20-Minute Easy Vegan Chili 🌱 A budget-friendly, delicious & nutritious one-pot vegan recipe that will be ready to eat in under 20 minutes! This zesty & hearty chili is the perfect meal for a camp-out or when you’re hungry & just need something quick to fill your tummy and warm your soul. Oil-free option. GF
Do you ever have those days when you just aren't in the mood to cook, but you're hungry or hangry and want dinner NOW? What do you do?
Here's an idea: Go to your cupboard, open a few cans of beans & diced tomatoes, chop up an onion and throw in a few spices & basic ingredients and voila! You've got the makings for a simply great vegan chili that will be ready to eat in about twenty minutes or less! Add a slice of warm homemade vegan cornbread & you have a complete meal!
This super easy recipe is one of my favorite go-to’s when I need something delish & filling in a pinch. Everything goes into one pot - no extra cookware to wash! Best of all, you'll have leftovers for lunch the next day, or freeze for later.
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🥕Why you will love this recipe
- It's a delicious, nutritious & satisfying dish
- Uses inexpensive ingredients you likely keep on hand
- It's a one-pot meal
- Perfect for cooking on a camp stove
- One batch makes several servings - freeze some for later!
- Super versatile - add or substitute ingredients
- Takes just a few minutes to throw together
Ingredients
This quick & easy recipe is prepared with canned or precooked beans. I suggest using a variety. Some stores carry mixed or tri-beans, which are handy. I like to use a combo of kidney, pinto and black beans. Sometimes I'll throw in a can of garbanzos. Why not?
- Onion - fresh
- Avocado oil or olive oil 🥕See notes below for preparing this recipe without oil
- Beans - canned (pinto, black beans, kidney beans, red beans, garbanzo, etc)
- Tomatoes - canned (diced, stewed or crushed)
- Corn kernels - fresh, frozen, or canned
- Salsa or pico de gallo or a favorite hot sauce
- Lime juice - fresh or bottled (or lemon)
- Salt
- Cumin - ground
- Chili powder - ground (substitute with chili lime seasoning or a pinch of cayenne if you want to kick up the heat!)
- Black pepper - ground
Variations
This is one of those dishes that you can be as creative as you like. Here are a few ideas as add-ins or substitutions:
- Bell peppers - chopped (remove seeds)
- Jalapeño peppers - chopped (remove seeds)
- Cilantro -chopped
- Soy chorizo or vegan sausage crumbles
- Vegan beef crumbles or TVP
- Mushrooms
- Diced carrots
- Tomato paste or ketchup (for a thicker sauce)
🥕Chili Tips
- Adding the dry seasonings to the onions while they're cooking can boost the flavor of the spices. Stir frequently so they don’t burn.
- Some of us like our chili HOT and some of us do not. I suggest adding peppery or hot seasonings sparingly. You can adjust the amount of spicy heat to your taste, but if you are going to serve this dish to other people, it might be better to offer a variety of hot sauces as condiments to add to individual servings.
- A little bit of sweet can enhance the chili, by offsetting the acidity of the tomatoes and salsa. I like to stir in a tablespoon of maple syrup, agave nectar or sugar while the chili is cooking.
- Since canned beans are pre-cooked you don't need to let this chili cook for a long time like traditional chili recipes prepared from scratch. With this version, we are cooking the ingredients long enough for the onions to soften and the ingredients to get fully heated. If you have time and would like an even richer, thicker chili, you can let it continue to simmer over low heat an additional 10-15 minutes. Do check it frequently and stir from the bottom so it doesn’t burn.
Instructions
Using a 6 quart or larger stovetop pot, begin heating olive oil over med-high heat.
Add diced onion, lower heat to medium, until onions soften.
Cook until the onions are soft, semi-transparent, and lightly browned.
Add beans to cooked onions, stir.
Add all other ingredients, stir to thoroughly combine.
Cover pot & simmer on low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chili is bubbling. Remove from heat. That's it, dinner is ready!
🥕Serving suggestions
- Spoon chili into bowls, garnish with sliced avocado, extra salsa, cilantro, vegan cheese, black olives, tortilla chips, whatever you have on hand.
- Serve with extra chips or our yummy vegan cornbread.
- That's it! Enjoy!
🥕Oil-free cooking
Prefer to make your chili oil-free? No problem! Simply replace the olive oil with 3 tablespoons of water. Slowly simmer the onions over medium-high until they get soft, making sure not to let the onions burn. Then add the next ingredients.
Equipment
- 6 quart or larger stovetop covered pot
- Citrus juicer
- Long spoon
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cup
- Chef's knife
🥕Storage Tips
Refrigerate leftover chili in an airtight container up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months. Allow frozen chili to thaw in the refrigerator before heating. I suggest reheating it in a covered saucepan on a stovetop. Chili can also be reheated in a microwave (in a microwave-safe container) in short increments. Be careful as beans can become very hot quickly in a microwave.
This 20-minute easy vegan chili is the perfect partner with a slice of this scrumptious homemade vegan cornbread with maple syrup.
How to make easy vegan cornbread
Easy Vegan Cornbread A lightly sweet and fluffy classic quick bread made with all plant-based ingredients. Moist and delicious with whole corn kernels & maple syrup. Yum!
Looking for more quick & easy hearty one-dish recipes? How about this delicious & satisfying vegan Texas tamale pie? So good!
A Southwestern Tex-Mex inspired recipe filled with zesty flavor and a colorful combo of beans, peppers, tomatoes, and sweet corn, topped with fluffy homemade cornbread.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you've enjoyed this recipe, please rate it in the comments below.
Thanks a bunch!🥕
Recipe
20-Minute Easy Vegan Chili
Equipment
- 6 quart or larger stovetop covered pot,
- Long spoon
- Chef's knife
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil 🥕See notes below for OIL-FREE version
- 5 can beans assorted 15.5 oz cans - pinto, black beans, kidney beans, red beans, garbanzo, etc
- 2 can diced tomatoes 14.5 oz cans (with juice)
- 1 C corn kernels fresh, frozen, or canned
- ½ C salsa or pico de gallo
- 1-2 whole limes juiced (to taste)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Using a 6 quart or larger stovetop pot, begin heating oil over med-high heat.
- Add diced onion, lower heat to medium, until onions soften.
- Add all other ingredients, stir to thoroughly combine.
- Cover pot and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chili is bubbling.
- Remove from heat.
- Spoon chili into bowls, garnish with sliced avocado, extra salsa, cilantro, vegan cheese, black olives, tortilla chips, whatever you have on hand.
- Enjoy with extra chips or our yummy vegan cornbread.
- Simply delicious!🌶
Notes
Nutrition
These are estimated values generated from a nutritional database using unbranded products. Please do your own research with the products you're using if you have a serious health issue or are following a specific diet.
Food Safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Don’t leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
Ginny
What is the serving size on your given nutrition info?
Connie Edwards McGaughy
The serving size is generous, at roughly 1-3/4 cup. I'm so glad you asked, and can see why you did - those numbers were way off. The nutrition calculator was not accurate on the canned beans, showing the calories too low and the sodium too high. Hopefully the new numbers are closer to where they should be. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Diane
Sounds so yummy and easy! Thank you ! I look forward to trying this.
Connie Edwards McGaughy
Thank you Diane! I do hope you enjoy it!
Connie Edwards McGaughy
You're going to love how quick & easy it is to create a pot of hearty, healthy & delicious vegan chili using basic ingredients. In less than a half hour dinner will be on the table!