Been slacking on staying consistent but I’m back and better! I’ve been so busy traveling, I went to Michigan and San Fran, it was so much fun, but I’m coming in hot with a killer new recipe. It has a special ingredient thanks to Healthy Midwestern Girl, I added and it made it one of my new favorite chili recipes… It gives it the perfect chili look and consistency that I’ve been missing as a vegan.
This recipe doesn’t take that long to throw together, you basically are going to saute the veggies and then bring everything to a boil, and bam! It’s chili time. I like to eat mine with chips or cornbread… I’ll make sure I get a post for that recipe soon.
I started off sauteing the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes, adding the bell pepper, and jalapenos if you like the extra spice! Followed by the diced tomatoes and giving it all a stir. I let it start to simmer before throwing in the secret ingredient…
Mushrooms!! Throw a package of these into your food processor/chopper and voila, you have that thick “meat” crumbly chili consistency that makes for AMAZING chili. You throw that in your pot and mix.
You’ll add all your spices at this point, making any adjustments you want, more spicy/less spicy (cut the cayenne), and two cans of beans — kidney and black beans. For mine, I poured in the black beans with the juice from the can and rinsed and drained the kidney beans. It gives the dish more liquid but doesn’t take in allll the sodium from two cans of beans, which can add up.
Lastly I added liquid smoke, just to add a bit more flavor, it’s totally optional though. But from here you’ll just let it simmer and cook for about 10 minutes, and then you can enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 small red onions OR 1 large red onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1-2 jalapenos, minced (optional)
- 28 oz can diced tomatoes (or stewed, or crushed)
- 8 oz package cremini mushrooms
- 2-3 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 14 oz can black beans, with juices
- 14 oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/4 tsp liquid smoke (optional)
Instructions
- Start by heating up the olive oil on medium hot in a large pot. Once heated add your onion and garlic, sauteing for a few minutes, 2-3, until fragrant. Add the bell peppers and jalapeno, cooking for about 5 minutes until everything softens.
- Pour in the tomatoes with all the juices and give everything a stir and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- While the veggies simmer, throw in your package of mushrooms (rinse first) into your food chopper and process until the mushroom is very fine and crumbly looking. I did this in two separate batches, if you don’t have a food chopper, hand chop until the mushrooms are minced. You’ll transfer this into the pot and continue simmering.
- Add in your spices, black beans with juices from the can, and kidney beans rinsed and drained. Finally, add in your liquid smoke, give everything a big stir and let cook for another 5-10 minutes to combine ingredients and spices, stirring occasionally.
- Enjoy over cornbread or chips!
FitVeggieLife 