
I’ve never been a big fan of black eyed peas which is a bit strange given how much I love beans and legumes. I’ve made black eyed pea soups in the past and was always left a bit disappointed with them. I felt like I was just slurping broth and chomping on black eyed peas. Not all that exciting.
I finally realized this year if I was going to enjoy them, I needed to amp up the flavours in the dish!
That’s where this chili comes in.

This year, I made chili instead of soup because I suspected the peas would pair well with the chili’s texture and flavours. I gave this chili a smoky and spicy BBQ flavour and it really brought everything together really well. I’m happy to report there was no disappointment with this black eyed pea recipe.

Instead of serving it with traditional cornbread, I was craving something flat and crispy so I came up with this crispy cornbread, which reminds me a bit of Socca chickpea bread. Like traditional cornbread and Socca, this version is cooked in a cast iron skillet for the crispiest texture and unlike traditional cornbread, it doesn’t have a delicate texture which makes it great for dipping into chili and soup. The flavour is lightly sweet with a crisp-around-the-edges and chewy-in-the-centre texture. A definite winner for sure!

As I type this, I really want to go back to the kitchen for more…..can I just give you my chicken scratch and call it a year?

Penmanship was never one of my strong suits. I think one of my New Year’s resolutions will be to write my recipes down neatly, or at least, legible.
Ok, ok, I will type it out. For your sake and mine…

New Year's Smoky BBQ Chili

Yield
5 cups
Soak time
3 hours
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
I almost forget the black eyed peas were in there. If you’re like me, that’s never a bad thing. Here’s to a lucky 2012!
Ingredients
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 sweet onion, peeled and chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (optional)
- 2.5 tbsp chili powder, or to taste
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika (optional)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or crushed red pepper flakes)
- 1/2 cup dry/uncooked black eyed peas
- 3/4 cup dry/uncooked black beans
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes, liquid drained
- 2 tbsp tomato paste, to thicken
- 1 tbsp chia seeds (or ground flax), to thicken
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 2 tbsp your fav BBQ sauce
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
- couple handfuls of chopped spinach, or other greens like collard, kale, etc
Directions
- Soak the beans in water overnight or for at least 3-4 hours. This part is optional, but it helps reduce cook time and makes the beans more digestible. Rinse and drain beans before using. In a large pot, add the oil and sauté the onion and garlic over medium-low heat for about 5-6 minutes, until translucent.
- Add in the pepper and optional jalapeno and sauté for another 3-5 minutes.
- Stir in the spices (chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne) and sauté on low another couple minutes. If you want, you can add just a bit for now and then add the rest to taste after it has cooked.
- Add the dry black beans and black eyed peas, broth, and drained diced tomatoes. Stir well. Now stir in the tomato paste. Simmer on low with the lid ajar for about 2.5 hours, checking often to make sure it doesn’t dry out. If it does, add a bit more broth to thin out.
- About 15 minutes before it’s done cooking, stir in the chia seeds, corn, and chopped greens. The chia helps thicken the chili. Also stir in the BBQ sauce, starting with 1 tbsp at a time and tasting as you go. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Can be made 2-3 days in advance and frozen if preferred.
Tip:
You can probably use canned beans, but you won’t need as much broth. I would add it slowly.
I was very excited to use my Kirkland pot (from Costco) that my mother in law Margaret gave me for X-mas! I’m loving it so far.

Every good chili recipe needs a secret ingredient. This BBQ sauce is the “special twist” in this recipe.

A couple tablespoons just brings all the spices together so nicely.
As with other chili recipes, making it in advance works to your advantage. I like making it the day before so the flavours can mingle overnight.

I also used chia seeds to thicken it, but you can use ground flax instead. I’ve heard that some people use cornmeal to thicken chili. I will have to try that next time!
This flat cornbread (shown above and below) was my very first trial. I made it in a square baking pan instead of a cast iron skillet. It crisped on the edges, but it had a very soft and bendy texture.

I noticed a huge difference when I used my cast iron skillet! It got a lot more chewy and crispy in the skillet. I picked up this skillet from Loblaws. I think it’s President’s Choice brand and only set me back about $9-10 bucks.

Note to self: Clean dried chili off the oven.
For the Flat & Crispy Cornbread Recipe click here
I wasn’t expecting much from this cornbread, but I could not stop eating it.

I had a few slices for breakfast this morning and I had to peel myself away from it to keep from eating the entire thing! It’s just perfect on it’s own and even better dipped into chili. I can see myself having a lot of fun adapting this recipe.

Well, that’s a wrap for 2011 I guess. :)
Thank you for making 2011 an exciting, fun, and memorable year for me. I am so thankful for everyone of you who have impacted my life in so many positive ways.
I wish you a 2012 filled with glowing health, love, happiness, and the courage to follow your dreams.
I’ll catch you on the flip side!
Thank-you for a very well done site. My daughter turned vegan this year and has been diligent about making sure she had a balanced diet. I was not very pleased with reading many of the labels on items and noting all the chemicals added to the food. She introduced me to your website. I just finished assembling the smoky chili recipe and it is now simmering! It smells delightful, and mys sample tastings (opps) prove that it is everything you said it was! My family truly appreciates how your site uses real food! Thank-you for making healthy eating fun and tasty!
Thank-you for a very well done site. Our family turned vegan this year. (health reasons) I was not very pleased with reading many of the labels on items and noting all the chemicals added to the food. A dear friend introduced me to your website. I just finished assembling the smoky chili recipe and it is now simmering! It smells delightful, and my sample tastings prove that it is everything you said it was! I appreciate how your site uses real food! Keep up the good work.
This is so yummy, I’d recommend it to anyone. Thank you for posting such lovely recipes :)
I don’t have a microwave so I did step 2 in a saucepan. I also only have one broil setting but that didn’t seem to make a difference either. Worked perfectly — so perfectly that I made them twice in one week!
I only have Hi & Lo options on the broil function in my oven! Can you tell me which is preferable? I have never attempted cornbread before & would like to try your recipe, since my husband loves chili and bread.
I would try LO and then keep and eye on it…better to be safe than sorry I think!
thanks for sharing! really enjoyed it & posted about it on my own blog. look forward to reading your blog regularly from now on!
Glad to hear that!
First of all, just want to say I am a huge fan of so many of your recipes! Every one i’ve tried has come out beautifully. I’m sad to say I tried the crispy flat corn bread last night (to accompany some slow cooked sweet potato chili I made), and it didn’t turn out like I had hoped at all! My oven doesn’t have any different broil settings…so I think that may have been the problem. I have the bottom drawer broiler and I was terrified I would just burn it if cooked in their entirely…so I cooked it at 475 until almost done then threw it in broiler below to crisp up. The bread came out more tasting like a very thin, firm pancake? It was only crisp around the edges, but it also had barely any corn taste. Other than using earth balance instead of coconut oil, I followed the rest of the ingredients exactly. Do you think just not broiling it is the reason it didn’t come out right? It wasn’t bad, but certainly not very corn-like and not suitable to pair with a chili. Help! I was so excited about this. Should I just try again and broil it??
Hey Nicole, I’m sorry to hear that! Your description of a firm pancake texture is exactly how I would describe it! I’m sorry you didn’t like it, but it sounds like it came out how it should have.
Hmm. Well we did like it, just not with the chili and it wasn’t what I expected, mainly bc the corn taste was not very strong. Maybe I will increase the cornmeal and play around with broiling it again. Thanks tho! (This certainly won’t discourage me from reading and trying many more recipes tho!)
I just made this recipe and WOW! I love chili and missed it dearly ever since becoming a vegetarian, but this recipe made me feel like I wasn’t missing out on anything! Thanks for sharing!
Hey Angela! I just made this using kaput flour in place of whole wheat and sucanat. It’s tasty! Thanks for the variation on cornbread! I think it’ll be a great little for when the kids come home from school, too!
Oops! Kamut! Auto correct…
Wow! This is probably the BEST chili I have ever had! I am often disappointed by vegan recipes but this was quite the opposite. My husband couldn’t stop saying how good it was. I made a few modifications that I would like to share…I used a can of kidney beans and a can of black beans instead of using dried beans. I then used 2 cups of veggie broth instead of 6, and added homemade seitan (around 1lb) that I broke up into chunks to resemble the shape/appearance of ground beef in chili. My brother thinks that only meat chili can taste good, hopefully I can prove him wrong :) This chili was contest-worthy!
What if you don’t have a cast iron skillet ? Is there another way to cook the corn bread?
You could probably just use a square 9inch pan? It wont get as crispy as the cast iron but it should work in a pinch.
Angela! I am making this for 10 adults and a handful of children for New Years this year! We will all be in the woods. Can I make this a night in advance? If so, how would you reccommend I store it? Freeze, refrigerate? Also, I will be using canned beans instead of soaked, will that make a difference? Thank you! My hubs and I loved this and are very excited to share it with our carniverous friends! I love surprising them:)
Hi there, I made your cornbread this weekend and it was a hit, using coconut oil gives it an amazing coconutty flavour! I wanted to ask, though, why you microwave the batter? Likely to thicken it up a bit, but I found the bread to be rubbery after baking, which I think is from microwaving the batter. Is there away to bake this without microwaving it?
Hi Krisha, I microwaved it to “set” the batter I think, but I’m sure it would work fine without doing so. Maybe you can just let it stand for 10-15 minutes before baking. I haven’t tried it personally but let me know how it goes if you do try it!
This cornbread is delish!! I had blue cornmeal, so I used it. My hubby and I loved it so much that I had to make a second batch after dinner so as to have some for the left over chili. Thanks for a great website. Everything we have tried is great!
Any suggestions of how I could make the chili in a crock pot? I am cooking in a kitchen with very little resources haha.
Thanks :)
Hi There,
This recipe looks delicious, could you make it in a pressure cooker?
I made this yesterday, and it was my first time eating black eyed peas. I used all peas and no black beans, and it is delicious! It does have a little more spice than I am used to. I will definitely make this again!
This chili was so good I was sad when I finished up the last of the left overs. it will definitely be doubled next time and frozen!
Hi! I am wondering how you might be able to make this great dish in a slow cooker, as I will need to be out of the house longer than 2.5 hours. Is it still possible? I really want to make it!