Grab some extra cans on your next grocery trip to make this one pot vegetarian chili next time you need an easy shelf-stable dinner option.
One Pot Vegetarian Chili
This recipe has been in my rotation for years, and I wanted to get it up on the blog because it’s a great “break in case of emergency” recipe. This one pot vegetarian chili uses several canned tomato products as well as canned beans, so it’s (almost) all shelf-stable. The fresh veggies are an optional twist, and you could even keep them chopped in your freezer!
When I say emergency I mean it in two senses of the word. Because this recipe is shelf-stable, the ingredients are great to keep on hand if you are trying to stock up on some food. Plus, if you have a gas stove, you could make this when the power is out in a pot on the stove. However, I also mean emergency when you have no idea what to cook or don’t feel like cooking. I made this when I was feeling pretty sick, but I did have enough energy to open some cans and dump them into my pressure cooker.
Basic Recipe and Substitutions
The base of the chili comes from tomato soup, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste. The three work together to get a nice thick tomato base. I like to buy Pacific Food’s roasted red pepper and tomato soup to get some more flavor into the dish. I will also grab the diced tomatoes that are seasoned with basil to add more flavor.
For the chili seasoning, if you are looking for an easy option where you just dump ingredients in, you can buy a packet of chili seasoning. Just make sure it’s gluten free. This McCormick chili seasoning is gluten free, but be careful with McCormick’s products because they make marked GF products, but most of their regular products do contain wheat. You can add more heat with a hot chili mix or add in extra chipotle powder or choose hotter peppers. You can also use individual spices to season your chili.
I like to use black beans, kidney beans, and pinto beans for my chili, but you can sub in whatever you have or your favorite beans. You can also add some browned protein or swap out one of the beans for Beyond grounds or ground meat. For veggies, I always add some onions for an aromatic along with some peppers for freshness. I like red bell peppers and poblanos which add a different flavor. Basically, there’s no wrong way to make this chili.
How to Cook Chili?
You can cook this chili on the stove, in a slow cooker, or in a pressure cooker depending on when you want to eat it and what tools you have.
For the stove, you can add a bit of oil and sauté the onions and peppers until translucent. Then dump in all the tomato products, the rinsed beans, and the seasoning packet. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Cover and cook for about 30-40 minutes or until the beans and veggies are soft and the favors come together. Adjust the flavor with salt and pepper. You can’t really overcook this. If you are cooking in the kitchen all day, this is a great dish to keep cooking on the back burner because the longer it cooks the more the flavors will deepen.
To cook this in the slow cooker or crockpot, you simply dump all the ingredients to the slow cooker. Then depending on when you want the chili to be ready, you can cook the chili on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Since, we aren’t cooking any meat or foods that would be dangerous undercooked, mostly the time is to soften the beans and veggies as well as blend the flavors together.
Finally, you can also dump all the ingredients into a pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 8 minutes. This will probably take about 20 minutes to fully cook including time to build pressure and release pressure. I usually opt for this option since it’s the quickest and the most hands-off option. However, before I had a pressure cooker, I used to cook my chili in a slow cooker. If you want to try out another Instant Pot recipe, check out this recipe on the blog for one pot minestrone soup.
How to Serve and Store?
Serve your chili with optional cheese and sour cream (vegan options are great too!) and sliced green onions or chives. Chili goes great with Fritos or some toasted bread. You can also serve this over a baked potato or mashed potatoes which is really delicious! Store in an airtight container in the fridge for about 1 week, or you can store in the freezer and defrost in the microwave when you are ready to eat it.
One Pot Vegetarian Chili
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion
- 1 medium red pepper
- 2 medium poblano peppers
- 15 oz. can black beans
- 15 oz. can kidney beans
- 15 oz. can pinto beans
- 32 oz. tomato soup
- 6 oz. tomato paste
- 30 oz. diced tomatoes 2 (15 oz.) cans
- 1 packet chili seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- To prep the peppers, cut off the tops and remove the cores and seeds. Removing the seeds from the poblanos makes them more mild. Dice the peppers.
- Peel and dice the onion.
- Drain and rinse the beans until there are no more bubbles produced.
- To a Crock Pot, Instant Pot, or large pot over medium heat, add the chopped vegetables, beans, and the rest of the canned ingredients.
- Finally, add all the spices to season the chili. The individual spices can be substituted for a pre-made chili seasoning packet if desired.
- For slow cooking, cook on high heat for 3-4 hours or low heat for 7-8 hours.
- For stove top cooking, bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until the beans and peppers are soft.
- For pressure cooking, cook on high pressure for 8 minutes. Release the pressure when finished cooking.