Meet the best vegetarian chili recipe I've tasted! Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and fire-roasted tomatoes give it a delicious smoky kick.
This vegetarian chili is the ultimate cold weather comfort food. Once the temperature starts dropping, I start craving all sorts of cozy recipes. Lasagna, mac and cheese, eggplant Parmesan, you name it. But while I love all of those things, some nights I want to get my comfort food fix with as little work as possible. That’s where this easy vegetarian chili recipe comes in.
Like any good veggie chili, it’s hearty, warming, smoky, and spicy. Made with a short list of pantry ingredients, it packs in a hefty amount of veggies, but it’s so yummy that even a meat lover will fall for it (just ask Jack!). To make it, you only need to do a few minutes of hands-on prep. Then, let it simmer away on its own – you can check back in 30 minutes later to dish up a delicious vegetarian chili dinner.
Healthy and delicious, this is a great recipe for busy weeknights, game day, or any time you’re craving something cozy. Enjoy!
Vegetarian Chili Recipe Ingredients
My vegetarian chili recipe is filled with the chili essentials: onion, garlic, red bell pepper, pinto and kidney beans, lime, olive oil, salt, and black pepper. I also add corn kernels for a colorful twist. Fresh or frozen corn works equally well, adding pops of yellow and a little crunch.
Then, instead of stirring in regular diced tomatoes, I add fire roasted diced tomatoes. A pantry staple in my kitchen, they’re my first pick anytime I use diced tomatoes in a recipe. They have the same concentrated tomato flavor, but they also add an irresistible smokiness to whatever you’re making, which is really delicious in this plant-based chili recipe.
Finally, in lieu of chili powder, I use canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. They’re super smoky, spicy, and savory, which makes for one darn good bowl of veggie chili. If you’ve never used them before, you can find them in the Mexican section of most grocery stores. Use any leftovers in my favorite chipotle sauce, BBQ sandwiches, or black bean burgers!
Once you prep your ingredients, making this recipe is easy! Just sauté the onion, garlic, and peppers, stir in the remaining ingredients, and simmer until the chili thickens to your desired consistency. Finish it off with a big squeeze of lime, and dig in!
Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days (they get more flavorful with time!), or freeze them for even longer. For more freezer-friendly dinner ideas, check out this post!
Vegetarian Chili Serving Suggestions
My favorite part of making vegetarian chili is loading it up with toppings! I especially love this recipe with a dollop of Greek yogurt or cashew cream to cool the heat from the smoky chipotles. I like to finish it with pickled onions, sliced chiles, and cilantro. Feel free to get creative with your toppings – shredded cheese, sour cream, pickled jalapeños, avocado, guacamole, or charred corn kernels would all be great.
Enjoy a bowl of this chili on its own, or pair it with tortilla chips, cornbread, or a baked sweet potato for a heartier meal. Or, for a fun game day snack, top it onto sweet potato wedges to make sweet potato chili fries!
Easy Vegetarian Chili Recipe Variations
I love this recipe as written, but if you’re particular about your chili, change it up to suit your preferences! Here are a few easy variations:
- Use your favorite beans. I’ve been known to make this recipe with everything ranging from black beans to chickpeas, and it always comes out great. Use your favorite beans (or whatever you have in your pantry) instead of the pinto and/or kidney beans. You can also cook your beans from scratch instead of using canned ones.
- Add extra veggies. Do you love a veggie-heavy chili? Add a stalk of celery or carrots to the pot along with the onion.
- Spice to your level. Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce can vary in spice level, so if you’re sensitive to spice, start with less than the recipe calls for. You can always add more!
How do you like your vegetarian chili? Let me know in the comments!
More Favorite Soup Recipes
If you love this veggie chili, try one of these delicious soups next:
- Best Lentil Soup
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Many-Veggie Vegetable Soup
- Creamy Potato Soup
- Carrot Ginger Soup
- Or any of these 25 best soup recipes!
Easy Vegetarian Chili
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 (14-ounce) can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
- 1 (14-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (14-ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup water or broth
- 3 chipotle peppers from canned chipotles in adobo, diced, plus 3 tablespoons sauce*
- 1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon lime juice, plus wedges for serving
serving suggestions:
- Avocado or Guacamole
- Greek yogurt or sour cream
- Jalapeño or serrano peppers, diced or sliced
- Cilantro
- Pickled Onions
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, a few pinches of salt and pepper, and stir. Cook until the onion is translucent, 5 minutes, then add the garlic and red pepper. Stir and cook until soft, 5 to 8 minutes, turning the heat down as needed.
- Add the tomatoes, beans, water, chipotles, adobo sauce, corn, salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chili has thickened.
- Stir in the lime juice and season to taste. Serve with desired toppings.
Notes
Yummy! I added more chipotle peppers for an extra kick!
Hi Jen, I’m so glad you loved it!!
I’ve had chili so many times and it would never come out looking this good or colorful! Good job! Will try this recipe soon.
Made this tonight, and we loved it! I added more sour cream to calm the spice, but it was excellent. We’ll keep making it!
Hi Meg, I’m so glad you all loved it!
Thank you for this recipe! I made it this week and am still enjoying the leftovers. I am serving it over roasted yams. So healthy and delicious! I couldn’t get any avocados this week so I’m putting a little cheddar cheese on top. I don’t like smokey/spicy-hot foods so I left out the chipotle peppers and adobo and put in a couple teaspoons of chili powder instead. Turned out just the way I like it!
Hi Barbara, I’m so glad you enjoyed the chili!
I love trying new chili recipes. I haven’t tried it with corn before. It sounds delish and looks so fresh, colorful, and pretty!
I hope you enjoy the chili! I like it with the corn, it just adds a nice texture in my opinion 🙂
This dish was so easy to prep.
Added a fire roasted Poblano pepper and a hit of smoked New Mexico chili powder.
Served with Corn Tortillas.
Def a keeper.
Yum.
Thanks Gil, I’m glad you loved this one!
This is a great veggie chili recipe even for meat eaters, it also scales well. I doubled the recipe and four batches later fed a crew of 70 production workers. It pairs well with hot dogs. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Maxine, wow, I’m so happy to hear that the recipe was such a hit with everyone!
Made this soup for dinner tonight. It came out delish! I added some tortilla chips as toppings, yum!
Just made this soup! So delicious. I really like the flavor of the adobo sauce. I added a teaspoon or two of cumin because it just doesn’t feel like chili without cumin 🙂 in my opinion. Thank you for the delicious and easy recipe!
Hi April – yay, I’m glad you loved it! I’ll never say no to a little more cumin 🙂
Do you think this recipe could be applied to a crock pot?
Hi Madeline – yep, I think it would be great in a slow cooker. One reader (a few comments above) said 2-3 hours in her crockpot was perfect.
WOW. Had cans of black beans and chickpeas to use up and after a quick Google search this heavenly solution landed right in my lap. Extremely simple, (fool-proof for an amateur in the kitchen like me!) incredible flavor! I added a roasted poblano pepper to the mix and some chipotle seasoning. Absolute perfection.
Hi Ellen – I’m so glad you liked it!!
I made this and tweaked a little according to my favorite vegetables and it was so good I made mine spicy and it was even better the next day I’m making this again tomorrow love it
Since you first posted this recipe, it has become a staple in my house, and my go-to crowd-pleaser dish at a potluck. It is, quite simply, the best vegetarian/vegan chilli.
I’m so glad to hear! It’s one of my favorites too 🙂
Delicious chili!
I made this for my mother (who eats meat – I do not) and she totally loved it! She said that she didn’t miss the meat at all! It was perfectly spicy and so warm and yummy on a chilly evening! This is definitely my new easy go to recipe.
OMG sooooooooooooo good!!! Made this last night and was in heaven!!! I was able to get 6 servings out of this and put it in containers to take to work for lunches. I topped mind w/ avocado, scallions, cheese and a few tortilla chips ..mmmmm I can’t wait for lunch today! 🙂 Another winner by you! Love your recipes 🙂
Oh question… maybe it was just the brand I bought but found it extremely difficult to get the adobe sauce out of the can… I had to scrape it off each pepper and barely got 2 Tbsp out of it
Ha, I’m so glad you liked it!! Interesting about the adobo – I usually have almost more sauce than actual peppers – do you mind if I ask what brand you used?
Oh man! haha I don’t remember the brand but I could check again the next time I go to Publix…. but I just googled it and by the pictures of cans I think it was Embasa LOL 😛 It was chuck full of peppers!
and BTW I’m eating it for lunch right now! YUM
Ha, no worries – also next time, I think you could just chop up and toss in a few chipotles in lieu of the sauce 🙂
Made this tonight and it was a hit! I’ve been using a tweaked version of your sweet potato chili for some time now so this recipe is a nice change up. My boyfriend even went back for seconds and he was skeptical of meatless chili. So thank you!
I did add a teaspoon or two of cumin because we like a little more heat. Seemed to work out great.
Oh my goodness, for the past few years I’ve been wondering how to re-create Whole Foods’ veggie chili (an Illinois resident, I know the exact black bean, chickpea and stew-ey goodness of which you speak!) I think the missing ingredient was the adobo sauce. Thanks so much for the recipe — can;t wait to make this!
Made this tonight for dinner and even my v. picky father made it through a bowl! So hearty, great flavor, perfectly spicy. I’ll certainly return to this recipe!
Sooooo happy I found your website!!! Forever grateful for your yummy vegetarian recipes
That looks wonderful!
I love Chili and this sounds simply delicious!
Isabelle <3