Vegan 3 Bean Chili – Running on Real Food
This healthy vegan 3 bean chili makes the perfect quick and easy weeknight meal or meal prep and is ready in 35 minutes with simple ingredients all in one pot.
About the Recipe
If you’re looking for a quick, weeknight meal, you’ll love this chili. All you have to do is chop a few veggies, open some cans of beans, simmer it all up and it’s ready to enjoy! Here’s why you’ll love it:
- Quick & Easy: This recipe is ready in 35 minutes in one pot. Perfect for busy weeknights!
- Budget-friendly and freezes well, so great for batch cooking and meal prep.
- Made with simple, everyday pantry ingredients.
- High in protein and fiber.
- Perfect for a healthy lunch, dinner or meal prep idea.
- Easy to customize with different vegetables, spices or protein of choice.
- Vegan (dairy-free, vegetarian), gluten-free and can be oil-free.
For more chili recipes, this Chipotle Butternut Squash Chili with Black Beans and Vegan Slow Cooker Red Lentil Chili are excellent.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Onion: White or yellow onion is suitable.
- Bell Pepper: Use any variety such as red, orange or green. Any combination of colors works. Only have green peppers? Totally fine!
- Spices: You’ll need chili powder, cumin and smoked paprika. Other spices you can experiment with are taco seasoning, oregano and for heat, red pepper flakes or cayenne.
- Tomato Paste: Use a small 6-oz can of thick tomato paste. In a pinch, you can substitute any plain tomato sauce.
- Beans: Use 3 different types of canned beans such as pinto beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans, white kidney beans or black eye beans. Lentils would also work!
- Broth: Any broth or stock you enjoy works. I like to use Better than Bouillon.
This list is not complete. Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete ingredient list with measurements and detailed instructions.
Adjustments
- Love spicy chili? This recipe isn’t spicy as is but you can easily turn up the heat by adding 1 tsp cayenne pepper, red chili flakes or 1 chopped chipotle pepper in adobo to spice this recipe up!
- Add more protein. If you want to add ground meat or sausage, cook it separately and stir it in at the end.
- Veggies: Other veggies that work well are corn or zucchini.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Chop up the garlic, onion, carrots, bell peppers and jalapeno so you’re already to go once you start cooking.
Quick Tip: Wash and de-seed the jalapeno pepper before dicing then make sure you give your hands a good wash right away.
