Is that a mouthful or what? A few weeks ago I posted some of the quick, twenty minute meals that Casey and I typically eat during the week. Many of you responded that you’d like to see more of these! So here we go…
Even though I don’t have a typical 9-5 type of job, I still somehow find myself struggling to fit in all the things I’d like to do in a day. More and more I’m trying to come up with meals that are both quick and complete. We try to be careful to make sure we’re eating balanced meals, and not overly relying on one thing like rice or potatoes.
I am one hundred percent obsessed with soup. It’s my favorite thing to order in restaurants, and one of the reasons I love the beginning of fall so much. Friday night was our first chilly evening here in Seattle, so what better to make than – CHILI?!
There are a million chili recipes out there, even vegetarian versions. In fact I’ve made three other chili recipes right here on this blog! But there is always room for one more, right?
The nice thing about this one is that it’s simple, inexpensive, and as easy as “open cans and combine.” Nothing fancy – just a quick weeknight solution to “what’s for dinner?” It’s even better the next day for lunch, along side a delicious piece of homemade cornbread.
Twenty-Minute Four-Bean Vegetarian Chili
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: up to an hour (can vary)
Ingredients (4-6 servings)
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1 medium onion, chopped
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2 cups bell pepper, diced (I used frozen pepper strips!)
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1 can black beans
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1 can red kidney beans
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1 can great northern beans
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1 can white kidney beans
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2 cans fire roasted tomatoes
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2 cups veggie broth (or water + bouillon cube)
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2 tablespoons chili powder
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2 teaspoons garlic powder
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1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
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1 teaspoon sea salt (more to taste)
Instructions
In a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, sauté the chopped onion in a little bit of olive oil. While the onion cooks, chop your peppers. To save time, I actually used a bag of frozen bell peppers (from Trader Joe’s) and just diced the frozen pieces. A big time saver on busy weeknights, and good for using in something soft like soup. Add the peppers and continue to cook until thawed (if frozen) and browned.
Rinse and drain all the beans, and then add to the pot.
Add two cans of tomatoes too – make sure you use fire roasted tomatoes with some sort of chili or heat. If you choose to sub in plain canned tomatoes, you’ll want to increase the amounts of spices and add a little extra heat (jalapeno or cayenne).
Add the spices, salt, and veggie broth and give everything a good stir. Turn the heat to medium and let the chili simmer. At this point the chili is pretty much ready to eat, although the longer you let it simmer, the better (an hour really deepens the flavor).
Another option is to throw all of these ingredients into a crock pot and let it cook all day long. It’s a very simple chili, but that’s the whole point. Something easy you can throw into a pot and then walk away – come back, and dinner is served!
Way too easy, and oh so comforting. Is it just me or does chili feel incomplete without cornbread? The only thing I love as much as soups are DIPS, so it makes perfect sense that I like to dip things in my soup.
This particular dipper will be shared with you tomorrow (Update: recipe is here!). I find double-recipe posts to be overwhelming and disorganized – sorry to make you wait!
I promise it is more than worth it. I am polishing off the last bit of leftovers for lunch as I’m typing up this post, and I’m missing it already. Good thing it is so easy to make another batch!
Enjoy!
67 Comments so far
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THis looks fantastic Emily! I’m craving a good chili soon!
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I LOVE soups and chili during the cooler months too. I actually just made soup for dinner tonight! I’m always on the lookout for new and healthy chili and soup recipes. I love that this one is super easy too!
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yum! i was craving chilli yesterday, but it was back at 80* today :)
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I had pumpkin chili tonight. Love your quick, veggie version~
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I cannot wait to try this! I have been looking for a good vegetarian chili recipe to try now that the weather is cooling off a tiny bit.
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I was just searching for a chili recipe today. Good timing Emily!
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Feeeed me chili!!! All of it. I love it. As long as it’s stuffed with beans.
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Hmmm… sounds bean-a-licious! Isn’t Trader Joe’s awesome?! The whole door of my freezer is filled with their pepper strip packs! lol I use those puppies in everything!
One question- Cinnamon? what is the logic behind that? I may have to experiment with this just to try it. :)
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Looks amazing!!! I love chili but my mom normally makes it with ground beef and I don’t eat red meat, but this sounds like a great one to try!! Thanks!
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It will be chili weather soon here, I am so exciteddd!
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This looks delicious and versatile; love the simplicity of this recipe!
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Yum! I do a variation of this too! Always so great to have quick, pantry-based recipes especially ones that are canned-based.
Quick question. Do you rinse your beans before adding them to the pot? Or do you add the beans with the packing liquid right in? I usually did about half and half to cut down on the salt but kept some of the liquid for flavour, but that was when I had cheap access to Eden Organic beans which use Kombu instead of sea salt which has much less sodium. Now I’m rinsing all my beans and it’s definitely an extra step. Thoughts?
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Help! I do not see a way to easily print your recipes. Am I missing something? There are several I would like to try, is there a way besides copy and paste? I see something about an error in your syntax whatever that is? just wondering as most blogs make it easy. Thanks
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Chana Reply:
September 26th, 2012 at 6:18 am
On my screen, when I’m at the top of the recipe and there is a the “main” picture…underneath that is says: Print Email Text. Do you see that too?
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marjie Reply:
September 26th, 2012 at 9:13 am
Thanks..I have always browsed this website using my IPAD..so now on my Mac I can see what you see and can now print. On the iPad there is only a way to pin it..with a data base query failed message which I have no idea what that means…so THANKS now I will use my mac and use my ipad to view the pretty pictures…thanks for you help. Marjie
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This looks delicious! Can’t wait to make it.
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Ashley @Hop Skip Jump Reply:
October 1st, 2012 at 4:52 am
I’m eating the chili for lunch right now and the touch of cinnamon is the best part! Yum!
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Emily Malone Reply:
October 1st, 2012 at 4:10 pm
Yay so glad you liked it!
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I’m a soup and chili lover once the weather turns cooler. I’ve already busted out a few in the crock pot and on the stove. Thankfully my kids love soup and having dippers. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s recipe!
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I can’t wait to make this! If you were to make it in a crock pot, would you cook it on high or low?
Mina
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Kathleen Reply:
September 30th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
I made it yesterday in my crock pot. I browned the onions and peppers first, then mixed everything in the crock pot on low for six hours. It was fantastic. Thanks, Emily!
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That chili looks amazing. I love that there is such a variety of beans. I can’t wait for the weather to get colder so I can make some more stews and soups. I’m adding this chili to my list of future dinners. Yum!
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I love bean chili! I can’t wait to try this, especially because I’m so intrigued by the addition of cinnamon!
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Mmm chili season. One of my favorite work days is when we do soup / chili contests in our department. People bring in their best dish (some make breads or bring in baked goods) but the smell of all the amazing soups, stews, and chilis is just incredible.
Can’t wait to see the cornbread recipe too!
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Trader Joe’s beans = full of win! (and a staple in my pantry). :)
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Do you prefer garlic powder to fresh garlic in your recipes? I don’t think I’ve noticed you using much fresh garlic.
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I have an obsession with soup (and Fall!) as well. I make huge vats of french onion soup at least 10 times every winter. That sounds insane just typing it out, but I’m letting it ride haha.
Can’t wait for the corn bread post, yum!
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I adore chili and I finally came up with a recipe both my husband & I love – vegetarian of course. But where I live I can’t find BPA free cans, so I’m left with making the chili from scratch – beans, soaking and waiting and it takes forever. When I get to a place that sells BPA free can beans, I will stock up and give your recipe a try. It looks incredibly yummy!!!!! Thanks
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Chili weather – yet another reason that fall is my favorite season!! This one looks incredible…
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The recipe looks fantastic, Emily!! I want to go buy some beans and tomatoes to make this now. :)
This is really overdue, but thank you for blogging. It is so inspiring to me to see a strong (physical and otherwise!) mom living life to the fullest and taking such good care of both herself and her family. Your mouth-watering recipes never disappoint either! I truly see you as a role model! I actually just started my own blog and would be so flattered if you have a minute to stop by and say hi (though I know that your adorable Cullen is keeping you busy!). :)
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I’m 100% with you on the absolute need to eat cornbread with chili. Doing otherwise is simply unacceptable. I can’t wait to see your cornbread recipe! This chili also sounds amazing, by the way. I’m pretty carnivorous when it comes to my chili, but I’d definitely give this a go.
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i made a 3-bean chili last week, using chickpeas, kidney and black beans. the beans went in whole, except for the chickpeas, which i pulsed about half a dozen times in the food processor (slightly mashed). it gave the chili a good texture– thicker, more “meaty” i guess. i don’t like using tempeh/meat substitutes in chili, but i also don’t like it to be a vat of beans, so this method was just the right consistency for me! :)
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I just made chili a couple of weeks ago for the first time of the season.. and for the first time ever in a crockpot.. I didn’t have one until recently and I LOVE it.. it makes preparing dinner on the nights that I teach so much easier and way more satisfying than another banana and almond butter because I’m too strapped for time and starved..
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Yummm! This looks like the chili I make, but I never added the fire roasted tomatoes, I’m all over that next time :)
Do you have any recipes for a white chili? I’m trying to find a delicious recipe that’s not made with chicken.
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I live in MA and am making my first chili of the season tonight. My recipe is really similar to yours. My husband has requested soup for Saturday night too…cool weather really does bring on the soup cravings! I was thinking of making cornbread on Saturday, so I’m looking forward to getting your recipe! Tonight, it’s whole wheat biscuits!
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Fast and looks amazing-can’t beat that combo!!!
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Perfect hearty meal for the fall! Love the addition of the cornbread.
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Oh my! That chili just looks wonderful. I have been craving something savory like this…Thank you, Emily!
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I love this! You have THE best chili recipes. I haven’t gotten around to making your indian one but that’s definitely at the top of my list. Can’t wait for that cornbread recipe! I just got a big bag of cornmeal :)
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Wow, this looks great, and so easy! Love that the ingredients are things that are likely to be in the pantry. Thanks. :)
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Made this last night. It was so simple, good, cheap, and nutritious. Can’t ask for more than that! Once it was simmering I was able to run out to do some grocery shopping while the DH “babysat” the chili.
Since it was meatless, the DH requested some diced potato to be added to make it more hearty. Was delicious! I did spend most of dinner daydreaming about cornbread though, lol.
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I bet TJ’s roasted corn is amazing in this!!
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This chilli is gorgeous! I made mine a lot of heat in it and had it with a click of crème fraiche.
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I made this last night, cooked it for 75min and it EXCEEDED my expectations! And whats funny is I made a GF sweet potato cornbread to go with it and just noticed you posted a cornbread recipe. LOVE!
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Yummy! I love chili. I make one like this in my crockpot and then have it for days! I have never tried the fire roated TJ veggies. I will have to pick up some cans.
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Try the Eden Organics brand of canned beans for BPA-free cans.
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I made this last night and it was absolutely delicious!
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just mixed this up and put it in the crock pot for lunch this afternoon. so far, the best part is that i was able to successfully get that done home alone with both little people..before 8am :) thanks for the easy recipe.
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[...] Twenty-Minute Four-Bean Vegetarian Chili is a simple crock pot chili. The recipe is from one of the blog’s that I follow. I made this a few weeks ago and both AP and I really enjoyed it. It’s hearty, flavorful, and makes the entire condo smell delicious. The flavor profile of this dish is slightly different than a traditional chili due to the generous amount of cinnamon that the recipe calls for. The cinnamon adds a nice fall spice flavor. [...]
I made your chill the other day and loved it. I added some soy meat which one would use for bolognese sauce. My hubby was veeeery happy since he loves soupy meals. Thank you very much for the inspiration!
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This looks incredible. I can’t wait to make my own!
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Emily, I love this recipe! Can you give me the nutritional information about it by chance?
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Emily Malone Reply:
February 12th, 2013 at 11:19 am
I didn’t calculate it for this recipe, but you can enter all the ingredients on Spark Recipes nutrition calculator, depending on your portion size!
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This looks awesome! I was searching for veggie chili inspiration today and this definitely got me thinking :).
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Looks so tasty but i was wondering if it was possible to cook this in a regular metal pan?
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Emily Malone Reply:
March 25th, 2013 at 6:23 pm
Of course!
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[...] Easy Tomato Mushroom Pasta, Portobello and Poblano Fajitas, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Miso Sauce, Twenty Minute Four Bean Vegetarian Chilli, Vegetable Quinoa Salad with Miso Dressing, Macaroni & Peas, Balsamic Kale Salad with Apple and [...]
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