the oil. Allow the garlic to cook in the oil until it starts to become golden brown in color, about 3 minutes. Make sure to monitor the garlic as it cooks because some garlic slices may finish cooking faster than others. Transfer the garlic slices to a bowl lined with paper towels and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.
- To the same pan add the onions with a pinch of salt and saute for 4-5 minutes until the onions have softened. Add the minced garlic, ginger, and the white portion of the scallions and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add the gochujang and stir it into the onion mixture and continue to saute for about 3 minutes.
- Add in the cubed squash along with another pinch of salt. Saute the mixture for about 5 minutes. Add 1-2 tbsp of the vegetable broth then partially cover the pan with a lid and allow to cook undisturbed for about 5 minutes. Remove the lid and use your spatula to scrape and stir the squash well then place the lid back on for 5 minutes or until the cubes have partially softened.
- As you wait, add the vegetable broth, tamari, vinegar, and maple syrup to a large measuring cup or bowl and whisk together.
- To the pan, pour in the black beans and vegetable broth mixture and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a simmer then partially cover with the lid and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the butternut squash is fully cooked through.
- Remove the lid, add the peanut butter, lime zest and juice and stir until everything is evenly mixed together.
- Serve the stew over some cooked rice, then top with some of the remaining scallions, crispy garlic slices, sesame seeds and sesame oil if desired.
Notes
Save time. I feel like the thing that takes the longest with this recipe is handling the squash. If you feel this is a barrier to you enjoying this recipe, use pre-chopped butternut squash. This time of year it is typically always available in the produce section. And if wanting to enjoy this with rice, get frozen rice from the frozen section to reheat for this meal.
Make grating ginger easier. For the easiest time grating ginger, clean/peel your ginger root and stick it in the freezer. Freezing it helps make grating it so much easier without the fibers getting in the way to clog your grater.
Adjust the spice. If you are really sensitive to spice, feel free to adjust the amount of gochujang being used. Personally, I like things spicy so I will tend to use more gochujang than the recipe instructions sometimes. However, you may need less, so feel free to cut it back to just 1 tbsp if needed.
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