Campervan Mushroom Chickpea Stew: Easy One-Pan Van Recipe

This campervan mushroom chickpea stew is what happens when you open the larder in Florie and see what's still standing. I'd hoped for a jar of tomate frito and a handful of black beans. I found neither, so I made do with mushrooms, a small jar of chickpeas, a leek, an onion, a carrot, garlic, chilli flakes and the juice from a tin of tomatoes. It worked.

Where I cooked it: Albendín, Córdoba province

I'm parked at the área de autocaravanas in Albendín, in olive country in Córdoba province. There are two areas. The older one is tarmacked, with no electric hook-up. About 100m away is the newer one, which has free EHU, and I suspect it will take over from the old one, freeing up the tarmac as parking for the sports facilities next door.

The newer area is compacted earth rather than tarmac. It had rained in recent days and the ground was still firm underfoot, so it seems to hold up well, though I can't speak for a proper downpour. Young trees have been planted, which will give shade in a few years, and there are a couple of benches looking out over the olive groves.

The services are all free: fresh, grey and black water, plus bins at the entrance. I saw no sign of any charging infrastructure at the new area when I stayed in October 2026. There are a couple of bars and a park within walking distance, and the park has a municipal swimming pool, open in July and August only.

The village is well set up for sport, with a noria, indoor padel courts, five-a-side football pitches and a running track. I couldn't tell you whether the padel centre has showers: a kids' five-a-side competition was in full swing, it was chaos, and I gave it a miss.

Ingredients

• 250g fresh mushrooms
• About 120g chickpeas (half a standard jar), drained, with a splash of the liquor kept back
• 1 leek, sliced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• Red chilli flakes
• Olive oil (my Montetucci aceite verde)
• Juice from a tin of whole tomatoes (the tomatoes themselves went back in the fridge for another meal)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Fresh parsley, chopped
• Salt

How to Make Campervan Mushroom Chickpea Stew

1. Dry fry the mushrooms in a hot pan with no oil until they release their liquid and then brown. Set them aside. Keep the salt back for now, so they brown rather than stew.
2. Add a glug of olive oil to the same pan and sauté the leek, onion and carrot with a pinch of salt until soft and sweet.
3. Stir in the garlic and chilli flakes for the last minute.
4. Pour in the juice from the tin of tomatoes, add the chickpeas and a splash of the chickpea liquor to loosen it, and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the sauce has reduced enough to coat the chickpeas rather than pool around them.
5. Return the mushrooms to the pan for the last few minutes so they keep their bite.
6. Squeeze in the lemon juice, taste for salt, and scatter with chopped parsley.

Notes

The chickpea liquor is pale and slightly starchy, so it thickens the sauce better than water. If you have tomate frito, use a few spoonfuls in place of the tomato juice.

The olive oil was my Montetucci aceite verde. I wouldn't usually cook with it, but it was all I had in the van.

I planned to add black beans and rinsed them in advance, because black bean liquor turns everything murky. In the end they stayed in the larder, which keeps this a straightforward mushroom and chickpea stew. They would go in well if you want something heartier.

It was very tasty, and it made a proper supper for one with a view of the olive groves to go with it. That's the whole point of a campervan mushroom chickpea stew: cheap, cooked in one pan, and hard to get wrong.

If this stew saved your supper, you can buy me a coffee ☕ on Ko-fi.

This campervan mushroom chickpea stew is featured in my Campervan Cooking Recipes hub, a collection of meals cooked in Florie on a two-ring hob, my Veggie & Vegan Recipes hub, my Veg, Fruit & Pulses Hub and my Chickpea Recipes hub. Browse every collection in the recipe hubs.