My go-to healthy and easy vegetarian chili recipe. It’s so easy to make and has a rich, robust flavor thanks to a couple secret ingredients, peanut butter and cocoa powder. Vegan + gluten-free.
This weekend we had a couple of friends coming over to watch football so I made a big pot of vegetarian chili and some of my pumpkin cornbread muffins for the group to enjoy. This recipe has a base of onion and garlic, three different beans, corn, seasonings and two secret (but not so secret now) ingredients.
Chili recipes are known for having secret ingredients! Many folks swear by adding beer, honey, brown sugar, chocolate (I’m a big fan of this one), masa flour, cinnamon or lime juice (another one I’m a fan of). I recently read somewhere that peanut butter can also be a great addition to chili. As a peanut butter lover this was pure music to my ears. Obviously, I had to try it. I mean, peanut butter makes everything taste better, right?
I’m so glad I tried adding peanut butter to my vegetarian chili because as it turns out the peanut butter didn’t add a strong peanut flavor, but instead rich and robust flavor (that is often times lacking in vegetarian chili). It also added a bit of fat and helped to thicken the sauce a bit. Of course, I still added my normal secret ingredients, cocoa powder and lime. Cocoa powder enhances the flavor of chili, adds a deep tone and a bit of richness. And adding a splash of lime juice after cooking adds a hint of tang and makes the spices pop.
This chili is probably the best chili I’ve ever made so I’m pretty sure I’ll be adding peanut butter to all my chili recipes from now on. I can’t wait for you to try this little vegetarian chili trick as well. If you do try this chili, be sure to make a batch of my pumpkin cornbread muffins to go along with the chili. They’re delicious on their own with a spread of butter, but I love crumbling them into my bowl of chili.
If you try this easy vegetarian chili, be sure to leave a comment and star rating letting me know how it turns out. Your feedback is super helpful for me and other EBF readers who are planning to try the recipe.
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My go-to healthy and easy vegetarian chili recipe. It’s so easy to make and has a rich, robust flavor thanks to a couple secret ingredients, peanut butter and cocoa powder.
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 2 carrots, peeled and grated
- 2 Tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Sea salt and ground black pepper
- 1 – 28 oz can fire-roasted canned tomatoes
- 1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 – 15 oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 -15 oz can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 – 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup frozen sweet corn
- 1½-2 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
- 1 chili pepper, halved, seeded and chopped
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1/2 Tablespoon cocoa powder
- 2 Tablespoons creamy natural peanut butter
- Juice of one fresh lime
- toppings: avocado, Greek yogurt or sour cream, shredded cheese, fresh cilantro
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or large pot, warm oil over medium heat. Add onion, pepper, garlic and grated carrot and sauté until onion becomes soft and translucent. Stir in chili powder, red pepper flakes, sea salt and black pepper. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add all remaining ingredients except lime juice. Blend well. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, squeeze lime juice into the pot and stir. Serve immediately.
- The chili can be served over brown rice or quinoa and topped with cheese or greek yogurt for a hearty variation.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of recipe
- Calories: 363
- Sugar: 10g
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 59g
- Fiber: 16g
- Protein: 19g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Keywords: flavorful vegetarian chili, vegetarian chili, 3 bean vegetarian chili, vegan chili
PS: Even though I call this a vegetarian chili, it’s actually vegan. Don’t let the “meatless” qualities turn you away, even who aren’t vegetarian will love this chili — it’s got a great texture to it and it’s packed with flavor. Just don’t forget the secret ingredients!
Chilli and peanut butter?! Oh my this is just too good to be true
Looks good.
Yum!! This looks delicious. I was actually looking up chili recipes all weekend on pinterest to try one out this week. I found a pumpkin chili I THOUGHT I had made my mind up on, but now you have me thinking maybe this one is the way to go 🙂
This looks like the perfect chili recipe for those cold Fall night! Which we are actually having right now…well, it’s not night yet but you know what I mean;)
I love adding almond butter to chili but haven’t tried peanut butter yet! This is definitely happening this week!
Sounds so good, but yikes that’s a lot of ingredients! I tend to give up after about 5.
You had me at Peanut Butter!
And it’s vegan too. 🙂
Looks delish! Any favorite cornbread recipes?
I would never think to put peanut butter in chili! I’ve used cinnamon in mine and I really like that. Good recipe!
Do you realize you never posted your reception recap??? I’ve been waiting for more lovely pictures since July! 🙂
Yes!! I didn’t know if people were really interested, but now that I know you are, I will get to it and post it soon. 🙂 Thanks for the reminder.
Veggie + peanut butter is a match made in heaven. Unfortunately, I can’t do beans…but I think the peanut butter would be a great addition to a sweet potato or lentil chili as well!! Thanks for the idea! 🙂
Yes!!!!!!!! I’ve been using cocoa powder in my chili for awhile now, but never thought of pb. I can’t wait to try it!
Definitely making this soon! Love the addtion of cocoa and PB – two of my favorite things.
amazing combo of flavors!! pinning this for later to try when the weather gets cooler
Peanut butter and chili! Could it get any better than that? This looks so tasty and with the cooler weather, I have been craving a warm bowl of chili.
I am totally on board with your PB philosophy – it DOES make everything taste better. I have never tried it in chili though and I can’t wait! Thanks!
I love your creativity!!! im allergic to peanut butter (sad i know) but sunbutter will work just as well! i love trying “weird” food combos.. thanks!!!!
I must say I was immediately skeptical of peanut butter chili! But given my obsession with peanut butter and your track record of incredible recipes, I’m going to try this out!
I’ve never though of adding nut butter to chili but it totally makes sense that it would add that fatty depth of flavor. I’m totally trying this! Vegetarian chili is a staple over here in the fall 😉
i absolutely love the sound of this!
peanut butter… how interesting! that actually sounds delicious — I have to try it! I think I’ll add it to my meat version of chile though 😀
★★★★★
Peanut butter makes the world go round. I’ll have to try adding it to my chili next time. Looks amazing!
I just made this for football Sunday…can’t taste the peanut butter at all and honestly the chili tasted pretty amazing! Everyone in my house was happy with it :). Thanks for another wonderful recipe!!
Woo-hoo! I’m so glad that you tried the recipe and enjoyed it Jenni. Thanks for posting the photo to instagram as well. 🙂
PB DOES make everything taste better…you’re right! Will have to try this 🙂
So true! Let me know what you think if you try it. 🙂
I just made this and it was fantastic! Delicious, best chili ever, you don’t miss the meat at all! I’ve always preferred meatless chili anyways, this recipe is definitely a keeper!
★★★★★
I just made this with Jason’s honey almond butter with a side of vegan corn muffins and it was amazing! The nut butter, cocoa and lime were new ingredients for me and you’re right, the flavors are undetectable but really add a nice richness and kick – thanks so much for the recipe!
★★★★★
Made this last night and everyone raved. It was delicious! Thank you!
★★★★★
Oh wow this look so good. I am so making this for dinner this week. I especially love that it’s all veggies! Best of all is there will be left overs so can freeze some for another day.
Oh my gosh – and I was going to make some kind of veggie soup this weekend! Perfect! AND the peanut butter too?? OH yessss!
This sounds amazing! I’ve been perusing veg chili recipes all morning, and this is the most unique recipe yet! Adding it to my list!
Just tried this out and it’s amazing! Thanks very much for posting – it would never have occurred to me to put peanut butter in it!
J.
★★★★★
Just made a batch — delicious! I added a bit of cinnamon too.
Can’t wait to make this!! Planning to use a slow cooker though – any thoughts on that? Maybe 6 hours on low? Thanks!
Yay!! I think 4-6 hours on low is perfect. Enjoy!
Don’t be overwhelmed by the number of ingredients. This delicious chili is easy to make and has a wonderful depth of flavor. The best part is you will have leftovers for lunch tomorrow as well as a future dinner in the freezer.
★★★★★
This is now my go-to recipe any time I make chili! I’d like to attempt it in the crock pot. Do you have any suggestions for adapting the recipe to the slow cooker?