Ghanaian Spinach Stew with Chickpeas (Vegan)
I was first introduced to the Ghanaian spinach stew over a decade ago when my husband Michael and I first started dating. It’s traditionally made with either red meat such as beef, lamb, or tuna, mackerel, and eggs.
I remember Michael’s dad used to cook it on low for hours, letting it simmer on the stove and infuse all those flavours. His version was always my favourite.
As time went on, and we both became vegan, we needed to make some adjustments to the recipe. We weren’t prepared to say goodbye to this delicious stew that I, in particular, had learned to love over the years.
So we leaned on Michael’s sister and worked out that chickpeas worked really well in this spinach stew. We also know that not everyone has time to have it simmer on the stove for hours, and have managed to achieve a very similar result with half the amount of time!
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Each time his sister would make a batch for the family when we would visit, she would separate some for us and add the canned chickpeas. Such an easy dish to adjust!
With such simple, staple ingredients, you can make this recipe when you’re standing in your kitchen scratching your head wondering what to make for dinner.
It’s a budget-friendly, healthy, flavourful and hands-off recipe to make for the whole family to enjoy. And what I mean by hands-off is that you don’t need to do too much. You can walk away if you need to, and it won’t be a disaster.
It uses frozen spinach, so you can whip this up whenever you feel like it. We have at least a few boxes of frozen spinach in our freezer, ready to go.
With the limited fresh ingredients required for this Ghanaian spinach stew, you can plan it out as part of your weekly meal rotation very easily.
It takes no more than 40 minutes to make, and will fill you up!
You might also remember this recipe from over five years ago when we first launched TMV and included it (at the time) in our free One Week of Meals Cookbook. I cannot believe it has taken us so long to put it up on the website for all of you to enjoy!
This Ghanaian spinach stew with chickpeas can be served with:
- Brown rice (as pictured)
- White rice
- Yams
- Plantain
- Kenkey (fermented ground white corn)
- Taro root
Such a simple, yet delicious meal. I’m so grateful to be able to continue enjoying this meal, vegan or not.
Other recipes you’ll love:
- African Vegan Peanut Soup with Rice Balls
- Vegan Black-Eyed Bean Stew
- Hearty Mung Bean Stew With Kale
- Creamy Red Lentil Curry (Vegan-Friendly)
- Quick Chickpea Spinach Curry (Vegan)
If you try this recipe, let me know! We’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below. Want to go that extra mile? Tag us on Instagram or share your photo of the recipe on Pinterest. Don’t want to make it now? Pin it for later!
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Ghanaian Spinach Stew with Chickpeas
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
Description
A budget-friendly, super easy spinach stew that utilises staple ingredients in your pantry. A tasty addition to your weekly rotation.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup / 60ml rice bran oil, (or any other neutral cooking oil)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2–3 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
- ½ teaspoon chilli powder, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 can / 400g / 14.10 ounces diced tomato
- 500g / 1.1 pounds frozen chopped spinach
- 1 can / 425g / 14.99 ounces chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot on medium heat, add the oil, onion, garlic and ginger. Saute for around 8 minutes until the onions start to brown a little and it has released a nice aroma. Stirring occasionally.
- Add in the chilli and turmeric powders and stir in well, cooking for a further couple of minutes.
- Followed by tomato paste and cook for a minute or so, stirring and combining well.
- Now add in the diced tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes, with the lid slightly askew.
- Add in the spinach and put the lid back on. This will help for the spinach to nicely defrost and dissolve into the tomato sauce. Give it a stir after a few minutes. Letting it cook all together for around 5 minutes.
- Lastly, add in the drained chickpeas and season to taste, stir and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Serve with rice or any other suggestions that I’ve listed above.
- Diet: Vegan
This is DELICIOUS. I love spinach stew. I’m not vegan or vegetarian, but I enjoy meatless dishes, especially as sides to make a meal instead of just having regular ol’ vegetables. Lol. Borrrinnggg. I will be making this again, and again, and again. Plus it’s SO cheap. HUGE plus for me. 😉 Thanks for sharing. God bless! 😊💙
This is a tasty and healthy dish to make! Though, I did not have frozen spinach but used fresh. Cutting the spinach added a lot of time on top of what you were already doing so I can see why frozen is being used. Majority of the ingredients are easily accessble so there’s no jumping from shop to shop to get something.
I have made this a few times now, and it is just the best. I’ve made quite a few vegan recipes over the years, and I can say this is the easiest, quickest, cheapest (and most importantly, yummiest) dish in my opinion.
Thank you so much for sharing!!!
– Sami
I’m so glad you loved it, Sami! I really appreciate your comment, but next time, would you mind leaving a star rating with your review? Thanks! 😊
I still stick by my comment from last year!!!
This is so good and was super easy to make! Definitely a keeper.
Glad you like it! Thanks for the review x
Can I use tinned Callaloo instead of spinach?
I’ve never cooked with Callaloo, so I can’t say. Although from what I researched, I think it’s worth a shot.
Hey this looks delicious!
Would the taste be altered if I don’t use the chilli powder?
Planning on making it for my 17 month old and the rest of the family of course. ☺️
Hi Vanessa, leaving the chilli powder out is fine. Heat just adds more flavour if you like spicy food. Hope you love it!
This meal was so tasty! It was very simple and I will definitely add it to my regular recipe rotation! Looking forward to trying some of your other recipes 🙂
Thank you for this recipe. I actually reminds me of the Indian dish chicken or vegetable palak. I made a few modifications, and it was so yummy. I used fresh spinach, rather than frozen. I didn’t have chickpeas, so I just used tomatoes. I also used the leftover stew I had from the jollof rice I made. It felt like an authentic Ghanaian cuisine, with the shitto on top. Thank you for this recipe.
I wrote a longer review and it erased. I made this recipe times 7 and added habanero pepper to make it taste more like what I ate growing up. Thanks and keep it coming with more vegan Ghana recipes please! My husband loved it!
Another fantastic recipe. Again super easy to make and so flavoursome. Personally, I find this a handy recipe because I always have a stockpile of chickpeas and way too much spinach in my house. Thanks,guys!
Yay! Another one for the win! 🙂 Thanks for your beautiful comment x
I sub with cannelloni beans. You definitely inspire my cooking for my clients and love ones.
Thank you.
Oh sounds like a great alternative! So happy to hear 🙂
I love the look of this meal. Spinach and chickpea is such a great combination! I will add this to my pinterest meals. Would you check out my meals & vegan gifts if you get chance on plantbasedcards.co.uk thanks 😀
Made it last night for dinner we loved it but I had to substitute the beans because for some reason I can’t eat chickpeas anymore. It just leaves me feeling awful.
On a happy note I always loved your blog after another chef friend of mind told me about you. But now I love you even more because you are married to an African.
Next recipe will be the African Peanut soup…my husband keeps asking for something with Peanut sauce.
Glad you enjoyed it! What did you sub them for? Or just left them out?
Hahaha happy to hear you love our blog 🙂 Means a lot. I hope you enjoy the soup!