Calling all lentil lovers!  These amazing little legumes are shining bright in this flavorful and comforting French Lentil Rice Mushroom Stew that is sure to warm you up like a big cozy hug.  Protein-packed lentils, zesty onions, earthy garlic, crisp celery, sweet carrots, hearty mushrooms, earthy baby spinach, and chewy rice, simmered to perfection in an aromatic broth, now that’s a dinner worth writing home about. Plus, we made it easy by providing both Instant Pot and stove top instructions –win, win! This dish is filled with all your favorite healthy wholesome ingredients.

Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, no highly processed ingredients.

Hi there, Ameera here!

Sometimes you just need something that sticks to your ribs and makes you feel full and satisfied, but doesn’t take all day to make. This stew is exactly that. We used the Instant Pot to make this soul warming and ultra-satisfying stew.  We just can’t get enough – YUM!

Brown Basmati Rice

We used a brown basmati rice just to change things up a little. We normally use regular brown rice in many of our rice dishes.

The brown basmati has a light nutty flavor, which added a delicious addition of flavor to this stew.  We loved it; however, regular brown rice will work equally well too!

Red Wine

The red wine adds a nice depth of flavor that is really beautiful in this dish. It perfectly complements the mushrooms and rice. You can leave it out and replace it with broth, but we really LOVE the red wine flavors in this dish.

This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.

IP – Dried Rosemary

If you are using an Instant Pot, we recommend not putting the rosemary in until the end. We found that the Instant Pot really super intensified the natural beauty of the rosemary and almost made it too strong.  So placing it in at the end made more sense to us.

I’ll let Mom tell you more.

Hi!  Robin here!

We love our Instant Pot. We have been using it more often than we have in the past. We find that some recipes work better on the stove top; however, this recipe performed equally well on both the stove top and Instant Pot.

Using the Instant Pot really shaved off some time, so we were happy campers. We’ve included instructions for both stove top and Instant Pot.

We all loved this stew!  It’s both hearty and full of flavor. I love cremini mushrooms so when Monkey made this dish for me, I was delighted that she put mushrooms in this stew.

If you try this cozy stew, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us!  We would love to hear from you.

Products Used:

• Instant Pot or Ceramic/Enamel Lined Dutch Oven or similarly large stock pot with a tight-fitting lid.

French Lentil Rice Mushroom Stew

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• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 15 Minutes
• Cook Time: 26 Minutes (w/ Instant Pot)
• Total Time: 41 Minutes
• Yield: 4-5 Servings 1x
• Category: Stew
• Method: Instant Pot or Stovetop
• Cuisine: French

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Description

Calling all lentil lovers!  These amazing little legumes are shining bright in this flavorful and comforting French Lentil Rice Mushroom Stew that is sure to warm you up like a big cozy hug.  Protein-packed lentils, zesty onions, earthy garlic, crisp celery, sweet carrots, hearty mushrooms, earthy baby spinach, and chewy rice, simmered to perfection in an aromatic broth, now that’s a dinner worth writing home about. Plus, we made it easy by providing both Instant Pot and stove top instructions –win, win! This dish is filled with all your favorite healthy wholesome ingredients.

Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, no highly processed ingredients.

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Ingredients

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup red onions, small dice
• ¼ cup carrots, grated *
• 1/3 cup carrots, sliced into coins *
• ½ cup celery, small dice
• 8 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 Tablespoons reduced sodium tamari *
• 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
• ½ cup vegan red wine *
• ½ cup brown basmati rice (or rice of choice)
• 1 cup dried uncooked French lentils (or brown or green lentils)
• 2 cups vegetable broth *
• 3 cups water (or broth)

Spice/Herb Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 ¼ teaspoon onion powder
• 2 Tablespoons dried minced onion flakes
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves * (+/-)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon cumin (+/-)
• 1 to 1 ¼ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon black pepper (+/-)

Other Ingredients:

• 3 to 4 cups chopped baby spinach
• ¼ teaspoon to ½ teaspoon dried crushed rosemary (+/-) *

Other Optional Ingredients:

• Chopped parsley

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Instructions

Instant Pot Instructions

1. Place the Spice/Herb Ingredients except the dried crushed rosemary in a small bowl, mix well, set aside.
2. Prepare all the veggies and mushrooms, set aside.
3. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté (high) mode, then add the minced red onion, carrots (both grated and coins), celery, mushrooms and tamari, sauté for 5 to 7 minutes until the veggies start to soften and the mushrooms reduce in size. Then add the garlic and tomato paste, sauté for one minute. Then add the Spice/Herb mix and red wine, stirring constantly for one minute. Add the rice, stir to coat, about 30 seconds. Then add the lentils, broth and water. Stir to combine.
4. Press Cancel, then set the Instant Pot to Manual Pressure High for 14 minutes. When finished, press Canceland allow to sit for 5 minutes, then do a Quick Release.  Unplug the Instant Pot.
5. Once all the pressure is released, carefully remove the lid, pull out the bay leaves and discard, then stir in the baby spinach and dried crushed rosemary. Taste test the flavors and add any additional seasoning at this time, stir to combine, allow a few minutes for the flavors to marry. Serve topped with chopped parsley.

Stove Top Instructions

1. Place the Spice/Herb Ingredients in a small bowl, except the dried crushed rosemary, mix well, set aside.
2. Prepare all the veggies and mushrooms, set aside.
3. In a ceramic/enamel lined Dutch oven or similarly large stock pot, add the minced red onions, carrots (both grated and coins), celery, mushrooms and tamari. sauté for 5 to 7 minutes until the veggies start to soften and the mushrooms reduce in size. Then add the garlic and tomato paste, sauté for one minute.  Then add the Spice/Herb mix and red wine, stirring constantly for one minute. Add the rice, stir to coat, about 30 seconds. Then add the lentils, broth and water. Stir to combine.
4. Bring the mixture to a boil, then immediately lower to a simmer, cover with a lid. Simmer for approximately 35 to 45 minutes until the lentils and rice are tender.
5. Once tender, remove the lid, pull out the bay leaves and discard, then stir in the baby spinach and dried crushed rosemary. Taste test the flavors and add any additional seasoning at this time, stir to combine, allow a few minutes for the flavors to marry. Note: You may need to add some additional broth if the stew is too thick. Serve topped with chopped parsley.

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Notes

*Vegetable Stock:   We use Pacific Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Stock. We love this brand because it is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, as it does not contain MSG, has no oil, and does not contain any highly-processed ingredients.

*Carrots:  We used both grated carrots and coin carrots in this recipe, simply to add dimension of flavor.  The grated carrots tend to disintegrate into the soup broth which adds flavor directly into the broth.  The carrot coins add texture.

*Tamari: We used San J Tamari Soy Sauce, Gluten Free, Reduced Sodium.  You can substitute the tamari with reduced sodium soy sauce, Braggs Liquid Aminos, or Braggs Coconut Liquid Aminos.

*Vegan Red Wine:  The red wine is beautiful in this dish. It adds amazing flavor dimension. You do not have to add the red wine. We tried it with and without the wine and the flavor is very good without it, but the red wine adds an extra pop of flavor.  If you decide to not include it, add an equal amount of veggie broth or water.

*Dried Thyme Leaves:  We use Penzeys French Thyme.  It has amazing flavor.  If you can’t find dried thyme leaves, you can use ground thyme, but use half the amount.

*Rosemary:  Dried crushed rosemary seems to intensify in flavor when used in an Instant Pot.  We add it at the end for a really nice accent of flavor to this dish.

*Sea Salt:  Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

*Serving:  4 – 5

*Storage:  Refrigerate and use within 5 days.

This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.