Vegetarian chili - tips

[Anonymous]

I make sweet potato chili.

[Anonymous]

Mushrooms! I use a ton of mushrooms in my chili whether I'm making it vegetarian, or with meat. Any hearty mushroom will work, but I prefer portobellos for their texture and price point.

Rough chop them, or better yet, run them through a food processor and add them at the very beginning to sweat down with your onions, etc. Make sure they've given up most of their moisture before adding your wet/liquid ingredients. When cooked and incorporated, they take on a texture similar to ground beef and easily absorb the flavor of any added spices.

Mushrooms lighten up a meat based chili without sacrificing flavor and add some bulk and thickness to vegetarian recipes. Because of their high moisture content I can easily use several pounds of mushrooms in a big batch of chili.

[Anonymous]

Pressure cook your own beans for vegetarian chili. The beans will be a bit mushy adding bulk to the chili. Yum!

[Anonymous]

I roast some of the vegetables until there is a little char on them. Eggplant, sweet potato, onion, corn kernels, etc work well in this capacity. Not burned, but a little charred. This helps give a smokier taste and deeper flavor.

Agree with blending a portion of the soup to help thicken it. Also agree with using mushrooms.

[Anonymous]

I add cubes white and sweet potatoes to vegetarian chili and it helps to both absorb some of the liquid and thicken things up because of the starch. Plus I think it makes it feel a little more hearty.

[Anonymous]

It shouldn't be soupy. That is you adding too much liquid/not accounting for the veg liquid release.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy Hard Times chili spices and make it from that. Add beans or not as you wish. If beans get pink beans or pinto beans not kidney beans.

I do like their chili. Thanks for this idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Espresso powder or cocoa powder
Soy sauce
A little butter to take the sharp taste out
A little Brown sugar
Kidney beans and or pinto
Sometimes I add browned veggie crumbles
A Little of this and that
Cook it down so not soupy

What brand of veggie crumbles do you use?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I enjoy the recipe on the Cookie and Kate blog. She blends part of the chili (I use an immersion blender) to make it thicker. https://cookieandkate.com/vegetarian-chili-recipe/ I think that is the trick to making it more hearty vs more soupy.

I make this one all the time! Second this recommendation

This is a great one! Have made it a couple times.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on what flavor profile you're going for, but some small cubed squash can also lighten it up if you're thinking too beans means too heavy.

[Anonymous]

My (literally) award winning vegetarian chili recipe:

Sautee 1 onion and 2 jalapenos until tender, sprinkling a good amount of spicy adobo on once they start sweating. (the powdered spice, not the marinade)

Add 4-5 cloves garlic and sautee for another 1-2 minutes (but don't burn it!)

Add a generous amount (~one tablespoon) of cumin and chili powder, and a bit less (~a teaspoon) of garlic powder and cayenne pepper and stir until it starts to create fond on the bottom of the pot

Deglaze with 12oz beer, (I use Shiner Bock) add 2 cans of diced tomatoes. I like the fire roasted type but anything but the italian kind will work. Once it gets back up to a boil repeat the spices.

Add 2 cans of beans. I like 1/1 black and pinto but you can use whatever. Once it gets back up to a boil, repeat the spices.

Add 1 chopped can chipotles in adobo. (just the sauce if you can't handle spicy) and 1 square baking chocolate

Add 1 bag Morningstar or Gardein fake ground beef and simmer until it's very thick, around an hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My (literally) award winning vegetarian chili recipe:

Sautee 1 onion and 2 jalapenos until tender, sprinkling a good amount of spicy adobo on once they start sweating. (the powdered spice, not the marinade)

Add 4-5 cloves garlic and sautee for another 1-2 minutes (but don't burn it!)

Add a generous amount (~one tablespoon) of cumin and chili powder, and a bit less (~a teaspoon) of garlic powder and cayenne pepper and stir until it starts to create fond on the bottom of the pot

Deglaze with 12oz beer, (I use Shiner Bock) add 2 cans of diced tomatoes. I like the fire roasted type but anything but the italian kind will work. Once it gets back up to a boil repeat the spices.

Add 2 cans of beans. I like 1/1 black and pinto but you can use whatever. Once it gets back up to a boil, repeat the spices.

Add 1 chopped can chipotles in adobo. (just the sauce if you can't handle spicy) and 1 square baking chocolate

Add 1 bag Morningstar or Gardein fake ground beef and simmer until it's very thick, around an hour.

i love the idea of adding beer! this sounds delicious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My (literally) award winning vegetarian chili recipe:

Sautee 1 onion and 2 jalapenos until tender, sprinkling a good amount of spicy adobo on once they start sweating. (the powdered spice, not the marinade)

Add 4-5 cloves garlic and sautee for another 1-2 minutes (but don't burn it!)

Add a generous amount (~one tablespoon) of cumin and chili powder, and a bit less (~a teaspoon) of garlic powder and cayenne pepper and stir until it starts to create fond on the bottom of the pot

Deglaze with 12oz beer, (I use Shiner Bock) add 2 cans of diced tomatoes. I like the fire roasted type but anything but the italian kind will work. Once it gets back up to a boil repeat the spices.

Add 2 cans of beans. I like 1/1 black and pinto but you can use whatever. Once it gets back up to a boil, repeat the spices.

Add 1 chopped can chipotles in adobo. (just the sauce if you can't handle spicy) and 1 square baking chocolate

Add 1 bag Morningstar or Gardein fake ground beef and simmer until it's very thick, around an hour.

i love the idea of adding beer! this sounds delicious.

OP here: thanks for this recipe!

[Anonymous]

I add quinoa to mine. Everyone loves it, to include my meat loving friends.