This easy vegan recipe can be made on the stovetop quickly, and includes hearty whole foods that are easy to find ingredients. This recipe is appropriate for the whole family – it’s easy to make spicier or milder to taste by adjusting how much chipotle powder you use, and adjust to your personal preferences.

I get lots of leftovers when I make this recipe, so I have used it many different ways. We often eat this with a piece of homemade bread or over whole grain rice. I also have this with rice inside a burrito. To so so, I use a slotted spoon to pull out the fillings, and then spoon a bit of the broth into the burrito so it isn’t too runny. There are many different toppings you can use to dress up this stew in new ways. A bit of avocado is recommended.

Creamy Southwest Bean and Potato Stew
Ingredients
Broth and seasonings:
- 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
- 1 cup oat milk Substitute water or other plant-based milk of choice
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup Optional. Substitute brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp onion powder Or granulated
- 1 Tbsp chipotle powder More to taste, for heat
- 2 Tbsp potato starch Heaping. See notes for substitutes
Vegetables
- 2 cups tomatoes Chopped or diced
- 1/2 cup tomatillos (or more tomatoes) Chopped or diced
- 1/2 cup onion Chopped
- 1.5 cup corn This is one can
- 1.5 cups black beans Cooked. 1 can, or 1/2 cup dry
- 2 cups potato Chopped
- 1/2 jalapeño Minced, include seeds for heat
- 1/2 anaheim pepper Chopped. Optional
- 1 cup carrots Chopped or diced
- 1 cup Swiss chard or kale Chopped
Optional toppings
- Salt and pepper To taste
- Parsley
- Lime juice
- Cilantro
- Avocado
Instructions
- Add the vegetable broth to a large pot on the stovetop and heat to a simmer.
- While the broth is heating, add the oat milk or water, garlic, nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds, syrup, onion powder, chipotle powder and potato starch to a high powered blender and blend until smooth (this is all remaining ingredients uder the "broth and seasonings" category above). Use more water or broth from the stovetop pot if necessary to blend. Add spice blend to the pot on the stove.
- Wash and prepare the vegetables and add to the pot when done. Note that you can reserve the swiss chard or kale to add closer to the end of cooking if you prefer.
- Bring to a simmer, and then allow to simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes and carrots are fork tender to your preference.
- Serve on its own, over rice, or with tortillas.
Notes
You could also make this in the slow cooker. Hold the swiss chard or kale until the end of the cooking time if you make it this way.
Alternatives and adjustments
You can use fresh corn or canned corn, and likewise for the beans. You could add different types of beans, or even double up on how many you put in. Adding additional pinto beans or kidney beans would certainly work well – I have done this and it’s even more hearty and you end up with more handy leftovers as a result.

- Pad Thai Protein Salad recipe from The Plant-Based Cookbook + Book Review and Giveaway! - December 9, 2020
- Lemon ginger bowl sauce with miso recipe (Oil free, no added sodium) - November 30, 2020
- New vegan bacon at Whole Foods Market – 300 store roll-out - November 15, 2020
Kirsten
We really enjoyed this soup! Had it over brown basmati rice. Will definitely make this soup again.
I didn’t have any oat milk, so, just added a cup of water. Then, the seasoning mix was tough to get out of the vitamix even after blending with some of the water, so, I decided to add 1/3 cup cashews and 1 cup of water to the carafe to make a spicy cashew milk. Also, we didn’t have enough chipotle powder and ending up subbing half smoked paprika.
Jen @ Plant Based Recipe
So glad you liked it!! Gosh and thanks for noting the blender — the oat milk/water was meant to be in the blending step. Oops! Corrected that 🙂 Thanks so much for the note so I could make the correction!
LJ Grant
This recipe is so darned good! We’ve made it twice now, and it seems like a “no fail” affair (though we are experienced WFPB cooks already.)
Thank you so much for this wonderful stew — it makes enough for us to have leftovers (just we two eaters) and it’s absolutely just as good reheated as directly out of the pot. Kudos to you!
Jen (@PlantBasedRecipe)
I’m so, so glad you liked it!! Thanks for the comment! It’s a regular on our end too, largely for those easy leftovers 🙂