Why Should You Try This Recipe?
If you are like me, married to a big meat eater, the idea of making homemade chili without meat may come off as a big goal to achieve. But believe me when I say, meatless chili can be just as delicious thanks to creative uses of a few simple ingredients.
However, that’s not all, here are a few more reasons why this vegan chili recipe is awesome:
- A plant-based chili recipe based on flavors and textures: When I set out to find the best vegan chili recipe ever, I had one thing in mind and that is to create a no meat chili recipe that mimics the flavors and textures of chili made with ground meat. This recipe achieves that thanks to umami-rich ingredients like tomato paste, soy sauce, diced tomatoes, and dried shiitake mushrooms. These ingredients helped me replicate the texture of ground beef by creating my own vegan ground-meat mixture.
- Easily Adaptable: This recipe uses pantry staples, but I made sure to share substitutions so you can achieve similar results even if you are missing a few ingredients here and there.
- Actually healthy: This meatless chili recipe is made with plant-based ingredients, so go ahead and treat yourself to a second bowl.
- Ready in under 1 hour: Thanks to canned beans and the quick cooking time of vegetables, you can have this healthy vegan chili on the table in less than an hour, making it the perfect cozy meal for Meatless Monday dinner.
Need more inspiration for more easy vegan chili recipes? If so, be sure to check out my Vegan Chocolate Chili and Vegan Quinoa Chili recipes.
Ingredients:
The list for this veggie chilli ingredients might seem long but I promise that it will make sense once you see the below breakdown followed by various ingredient substitutions:
- For Umami Rich Plant-Based Meat: This simple vegan chili recipe uses a mixture of walnuts and dried shiitake mushrooms to mimic the flavors of meat. Later, mixed with umami-rich tomato paste and soy sauce, the flavors get so similar to regular chili that no one can tell that this is a no-meat chili.
- Chili Ingredients: For deep flavor, I used vegetables like onions, celery, garlic and jalapenos. For additional creaminess and additional earthy flavors, I used Cannellini and black beans (pinto beans or red kidney beans would also work). I used canned beans (one of each kind) as I wanted to be able to make this dish in under one hour.
- Bulgur Wheat for the meaty texture: For added chewy texture, I used medium-coarse bulgur wheat. If you are new to cooking bulgur, be sure to check out my detailed post on Types of Bulgur Wheat and How to Cook Bulgur Wheat to learn more about it. I recommend this brand of bulgur (affiliate link), if you can’t find it in your grocery store.
While I know that some of you might think of Vegan Chili with Bulgur to be an unusual combo, I assure you that the added texture of bulgur brings this veggie chili recipe together.
- Spices: In terms of spices, you will need ground cumin and chili powder. Optionally, you can also add in a pinch of Spanish paprika, cayenne pepper, or even red pepper flakes.
- Toppings: In my version of vegan vegetable chili here, I opted for chopped red onion, sliced avocados, fresh corn, chopped cilantro, and thinly sliced radishes.
Substitutions and Recipe Variations
- Use quinoa instead of bulgur: While I highly recommend using bulgur (and think that a quick trip to the store is worth it), you can use a cup of uncooked quinoa in place of bulgur, especially if you are after a vegan gluten free chili recipe. The end result will not be as chewy, but it will still be a delicious vegan chili.
- Dried Shiitake Mushrooms: If you can’t get your hands on dried mushrooms, you can use fresh thinly sliced mushrooms instead. If you do so, you can add them to the pot while you are adding the veggies and skip the grinding step (with walnuts).
- Other topping ideas: As it is with any chili, any of your favorite toppings would work here. If you want them to be all vegan, consider using vegan sour cream, vegan cheese, a squeeze of lime juice, and tortilla chips as toppings. Or, if you don’t mind turning it into a vegetarian chili, you can top it off with cotija cheese or crumbled queso fresco as well.
How to Make Vegan Chili From Scratch?
Making this easy vegan chili bean recipe has 4 steps. From start to finish (including ingredient prep), the whole process takes 45-60 minutes.
- Process walnuts and shiitake mushrooms in a food processor until finely ground. Set them aside. We will use them later.
- Cook the veggies: Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed large pot (such as a large Dutch oven) over medium-high heat. Sauté onion, celery, and jalapeños with a wooden spoon until they are translucent. Then add in the spices, tomato paste, and garlic and cook for a minute or so.
- Stir in the rest of the ingredients & cook: Add in the diced tomatoes, black beans, kidney beans, vegetable stock, soy sauce, bulgur wheat, and the processed walnut-shiitake mushroom mixture. Put the lid on, bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer until it thickens to your liking, 25-30 minutes.
- Garnish & Serve: Ladle it into bowls and top each bowl with your toppings.
How To Store, Freeze and Reheat?
I think the best part of this vegetarian black bean chili is that it tastes better the next day. It also stores and freezes well.
- Storage: Bring the leftover chili bean soup to room temperature, place it in an airtight container, and keep it in the fridge up to 4 days. When ready to serve, heat it in a saucepan. If it is too thick, add ½ cup vegetable broth or water.
- Freezing Instructions: Place the chili in a freezer-safe container after it fully cools down. Freeze for up to two months.
- Thawing Instructions: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, transfer it into a saucepan, add in a little bit of vegetable stock or water, and heat it over medium heat until it is warmed throughly.
Cooking Instructions for Instant Pot and Slow Cooker:
While I made this vegetarian chili recipe on the stovetop, you can also make it in a pressure cooker and crockpot.
To make this recipe in the Instant Pot:
- Saute: Turn Instant Pot to saute mode. Heat olive oil and add the onions, celery, jalapenos, and spices and cook until softened. Add in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the remaining chili ingredients and stir.
- Pressure cook: Secure the lid and cook on Manual on high pressure for 12 minutes. Natural release the pressure for 10 minutes and then move the steam release valve to the venting position to release any remaining pressure. When the floating valve drops, remove the lid.
- Serve: Give it a stir, taste for seasoning and add more if necessary. Ladle into bowls and garnish with toppings.
To make this recipe in the Slow Cooker:
- Saute veggies: This is an optional step, but I’d like to saute onion, celery, pepper, and spices (ground cumin and chili seasoning) with olive oil in a large pot until they are softened before adding them into the slow cooker. I find that this produces a more flavorful vegetarian chili but if you are short on time you can skip this step and put them in the crock pot right away.
- Add the rest of the chili ingredients and cook on high for 2 to 3 hours or on low for 4 to 5 hours.
- Taste for seasoning and add in if necessary. Ladle into bowls, garnish with the toppings and serve.
Expert Cooking Tips:
- Dried Shiitake Mushrooms: If you look at the recipe below, you’ll see that I listed ½ ounce dried mushrooms. Here in the US, dried mushrooms are sold in 1-ounce packets so it is more accurate to list them as ounces than in cups. If you get one of those packets, simply use half of the packet.
- For Spicy Vegan Chili: To add some heat, I used jalapeños. If you are serving your no-meat chili to kids, you might want to take the seeds off or use red bell pepper instead. But if you love spicy food and the heat of jalapeños, feel free to add them with the seeds.
FAQs
What vegetables to add to chili?
You can add in various hearty vegetables like sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, green onions, mushrooms, and bell peppers.
How long can vegan chili last in the fridge?
As long as it is kept in an airtight container, vegan chili should keep well for up to 4 days.
How to thicken vegetarian chili?
To thicken chili, you can let it simmer for longer without the lid or add in an additional can of beans or vegetables like sweet potatoes, broccoli, or cauliflower florets.
Recipe Credit: Throughout my search for the best vegan chili recipe, I tried several recipes from several websites and cookbooks and finally landed on this version that is heavily adapted from the cookbook, Vegan for Everybody (affiliate link) by America’s Test Kitchen.
I did make quite a bit of changes to their original recipe, “The Ultimate Vegan Chili”, mostly to the cooking technique to make it faster, but in general, I based this recipe on the ingredients that they used.
Vegan Chili Recipe
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This Easy Vegan Chili Recipe tastes incredible! It’s easy to make with basic pantry ingredients, vegetables and spices. It’s a crowd pleaser that is guaranteed to be a hit with vegan, vegetarian, and meat eaters alike.
Ingredients
For The Walnut Mixture:
- ½ cup walnuts
- ½ ounce dried shiitake mushrooms
For The Vegan Chili:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
- 3 stalks of celery, chopped
- 2 jalapeños, seeded and chopped
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- ¼ cup chili powder
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 6 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 28- oz can diced tomatoes, with juices
- 1 can, 15 oz. low sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can, 15 oz. Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 6 cups of vegetable stock or water
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce, use tamari for gluten free option
- ¾ cup medium coarse bulgur *
- ½ cup cilantro, roughly chopped – plus more as garnish
Optional Garnishes:
- 1 ripe avocado, cut into small pieces
- 1 radish, sliced thinly (watermelon radish if you can find)
- ¼ cup whole kernel corn
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
Instructions
- Place walnuts and dried shiitake mushrooms in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground, 30-45 seconds. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- To make the Vegan Chili: Heat olive oil in a heavy bottom pan (like a Dutch oven) over medium-high heat. Add in onion, celery, and jalapenos. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions begin to brown, 7-9 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium and stir in cumin, chili powder, tomato paste, and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, for about 1 minute.
- Add in diced tomatoes, black beans, Cannellini beans, vegetable stock, soy sauce, bulgur, and the processed walnut-shiitake mushroom mixture.
- Put the lid on, bring the mixture to a boil, and then let it simmer until it thickens to your liking, 25-30 minutes. The longer it simmer the thicker it will become.
- Stir in the cilantro right before serving.
- Ladle into bowls and top it off with the garnishes.
Video
Notes
- If you are new to cooking with bulgur and not sure about the types of bulgur wheat, be sure to check out my post on Bulgur Wheat.
- Use quinoa instead of bulgur: While I highly recommend using bulgur (and think that a quick trip to the store is worth it), you can use a cup of uncooked quinoa in place of bulgur, especially if you are after a vegan gluten free chili recipe. The end result will not be as chewy, but it will still be a delicious vegan chili.
- It is better on the next day: Like in any other chili or stew recipe, this no-meat chili recipe is better on the next day. So feel free to make it a day ahead. On the next day, it might be thicker than you like. If so, add 1/4-1/2 cup water or vegetable broth as you warm it up.
- It freezes beautifully: The recipe below serves 6 people. If you have leftovers, bring the chili to room temperature, transfer it to an airtight container, and freeze it for up to two months. Let it defrost in the fridge a day before you are planning to serve it.
Nutrition
Calories: 325kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 946mg | Potassium: 988mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 3410IU | Vitamin C: 32mg | Calcium: 126mg | Iron: 5mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @foolproofliving or tag #foolproofeats!
I just prepared this for myself, and it will be ready for tomorrow’s Superbowl Sunday! Delicious and very easy to cook thanks to your detailed recipe!
YAY! This makes me so happy Nesli. Thanks for coming by.
I love this recipe! I even came in second in a local chili-cook off, and I have to give this recipe all the credit (and people didn’t even know it was vegan until I told them). I added extra mushrooms when I made mine, but that’s totally optional.
I thrilled to hear that Laurel. Thanks for coming by and sharing your experience.
I absolutely love this recipe. It’s genius. In terms of quantities, take ‘feeds 6’ with a pinch of salt: I know Americans are renowned for their supersize portions, but I stuck to these measures – albeit with some flatbread and a green salad on the side – and fed 12, including teenagers! This makes it unbelievably economical, despite a few expensive ingredients like the dried mushrooms and walnuts. (I also swapped the quantities of cumin and chilli round, in other words, a tablespoon of chilli powder and a quarter of a cup of ground cumin and it was still very hot.) Hearty and delicious – my friends always want seconds and always ask for the recipe!
Meriam,
This is music to my ears. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and taking the time to leave a review.
I am thrilled to hear that you like it.
I truly appreciate it.
Best,
Aysegul
Amazing recipe for chili! I’m not vegan but I will make this often. I followed the recipe exactly since I’m planning to make this for my office chili cook off. I think this recipe serves more than 6 as this made a quite large pot of chili in my Dutch oven. The more the better! Thank you for this and your other wonderful recipes!
This is music to my ears Angela. I am trilled to hear that you like it. It is a favorite recipe in our house too. Thanks for coming by and taking the time to leave a review.
Cheers!
Great recipe that allows for many different variations. I don’t love walnuts or shiitake mushrooms so I used pecans. I also left out the celery. I used pickled jalapeños instead of fresh ones, and I didn’t really measure – just threw some in, maybe 1/4 cup. Still came out delicious.
Hi Suzy,
So happy to hear that you enjoyed this vegan chili recipe. I appreciate you for sharing your experience and the substitutions you made.
Thank you!
I added chipotle sauce and TVP instead of bulgar and the flavor of this chili is amazing. I definitely needed to let it simmer longer, as I swapped the bulgar out. Using this to make vegan chili fries tonight, but definitely going into rotation.
This makes me so happy. Thanks for coming by and sharing your experience Miss Violet.
Totally brilliant to add walnuts/mushrooms and LOVED adding the bulgar! You hit this one on the head, girl. I’m 70 yrs old and just always “wing it” when making chili, but this time I followed your recipe (mostly). You have great ideas and I thank you from the bottom of little ol’ pea-pickin’ heart!
This is music to my ears. I am thrilled to hear that you liked it Connie.
I wish I could tag you on Instagram and show you a picture of the chili because it turned out fabulous. Unfortunately, there’s no chili left to take a picture of because my family ate it all in one day. I used to be meat eater but I’ve decided to start living a vegan lifestyle and I have to tell you that this recipe beats any other vegan chili I’ve tried to put together. This is a keeper.
YAY!! So happy to hear that Craig. We make it often as well.
I made it tonight and my kids love it thank you!
Thanks for letting me know Susan. So happy to hear that you liked it.
I am excited about your recipes.
The pandemic, not working etc has
attacked my tastebuds and my joy of cooking.
Stay well!
Aghhh Marcialee.. Believe me you are not alone. I totally feel you.
So glad you found me.
Cheers,
Aysegul
Best chili ever! Many thanks from The Netherlands.
YAY! This makes me so happy to hear Tom. Thanks for coming by and taking the time to leave a review.
Cheers!
I am a meat eater and I will probably never make chili with meat again. This recipe is the best, awesome, delicious!!!! I couldn’t stop eating it! Thank you!
This is music to my ears Ann. My meat-eating husband thinks so as well. 🙂
Thanks for coming by and taking the time to leave a comment.
Cheers!
Excellent! I didn’t have bulgur and used quinoa. I used extra tomato paste to thicken the mixture. this is really the best vegan/vegetarian chili I have ever had. I might even say better than most meat-based chilli found in most restaurants. Planning on making this regularly. Thank you!
Hello Lori,
This makes me so happy. I am thrilled to hear that you liked it.
I too sometimes make it with quinoa and love that version as well.
Thank you so much for coming by and taking the time to leave a comment. It is much appreciated.
Cheers!
Aysegul
Might sound stupid but do you actually put vegan mince in this or is it just a soup?
Hi Kingsley,
I am not sure what you mean when you say “vegan mince”. If you are referring to a meat substitute, this recipe uses walnuts and mushrooms to mimic the flavors of the meat.
I guess you can call it a soup as well.
I hope this helps.
I was attending a gathering hosted by a vegan. I settled on making vegan chili and began my search for a recipe. This one stood out for the walnut/mushroom mixture making up the umami and the bulgar wheat making up the texture. Only the host was vegan, but everyone that tried it loved it. One said he if he hadn’t known it was vegan he would have figured it was regular chili. I made it again today.. I do have a question regarding the mushrooms. Would dried morel mushrooms work in place of shiitake in this recipe? I grew up eating morels and they seem like they would complement the recipe well.
Hi David,
I am thrilled to hear that you and your friends liked this vegan chili recipe.
I have never tried this vegan chili recipe with dried morel mushrooms, but I doubt that it would be much different.
I would appreciate it if you try it and share it with us.
Thanks for coming by and taking the time to leave a review.
Cheers!