This tasty vegetarian chilli recipe is outrageous!
The flavour is incredible and what’s even better is that it’s also vegan if you use vegan chocolate!
We have served this to the most hardened of meat eaters and even they have to admit that it’s one of the best chilli’s they’ve ever had.
Trust us. You’ll love it.
What can I put in chilli instead of meat to make it tasty?
If you are looking to make a meat free chilli, then we have got a great alternative for you.
We use mushrooms as they have a wonderful umami taste, which is a meaty flavour.
These mushrooms do a wonderful job of replacing meat in our vegetarian chilli.
What is the best secret ingredient for chilli?
You’re going to love this. A lot.
Our secret ingredient in chilli is chocolate. Yes, that’s right – chocolate.
Why do we put chocolate in our chilli recipe? Chocolate helps to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes and also the peppers.
Not only that, it also gives the chilli a wonderfully dark colour and a far richer, deeper flavour.
Does adding chocolate to chilli make it fattening?
Not really, we only use 10 grams – approximately 3 squares of chocolate, so it could be worse.
And when you consider that the dish is only 296 calories per serving (plus the rice), you can see, that this is a low-calorie tasty vegetarian dinner.
How can I thicken my vegetarian chilli?
If you find that you have too much liquid in your chilli, then try adding tomato puree, this will help thicken it up.
Do you simmer chilli with lid on or off?
You always simmer the chilli with the lid off. This will help reduce the liquid.
The flavour of chilli develops and tastes better the longer you can gently simmer it for.
You can make this tasty vegetarian chilli recipe a day ahead and the flavour will be fantastic!
Does celery go in chilli?
Celery definitely does go in chilli. The crunchy texture that it brings to the dish is delicious.
What do I serve with vegetarian chilli?
You can serve chilli with rice, the traditional pairing that works a treat.
You can also serve it with nachos.
Some people even serve it over a bed of mashed potato!
Leftover chili makes the perfect topping for a baked potato or a sweet baked potato.
Serve it with whatever makes you happy – there are no hard and fast rules.
How do you make a tasty vegetarian chilli from scratch?
Making our vegetarian/vegan chilli is really easy. It’s most certainly worth the effort.
Take a look at the chilli recipe below for a step by step guide.
TASTY VEGETARIAN CHILLI
Utensils
- Food processor
- Sharp knife
- Chopping board
- Saucepan or a deep casserole dish
- Frying pan
- Garlic crusher
Ingredients
- 400 g Mushrooms chestnut mushrooms are ideal
- 2 Onions red are best
- 2 Sticks Celery
- 1 Pepper use a red one
- Olive oil
- Salt a small pinch
- Black pepper a small pinch
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 30 g Coriander fresh
- 2 Chilli red fresh ones are best
- 1 tbsp Tomato puree
- 250 ml Red wine
- 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp Soy sauce
- 800 g Chopped tomatoes
- 400 g Kidney beans canned are fine
- 400 g Black beans canned are fine
- 10 g Dark chocolate
- 2 tsp Maple syrup
- Lime juice to taste
For the spice mix
- 1 tsp Chilli powder
- 1 tsp Ground cumin
- 1 tsp Smoked paprika
- ½ tsp Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Oregano use dried
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Pepper
- 2 Bay leaves
Instructions
- Before you start cooking, we think it's a good idea to have all of your ingredients prepared and ready to use
- Ensure your mushrooms are clean and then put them into your food processor and blitz them until they are quite finely minced. You can do it by hand if you'd prefer, but this really does save a lot of time
- Now you'll need to add a glug of olive oil to your frying pan and make sure it gets nice and hot
- Add your minced mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook them for around 5 minutes
- Transfer them into a bowl, you'll notice that there's an amount of liquid from your mushrooms – that's fine
- Leave them to stand while you carry on with your prep
- If you haven't already, then peel the garlic, you can do this by cutting off each end and then crushing the garlic clove gently with the flat part of a knife, the skins should come off easily
- Cut the stalk off the chilli's and then slice in half, if you like hot and spicy leave the seeds, if not then discard them, then chop finely so you have round circles of chilli
- Peel and finely chop your onions
- Take off the leaves from your celery and chop off the root and then chop into small chunks
- Cut the stalk off your peppers and then cut them in half, then chop them into small chunks
- Remove the leaves from the coriander and set them aside, but keep the stalks and finely chop them
- Add some oil to your saucepan or casserole dish and when it's hot add in the crushed garlic and the onions along with the chilli's and coriander stalks (not the leaves)
- Cook for approximately 8 minutes and keep stirring
- Now add your red pepper and celery chunks to the pan and keep stirring
- Now it's time for the spice mix, add them and stir so all of the vegetables are well covered
- Stir in the tomato puree and you'll notice a fantastic deep colour emerging
- Now add in the soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and red wine
- Turn the heat up quite high and you'll need to keep stirring until the liquid reduces by approximately two thirds
- Add your chopped tomatoes and stir them in and simmer for 5 minutes, you'll notice the sauce becoming thicker
- Make sure you have drained your kidney and black beans and add them to the pan
- Add your mushrooms, chocolate and maple syrup
- Give it a good stir – it should be looking and smelling really fantastic now
- Simmer for at least 15 minutes, if you have time then leave it for longer as the flavours will really develop, you can always add a small amount of water if you need to
- Once you've finished simmering, remove both of the bay leaves
- Stir in the coriander leaves
- Garnish with coriander leaves and slices of fresh red chilli
- Serve with rice or nachos
- Phenomenal – enjoy!
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
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Could I make this in a slow cooker?
Apologies, we’ve just seen your question. I’m afraid we don’t use a slow cooker so can’t be sure. As soon as we find out, we’ll let you know.