Moroccan Pumpkin & Chickpea Stew
Moroccan Pumpkin & Chickpea Stew is filled with warm spices, heart-healthy produce, and protein-rich chickpeas for a warm, cozy lunch or dinner that’s both hearty and delicious!
Fall is here, the pumpkins have made their appearance, and I couldn’t resist putting them into this Moroccan Pumpkin & Chickpea Stew. Filled with warm spices and heart-healthy produce, this is the perfect way to use this winter squash!
I’ve never used pumpkin, other than store-bought puree for baking, so this was something new. Happily, it was a delicious and much welcome addition to the recipe collection.
Alone, this veggie-filled chickpea stew is hearty, but adding a grain not only makes it more filling, but it will also make the stew go even further. However you serve it, you can expect leftovers to feast on this for a day or two or freeze the remaining portions for later.
The combination of flavors is a nice break from the everyday normal foods that we tend to eat, and I think you’re going to love it as much as we do!
Ingredients & Substitutions
This hearty chickpea stew includes a variety of veggies, aromatics, and spices simmered until tender and served with an optional grain of choice for a quick and easy fall recipe everyone will enjoy!
Here is everything you will need, including ingredient substitutions where noted:
- Chickpeas – use canned garbanzo beans or fresh cooked chickpeas like these Instant Pot Chickpeas
- Pumpkin – look for sugar pumpkins, they are smaller, sweeter and less stringy than the larger varieties. If regular pumpkin is not in season, use any winter squash such as butternut, kabocha, acorn, or delicata.
- Carrots
- Sweet potatoes
- Tomatoes – use canned diced tomatoes for ease, or 4 fresh chopped tomatoes
- Onion
- Garlic – fresh is best, but can sub with 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- Ginger – use fresh ginger or 1 – 2 teaspoon ground
- Spices – simple warming spices of cinnamon, cumin, and red pepper flakes, along with coriander will be enveloping our root vegetables and chickpeas
- Raisins – raisins plump up when cooking and a slight sweetness, use golden or regular
- Spinach – I used baby spinach, can also sub with baby kale
- Vegetable paste – Instead of buying broth, I use this Better Than Bouillon (affiliate link) with water. I only use a very small amount (about 1/2 tsp), making the jar last. You can also find it at the grocery store next to the broths, generally on the upper shelves.
How To Make Moroccan Pumpkin & Chickpea Stew
Here you will find a quick overview of the recipe with photos for reference. The full printable recipe is available at the bottom of this post in the recipe card.
- Pumpkin. Preparing the pumpkin will be the hardest part of this recipe. The curvy shape is a bit odd and the skin is harder than some other winter squashes, but comes off clean with a vegetable peeler. Once you get the hang of it you’ll finish in no time. It’ll be worth the effort. If you can find it already pre-cut by all means use that.
- Remaining veggies. As you can see by the prepped vegetables above, this stew is full of golden colors and a great source of beta-carotene and vitamin A, making it a healthy, heart smart meal. ❤️
- Saute. In a large dutch oven or pot, heat oil over medium-high heat, add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and spices, cook another minute or until fragrant.
- Add remaining ingredients. Add carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, tomatoes, chickpeas, broth/water, and a good pinch of salt.
- Simmer. And raisins, give a good stir, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 – 40 minutes, or until pumpkin is fork tender.
- Add spinach. Add in the greens of choice and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning adding salt, pepper or any other additional spices or raisins.
And that’s it! It’s a perfect pumpkin + chickpea stew for the coming fall weather.
Enjoy often while pumpkins are in season!
Top Tips
- Serve with avocado. This soup is especially delicious served with avocado, adding creaminess and another layer of flavor!
How To Store + Reheat
- Refrigerator: Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 6 days.
- Freezer: This pumpkin chickpea stew is freezer friendly and can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 – 3 months. To freeze, simply let the stew cool completely and store in freezer safe multi-use glass containers (affiliate link) leaving 1/2 inch head space for expansion. Alternatively, store in ziplock bags, removing as much as possible before sealing. Let thaw in the refrigerator.
- Reheat: Warm on the stove over low heat until warmed through. Alternatively, reheat in the microwave using 30 – 60 intervals, stirring between each, until warmed through.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this chickpea stew alone or pair with any of these sides for an even heartier meal:
- Grain: Serve with white rice, brown rice, or this Cilantro-Lime Rice. It would be great with couscous too! Or for grain-free, quinoa is a great choice. You can make this Instant Pot Quinoa while the stew is cooking.
- Bread: This Moroccan chickpea stew would pair perfectly with homemade Vegan Naan for swiping up the last of the juices.
- Toppings: Adding a squeeze of lime adds brightness with its zesty juices. Chopped cilantro adds a touch of freshness and color. And, adding diced, sliced or quartered avocado lends creaminess and is highly recommended!
More Cozy Vegan Recipes!
- Mushroom Bourguignon
- Curry Red Lentil Stew with Kale & Chickpeas
- Chickpea Tikka Masala
- 30-Minute Chana Masala
- Mushroom + Lentil Ragu
If you try this chickpea stew recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment and rate it below. I love to hear what you think, or any changes you make.
PrintMOROCCAN PUMPKIN & CHICKPEA STEW
Hearty and delicious, pair this Moroccan Pumpkin and Chickpeas Stew with any grain of choice. I used a sugar pumpkin, but any winter squash will do.
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 45 min
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4 – 6 1x
- Category: Stew, Entree
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Moroccan
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut or olive oil, or 1/4 cup water (for water saute)
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 inch knob of ginger, grated or minced
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons coriander
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick
- good pinch of red pepper flakes
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 small sweet potatoes, cubed
- 1 small sugar pumpkin (about 3 –4 cups), cubed (or butternut squash)
- 1 can (28 oz) stewed tomatoes
- 3 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 cans (15oz), drained and rinsed
- 3 cups vegetable broth or water
- 1/4 cup raisins (I used golden)
- mineral salt & fresh cracked pepper, to taste
- few large handfuls baby kale or spinach (chopped whole ok too)
- lemon or lime wedges, to serve
- cilantro, to garnish
Instructions
Pumpkin: Prepare your pumpkin by slicing in half, removing seeds with a spoon and slice halves into quarters. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the hard skin. Alternatively, turn slices on their sides and carefully sheer the hard skin off from top to bottom. Cube into 1 inch pieces.
Saute: In a large dutch oven or pot, heat oil over medium-high heat, add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and spices, cook another minute or until fragrant.
Simmer: Add carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, tomatoes, chickpeas, broth/water, good pinch of salt and raisins, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 – 40 minutes, or until pumpkin is fork tender.
Add spinach: Add in greens of choice and cook until wilted. Taste for seasoning adding salt, pepper or any other additional spices or raisins.
Serve: In individual serving bowls, spoon stew over a grain of choice – rice, quinoa or couscous work well here. Top with cilantro and squeeze of lemon/lime. Pairs great with a piece of vegan naan.
Serves 4 – 6
Store: Leftovers are even better and can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 days. For longer storage, freeze for up to 2 – 3 months. Let thaw in the refrigerator.
Notes
Use any winter squash you like here – butternut, delicata or kombucha make great replacements.
In place of the raisins, you can use chopped dates and apricots. Both are commonly used in Moroccan cuisine.
If you don’t have kale or spinach this recipe will be just fine with cilantro over top or no greens at all. I like the addition of some kind of green for color and another layer of flavor.
More Cooking Methods
- Slow-Cooker: Add all the ingredients to the bowl of a slow cooker, except the spinach, give a good stir. Cook on LOW for 6 – 8 hours or HIGH for 3 – 4 hours, or until root veggies are tender. Stir in greens, let wilt, and serve as suggested above.
- Instant Pot: Add ingredients to the bottom of the Instant Pot bowl, except the spinach. Attach lid, turn to LOCK position, and to the valve to SEALING. Manually set to HIGH pressure and cook for 4 minutes, let natural release for 5 minutes. Stir in the spinach and let wilt. Serve as suggested above.
Nutritional values are estimates only. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Updated: This recipe was originally published in October 2015. It has been retested and updated with new photos and helpful tips in September 2020.
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I combined this recipe with my favourite moghrabieh recipe and I thought I’d share the tweaks because it was delicious, especially because I was missing a few ingredients! I fried off my onion with salt in olive oil until translucent and then added tomato paste, and used diced kent pumpkin and carrot. I added that to the pan and fried it off, added garlic and some of my spice mix (ground coriander, ground cinnamon, ground cumin, ground turmeric, and crushed fennel seeds). I added my chickpeas and then about a cup of water/as needed with half a vegetable stock cube crushed in it (I find stock a bit salty so this helped, and I used the rest of the stock cube in the water for my couscous). Seasoned with salt and pepper and put a lid on to let it stew, would have loved some sultanas but didn’t have them unfortunately. I made my couscous (moroccan couscous) while it stewed, stirring occasionally. When the veggies were nice and soft I took the lid off (there wasn’t much liquid left but now’s the time to boil off), add spinach until just wilted and lemon to taste. Would’ve been awesome with bread or rice, and maybe some pine nuts or cashews or something for texture. Super yummy with the spices I added! Sorry I didn’t have any fresh ginger though, sounds lovely.
★★★★★