- Today, I'm excited to share
the ultimate vegetarian chili recipe with you.
It's a dinner sensation
loaded with an assortment of healthy vegetables,
three different kinds of beans,
and earthy rich spices.
It's a wonderful bowl of coziness
that'll warm you up from the inside out
and fill you up with plant-based goodness.
All you need are a few pantry staples
and fresh veggies.
It really is super easy to make.
And I love that it's also
a freezer friendly meal prep recipe
that you can reheat in the future in a flash.
There are many, many reasons to love this recipe.
So let me show you how to make it.
To get started,
you'll need to slice and dice a few veggies,
and I'm starting with one medium onion.
I'm sure you guys have heard
of the term "mise en place,"
which is a French phrase
that means "putting in place."
But all that means
is to prep your ingredients.
And trust me when I say
that cooking at home and making recipes
is a hundred times easier
when you first read through the entire recipe
and then prep all of the individual ingredients
before you ever get started.
So for this vegetarian chili recipe today,
I'm dicing up my onion
and then putting it into a bowl,
which I'll just place off to the side.
The next veggie you'll prep
are two bell peppers.
And I'm using red and green today,
but you could use any color.
Just slice off the top and bottom,
run your knife along the inside edge
to scoop out the membrane and seeds,
then cut it into strips
before slicing across for a dice.
But whatever you do,
don't forget the top and bottom pieces
as there's lots of usable veggie there.
So slice those pieces off
and dice them up as well.
Bell peppers have a sweet, mild flavor.
But if you like an extra spicy flavor,
you could dice up a jalapeno pepper
or serrano pepper as well.
Vegetarian chili is not only
a great meatless main
that can certainly hold its own
against my classic chili recipe
or white chicken chili recipe,
but it's also budget friendly
as it uses canned beans
as the main source of protein.
And we'll get to those beans
in just a second,
but after you're done prepping the bell peppers,
add them to the bowl with the onion.
Next step are two large carrots
and just give those a quick peel.
The easiest way to dice carrots
is to cut them in half.
Then cut those halves in half
with the flat edge facing down
on your cutting board,
and then just slice across.
I never liked dicing carrots and celery
before learning this method.
And now, I find them super easy to prep.
So sometimes it just takes
a little practice.
And when you're done with the carrots,
add them to your prep bowl
with the other veggies.
You'll slice two stalks of celery
the same way you sliced the carrots.
And if your celery is super wide,
you can slice it lengthwise
into thirds rather than halves
before slicing across into a dice.
It's really up to you
on how big and chunky
you'd like the pieces to be.
And overall, how big and chunky
you'd like your chili.
And wouldn't you look at that.
After just a few minutes,
you've got a whole bowl of veggies prepped.
And now the rest of this recipe
comes together super easy.
But before you leave the cutting board,
you'll want to bash four garlic cloves
and remove their peel.
Most of you guys know that I love garlic,
and it always seems to find its way
into most of my savory recipes.
But those papery skins,
oh, my gosh.
They drive me a bit bonkers
as I'm constantly finding
little pieces of the papery skins
on my kitchen floor.
Take your bowl of veggies and garlic
over to the stove,
and then take out your colander
because it's time to rinse your canned beans.
I'm using three different
types of beans in this recipe.
And that includes one 15-ounce can of black beans,
one 15-ounce can of pinto beans,
and one 15-ounce can of red kidney beans.
Canned beans are always gloppy out of the can.
And that's because of the starchy water
that they sit in.
So always make sure to give them a good rinse.
Once they're rinsed thoroughly,
you'll notice less
of those starchy water bubbles forming.
And then you can take these over to the stove.
All right, now that your mise en place is done,
it's time to get cooking.
Add two tablespoons of olive oil
to a large pot on medium-high heat,
and then toss in your bowl
of diced onion, bell peppers, carrot, and celery.
This is a basic mirepoix mix
plus the addition of bell pepper.
And it adds so much flavor to the chili.
Give it a stir for four to five minutes,
or until the onion is starting
to become translucent
and the veggies are softening.
Next comes the aromatics and spices.
So mince your four garlic cloves
straight into the pot,
and then add two tablespoons of chili powder.
One tablespoon of ground cumin.
One teaspoon of paprika,
one teaspoon of dried oregano,
one teaspoon of kosher salt,
and one tablespoon of tomato paste.
Stir that altogether for another minute,
until it's fragrant
and smelling pretty darn amazing.
Dump into your pot
the three types of drained beans,
along with 28 ounces of fire roasted dice tomatoes.
You can use regular diced tomatoes,
but fire roasted tomatoes
add a layer of smoky flavor that,
in my opinion,
makes this recipe next level.
So if you can find them,
definitely use them.
And then add four ounces
of diced green chilies.
I should also note
that you do not want to drain
the tomatoes or green chilies,
just the beans.
Add two cups of vegetable broth to the pot,
and then give that all a stir
to mix everything together.
Lastly, add one bay leaf and stir it in.
And then bring the chili to a boil.
Once it's boiling,
reduce the heat to medium-low
and let it simmer uncovered for 30 minutes,
giving it a few stirs throughout.
Now, I love a really thick chili.
But if you prefer a more brothy chili,
you can also add another cup
of vegetable broth or water
at any point in this process.
You could also give the chili
a slightly creamier texture
by using an immersion blender
to spot blend a few times.
The great thing about homemade recipes
is that you can always tweak them
to your preferences.
But if you make this recipe
as written on my website,
it will look like this
and you'll have a tantalizing aroma
wafting through your kitchen.
When your chili is done,
remove it from the stove,
pluck out that bay leaf
because no one wants
to accidentally chomp down on that.
Give it one final stir
and then serve it up.
This is the kind of meal
I love to make
when I'm craving comfort food
on a cold fall or winter day,
as it's so cozy and warming.
Yet it's easy to digest
and it won't weigh you down.
And you can't beat
that it's a one pot wonder as well
with minimal dirty dishes
to clean up afterwards.
Because, as much as I personally love to cook,
I certainly don't love doing dishes.
Scoop a few generous ladle fulls
of the chili into a bowl.
And then if you'd like,
add your favorite toppings.
You can add a sprinkle of cheese
or a dollop of sour cream.
I also love to add diced avocado.
And normally I would add chopped cilantro,
but I just used up all of my cilantro
on another recipe I'm testing.
So today, I'm adding chopped chives instead.
Either way, you know I've always got
to add more greens on top.
I hope you enjoyed today's video.
And if you did,
make sure to give it a thumbs up
as that always means so much.
Share it with your family and friends
to spread the Downshiftology love.
And I will see you again
in the next video.