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
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hey ! I did your chili recipe tonight but I didn’t have the ingredients for the sour cream. My family and I really enjoyed it, we ate it with corn chips ! I’m always trying to make them try vegan options and I was NOT disapointed this time ! :D thank you very much for this recipe ! hello from canada :)
Both the chilli and the sour cream turned out amazing! I made them for a party of half veggies and half carnivores and they were a favourite of everybody’s. Your blog is great, thanks for the inspiration to sit down and take the time to cook something!
Made this today, I’m not much of a cook but when I was done and tasted this I felt like a CULINARY GENIUS. It was so comforting and it tasted fantastic.
I was going to make the vegetable broth using a powder, but I decided to go all the way and just make a fresh broth and you could really feel how fresh and homemade it turned out. It was so stupidly easy and yet when I ate it I felt like I was eating a 3 hour cooked stew. I might be overreacting because I rarely cook, but in conclusion:
It was delicious, and was easy enough for a newb like myself, but managed to skyrocket my self esteem.
can’t wait to keep trying more recipes! :D
I love this sour cream recipe and make it regularly, but I accidentally made far more than I needed to recently. Do you know how long it’ll last in the fridge?
Thank you so much for your vegan recipes. I went vegan almost a year ago and this has helped quite a lot.
Thanks for the recipe. We cant have chili unless we have cornbread with it.
Thank you Angela for the great vegan sour cream recipe. Your recipe was the 3rd one I tried. One was labor intense and involved cooking and a thickening agent, one was easy but was made with tofu and tasted like it, and then there was your recipe. I will look no further. I find it to be deliciously satisfying. Thank you so much!
I just made this chili for the second time, and again it was the best chili I’ve made, or actually eaten. It was so flavorful, that my met eating husband said he didn’t miss the meat and was really happy with the meal as well. The Vegan sour cream was the perfect accompaniment to the chili.
I am not usually one to comment on recipes, but this one deserves some kudos. Both the chili and the “sour cream” are wonderful!! I just started eating vegan a few months ago and this is my favorite recipe so far. Delicious! Thank You!!
I just made this the other day and it was delicious. But mine turned out more like tomato soup than chili. I used 2 cups fresh diced tomatoes + 1 cup water instead of canned diced tomatoes. Could this be the reason why? How do I get it to thicken?
Do you have a nut free version for vegan sour cream?
The chili was perfect! I’m not 100% vegan so I did use organic sour cream, and one of my beans was an organic ranchero (pinto in chili-flavored sauce), which I used rather than rinsing. I will make the vegan sour cream in the future though as I move more in that direction. SO looking forward to the arrival of your cookbook, which I ordered the other day.
– Cheers!
I really want to try the sour cream, however, for medical reasons I can’t have citrus. That means no lemon juice. Can you suggest an alternative? I can have lemon zest, or lemon extract, just not the juice. Thanks!
Could you please tell me if you have a smaller recipe for the Homemade Vegan Sour Cream (cashews) as it doesn’t last long in the fridge and there are only two of us? Would appreciate it greatly.
Yummy
This was so delicious, fast, and easy to make! I didn’t have tomato paste so I just added extra diced tomatoes, and it turned out great! My family was hovering around complementing how good it smelled the entire time it was cooking! Definitely going to be a new classic. The flavors were just spicy enough! Perfect on cold stormy days <3
I made this chili and loved it! I had some left over and used in in place of the chunky marinara sauce for your ‘life affirming warm nacho dip’ from the book and it was an excellent substitution! I am going to make a huge batch and freeze! Thanks so much for your site!
Has anyone cooked with this sour cream. I need sour cream for mushroom stroganoff recipe. Last step is mix in sour cream into gravy to heat. Wondering if this would work
This chili was jam packed with lots of spicy, well balanced flavor. I added some chipotles en adobo sauce, which elevated the smokiness. It is very easy to make and goes well with some brown rice.
Hi, your recipes look wonderful! However, I notice that you use lots of raw cashews, like many vegan cooks/chefs. Since they’re closely related to poison ivy and can cause a horrific internal rash when eaten raw by people (like me) who are sensitive to poison ivy, why don’t you use roasted cashews? (which don’t have the same danger as raw.) Why specific raw — does it make that much difference?
Thanks for any thoughts you might have.