Savory vegan mushroom stew with apple butter: Dutch classic with a twist

A vegan and fatfree twist on the traditional Dutch beef stew, known for its rich, sweet, and savory flavors. This plantbased version swaps out beef for hearty mushrooms. Slowcooked with caramelized onions and a generous helping of sweet apple butter. The addition of dates adds a natural creaminess to the sauce. This dish captures the essence of the classic stew I loved growing up. It’s perfect for cozy evenings and family gatherings like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

What do you combine this stew with?

In Holland beef stew is often served with red cabbage and apples, like in the photo. They elevate eachother and form a perfect match. My vegan stew takes over that role effordlessly.

Other Dutch recipes

Do you like Dutch cuisine? Than take a look at my kale stamppot with shiitake mushrooms.

Granny’s stew was the best!

My grandmother made the best stew: sweet, soft and with a thick sauce. Every bite melted in your mouth. She traditionally used fatty beef and a lot of butter. To bind the sauce she crumbled in a kind of Dutch cake with pumpkin spices, called ontbijtkoek, which is most definitely not glutenfree and loaded with refined sugar. I replaced the beef with mushrooms and the fat and ‘ontbijtkoek’ with dates. She also used her secret ingredient, which turned out to be quite traditional: ‘appelstroop’. I had to look it up and I learned in English it’s called apple butter. And for me this apple butter is the key to come close to the authentic stew of my childhood.

Apple butter

Apple butter has nothing to do with butter and everything with apples. A lot of apples, since it’s made of highly concentrated apple sauce. Cooked until the natural sugars caramelize. So it’s actually a kind of thick syrup, comparable with date syrup but even thicker. A good apple butter has no additives. Most of all: no extra sugar should be added.

Ingredients

• Mushrooms – I used oyster and shiitake because they are firm. Especially oyster mushrooms have a meatlike texture. Be sure not to cut them too fin, rather tear strips by hand. If not available you can use any kind of mushrooms you can get your hands on.
• Mushroom powder – to add deepness I used dried and ground mushrooms. I had a combo of Reishi and Chaga but any kind will do. If you can’t get your hands on any, leave it out and replace the water with vegetable broth.
• Apple butter – use pure, 100% made from apples. Can be replaced with date syrup.
• Red onion – I personally like the deep and layered taste of red onion. But you can use a regular opinion as well.
• Medjoul dates – preferably thick and soft dates.
• Paprika powder – you can use regular or smoked.
• Pumpkin spice – I actually use a Dutch blend called speculaas spices. It’s fairly comparable and has cinnamon, ginger, a touch of mace and nutmeg.
• Parsley and chives – I used dried and ground.
• Chili flakes – Not authentic, but I like a bit of spice. You can leave it out.
• Olive oil – optional and not fatfree. It will add some crisp to the mushrooms.

FAQ’s