I grew up helping my dad make his “famous” chili for special occasions like Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. If there was a holiday party going down you can be sure his chili was the main event (often paired with his “famous” Caesar salad and garlic bread – his 3 staple recipes that we ate time and time again). A love of chili is definitely in my blood and rarely does a winter go by when I don’t make a couple batches of it. Of course, my versions are free of animal products, but I can promise you they are just as tasty as the originals (you can also find my version of Caesar salad in my cookbook, by the way).
I have a couple chili recipes on the blog already, but this one is my favourite by far. I see recipes as works in progress; I’m always tweaking and improving the flavour and the method each time I make them. A recipe is never the final word even if it feels that way at the time. Isn’t that what makes cooking fun? I think so. Plus, it gives me a chance to try and improve upon the last batch of photos!
This time I served the chili with a homemade vegan sour cream and now I can’t believe that I’ve been eating my chili without it for all this time. It’s like a creamy ribbon of heaven dispersed throughout the bowl, taking a bit of edge off the spices. Where have you been all my life?
I’m always asked about recipes that freeze well and chili is definitely one of them to prepare in bulk and freeze. It’s also packed with protein and fibre so you really don’t need to serve it with much else if you don’t have time. Sometimes just a crusty roll or crackers will do. It’s a meal that leaves you feeling satisfied for hours and hours.
If you are like us and caught in winter’s wrath yet again this week (nooooooo!), I hope this dish brings you the comfort it’s brought us during this snow storm. Stay warm!
My Favourite Vegan Chili
Yield
8 small servings
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Hearty, satisfying, and veggie-packed, this vegan chili will leave you feeling full for hours. I recommend pairing it with a big scoop of my Cashew Sour Cream for the ultimate chili experience.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cups (280 g) diced sweet onion (about 1 medium/large)
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 4 large cloves)
- 2 medium jalapeños (80 g), seeded (if desired) and finely chopped
- 1 cup (115 g) finely chopped celery (about 2 large stalks)*
- 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and diced**
- 1 (28-ounce/796 mL) can diced tomatoes, with juices
- 1 cup (250 mL) low-sodium vegetable broth
- 6 tablespoons (90 mL) tomato paste
- 1 (14-ounce/398 mL) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (14-ounce/398 mL) can pinto or navy beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce (optional)
Toppings:
- Cashew Sour Cream
- Chopped green onions
- Fresh cilantro, chopped
Directions
- In a large pot, sauté the onion and the garlic in the oil over medium heat until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt and stir.
- Add the jalapeños, celery, and bell pepper and sauté for another 5 to 7 minutes or so, until softened.
- Now add the can of diced tomatoes (with the juice), broth, and tomato paste. Stir to combine. Increase heat to medium-high.
- Add the drained and rinsed beans, along with the chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt. Simmer the mixture, uncovered, until thickened, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Add the cayenne and hot sauce to taste, if using. Taste and season with additional salt if desired.
- Serve with Cashew Sour Cream, chopped green onion, and cilantro leaves, if desired.
Tip:
- * I recommend finely chopping the celery so it cooks faster.
- ** Try swapping the raw red pepper for jarred roasted red pepper. It makes the flavour simply out of this world!
- A few of my go-to jarred or canned bean and tomato products are as follows: For canned beans I buy Eden Organics, for canned diced tomatoes I buy Ontario Natural Food Co-op, and for tomato paste I try to buy it in a glass jar whenever possible (Bioitalia is one brand I use). I try to buy glass jars for tomato sauces and pureés too.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
I am a virgin vegan ahving been veggie for17 years and your recipes are a godsend. can I ask how long can you keep vegan sour cream?
Hi Angela.
I’m not technically vegan, but I have gradually reduced the amount of dairy and meat intake I consume on a weekly basis. I prefer to not cook with either most of the time. But, I love comfort foods, of course! I plan to cook this tonight and have my cashews soaking now. I was wondering if this could be done in the crockpot? If so, would I still saute the onions and garlic?
I absolutely love your recipes…I’ve made your Vegan Lunch Bowl and Feel Good Lunch Bowl many, many times! I hope Santa brings me your cookbook this year. :)
Caitlin
this recipe is just delicious! I have never made one of your recipes that i did not enjoy! You can even add some organic ground beef for those not true vegans and this recipe is just great! Easy and delicious! thanks!
We had our first coldish day yesterday after months and months (and months) of heat so I celebrated by making your chili! First I need to say: OH MY!!!! This is THE best chili I’ve ever tasted! My husband, who used to make the chili (with meat) was shocked it was so good and had a second serving! That, my dear, is a real compliment because he is hard to please when it comes to plant-based meals! Thank you so much!
I made your sour cream recipe also (this is the 2nd time) but all I could taste was cashews. I added more apple cider vinegar and lots more lemon juice, but it never got tangy like I was hoping for (and the cashew flavor remained strong). When I tasted it, I remembered having the same problem the 1st time. Do you or any of your many followers have any suggestions?
I also made your lentil & walnut meat wraps last week. Once again, they didn’t disappoint! I had to make it with toasted sunflower seeds as you suggested, because what little bit of walnuts I had weren’t good anymore ;-(. But your suggestion of sunflower seeds was magic and it gave the “meat” an excellent flavor when combined with the lentils, thanks for rescuing our dinner!
I LOVE that your recipes are full of spices / herbs / flavor! So many people are afraid to use them and I find that very sad. My Mother didn’t use very many, but she did use them. Since becoming plant-based, they have become more important. Thank you for all your luscious recipes!
i know im late but could anyone that has tried this recipe let me know how spicy it is? i have a very low spice tolerance so i’m curious…
Leave out jalajalapeño and hot sauce. It is spicy (but I love spicy)
Can you make a this by adding all the ingredients in a slow cooker?
Holy Mother! This was AMAZING. Also, this is the first cream recipe my hubby liked, that I have made. We paired this with cornbread muffins. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’ve got this on my radar to make tonight! I’m still searching for a vegan sour cream that my parents will enjoy, so I’m hoping this will be it. :) And of course we love chili in the QV household! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Does this dish freeze well? Would like to add it to the menu for an upcoming party.
Thanks.
Angela,
I just wanted to say that I made this last weekend and it pleased 2 self proclaimed “Meat-a-tarians” (my hubs and my brother in law). My sister also said “you almost can’t tell there’s no meat”.
It was deeeeclicious!! Thanks for the great recipe!
Jo
So amazing! I added a little of the “taco meat” from the lettuce wraps it was delicious!!!!
Finally tried this recipe last night. It was the perfect meal for the weather. Another champ dish from this site! :)
Heading to the grocery store to buy the ingredients :) Can´t wait for dinner tomorrow!
My son is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts… is there anything I could substitute for the cashews in your vegan sour cream recipe? Thanks! :-)
I was wondering if anyone has done this in a crockpot? I’m thinking of making it tomorrow and would love to throw it all in and let it cook.
I made nachos with this recipe for my family and they all LOVED it! I was especially excited to try the sour cream that was a great substitute! Thank you Angela :)
#3 was one of the first vegan recipes ever made!! I am soooo happy it is one of the most popular because it is delicious!! My hubby loves it, which came a s a total surprise!! Happy New Year Angela!
This recipe is very close to one I’ve come up with on my own over the years and love but it has a few nice additions I will try. I have found that adding chick peas in addition to the beans in this recipe adds a nice flavor.
My husband and I just made this amazing meal for dinner! I have never seen us sit so quietly and gobble everything down to the last bite! I wondered if you have ever attempted freezing this meal and what the results were? I am hoping to stock up for an easy dinner :-)
Oops! Just re-read your post and answered my own question :-)
Just made this recipe. I am so pleased. Turned out great and is delicious! It’s so tasty, especially on a cool night. I didn’t use as much salt, I probably used 3/4 of what they suggested to use. I replaced the pinto beans for chick peas ( maybe it’s the same thing) I’m not sure. I added a dash more lemon to the sour cream as well. When I ate the chilli, I mix the sour cream completely into the chili and it tastes amazing. Great recipe!
my fiancé made this for us over the weekend and it is fantastic! Reminds me of the chili I used to have growing up, except back then I picked out the beans and there was meat in it. We added extra veggies and used a bit of tomato sauce since we didn’t have paste, so it was a bit thinner than supposed to be, but it has wonderful flavour. Thank you for the recipe! It will be a staple for the rest of the winter for sure :)
Is this recipe easily doubled? Should I change anything when doubling it? Thanks!!
5 Stars! the best meal of the year so far for me. Thank you. I ate double portions – its that good.
This is such an awesome vegan chili, it beats all my previous recipes…thank you! I had another recipe with quinoa that gave sort of a minced meat texture. I’ll try to add that next time. This makes for the best freezer meal ever, only problem is I won’t cook anything else if I know I already have this available!! Love it!!
This recipe was a hit! I made it tonight for the National Champion game. Super easy and delicious. We like a little kick so left in the jalapeno peppers which worked perfectly. Thanks again for all the amazing recipes!
I love this recipe! Im from Australia, and my family never ate “chilli” for some reason, but I now love it!!! The warm hearty vegetables and little kick of spice with some greek yoghurt is now one of my favourites. And this vegan recipe is amazing, I added tuna to mine because I only had 1 can of beans and added peri peri sauce instead of chilli powder :)
Thanks for sharing this recipe with us!
Just made this this evening, and it was FANTASTIC! Added a dash of Worcestershire sauce too. Great recipe!
This was an easy and perfect winter meal. I made this on Wednesday and even took in leftovers to share with some coworkers and it was a hit. I thought I was going to make my own pinto beans so when I did my shopping on the weekend, I didn’t pick up a can. I should have known better-never got around to crocking the beans so I wound up using a can of white cannellini beans place of pinto beans, but still came out fantastic. I think with the cashew cream next time I would add less salt & add a bit more sour-maybe extra lemon or vinegar, but in the chili it just added creaminess so I was happy that to have it. As a stand alone sour cream, I would have needed adjustments.
Can we give this chili 6 stars instead of 5? This was just delicious! I make one chili in my house, and only one – a sweet potato chili that my husband, friends, and I go crazy for. But, I tried this anyway, and I loved it. It has the right combonation of beans, veggies, and spices. I put it in the crock pot in the morning and just let it cook all day. I didn’t try the sour cream yet, but that is next! Making it again this weekend for a birthday game night! Can’t wait to share with friends! Thanks!
Just made this! Didn’t have chili powder, so I use a little sriracha. Perfect food as I’m sitting through the Juno blizzard (which is a little underwhelming so far). Thank you for this yummy recipe! :)
Can the cashews be replaced by peanuts or something else? I’m allergic to all nuts but peanuts..
Another delicious recipe. We had this tonight with the homemade sour cream and it was wonderful! The sour cream is genius! So delicious – my husband and I could not believe it tasted like sour cream! It was perfect with the chili and not to be overlooked! Thank you again for another delicious recipe!
About how many calories are in 1 bowl of this without the sour cream?
Angela this is the best chili i have ever had! Thank you! I followed it exactly and it was perfect!
Hello,
I’m not a big fan of caned beans and wanted to use dried ones. Then I was struggling to find the perfect soaking method when I came across this attached article. What are your thoughts?
http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-dont-soak-dried-beans-20140911-story.html#page=1
Super interesting article! Thanks for sharing.
I’ve always been in the soaking camp and would’ve never thought that not soaking might lead to more flavour. Will have to test it out sometime.
Are you sure you use raw cashewnuts?? Raw cashewnuts are toxic .
amazingly good!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS RECIPE!
I won a Chili Cook off at work because of it! Imagine everyone’s surprise when I told them that it was 100% vegan and that there was no meat in it!
The trophy is inscribed “Master of Meat, Lord of the Beans”. My colleague’s joked that I had such mastery over meat, I didn’t even need it.
I think people will think twice before poo-pooing vegan food!
Awesome, congrats!!! :)
mine came out soooooo good! very easy recipe to follow. i didn’t make the sour cream myself, i used tofutti but i’m sure home made is better. i will definitely go for it next time!
Do you ever freeze soups in a freezer safe bag? What about a mason jar? I am trying to freeze up individual servings for on the go!
Thank you so much!
OH MY GOD! I don’t even like sour cream, but my boyfriend loves it and now that we have turn to a vegan lifestyle I thought this would be a great recipe to try for our meatless taco salad. I was the one licking the bowl and he loves it! We are both so glad to find this recipe. delicious!
What a great site~
For tomorrow, I’m actually about to make the:
-chili, with vegan “sour cream”(genius!),
-ultimate 4 layer vegan sandwich
-green tea lime bowl
Woo hoo!
Thank you, ohsheglows, Ohmyguests will glow.
I made three things from OhSheGlows:
-the vegan ?/gf chili
-the vegan/ gf ‘sour cream”
-the Green Tea Lime Pie Bowl.
All a HUGE SUCCESS!! my baby(33 y.o.) claims the “sour cream” tastes amazingly like ricotta.
Thanks, O.S.G.~
This is just amazing recipe, I love it so much :). I made it todayfor lunch and my dad who is not vegetarian nor vegan loved it too :).
This is the BEST veggie chili I have ever had. The problem is the veggie burgers are all gluten and egg whites but they add a depth of flavor that is amazing. I think these could be substituted with another burger and it would still be good. Anyway, this is a great recipe!!!!
The Best Vegetarian Chili in the World
recipe image
INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon salt
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 green or yellow bell peppers, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped or 1T Frank’s hot sauce and crumbled dried hot peppers to taste
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers
8 Morning Star griller’s original vegetarian burger crumbles
2-3 (28 ounce) cans Muir Glen diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chili powder
1T Soy sauce or Bragg’s Aminos (more if it tastes like it needs more depth to the flavor)
1-2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 (28 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1 (28 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in the celery, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic, and green chile peppers. When vegetables are heated through, mix in the vegetarian burger crumbles. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes.
2. Mix the tomatoes into the pot. Season chili with chili powder and pepper. Stir in the kidney beans and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in the corn if you want to add it, and continue cooking 5 minutes before serving.
3. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheddar, and chopped scallions!!!
I make this recipe a lot! thank you so much<3 my fiancé and I love it, its honestly the best chili we've ever day :) but instead of using caned tomatoes I use fresh roma tomatoes (about 7 cups) chopped.I make 2 batches every time because its so yummy. it takes me about an hour to make cause of the chopping the tomatoes and chilies and everything but Its worth it. I'm making it again for dinner ^-^
what is the calorie intake per serving, any ideas?
I confess that I’m not vegan (or even vegetarian); I’m still an omnivore. I’m not even sure how I stumbled across the recipe but it intrigued me. Made a batch in my slow cooker for my girlfriend.
Wow… absolutely delicious..and hearty. I was honestly surprised at how the vegan sour cream actually tasted like sour cream.. a lot.
I usually judge vegetarian “main” dishes on a scale from “bland” to “I could really tolerate this if I had to”, but I will be coming back for this one regularly. I may even prefer this to my meat based chili. The only addition I made was a cup of Quinoa.
Please feel free to reply if anyone has some links (if you can) to really good hearty vegan dishes like this, you might even get a convert.
Made this for the first time. Wonderful, hearty chili. It always works as spaghetti sauce with a slight difference in taste, but still delicious.
I made this last night…. woah – it blew my socks off! It was absolutely delicious but sooooo spicy! Maybe us Australians aren’t used to traditional chill, haha. I mixed it with a little bit of brown rice to diffuse some of the heat and this worked perfectly. Thanks so much for the fantastic recipe :)