Ras el Hanout Chickpea and Spinach Stew
Updated Sept. 12, 2025
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 2tablespoons olive oil, plus more to serve
- 3garlic cloves, minced
- 1¼teaspoons ras el hanout (see Tip)
- 3tablespoons tomato paste
- 1cup vegetable stock, plus more if needed
- 1tablespoon soy sauce
- Fine sea salt
- 3(15-ounce) cans chickpeas, rinsed
- 5cups/5 ounces packed spinach leaves (stemmed and roughly torn if large)
- ½cup Greek yogurt or lemon wedges (optional), for serving
- Crusty bread, couscous, bulgur or rice, for serving
- 3tablespoons olive oil
- 1tablespoon harissa paste
For the Stew
For the Harissa Oil (optional)
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
461 calories; 19 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 57 grams carbohydrates; 15 grams dietary fiber; 11 grams sugars; 19 grams protein; 817 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the stew: Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium. Add the garlic and ras el hanout and stir until fragrant, about a minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly until the tomato paste darkens slightly in color, about 2 minutes.
- Step 2
Add the stock, soy sauce and ½ teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook for 10 minutes, until the sauce slightly darkens in color and its flavors have melded.
- Step 3
Add the chickpeas and simmer until they are warm and soft, about 10 minutes. Add the spinach and stir until wilted and fully incorporated into the stew, about 3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning with more salt if needed. If the stew starts getting too thick, feel free to add a few more spoonfuls of stock or water.
- Step 4
If using, make the harissa oil: In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil and harissa until well incorporated.
- Step 5
Serve the stew warm, with a dollop of Greek yogurt or lemon wedges on the side, and a drizzle of olive oil (or harissa oil), if desired. Enjoy with crusty bread or over grains like couscous, bulgur or rice.
- Ras el hanout is widely available online and in larger grocery stores. If you’d like to make your own, stir together the following ingredients: 1 teaspoon each ground turmeric, ground coriander, ground ginger, ground cumin, ground cardamom and ground nutmeg, plus ½ teaspoon each ground aniseed, ground caraway seeds, ground fennel, ground cloves and ground black pepper. (This blend makes about 3 tablespoons ras el hanout.)
Private Notes
Comments
@Breece Hall vegetarian good, carnivore less so, but cannibalism not really acceptable.
Doubled the stock and Ras El Hanout but will triple when making again. Easy recipe with layers of flavor. This will be a regular vegetarian comfort dish in our household.
Pretty easy and quick. Pretty tasty too. It needed more than a cup of stock, and it needed a larger dose of ras el hanout. I added some shredded leftover rotisserie chicken to my pot, which helped it considerably.
We like this stew. As others have noted, there was not enough stock to cover the chickpeas and I added more ras al hanut. I also reduce the tomato paste by half and used a can of diced tomatoes to augment the amount of broth and the tomato flavor.
I thought the flavor in this was meh, even though I used fresh spices and added a bit more than the recipe called for. I wonder if a chopped onion would help. I love chick peas and have made other recipes that have a better flavor balance.
This was so good!!! Per the comments, I used chicken broth (about 4ish cups), added more garlic, minced onion, Swiss chard, only 1 can of chickpeas and chicken. I served it with some garlic naan! I’ll definitely be making this again!