Start to Finish: 1 hour • Servings: 6 • Skill: Easy
Vegetarian chili recipes vary pretty widely. Some simply use a standard recipe but replace the meat with a soy-based substitute. Others emphasize the veggies, making what amounts to a hearty vegetable stew with some chili powder added.
There’s no right or wrong — it all comes down to what you like — but a third approach, using beans and fresh seasonings, can make your chili especially memorable.
Ingredients
- 1 28-ounce can of whole tomatoes, no salt added
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 large onion, minced
- 2 to 3 tablespoons good-quality paprika
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika or ground chipotle pepper
- 2 teaspoons ancho powder (1, if you’ve used chipotles and want less heat)
- 1 teaspoon plain cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 cans mild green chilies
- 3 15-ounce cans beans, low sodium
- Sea salt to taste (optional)
Step 1
Remove half of the tomatoes from their can and chop them coarsely. Puree the remaining tomatoes and their juices using a blender or immersion blender. Set them aside.
Step 2
Warm a heavy-bottomed stock pot or Dutch oven over low-to-medium heat. Add the oil and then the minced onion. Stir the onions for 3 to 4 minutes, until they’re soft and translucent.
Step 3
Add the dry spices to the oil and stir for 30 seconds. The spices will first absorb all the oil, then slowly release it back into the pot. Add the garlic and oregano and stir for another 30 seconds, until the mixture is very aromatic.
Step 4
Pour in the chopped and pureed tomatoes, stirring to disperse the spices through the liquid, along with the chilies. Simmer the mixture for 10 minutes, stirring periodically to keep it from sticking to the pot.
Step 5
Open the beans, draining and reserving the liquid they’re packed in. Add the beans to the tomato mixture, stirring them in, then top up the pot — if necessary — with the reserved liquid from the beans. Stir once more to incorporate the liquid.
Step 6
Simmer the chili for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 ½ hours. The longer it bubbles gently on your stove, the deeper and richer its flavor becomes. Taste after 20 minutes, and add a pinch of extra salt if necessary.
Step 7
Serve hot with your choice of garnishes and side dishes or refrigerate for later. As with any good chili, its flavors will continue to deepen overnight.
Nutritional Data (one serving)
- Calories: 273
- Total Fat: 6 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
- Sodium: 274 mg
- Total Carbohydrates: 62 g
- Dietary Fiber: 20 g
- Protein: 21 g
Tips & Warnings
- Fresh paprika is the primary flavoring in the spice mixture, providing a concentrated version of the fresh, fruity flavor of sweet red peppers. If yours is dull and brown in color, discard it and buy fresh batch that’s vividly red.
- As written, the recipe makes a mild chili. You can add extra heat and flavor by using chipotles instead of smoked paprika or by mincing fresh jalapenos, serranos, habaneros or other peppers and adding them to the pot. Feel free to add more black pepper, as well. It adds a slow, insistent heat that’s different from the burn of the chili peppers.
- Kidney beans are a common choice for chili, but they’re not your only option. Feel free to use pinto beans, black beans or any other variety you like. Mixing two or more varieties provides a pleasing contrast of colors and textures.
- If you simmer the chili for just 30 minutes, it might be slightly soupy. Thicken it by taking out a cup of the beans and mashing them to paste, then stirring them back in.
By Fred Decker, Demand Media
Fred Decker is a trained chef and certified food-safety trainer. Decker wrote for the Saint John, New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, and has been published in Canada’s Hospitality and Foodservice magazine. He’s held positions selling computers, insurance and mutual funds, and was educated at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Source: American Heart Association: The Benefits of Beans and Legumes
Photo Credit: Getty Images
