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Easy Black Bean Chili

This Black Bean Chili recipe is easy to make and full of big flavor! It’s cozy and hearty, the ideal vegetarian dinner idea.

Can you have too many chili recipes? We think not. Introducing our new favorite easy spin…this Black Bean Chili recipe! It’s beyond simple to make, and the flavor is outstanding. (We hope you’ll agree.) It’s got a hint of smokiness to highlight the tangy tomatoes and savory black beans. Top it with your favorite toppings, and it’s so hearty and savory, you’ll forget it’s healthy, too.

Ingredients in this black bean chili recipe

This vegetarian black bean chili recipe was inspired by open fire cooking. In fact, we first made it around our firepit during a kitchen reno! We adapted our healthy chili recipe to be even simpler so it was easy enough to cook on a fire. This is the stovetop version of it, and it’s got lots of great ingredients to bring massive flavor with little effort:

Onion
Garlic
Olive oil and butter
Quinoa
Black beans
Canned tomatoes
Corn
Mustard, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce
Chili powder, oregano, garlic powder, cumin, smoked paprika, and salt

The flavor secrets here? The butter adds the richness you need in a vegetarian chili. The mustard, ketchup and Worcestershire add tangy and savory notes. The kicker at the end? Adding a bit of smoked paprika, which helps to emulate that smokiness of the campfire chili we were inspired by.

Chili toppings: dress it up!

This vegetarian black bean chili is simple and elegant. In fact, you only really need to dice an onion and garlic, and let your stove do the rest of the work for you! Once it’s done, dress it up with the toppings of your choice. Here are our top choices, and then a few more creative ideas:

Sour cream and cheese: Just a little goes a long way! We think these are required. For vegan, use Cashew Cream or Vegan Queso.
Green onion: Thinly sliced green onion is the best fresh accessory.
Cilantro: Fresh cilantro leaves are a great addition.
Hot sauce: Naturally! A favorite is a Mexican hot sauce like Cholula.
Roasted salted pepitas: This unique option adds a salty crunch.
Pickled jalapenos or onions: Pickled jalapeños add a kick! If you think ahead, pickled onions are a favorite of ours: they add bright color and tangy flavor.

Leftover storage

This black bean chili recipe stores well and is great for leftovers! Here are a few notes on leftover storage:

Refrigerate for up to 3 days. It can become very thick, so you may need to add a splash of water when reheating.
Freeze for up to 3 months. This recipe works well frozen in a freezer-safe container.

Make it a meal: ways to serve black bean chili

There are so many ways to serve this black bean chili recipe — straight up in a bowl, or with more creative options! Here are a few ways to accessorize it:

Cornbread or corn muffins: Try Classic Cornbread Muffins, Homemade Cornbread or Easy Vegan Cornbread
Salad: Try Goat Cheese Salad with Arugula, Brussels Sprout Salad or BEST Kale Salad
Over baked potatoes: Try Chili Baked Potatoes
Over sweet potato wedges: Use it as a topping for Easy Sweet Potato Wedges
Over fries: Make them into Chili Cheese Fries!

Variation: cook it on an open fire

Sure, you probably won’t do this every day! But this black bean chili recipe is an ideal campfire chili, too. We first made this one over an open fire when our kitchen was undergoing a renovation, and it worked wonderfully! The fire infuses an incredible smokiness to the flavor. Here are a few notes:

Use a hardwood for the fire, like oak or cherry. These woods have the best flavor for cooking food.
Follow the recipe but omit the smoked paprika. You don’t need it since the fire infuses smoky flavor.
Advanced prep for camping: If you’re taking it camping, prep the minced onion and garlic and place in a sealed container. Place the ingredients from water through kosher salt in another large sealed container (keep out the dry quinoa and add when cooking).

Let us know if you try it in the comments below! It’s a fun variation, though we typically make this one on the stovetop.

More chili recipes

This black bean chili is our new favorite, but we’ve got lots of other chili recipes for the season! Here are a few to try:

This Quick Chili Recipe takes just 25 minutes and can be vegetarian or meat-filled
Try Ultimate Vegan Chili: it’s full of flavor!
Got a pressure cooker? Go for Best Ever Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili
Opt for 3-Bean Healthy Chili Recipe
Add a sweet element with Best Sweet Potato Chili or Mango Black Bean Chili

Quick Chili Recipe

Ultimate Vegan Chili

Best Vegetarian Chili

3-Bean Healthy Chili Recipe

This black bean chili recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free, replace the butter as noted in the recipe below.

Easy Black Bean Chili

Author: Sonja Overhiser
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Diet: Vegetarian

Print Recipe

Description

This Black Bean Chili recipe is easy to make and full of big flavor! It’s cozy and hearty, the ideal vegetarian dinner idea.

Ingredients

1 medium yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
⅓ cup dry quinoa
1 cup water
3 15-ounce cans black beans, drained (not rinsed)
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes, fire roasted if possible
4 tablespoons salted butter (replace with 2 tablespoons olive oil or refined coconut oil for vegan)
1 15-ounce can corn (or 1 ½ cups frozen corn)
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
½ cup ketchup
2 tablespoons each chili powder and dried oregano
1 tablespoon each garlic powder and cumin
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Instructions

Dice the onion. Mince the garlic.
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender.
Add all other ingredients except for the smoked paprika. Simmer for 25 minutes, then stir in the smoked paprika. Serve immediately with toppings of your choice. Store leftovers refrigerated for up to 3 days, or frozen for 3 months.
Campfire chili instructions: Follow the instructions above, but remove the smoked paprika (the fire will add smoky flavor). If you’re taking it camping, prep the minced onion and garlic and place in a sealed container. Place the ingredients from water through kosher salt in another large sealed container (keep out the dry quinoa and add when cooking). Keep everything cool until making the chili.

Category: Main dish
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: American

Keywords: Black bean chili, black bean chili recipe

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Monster Cookie Bars

Do you ever feel like your dessert is… watching you?

Your favorite monster cookies are now in bar form! Packed with peanut butter, oatmeal, m&ms and chocolate chips, these monstrous cookie bars are most certainly eyeing your Halloween celebrations.

Monster Cookie Bars, topped with M&Ms and candy eyeballs cut into squares on a dark background

Monster Cookies are a combination of peanut butter, oatmeal, and m&m candies. Invented in the 1970s by a midwestern photographer and cub-scout leader named Dick Wesley, they were dubbed monster cookies because they are a Frankenstein-like mashup of various other cookie components, cobbled together by what happened to be on hand (in this case, peanut butter, oats and m&ms)

They don’t usually have eyes, but, we may as well go all-in on the monster theme, right?

Especially with Halloween just around the corner.

Square grid of cut Monster Cookie Bars, one tilted on its side to show cross-section

These are more than just basic chocolate chip cookies baked in a pan.

Old fashioned oats give the bars a hearty texture that, paired with the perfect amount of peanut butter, is really, really satisfying to eat. And you may not think that a mere teaspoon of honey would make a difference, but let me tell you: it certainly does (if you love peanut butter and honey sandwiches like I do, these bars will seriously satisfy).

If that wasn’t enough, they’re packed with a heaping cup of m&m candies and dark chocolate chips studded throughout, plus more on top for good measure.

(more…)

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Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal

This pumpkin baked oatmeal is the ideal fall breakfast: cozy spiced and full of healthy oats! Bake up a pan and eat off of it all week.

Oatmeal is our go-to for healthy, whole grain breakfasts. So why not dress it up in fall glory? This Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal is like a cinnamon and ginger-spiced hug. It’s full of autumnal flavor, yet at the same time a healthy way to start the day! Whole grain oats provide protein and fiber, the perfect backdrop for pumpkin puree and cozy spices. Make up a big pan and eat off of it all week, or make it for guests! Either way, it’s the ideal way to make fall mornings more delicious (we couldn’t stop eating it).

Ingredients for pumpkin baked oatmeal

This pumpkin baked oatmeal is pretty simple to whip up. It requires a pretty standard cast of characters when it comes to pumpkin recipes. Here are the main ingredients you’ll need:

Old Fashioned rolled oats: Do not substitute steel cut oats or instant oats! They cook much differently than Old Fashioned. For steel cut, go to Pumpkin Baked Steel Cut Oats: it tastes just like pumpkin pie!
Pecans: Optional, but they add great texture to this oatmeal
Spices: You can use either cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg: or pumpkin pie spice! Grab some at the store or make it at home.
Pumpkin puree: Make sure it’s pumpkin puree: not pie filling!
Milk of choice: Whatever you’d like! Non-dairy milk makes it a vegan pumpkin baked oatmeal recipe.
Maple syrup: Pure maple syrup adds just the right sweetness, and it’s a natural sweetener. You could use any other liquid sweetener of choice (honey or agave syrup).
Vanilla: Vanilla adds depth of flavor.

It takes 1 hour, but leftovers save well

This pumpkin baked oatmeal takes 1 hour start to finish, but most of the time is hands off while the oatmeal bakes. Because it takes longer than the standard breakfast, we like to make a pan and eat off oft it all week. It saves well in the refrigerator, and you can eat it cold or room temp: no reheating necessary! If you’d like, you can heat it in the oven or microwave.

Variations: steel cut & stovetop pumpkin oatmeal

Want to make pumpkin baked oatmeal with steel cut oats? Or want a really fast version of pumpkin oatmeal? Here are some variations:

Pumpkin baked steel cut oats: This Pumpkin Baked Steel Cut Oats really tastes like pumpkin pie, according to feedback we’ve been getting for years. Using Old Fashioned oats in this recipe makes it taste more like pumpkin bars, but the steel cut version is very moist and tastes like pie filling. Go to Pumpkin Baked Steel Cut Oats.
Pumpkin oatmeal (on the stove): Want to have the same flavors in just 10 minutes? Make our Pumpkin Oatmeal on the stovetop. It’s got a similar vibe but is more like a creamy bowl of oatmeal.

Toppings for pumpkin baked oatmeal

Make up a batch of this pumpkin baked oatmeal and it’s a fantastic vegan and healthy breakfast. The toppings are where this recipe really shines! Here’s what to know about topping the oatmeal:

Maple syrup: A bit of maple syrup is all you need for a little sparkle. Or heat it with a little melted coconut oil for a dreamy drizzle.
Maple yogurt: It’s also tasty with maple yogurt. We mixed Greek yogurt, maple syrup and vanilla for a swirled topping (quantities are listed below). If you make this, still add a tiny drizzle of maple over the top: it adds the final flavoring.
Glazed pecans or walnuts. Get fancy and use maple glazed pecans or glazed walnuts.
Pepitas. Pumpkin seeds work too! Roasted salted have the best flavor.
Nut butter. Almond butter, cashew butter, or pecan butter are the best nut butters to go with pumpkin! Peanut butter can overwhelm the flavor.

Make ahead instructions!

Can you make this pumpkin baked oatmeal ahead? Kind of! Note that this is not overnight oats: you cannot mix it up the night before and place in the refrigerator! The oats would soak up all the liquid and come out much too dry. If you do want to prep in advance, here’s what to do:

Minimal prep: Mix up the wets and dries separately and store in separate containers (with the wets refrigerated). Pour them together in the morning and bake. OR:
Bake in advance: Make up a pan on a Sunday night, then refrigerate it for eating off of throughout the week. You can refrigerate leftovers for up to 1 week, and re-warm them in a 300 degree oven or the microwave.

More pumpkin recipes

Pumpkin is in the air! Here are a few more pumpkin recipes to use a can of pumpkin puree:

Whiz it into Healthy Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Banana Bread or Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
Bake it into Healthy Pumpkin Muffins or Pumpkin Spice Muffins
Blend it into a Pumpkin Smoothie
Make fragrant and cozy Pumpkin Waffles
Stir it into a 5-minute Easy Pumpkin Dip for dipping apples
Go traditional with Mini Pumpkin Pies or Incredible Vegan Pumpkin Pie
Make it into dinner with Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

Pumpkin Banana Bread

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Pumpkin Smoothie

Pumpkin Waffles

This pumpkin baked oatmeal recipe is…

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