Ultimate Vegan Chili Recipe

Looking for delicious, filling plant based recipes? This vegan chili is for you. Yep, this one is our best chili recipe yet and it’s totally plant based! Alex and I love finding ways to make vegetables delicious that go over well no matter what your personality or diet choices. And this chili is that: it’s hard to find someone who will turn it down! It’s full of savory flavor starring beans, quinoa, and a hint of adobo sauce for complexity. Top it with our vegan sour cream and some pickled jalapenos and well: it’s out of this world good.

What to serve with vegan chili

There’s one side dish that everyone thinks of when it comes to chili! (Yep, it’s our number one too.) But there are many more sides that go with chili. Here’s what we’d accessorize with it, vegan style:

• Easy Vegan Cornbread You may not have thought cornbread was life changing…until now. This tender, moist vegan cornbread tastes the Jiffy box, but 100 times tastier.
• Best Tossed Salad Colorful and fresh, this salad features colorful veggies, crunchy homemade croutons, and a variety of salad dressing options. Try it with our Vegan Ranch Dressing or Creamy Avocado Dressing.
• Fennel Orange Salad Here’s a refreshing and easy side dish: fennel orange salad! It pairs juicy orange and the subtle licorice essence of fennel with a citrus vinaigrette.

Here are the secrets to this best vegan chili:

• Secret veggie blend. You’ll blend together tomatoes with parsley, carrot, vegan Worcestershire sauce, and adobo sauce to create the body for this sauce. Oddly enough, it was inspired by a chili we had once with V8 in it. But we wanted to make an all-natural version!
• Adobo sauce! Adobo sauce adds smoky, tangy complexity to this chili that cannot be substituted! See the section below for more on this magic sauce.
• Quinoa. Quinoa adds a meaty texture. (See more Vegan Quinoa Recipes.)
• Vegan sour cream. It’s just a topping, but it truly makes for that classic chilie

Ingredients

• 2–28 ounce cans fire roasted diced tomatoes, divided
• 1 small carrot
• 1 cup parsley leaves and tender stems, loosely packed
• 2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce (or use this substitute)
• 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (from 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce), plus more to taste
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes, fire roasted if possible
• 1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained
• 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained
• ½ cup dry quinoa
• 1 tablespoon each chili powder and garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon each onion powder, cumin and oregano
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper