I wanted share my easy vegan chili cooked within 40 mins that uses simple at-home ingredients while only using one-pot (no one likes more dishes).
We love vegan chili in this house! Chili is easy to make, you can have so many variations, and depending on what you put in can be extremely healthy and packed with protein!
A lot of people don’t normally use recipes for chili because you can just throw a bunch of vegetables in a pot and it’ll taste pretty good, but if you’re new to being vegan or cooking and just want a quick and easy vegan chili recipe, try this one!
How To Make Vegan Chili
Chili is pretty straightforward because it’s a one-pot recipe, which is one of the reasons we love it but I’ll still walk you through step by step.
- Dice onions, carrots, & bell peppers. Add to a large pot and sauté with olive oil, cook on medium heat until onions are translucent. About 5 minutes.
- Add minced garlic to the pot, continue to stir.
- Season mixture with cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, and pepper.
- Pour in vegetable broth and a can of diced tomatoes. Let simmer for about 5 minutes
- Add dry lentils.
- Open cans of beans, strain, and rinse with cold water.
- Add in beans and corn and cook for an additional 20 minutes on simmer or until lentils are tender.
- Serve chili in a bowl with preferred toppings such as vegan cheese, sour cream, avocados, or with tortilla chips. And a side of toast!
If you haven’t had toast with dipped in chili yet I HIGHLY recommend it. It’s an absolute game-changer and if you use a healthy option for bread you can boost the fiber and protein of this recipe!
Kitchen equipment I used:
- My favourite pot set – This is my first adult pot set and I love it. I’m sure there are some elite chefs that may scoff at this but it’s affordable, non-stick and works great for me and all the cooking I do in the kitchen.
- The 9-1 absolute unit Air Fryer, Instant Pot, Dehydrator – I was actually very anti-Instant-pot/Air fryer for a long time and bought a couple in the past and could never get them to work or make any of the food taste good. This spaceship of an appliance changed everything! I make everything in it now! Desserts, Dinners, Dog Treats, you name it and I can make it in this beast. Highly recommend!
- 5 tier dehydrator stand for Ninja Foodie – The Foodie comes with a lot accessories but we opted to get this one as well because we want to use the dehydrator a lot (especially for dog treats) so it made sense! It doesn’t have great reviews, most people complain about it coming slightly bent, which mine did too, but it works perfectly and is super vital to dehydrating a lot of treats at once. The slight bend in the metal doesn’t affect the product at all.
Easy Vegan Chilli
Equipment
- Pot
Ingredients
- 1 can Kidney Beans
- 1 can Bean Medley
- 1 Small Onion diced
- 1 Carrot diced
- ½ Red Bell Pepper diced
- 2 tbsp Garlic minced
- 1 can Diced Tomatoes
- ½ cup Canned Whole Corn Kernels
- 1 cup Lentils dry
- 3 cups Vegetable Broth
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 tsp Cumin Powder
- 2 tsp Chilli Powder
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Dice onions, carrots, & bell peppers. Add to a large pot and sauté with olive oil, cook on medium heat until onions are translucent.
- Add minced garlic to the pot, continue to stir.
- Season mixture with cumin, chilli powder, paprika, salt and pepper.
- Pour in vegetable broth and a can of diced tomatoes. Let simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add in the dry lentils.
- Open the cans of beans and corn, strain, and rinse with cold water.
- Add in beans and corn and cook for an additional 20 minutes on simmer or until lentils are tender.
- Serve chili in a bowl with preferred toppings such as vegan cheese, sour cream, avocados, or with tortilla chips. And a side of toast!
Pups Notes
- We used red lentils in ours but realistically you could use whichever lentils you wanted, as long as they’re dry lentils. Lentils from a can will not work well in chili recipes.
- Topping with sour cream and avocados with a side of toast is optional but highly recommended! (we use the Earth Island or Tofutti sour cream!)
- Sub low sodium vegetable broth if you’re watching your sodium intake.
Nutrition
If you try this recipe, please leave it a 5-star review in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you! You can rate it, comment about it, sending me pictures about it by tagging us on Instagram @RescueDogKitchen.
Nutrition Facts
Chili can be extremely nutritious depending on what you put in it. We decided to make this easy vegan chili completely with whole foods and plant-based ingredients to give the maximum amount of nutritional density possible! Don’t worry though we didn’t sacrifice any flavour to do it like that!
I was able to portion this recipe out into about 4 bowls which I was happy with because it meant I could have extras all week for lunch. But as we’ve been discovering my portion sizes are quite large compared to most people so if you don’t eat a lot you can probably stretch this recipe further.
The nutrition information presented here is for all of the ingredients. I take all of the nutritional information from Cronometer a nutritional tracker website that provides you with a lot of great information, especially regarding micronutrients!
Nutrition Facts
4 servings per container
Serving Size1 g
- Amount Per ServingCalories484
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat
3.5g
6%
- Sodium 958mg 40%
- Potassium 1018mg 30%
- Total Carbohydrate
88g
30%
- Dietary Fiber 20g 80%
- Sugars 12g
- Protein 29g 58%
- Vitamin A 130%
- Vitamin C 50%
- Calcium 16.5%
- Iron 94.5%
- Vitamin E 6%
- Vitamin K 11%
- Thiamin 47%
- Riboflavin 16%
- Niacin 15.5%
- Vitamin B6 42%
- Folate 71%
- Phosphorus 40%
- Magnesium 15.5%
- Zinc 23%
- Selenium 4%
- Copper 72.5%
- Manganese 50%
* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
As you can see this vegan chili recipe is PACKED with nutrition!
In just one serving you’re getting 29 g of protein and a whopping 20 g of fiber! Some other notable nutrients you’re getting with one serving of our easy vegan chili recipe are 94.5% of your daily iron intake, 72.5% of your copper intake, 130% of your Vitamin A intake, and 50% of your vitamin C!
Some people might notice that it is a little high in your sodium intake at 40% of your daily intake, which really isn’t that high, but if it were something you were monitoring I would suggest using a low sodium vegetable broth and you’ll be set!
The avocado, toast, and sour cream weren’t accounted for in the nutritional information because those are optional and a lot of people will choose to use their own toppers.
Commonly asked questions about Vegan Chili
Most people have heard of vegetarian chili and probably vegan chili but most people are curious as to how it’s done and how you can still make it delicious! So I’m going to answer a few questions people commonly ask about vegan chili:
What is vegan chili made out of?
Here’s the thing with chili (and a lot of food) is most of the ingredients are already vegan! Beans, tomatoes, corn, onions, spices, etc. are all vegan! You usually only need to change a few ingredients. Instead of adding ground beef to ours, we added lentils and instead of regular sour cream, we used a cashew-based sour cream!
Is chili healthy to eat?
The answer is it depends! Our easy vegan chili recipe is extremely nutritious and healthy to eat but you can make chili a variety of different ways so it depends on what you put in it and what you top it with. But generally speaking, yes chili is healthy to eat.
Other recipes you might like:
Want to try another chili recipe? I highly recommend the Edgy Veg’s Superbowl chili from her cookbook I highly recommend it’s one of my favourites, mainly because it has beer and espresso in it!
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This was soooo yummy! I even shared with my neighbours who have small children who enjoyed it!!! Have already stocked up to make again!!!
That’s so great to hear Michelle!
This was super easy and tasty! Will definitely become a go-to recipe for a high protein meal 🙂 Even my non-vegan boyfriend (@Brands.Shaw) enjoyed it!
I loved this recipe! I have been craving chili and this was perfect and so easy! I have been telling everyone about it! I am definitely adding this into my recipe book. I’m not an experienced cook, but this was perfect for beginners!
LOVE IT!!
I made this Easy Vegan Chili recipe last Autumn when I first saw the recipe- my family loved it. Last night was our night as Meal Provider to our local Women’s Shelter (every night they get home cooked meals delivered via a rotation of 14 area volunteer groups). We were happy to share a plant based option. The 12 ladies gave the chili 5 stars. So glad you shared the recipe!
Delicious! I love a good chilli, amd this was quick and easy!
This recipe is so easy to make and do delicious!
It has been made over and over again in our home. We have even added beyond meat it in on different occasions.
This was delish and easy to make. I’m not a cook and don’t really like to do it. However, I’m trying to get away from processed food and soups in cans are some of the worst. I loved the lentils in the chili and I knew I was eating a much healthier option that canned soup. Please keep sharing easy recipes like this. I’ve been vegetarian for years and now working to vegan. Thanks for identifying vegan products.
I’m so glad this recipe was helpful for you Jane 🙂
So good! I used quinoa instead of lentils and pinto beans instead of mixed because of what I had available to me but it turned out great!
Amazing Janelle! Pumped it turned out awesome for you 🙂
Super easy & delicious! This will definitely make the regular rotation at our house! We had it the first night with a bit of homemade cashew cream drizzled on the top, and we ate the leftovers with some avocado. YUM.
Ahhhhh Sarah! that’s so good to hear! Thank you for trying out our recipes!
Delicious, even my 3 kids enjoyed it (and I think they also enjoyed less dishes to wash and dry afterwards). I did remove the corn but added some more bell pepper and fresh chopped mushrooms.
Glad to hear your kids enjoyed it! I was tempted to add in mushrooms as well (because I LOVE them) but I know a lot of people don’t so I omitted them for this one but definitely a great addition!
OMG! This recipe was soooooo easy! I normally just throw in whatever left over veggies I have in the fridge but this recipe was delicious! It definitely makes more than 4 servings for a normal person though LMAO
Ahhhh amazing Jesse! and yes I really need to figure out the servings part because it would be 4 of my servings I guess LOL
This is my new favorite chili! Super easy to make and SO delicious! We’ve been trying to go vegetarian and I have a feeling this will definitely be a staple.
Nikki! that’s so good to hear! If you need any help let us know 🙂
I was going to make vegan baked beans today, but then you go and drop this gem! I made it and it was divine! I love the heat at the end of a spoonful. And yes, I had it with toast. 💃💃💃. This will be my go to Chili recipe. Thanks RDK.
LEZA!!! thank you so much! We’re so happy you enjoyed it! We’re currently testing some instant pot bean recipes as well so be on the lookout for that! 🙂