Quick Vegetarian Chili (30 minutes)

Have great comfort food on your table in less than 30 minutes. This quick vegetarian chili is is ready in no time and is bursting with flavor!

Comfort food is the best, right? All the warm, magical flavors combined with hearty ingredients can be a lifesaver in this cold winter, in my humble opinion.

It's getting so cold in Boston that all I can think about is this quick vegetarian chili that I made last week to share with you. It's like, so cold, I don't want to move at all. I just want to curl up in my blanket and have a large cup of rose and cardamom hot chocolate and watch Gilmore Girls all day long. But I guess that's not going to happen today because, well, life.

But, hey, we can still talk about this chili. You know, this is the best vegetarian chili recipe and I'm going to tell you why.

So, what makes this quick vegetarian chili the best vegetarian chili recipe ever?

1. It's super easy! The recipe calls for canned beans and canned tomatoes. They cut the cooking time and effort.
2. Sweet potatoes! I love sweet potatoes and for this particular recipe, they add so much flavor and a nice texture to the dish that you don't want to miss.
3. It's so easy to adjust this recipe to your liking. If you don't care for black beans, swipe them for white beans or pinto beans. If you have half of a bell pepper sitting in your fridge, add that too. If you're not crazy about mushrooms, leave them out. This recipe is your friend, so no worries.
4. It's slow cooker friendly! You can easily make this recipe in the slow cooker by adding everything except the last ingredient into a slow cooker and cook on high for 6 hours until the sweet potatoes and lentils are fully cooked.

Notes and tips for making this quick vegetarian chili:

• I used canned black beans and navy beans. Any kind of beans would work for this recipe. If kidney beans or pinto beans are your favorite, or that's what you have in the pantry, go with those, it'll taste just as good.
• If you have dried beans and no canned beans, then you need to soak them the night before and cook them before hand (according to the package instructions). You can cook a big batch of beans and have them in the fridge or the freezer as use them as needed.
• Sauteing onion, garlic and celery is very important in this recipe. This is what gives all the flavors to the chili. Don't skip the sauteing unless you're using a slow cooker.
• To add a little bit of more flavor to this chili, I added a couple tablespoons of barbecue sauce (I use Carolina style) to it at the very end and gave it a nice stir. This is a nice trick if you like to add a ton of flavor in no time!
• Don't forget to use turmeric. This golden spice is so good for you and gives so much flavor to this dish. But don't be generous with it. As good as this spice is, if you add too much it'll ruin the dish and everything will taste like turmeric.

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Step-by-Step Recipe

Quick Vegetarian Chili

Shadi HasanzadeNemati

Have the best comfort food on your table in less than 30 minutes. This quick vegetarian chili is is ready in no time and is bursting with flavor! 

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 6 servings

Calories 326 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• ▢ 1 Yellow Onion Chopped
• ▢ 4 cloves Garlic Minced
• ▢ 2 ribs Celery Chopped
• ▢ 1 Large Carrot Diced
• ▢ ½ cup Dry Green Lentils
• ▢ 1 cup Sweet Potato Cut into ½" cubes
• ▢ ½ lb Mushrooms Sliced
• ▢ 1 can Black Beans Drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 can Navy Beans Drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 can Crushed Tomatoes
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon Salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
• ▢ 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Cumin
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Turmeric
• ▢ 4 cups Vegetable Stock Or water (more might be needed)
• ▢ 2 tbsp Carolina Style Barbecue Sauce Optional

Instructions

 

• Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the onion. Saute until translucent. 
• Add in garlic and give it a nice stir. Add in celery and carrot. Saute for 5 minutes. 
• Add in lentils, stir well and then add in the sweet potato. Cook for 3-5 minutes. 
• Add in mushrooms, black beans and navy beans. Mix well with the ingredients in the pot. Add in crushed tomatoes. 
• Add salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, turmeric and cumin. Stir well to make sure all the ingredients are mixed with the spices. 
• Add vegetable stock or water. turn the heat to high and bring it to simmer. Turn the heat to medium high, cover and let cook for 15-20 minutes until all the ingredients are fully cooked. Add more water if needed. 
• 5 minutes before serving, add Carolina style barbecue sauce. 
• Serve warm with sour cream. 

Notes

For the slow cooker version, place all the ingredients except the barbecue sauce in the slow cooker and cook on high for 6 hours. Add the barbecue sauce right before serving. 

Nutrition

Calories: 326kcal

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