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 red 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
Love this recipe, I’ve made it like 5 times now and it’s consistently great every time. I also have never left a review before on a cooking site lol but just had to cuz I love this one so much.
I’m so glad you’ve loved it, thank you for leaving a review!
Can I make this in a slow cooker?
I love the Love and Lemons recipes and I make a lot of them.
What would I need to change or add to make this in a slow cooker?
Hi Mary, I think it would work in a slow cooker, but I don’t have one so I’m not sure of the instructions.
I recently tried this recipe and wow I was blown away though I did add the chili Peppers in there I still had the adobe seasoning with everything else and still turned out well. P.s this will be used again
If you are sensitive to spice or simply do not care for it, know that this recipe is good both with and without the chipotles and adobo. My son loves spice, but other family members do not, so I always split this recipe in two (or double it in separate pots!), adding the chipotle and adobo sauce to one and not to the other. It’s delicious both ways and goes great with the homemade cornbread by L&L. Enjoy!
This was very good. I used a can of chickpeas and Bush’s chili beans since that’s what I had on hand. I did puree about a cup to thicken it a bit. It was very spicy, but that added to the appeal for me.
Love all your recipes and trying this one tonight! I freeze chipotles in mini ice cube trays – you think that three of those would be equivalent to what the recipe calls for? (My husband loves spice). Would u add any smoked paprika or cumin? Lastly, would it be bad to blend half of it? I like more creamy soups
Hi Jen, it depends how many chilis fit in each ice cube (I do the same thing, my ice cube tray might be a little bigger – it holds 2 peppers per slot). I’d let them thaw and just see how many peppers you have and use their surrounding sauce. Since the chipotles are smoky, I don’t add other spices, but you certainly could if you wanted to. I think blending a portion would be great if you wanted it creamier. I hope you enjoy it!
Is there a big difference in taste between fire roasted tomatoes and regular ones?
HUGE difference in my opinion! But I’ve used regular diced tomatoes with a few dashes of smoked paprika to make up for it in a pinch… it still tastes great, but here is a certain smokiness of flavor with the fire roasted that adds to the “chilliness” and warmth of this recipe 😉 I’m not sure how else to describe it.
Thank you so much for sharing this incredible recipe! I have just started to limit my meat consumption and I have to say I LOVE THIS. I don’t even miss the meat in it and more importantly I have felt so good this week with tons of energy. It takes no time at all to prepare – your time count is accurate.
This is so yummy. Thanks for providing yummy plant based options
The lime is great flavor that complements other profiles
Thanks!!!
I’ve made this 3 times now and it has been absolutely delicious every time.
Side note: I have altered this from the original since hot spiciness doesn’t like me… so I cut out the chipotles and use fire roasted tomatoes with green chilies instead… still has a little kick, but not nearly as much as the chipotles did! I also add a couple tablespoons of sugar so that it doesn’t speak to me all night 😉 When I made this on Saturday, I was craving greens, so I added some pretty finely chopped spinach at the end, (about 1 cup packed). It really doesn’t change the flavor, but it does boost its overall nutrient level. I would imagine that kale would serve the same purpose, as long as you don’t use the thicker stems or else massage or chop it quite fine.
The thing I love most about this recipe is how versatile it is. Thank you!
Made this to ight came out soooooooo good! Iam sensitive to spice soi used 1 chili pepper and I did use the 3 tbs of the sauce. Maybe 2. But it was PERFECT
I really want to know, what prep time means bc it takes at least 30mins to prep. Why do you put prep time as 10 mins on several recipes that require chopping, dicing & mincing? Gathering and preparing to follow the the recipe as you set it all up takes takes 30 mins…so I am curious as to where the 10 mins for prep time comes from exactly???
This takes me less than 10 minutes to prepare. Maybe it’s an organizational thing, or perhaps more kitchen experience?The only Prep is chopping an onion, mincing garlic and chopping a red pepper… the rest is opening cans and sprinkling a bit of this and that. This recipe is super easy and fast to make…
I really want to know, what prep time means bc it takes at least 30mins to prep. Why do you put prep time as 10 mins on several recipes that require chopping, dicing & mincing?
Hi Quia, since this recipe just has 4 simple things to chop, we’ve timed our prep to be about 10 minutes. Others might take a bit longer depending on what’s involved, but this chili is super simple.
Made this tonight and paired with your pickled jalapenos. delicious! I’m such a sucker for the chipotle in adobo flavor profile. This has a great heat and was very straightforward to put together.
chickpeas and chopped sweet potato …for an extra hearty, yet still super healthy veggie version 🌶
Is there a nutrition overview for this recipe?
Hi there! Happy holidays! This link used to take me to a chickpea chili recipe. It was similar to this, but just different enough and one of our FAVORITE veggie meals. Do you happen to have the previous recipe archived somewhere? Thanks!
Hi Meredith, it’s actually the same recipe (new photos) if you use chickpeas instead of the beans listed.
I would like to add zucchini and yellow squash and maybe a few diced peppers as I have so many in my garden. What do you think?
Thank you!
Kristen Berry
I think that would be great!
was delicious, however I would have knocked down the chipotle peppers in adobo, plus the 3 tablespoons of sauce if you aren’t a fan of super spicy things. overall great I will make it again.
My husband loved it!