Easy Homemade Vegetarian Chili Recipe

This Easy Vegetarian Chili recipe is full of tender vegetables and hearty beans that have been simmered in a tangy sauce.  It’s perfect for a cozy night in, game day, or meal prep for the week ahead. With simple ingredients and easy preparation steps, this chili is sure to become one of your favorite go-to vegetarian recipes.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• It can be easily customized to accommodate different taste buds and preferences.
• The hearty beans and vegetables make this chili a satisfying and nutritious option. Beans are an economical healthy protein and filling fiber (Eating Well).
• This simple recipe has so much flavor that even the meat lovers in your house will enjoy it. 

Ingredients Needed

With pantry staples and easy preparation steps, this chili is sure to become one of your favorite go-to vegetarian recipes.

• red bell peppers – You can roast these in advance or purchase jarred red bell peppers.
• vegetable oil – or any neutral oil
• medium onion
• ground cumin
• crushed red pepper (optional)
• smoked paprika – adds to the richness of the chili
• garlic cloves
• vegetable broth
• butternut squash – The Kitchn provides instructions on how to cut a whole butternut squash or you can purchase diced squash from your grocery store.
• low salt diced tomatoes
• Beans – pinto beans, red kidney beans, and cannellini beans (or white navy beans or great northern beans).
• cornstarch (optional) – use only if you want a thicker soup base.

How to Make This Vegetarian Chili Recipe 

Making this meatless chili is so simple. Just follow the step-by-step directions listed here or in the recipe card at the bottom of this post and you will have a hearty meal that your entire family will enjoy in no time at all. The first step requires you to peel the skin from the peppers.

How to remove the skin from bell peppers.

Step 1: Preheat the broiler.

Place the oven rack 6-8 inches from the heat source. Turn on the broiler and allow it to preheat. 

Step 2: Prepare the bell peppers.

Clean the bell peppers, remove the stem, cut them in half, and remove seeds and membranes. 

Step 3: Prepare your pan.

For easy clean-up, line a baking sheet with foil and place the peppers skin side up on the baking sheet.

Step 4: Broil the peppers.

Broil the peppers for about 15 minutes or until the skin is black. You may need to reposition the peppers to ensure all sides are getting cooked. 

Step 5: Steam the peppers.

Remove the bell peppers from the oven and place them in a small paper bag or container with a lid. Close tightly so that the heat continues to steam the peppers. Let sit for 15 minutes. Remove from the bag or container, peel the skin with your hands, and dice into bite-size pieces.

Prepare the vegetarian chili

Step 6: Saute the onion.

Heat a Dutch oven or stock pot on medium-low heat. Add oil and onion. And, cook for 10-15 minutes or until the onion is tender. 

Step 7: Add the remaining ingredients but the cornstarch and beans.

Stir in cumin, crushed red pepper, paprika, salt, and garlic cloves stirring until flavors blend together with the onion. Add the broth, prepared bell peppers, squash, and tomatoes. 

Step 8: Simmer and thicken if desired.

Simmer for 20 minutes.

To thicken, remove 1/2 cup of the liquid and whisk in 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, making a slurry. Return the slurry to the pot and stir into the chili.

Step 8: Add the beans

Add the beans and simmer for an additional 20 minutes.

What To Serve With This Dish

This yummy chili is so hearty and filling all on its own. You can serve it with a side of cornbread or your favorite chili sides.

• Low-carb cheddar biscuits – Simple and tender low-carb grain-free biscuits.
• Cheddar jalapeno beer bread – Quick bread made without any yeast or proofing time.
• Sweet Southern Cornbread – Made with buttermilk and cooked in a cast iron skillet.
• Butter biscuits – Paula Deen’s easy Southern-style biscuits.

My favorite thing to do is enjoy one of these Banana Walnut Bars for a sweet treat for a comforting bowl of this hearty vegetarian chili. 

Substitutions and Additions

Here are a few different ways that you can customize this chili to make it your own. 

• Feel free to use different types of beans. You can use any kind that you have on hand, you can experiment with black beans or even your favorite white beans for your chili. 
• For a spicier option, add chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. They will add a touch of heat and a deep rich flavor. 
• If you prefer a milder chili, leave out the crushed red pepper or reduce the amount. 
• For additional smoke flavor to your chili swap out the diced tomatoes for fire-roasted tomatoes. 
• Don’t have red bell pepper? You can use green bell pepper or any other color that you have on hand. But, I think the red bell pepper has the best flavor. 

How To Store

Store leftover chili in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave until heated through. If you ask me this chili tastes better the next day! 

Sandra’s Pro Tips

• To add sweetness to your chili, try stirring in a tablespoon of maple syrup. 
• Don’t skip the paper bag for the peppers this helps them steam and cook to the perfect texture. 
• There are so many great garnishes for this recipe, fresh cilantro or crushed tortilla chips are great options. But, you can get creative and use your favorite toppings. 

Fun Way to Serve Chili

To finish this meal during the fall, I top the chili with rice ghosts! 

See how much fun we can have with sticky rice!! I had some Reynolds Kitchen ghost-shaped baking liners that I used as a mold. Don’t worry if molds aren’t available because any cookie-cutter shape will work well too.

In addition, you can form the rice with your fingers into any shape you want.For all the above options you will want to dampen your fingers with water or a little oil because it helps keep the rice where you want it. The rice is really STICKY!

The face is made from small pieces of seaweed, which stuck to the rice like glue, so there was no repositioning eyeballs once it was on the ghost! Wouldn’t rice pumpkins be cute too?!!

FAQs

Do you have questions about this homemade vegetarian chili recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions for this recipe.

Other Delicious Vegetarian Recipes You May Enjoy

• Veggie Burger Bowl
• Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole
• Vegan Cauliflower Soup
• Instant Pot Tomato Risotto

This recipe is from the Cooking Light Cookbook (The New Way to Cook Light, 2012), but I made some changes. I added more vegetable broth and butternut squash and then toned down the crushed red peppers. Finally, I added a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch to thicken up the broth.