We love chili, but our daughter is vegetarian. And since we don’t want to exclude her from our meals, I looked for a good, filling, flavorful vegetarian quinoa chili recipe.
Meatless Doesn’t Mean Tasteless: 30 Mouth-Watering Vegetarian Chili Recipes That Are Soy, Soy Good
Filled with lots of good fiber and protein, you’ll never miss the meat in this delicious recipe! You’ll just enjoy the warm comfort and pure goodness of it.
Top it off with a few pieces f fresh avocado, and you’ll wonder why you haven’t tried this before.
Vegetarian Quinoa Chili Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, diced (1 3/4 cup)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
- 15 oz canned tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups water (or chicken broth if not making vegetarian)
- 7 oz canned diced green chilies
- 2 1/2 Tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- cayenne pepper to taste (optional)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 (15 oz) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I used one dark red, one light red)
- 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- Juice of 1 lime
Directions:
- Heat olive oil in a large enameled cast iron pot over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot add onion and saute until tender, about 4 minutes, adding in garlic during last 30 seconds of sauteing.
- Add in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, cooked quinoa, water (start with 1 1/2 cups then add more later if desired), green chilies, chili powder, cumin, cocoa, paprika, sugar, coriander, cayenne pepper and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Bring mixture just to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, cover pot and allow to simmer 30 minutes.
- Add in all beans, corn, cilantro and lime and cook until heated through.
- Serve warm with optional toppings and sides (cheddar, sour cream, diced avocados, saltine crackers or tortilla chips).
Want more vegetarian recipes with quinoa? Try these quinoa stuffed bell peppers.
Chili ingredients you might need
McCormick Dark Chili Powder, 20 ozThe Vegetarian Chili Cookbook: 80 Deliciously Different One-Dish MealsHatch Mild Diced Green Chilies, 4 oz
Delicious! We used vegetable broth to add some flavor instead of water. Makes A LOT of food, so would probably cut the recipe in half next time but overall it was super flavorful and a big hit with everyone. Thanks for posting!
I omitted the cilantro and lime since I didn’t have them on hand and I added yellow and red pepper because I needed to use them up. MAN was it good! This is the best chili I’ve made in a long time. Delicious! Thank you!
This came out delicious! ~ Thanks
How would you prepare this in a crockpot? Would you put it in the quinoa later or all together? Thanks!