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Ultimate Vegan Chili

Wow, is this the BEST vegan chili! It’s bursting with flavor and is totally plant based. Dollop with vegan sour cream and load with toppings!

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 are the secrets to the best vegan chili?

Good question. Alex and I have been making vegan chili recipes for quite a while. Actually, many of the chili recipes on this website are vegan, though they don’t say it! Our Vegetarian Chili is vegan, but we like to top it with cheese. Our Sweet Potato Chili and Mango Black Bean Chili, and even our Quinoa Chili are also vegan. But we wanted to create a Classic BEST EVER Vegan Chili that would outshine them all. And then load it up with all the vegan chili toppings.

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.
Vegan sour cream. It’s just a topping, but it truly makes for that classic chili experience.

What is adobo sauce?

Adobo sauce is our secret weapon to add meaty, smoky flavor to our vegetarian and vegan recipes. Chipotles in adobo sauce are sold in most major grocery stores here in the US, available in the Mexican products section. The can includes two things:

Chipotle chiles: smoked and dried jalapeños that then are rehydrated and canned
Adobo sauce, a puree of tomato, vinegar, garlic, and some other spices.

Most of our recipes use only a small amount of the adobo sauce because the chiles are super potent! You can freeze the remainder of the chipotle chiles and adobo sauce for future use.

Serve with vegan sour cream!

Sour cream is our favorite chili topping. So for this vegan chili, we went the extra mile and created a Vegan Sour Cream for dolloping! Oddly enough, it has a texture and richness just like the real thing! It’s impossibly creamy, but only has a few ingredients: cashews, tofu, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt. Blend them up, and it comes together into something so sour-cream like, you’ll want to dollop it on everything!

Pickled jalapenos add a zing! (Or use pickled onions.)

The other topping that’s key here is the pickled jalapenos! Our Homemade Pickled Jalapeños are perfect, and only take 10 minutes to make. Or, you can use store-bought. Why are they important They add just the right tangy flavor and back-end heat. If you can’t handle spicy foods, no problem! Our Quick Pickled Onions also add that signature tang without the heat. They’re quick to make, too. That said…let’s talk toppings!

10 best vegan chili toppings

One of the best things about chili is the toppings, right? With a vegan chili, you have to get creative without the use cheese and sour cream. Here are all the best ways to top a vegan chili:

Vegan Sour Cream It’s rich and creamy, with just the right texture! A must make.
Chopped chives or green onions: A classic!
Pickled Jalapeños Adds a spicy, tangy kick.
Easy Quick Pickled Onions Bright pink slivers add color and zingy flavor.
Roasted salted pepitas: Add a salty crunch.
Vegan Nacho Cheese Brings a gooey, cheesy essence
Thinly sliced radishes: Add a peppery bite.
Diced avocado: Brings richness and makes it more filling
Cilantro: Adds a bright green color and freshness
Crushed tortilla chips: For a crunch!

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.

This vegan chili recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant based, dairy free and gluten free.

Ultimate Vegan Chili (The Best!)

(9 votes, average: 4.89 out of 5)

4.9 from 9 reviews

Author: Sonja Overhiser
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8

Print Recipe

Description

Wow, is this the BEST vegan chili! It’s bursting with flavor and is totally plant based. Dollop with vegan sour cream and load with toppings!

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
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
1/2 cup dry quinoa
1 tablespoon each chili powder and garlic powder
1 teaspoon each onion powder, cumin and oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Garnishes: Pickled Jalapenos (or Pickled Onions), Vegan Sour Cream, lime wedges, sliced radishes

Instructions

In a blender, blend the one can of diced tomatoes, carrot (peeled and chopped into a few pieces), parsley, Worcestershire sauce, and adobo sauce until fully combined.
Dice the onion and green pepper. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and green pepper and sauté for about 6 to 7 minutes until tender.
Carefully add the blended vegetables, the second can of diced tomatoes, the crushed tomatoes, drained beans, quinoa, spices, kosher salt, and 1/2 cup water. Simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes until the quinoa is tender and cooked through, stirring occasionally. Taste and add additional salt and adobo sauce as desired (we added 1 teaspoon adobo sauce and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt).

Category: Main Dish
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: Vegan

Keywords: Vegan Chili

A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

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Tomato Jerky, Oat-Milk Butters, Baobab Juice Hint at Trends from Day 2

Fruit- and vegetable-forward plant-based foods, especially snacks, oat milk dairy-free alternatives, and functional beverages are some leading trends seen by the SFA Trendspotter panel on Day 2 of the Winter Fancy Food Show.

The panel is composed of buyers, chefs, industry watchers, and educators, who have been combing the exhibit halls to report daily on emerging and evolving trends. Here are some of the latest they have spotted, with examples of each. More product examples can be found throughout the show floor.

New Directions in Plant-Based

From products with pumped up protein via legumes, to a refocus on fruits and vegetables themselves in whole-food form, innovations continue in plant-based foods. Snacks, particularly, are trending says the panel. “While plant-based meats and savory replacements have been on the scene for some time, plant-based snacks seem to be the rage this year,” says Andrew Freeman, trendspotter and founder of af@co.

Fruit- and vegetable-focused plant-based innovations include: Down to Eat Veggie mixes, which combine raw vegetables into meat alternatives such as broccoli burgers; Mooney Farms Bella Sun Luci Tomato Jerky; Pitaya Plus frozen organic jackfruit and passionfruit bite-sized pieces; and Sugimoto Co., Ltd., Shiitake Mushrooms, naturally cultivated outdoors on sweet sap oak logs and grown by local farmers on Kyushu, a southern island of Japan.

In the plant-based snack realm, The Daily Crave’s Beyond Churros are made with a grain-free blend of black beans, red lentils, potato, and cassava. Don Bugito protein snacks are made from edible insects, and inspired by pre-Columbian Mexican cuisine, and Everton Toffee Company Sunflower Chips are made with sunflower kernels.

Oat Milk Takes Dairy-Free Center Stage

Dairy alternatives continue to grow, with oat milk dominating at the show as new products are introduced in creamers, butter, confections, and RTD beverages. Some examples include Califia Farms Oatmilk Creamer, Endangered Species Chocolate Oat Milk Chocolate Bars, Rise Brewing Co. Oat Milk Latte Nitro Cold Brew Coffee, and Miyoko’s Creamery cultured vegan oat milk butter.

Functional Beverages

Functional beverages are part of the overall rise in popularity of specialty beverages that is helping to spur specialty sales, said Mintel’s David Lockwood and David Browne in the education session, 5 Key Drivers in Specialty Food, held on Sunday. The Trendspotter panel also sees continuing innovations in functional beverages, in particular those with antioxidant, prebiotic, and probiotic benefits. Examples include Teranga Baobab Juices, made with baobab, an antioxidant- and prebiotic-rich fruit grown on trees throughout Africa; Tarta, a sparkling balsamic seltzer that has similar functional benefits as sipping vinegars; Alo Drink Collagen Aloe Water; and Mayawell Sparkling Prebiotic Beverage.

The official SFA Trendspotter panel Winter Show trends will be released soon in Specialty Food News.

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Turkey Taco Bowls with Cilantro Rice

Tacos have officially come out of their shells. These turkey taco rice bowls have all your favorite taco fixin’s served atop a bed of romaine lettuce and tangy cilantro rice.

Everything you love about classic hard-shell tacos – without the shell. Instead, the flavorful seasoned ground turkey, black beans, fresh avocado and sour cream are piled high into a bowl along with cilantro rice and shredded romaine lettuce.

Turkey Taco Bowls with Cilantro Rice on a dark blue background with bowls of salsa and cheese and slices of lime scattered around.

I love a good taco. Preferably the classic Americanized version in a hard corn shell with seasoned ground beef, cheese, sour cream and romaine lettuce.

I could seriously devour 3 or 4 of them all by myself (and if you know me, you know I’m typically a light eater, so 3 whole tacos is a B.F.D.)

These taco bowls take everything you love about that classic hard-shell taco… without the hard shell. Instead, we’ve piled all your favorite fixin’s on a bed of tangy cilantro rice and shredded romaine lettuce.

It’s part taco salad, part rice bowl, and entirely delicious.

Closeup of Turkey Taco Bowls with Cilantro Rice, topped with cilantro microgreens

We’ve opted to swap out the classic ground beef for ground turkey (dark meat please; lean ground turkey is just too dry for this). With a generous amount of seasoning the turkey comes out just as flavorful as any beef version.

The addition of the chicken broth helps to make the meat extra saucy, and not at all dry like ground turkey can often be.

If you do use beef (and you certainly can if you prefer), you probably won’t need a full 3/4 cup of chicken broth (beef broth works too), since ground beef tends to be fattier and therefore juicer. Or you can cook the ground meat most of the way, then spoon off the excess fat, and then add enough broth to make it nice and saucy.

(more…)

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Global Flavors in Southwest Asian Cuisine, Instant Noodles, and Teas Among Day 1 Trends

Early picks from the SFA Winter Show Trendspotter panel point to new regional cuisines emerging in the mainstream, and global flavors and recipes driving categories like teas and instant noodles.

The SFA Trendspotter panel, made up of buyers, chefs, and industry watchers, are reporting daily from the show. Here are some examples from Day 1 and more can be found throughout the exhibit halls.

Emerging Regions in Global Cuisines: Southwestern Asia and the Caribbean
Regional cuisines around the world continue to gain mainstream interest, with foods from southwestern Asia and the Caribbean in the spotlight at the Winter Show. Two companies in Incubator Village are offering traditional Persian recipes. Niloofar makes Persian Trail Mix, or ajil, and roasted Persian-style almonds, and Oyna Natural Foods offers kuku, a Persian-style frittata. Tortuga Rum Cake Company showcases a new rum cake made with mamajuana, a native beverage from the Dominican Republic that contains rum, wine, honey, herbs and tree bark.

Teas: Functional, Sparkling, Global and More
From antioxidant-rich to digestive-friendly varieties to products based on indigenous tea leaves, new teas and tisanes are prevalent. Examples include Nuba Tisane, ready-to-drink hibiscus tea based on a traditional Egyptian beverage, and Shaka Teas, sustainably grown herbal teas brewed with mamaki, a superleaf from the Hawaiian Islands. Another product, BOS sparkling unsweetened rooibos red teas are made with antioxidant-rich organic rooibos from South Africa.

Instant Noodles
A popular food in many parts of the world, instant noodles have morphed into a big category that includes fresh, frozen, and dried, notes Trendspotter Chef Tu David Phu of Top Chef 15. Products and traditions from Asian regions are driving offerings including Eastland Food Corp. Indomie, instant noodles from Indonesia, and Tat Hui Foods Pte Ltd. Singaporean instant noodles. Another company, New Frontier Foods, has created an update on ramen with its Organic Noodle Bowls.

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Sustainable Products, Asian Sauces Among Show Trends

Grass-fed milk chocolate and peppery Cambodian sauces hint at some of the trends on display at the Winter Fancy Food Show, which opens today at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Throughout the show, which runs through Tuesday, January 21, the SFA Trendspotter Panel of buyers, chefs, food writers, educators, and other industry professionals will report daily on their official selections for trends from the Winter Show.

Here are some initial trends and innovations expected to emerge, with a few examples of each. More examples can be found throughout the show floor.

Sustainability-Driven Product Development
More packaged food products are working to build a stronger future for their community and the planet. “Whether it’s plant-based foods, regenerative agriculture, or upcycling—the trend continues to be values that center a path towards more sustainability,” notes Trendspotter Reem Assil, chef and owner of Reem’s California.

Examples include a grass-fed milk chocolate collection from Alter Eco that is made with Peruvian cocoa sourced from fair trade farms that practice restorative farming methods. Another confectioner, U.K.-based Flower & White, has introduced plastic-free packaging for its line of meringue bars, now available in paper sleeves.

Incubator Village, an area on the Esplanade Level highlighting food incubators and the startups that partner with them, showcases several sustainability-minded snack companies. For instance, 12 Tides Seaweed sources organic seaweed from regenerative North American Ocean Farms to create snacks while Ugly Pickle upcycles farm surplus and irregular produce to make pickles and spreads.

Global Sauces and Seasonings
Seasonings and sauces touting flavors and recipes from around the world will be prevalent at the show. “Much like Sriracha has joined the diner and coffeeshop ranks side by side with ketchup, the same will happen for banana ketchup and mayo-ketchup,” says Trendspotter and food columnist Illyana Masonet.

On the radar at this show are sauces and dressings from various regions of Asia. Angkor Cambodian Food is exhibiting its Tuk Meric and Kroeung Prawlak, a tangy peppery sauce and a marinade for Cambodian BBQ meat on a stick, respectively. Burma Love Foods is showcasing Fermented Tea Leaf Dressing, traditional Burmese dressing made locally from tea leaves imported from Burma. KPOP Foods has a Kimchi Mayo Sauce, a flavorful aioli sauce, and The Spice Hunter is showcasing Japanese 7 Spice, traditionally known as Shichimi Togarashi, or seven-flavor chile.

More trends and innovations from the Trendspotters will be reported in tomorrow morning’s edition of the Show Daily.

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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.

Ready to meet our (and your) new favorite salad? Fennel orange salad! It features beautiful juicy oranges, with their vibrant color and citrusy flavor. Add to that a famous pairing: sliced raw fennel, which adds a subtle licorice essence. Throw it over greens with a few garnishes, top with a zingy homemade citrus vinaigrette, and wow! There’s so much going on flavor and texture-wise, it’s one of the most unexpectedly delicious salads we’ve ever made. Pair with rich pasta like lasagna or mac and cheese, or pizza. Or salmon. Or well….really anything! Here’s how to make it.

What’s in this fennel orange salad?

Fennel and orange are a famous pairing in Mediterranean and Italian cuisine. You may have seen a Sicilian version that’s a big plate of oranges with sliced fennel on top. Why are these flavors often paired together? Well, the sweet citrus flavor of oranges are lovely pairing with the subtle black licorice perfume of raw fennel. It’s truly a sensory experience. (Here’s a stunning cake with that combo). Alex and I designed this salad as a green salad featuring that well-known pairing. Here’s what’s in this fennel orange salad:

Oranges: Use a mix of blood orange and Cara Cara for the best color and flavor contrasts. You’ll use a fancy technique to “supreme” the orange into sections (see below).
Fennel: Grab a bulb of fennel in the produce section! Learn more about fennel here.
Leafy greens: Use whatever type of baby greens you’d like! It’s nice to have a mix to vary texture and flavor. If you’re using baby kale, arugula or spinach, make sure to use some other milder greens or lettuces for contrast.
Shallot & pistachios: Shallot is a milder version of red onion: here it’s thinly sliced into rings. Crushed pistachios add a little crunch and texture.
Citrus vinaigrette: Top it all off in a homemade citrus salad dressing.

Important: don’t section the orange with your fingers!

OK, before we start! Do not section the oranges with your fingers and throw the sections on top. This method is great for snacking, but a no-no for salads. Why? Sectioning the orange with your fingers keeps on the pith, which makes it very hard to eat with a knife and fork. For salads, there’s a different method entirely for sectioning an orange. It’s called…surpreming.

Yes, that’s right! There’s a fancy French method for cutting an orange for a salad called “cutting an orange into supremes”. It makes for perfectly peeled sections without the pith that are easy to eat! These are lovely for salads like this fennel orange salad or our Simple Citrus Salad.

How to cut an orange…into supremes!

Here’s the basic concept, which you can find at How to Cut an Orange:

Step 1: Slice off the ends. Use a large chef’s knife to slice off both ends of the orange. Make sure you’ve cut through all of the pith and can see some of the orange flesh.
Step 2: Cut off the peel. Angle your knife and follow the round shape of the orange to remove the peel. Be careful not to cut too much of the orange flesh away.
Step 3: Cut away a segment (inside the membrane lines). Cut right on the inside of each membrane line to remove a segment. You don’t want to cut right on the membrane, but just inside of it. Make the two angled cuts, and the segment will pop right out.

Top it off with citrus salad dressing!

The last part of this fennel orange salad is a zingy citrus salad dressing that seals the deal. It features both orange and lemon, but it’s well balanced and is the perfect dressing to elevate the salad to a “next level” side dish. Here’s what’s in it:

Orange juice + zest
Lemon juice
Dijon mustard
Maple syrup
Olive oil

You’ll whisk the first four ingredients together, then whisk in the olive oil one tablespoon at a time until a creamy emulsion forms. It’s perfect for this salad, or throw-together salads on weeknights!

What this fennel orange salad goes with? Everything.

This fennel orange salad is so darn versatile, it’s one of our new favorites! It’s right up there in our green salad hall of fame, with this Favorite Chopped Salad, Easy Arugula Salad, and Spinach Apple Salad. Here are some great recipes that would pair well:

Favorite Vegan Lasagna For a super-elegant vegan dinner, pair with our best ever vegan lasagna, which gets rave reviews from readers!
Vegan Spaghetti and Meatballs In the same vein: it would go perfectly with these vegan meatballs for a classy vegan Italian dinner.
Lemon Dill Salmon It goes great with salmon too! The refreshing citrus is a good pair against the rich sauce.
Stovetop Shrimp + Pesto Quinoa + this salad = Dinner in a flash.

This fennel orange salad recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant based, dairy-free, gluten-free.