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!
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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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Made this today! So yummy. First time I’ve had “sour cream” in a very long time. Wow, I can’t believe how similar it tastes to the milk variety! Yours is quickly becoming my go-to recipe blog. My fiancé is not vegan, but I am, and until you posted your tex-mex spaghetti squash recipe, he hated squash. Now he requests it almost every week, and insists I make it for his family when they visit. Thank you for being so wonderful.
Beautiful! I love to see all the colors! I try and eat all the vegetable colors every day!
This looks fantastic! I LOVE vegan chili. I used to get wholefoods’ vegetarian chili from the hot bar. This def looks a lot more hearty & healthy. Don’t you think this would go well with your Super Power Chia Bread with melted earth balance on the side!!?!?. Btw, I’ve been meaning to make that as well. :-)
I made this chili last night and it was delicious. I increased the amount of jalapenos because I like it hot, and used 1 19oz can of chickpeas and 1 19oz can of black beans instead. I also added 3 large squares of 72% cocoa chocolate and simmered lower for longer. But wow!! So delicious. Thank you for this recipe.
everything about this is perfect! the food. the pictures. the sour cream. yum! thanks for sharing =)
Your food always looks so amazing. The photography is gorgeous.
Everytime I try to make Chili, it ends up being really meh. I’m not really sure why. Maybe I need to be more careful about measurements?
Made this chili tonight to combat a cold that came at me almost overnight. I paired it with some cornbread, and I am as happy as a girl with a cold can be!
Thank you for all that you do.
Made this for dinner tonight paired with a hemp dressing “Caesar” salad and sourdough toast. I added zucchini and corn kernels to the chili. My bf, who vehemtely hates sourcream was practically spooning the cashew cream from the blender into his mouth. He told me this was possibly the best meal I’ve cooked. Ever.
I’ve been making veggie chilli for years using veggies ground but this was the first recipe I’ve tried that consisted of all beans and vegetable. Great job!
This looks lovely! The vegan sour cream is really cool, great job Angela!
I just got around to making this, and OMG the sour cream is great! I never had sour cream on chili (before I went vegan I just topped it with cheese), but if the real thing is only half as good as the cashew sour cream was then I’ve been missing out! Thanks for the awesomeness, now I have to resist the urge to eat all of the sour cream with a spoon.
I love this site, and your recipes are delicious! Keep up the good work!
I just made this–sautéed the veggies and threw them in with everything else in a crock pot for 3 hours, because I’m lazy like that. Wowee this is good! Now it’s my favorite vegan chili too, thank you!
Mmmm. This chili is great! (Have to come clean, though. I didn’t have time to soak the cashews, etc. so I used the store-bought vegan sour cream.) The chili is spicy, but with the sour cream it’s magically transformed to nothing but yummy! And here I’ve been eating my vegan chili without the sour cream all this time…
Thanks for another keeper!
I made this chili for my boyfriend and myself tonight and we both loved it! Unfortunately I had to leave out the tomato paste because I didn’t have any, but it still turned out great! The sour cream was a wonderful addition. It was 72 here in Arizona today, which just goes to show that you don’t need cold weather to enjoy a great bowl of chili :)
Looks delicious and I didn’t know you could make sour cream out of cashews at home!
I made this yesterday and I have to say it’s delicious!! Yesterday I cooked up a veggie Italian sausage, sliced it lengthwise and then topped it with chili, Daiya ‘cheese’ and some spicy mustard. SO. GOOD!!!!
that sour cream recipe sounds really intriguing – I’d love to try it. wonder if it would make a good base for vegan tzatziki? just add some cucumber, mint and garlic… could be good!
My new favorite take-to-work lunch. It drives everybody else in the office crazy, it smells so good. I have handed out the website address.
Great recipe, my family loved it!
I made this for dinner tonight. We loved it. I was not expecting it to taste so good. We always rate dinners on a scale of 1 – 10 (10 being out of this world!) I never make anything that gets a rating of under 8 ever again. But this got a 9! It was really delicious. I forgot to soak the nuts so we did not have the “sour cream” with it but I am looking forward to trying that next time. I have tried about 8 of your recipes and decided after making this chili that I just had to have your cookbook. Thank you for the time and effort you have invested to help my family eat more healthy meals.