Vegetarian chili that is full of soulful flavor and hearty enough to stick to your bones??? Say it aint so!!!!
I’ll admit vegetarian chili didn’t sound that appealing to me at first. I guess I’m just not a real veggie lover (although I’m trying to be) I’m a meat & potatoes, (cakes, cookies, ice cream, pies, candy,) kinda girl and it just seemed like a cruel thing to do to chili…you know, adding all those vegetables and stuff.
My oldest sister, who is a vegetarian, has been telling me how fabulous her vegetarian chili recipe is for the longest. Even though she is one of those “healthy people” I trust her when she tells me something vegetarian tastes good. She was raised on my mothers and grandmothers soulful cooking and knows how to doctor up those vegetarian dishes like a seasoned pro.
Since so many of us are trying to watch our weight this time of year, I figured you would appreciate a hearty, savory, yet healthy dish to add to your recipe collection. (you can thank for my sister Nikki, although I did tweak this recipe a bit from the original)
This vegetarian chili recipe does not disappoint! It’s hearty, mild enough for my toddler, yet my spicy, meat- chili-loving husband gave it 5 stars! I found myself eating my second bowl without even noticing it.
It’s loaded with fresh vegetables like zucchini, peppers and corn, three kinds of beans, and a perfect blend of savory spices! This vegetarian chili can easily be customized with your favorite veggies or kick up the heat to your liking.
Serve it up with a hunky square of buttermilk cornbread and a crunchy green salad..magnificent…and healthy to boot!!
Watch me make this vegetarian chili recipe from start to finish
Soulful Vegetarian Chili
Ingredients
- 1 zucchini chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 sweet red pepper chopped
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 jalepeno seeded and diced (optional but so yummy)
- 3 Tablespoons of oil for sautéing
- 1 cup frozen sweet corn
- 1 12 oz bag Morning Star Meal Starters (grillers veggie crumbles) 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
- 1 14.5 oz can whole Italian Stewed Tomatoes, chopped
- 1 15 oz can Tomato sauce
- 1 15 oz can kidney beans, rinsed & drained
- 1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed & drained
- 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 T. chili powder
- 3 T celery flakes or fresh celery
- 1 1/2 t. seasoning salt
- 1 1/2 t. ground cumin
- 1 t. paprika
- 1 T. oregano
- 1 T. cilantro
- 2 t. sugar
- 1 T. parsley
- 2 t. thyme
- 1 T. basil optional
- A few dashes of black pepper optional
- A few dashes of liquid smoke optional
Instructions
- ) Heat olive oil in a large pot.
- ) Add in the vegetable crumbles. and chopped veggies.
- ) Sauté on medium heat until the bell peppers are nice and tender.
- ) Add the corn and cook for another minute.
- ) Add the diced tomatoes, chopped Italian Stewed Tomatoes and tomato sauce.
- ) Stir in the drained beans.
- ) Stir until everything is combined.
- ) Add in the spices.
- ) Stir to combine.
- )Cover and bring to a boil.
- ) Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
- )Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Taste and add more seasonings if desired! Just don't go too crazy with the seasonings if you plan on having leftovers because the flavors will really intensify overnight.
this is great how do I do this for 100 people
Giiiirrrrl let me tell you about this chili! SOOOO GOOD! Trying to change my eating habits and eat food that tastes good and are good for you. I like celery and carrots but im not a rabbit lol I need some substance and this did it. I`ll be making this frequently. My Mom and Dad loved it and they don`t do vegetarian anything lol!
I give this 5 stars!! OMG soooo good. Little kid, toddler, pre-teen, teen and meat eating hubby approved. Thanks Diva!
This is a good base chili recipe especially for kids. I didn’t make mine vegetarian however I did use everything except for the Veggie crumbles, zucchini and garbanzo beans. Instead of those items I replaced with ground turkey and basically made it just as recipe stated with the specified measured spices and my family just loves it specially with cornbread. Thanks!
This is delicious!!! I made it almost exactly the same but left out thyme and added chili black beans!!!! My fiance and daughter loved it!!
I love this recipe!!! I make it all the time and I swear I can eat the whole pot by myself!!! It’s so hard to only have one bowl!!! Diva do you think you could do a gumbo recipe?
Just made this recipe. Substituted the morning star meal starters with Tempeh, but kept everything else the same. Came out great! Lots of flavor, very hearty and filling. Thanks!
All I can say is mmmmm, tried this recipe last night and I was very impressed with how good it taste. Eating the leftovers now crackers…thank diva 🙂
I’m a bodybuilder that’s always looking for easy nutritious and delicious recipes. Stumbled upon this recipe and tried it, and I’ve got to say, it was the best chili I’ve ever had!
I made this while my boyfriend’s Mom and her friend was in town and we all loved! loved! loved! IT!! Oh, it was sooo good! Everyone went back for seconds..thirds! There was only 4 of us and we tore this one pot up!! oh so good =) Thanks for sharing!
I made this recipe last night. I made a few changes, I did not add all those beans and I did not use stewed tomatoes, and some of the seasonings It was delicious. I really enjoyed and so did my family. Thank you and it was hearty.
Made this recipe last week and my husband and I loved it, even our 3yr old son.
Yes, I would love more vegetarian main dishes. So good! 🙂
Ok, so today was our Annual Chili Cookoff at work, and guess who won 1st place? Ok, Ok, I wont keep you in suspense…IT WAS ME! Monique, girrrrrrl, this Chili is thabomb.com. No one believed me when I told them it was all veggies. I’ve never made chili before so this was a stretch, as a matter of fact, I’m not too fond of it actually, I believe my father made it EVERY DAY in the winter time when I was a kid so when I was old enough to make my own choices concerning dinner, when Chili was on the menu, I politely declined. Everyone was asking me for the recipe so I had to share this site (I shouted you out in my acceptance speech). I did tweak it a bit to match it as much as I could to daddies. So from one diva to another, thanks again!
Yayyy!!! Congrats!!!!!! I wish I had some of that chili right now!!
Hey Monique, I tried this for my Daniel fast minus the liquid smoke and the Morning Crumbles. This is great I love this recipe it is so so flavorful. Thanks for all the recipes, will be making the Turkey Burgers for lunch today and will be back to post. And hey Monique don’t forget to give me or ur subbies info on how to get an actual book copy of ur cook books. God Bless You and the Family 🙂
how would you make this, if you wanted to do it in a crockpot?
I made this chilli last week, but added some spice to it. It was surprisingly pretty good but I personally couldnt do the garbanzo beans,
my hubby and I are now vegitarian and slowly cutting dairy out of our diets as well so this recipe was right on time for us! It was so friggin’ delicious and the spices were AWSOME! I turned it up a notch by adding a few hits of cayenne and some sea salt. This will be a regular dinner put in our frezer for easy access thanks so much and bring on the vegetarian main dishes girl!!!!
Wow. That looks really good. It’s making me hungry right now. I’m definitely going to give it a try this week for dinner
I finally made this dish and Im surprised I was able to pull this off with all the ingredients. It came out good. I wish it could of been a little spicer. Im still tweeking alot of stuff. I didn't add none of the optional stuff so maybe that was it. This is the 3rd recipe I have tried on your blog and I love them all. Keep it up 🙂
Just wanted to say, I'm making this chili for the second time tonight. It is soooooo good. You can fool anybody into thinking this is regular chili. Those veggie crumbles are a great substitution without all the fat! Thanks so much to you and your sister for sharing!
Made this yesterday! Honestly the best chili I've ever had! Thanks chica!
I stumbled upon your chili recipe tonight. I am going to make this recipe Saturday for the kids. Thanks
Monique, I will def. try this one….looks awesome! Thanks for all of your recipes all year…we love them and keep em coming!
Dwana, yep I'd say about 8-10 serving sounds just right! You could also use whatever beans you prefer. If you prepare them yourself that will also cut down on the sodium. Olive oil can be used for sauteing and you can definitely get away with using about 1 Tablespoon in a nonstick pot.
Shannon ohhhh I bet fiesta corn would be awesome in this chili.
This looks and sounds good. I have one vegetarian chili recipe but will tweek it to incorporate some of your items. I didn't think about the corn or black beans. I purchased a bag of fiesta corn that will go great with the chili! Thanks for sharing!!
This sounds lovely. I may try this out soon but with a couple of changes. First 3 tablespoons (11 points) of oil is pretty high for dieters (or WW). I want to try this using cooking spray (0 points)instead.
I never ate Garbanzo (Chickpeas) before so I did some nutritional research and found that their caloric value was pretty high. It's about 12 points for a 15oz can. So I was thinking…what if I reduced the amount by 50%?
I also wanted to check for serving sizes. How does 8 sound? I'm trying to judge by the size pot you made.
With your recipe and my alterations this makes would be 10 points per serving!
6 servings/ 13 points
8 servings/ 10 points
Thanks Diva