Texas 3-Bean Vegan Chili

This Texas girl loves chili! It’s hearty and filling and oh so southern.

This Texas 3-Bean Vegan Chili is easy to make, filling and non-greasy (like chili can be sometimes). Perfect for cold weather, although we eat chili year round in these parts.

You can serve it with avocado, vegan sour cream, saltine crackers, tortilla chips (my favorite), corn chips for an almost guiltless Frito pie (hello Super Bowl parties!) or with cornbread. Susan Voisin at FatFree Vegan has an excellent confetti cornbread recipe that I recently shared in one of my cooking classes. It was a hit..

The chili seasoning I use for this recipe is Carroll Shelby’s Chili Mix in the brown box. I’m experimenting with my own blend, but I’ve used his mix for years and love it. If you have a chili seasoning blend you like better, feel free to use that.

In order to have healthy meals on hand when life gets too busy, I usually make a large batch of this chili and then freeze a few portions. That way, we always have a healthy, hearty meal when we need one. I pull a container out the night before and it’s mostly thawed by the next day.

While this hearty vegan chili can be done in 30 minutes, the longer you let it simmer the better it gets. So, if you’re in a rush and need dinner done quick, it’s a good option. But, if you have a little more time, the flavors will be better if it’s allowed to simmer on low longer.

When I make this for parties, I like to do steps 1 & 2 of my recipe on the stove, then throw everything into a slow cooker. You can cook it in the slow cooker for 2-3 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low. That way, it’ll stay piping hot throughout the party while people go back for seconds (or thirds or fourths).

This is always a crowd-pleaser and one of my most requested recipes, so I hope you enjoy it!

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Texas 3-Bean Vegan Chili

Yield: Serves 8

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Hearty and thick vegan 3-bean chili that's also surprisingly oil-free. A crowd-pleaser, serve with saltine crackers, tortilla chips or corn chips and vegan sour cream and avocado for an (almost) sinless Frito pie.

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Ingredients

Chili

• 2 sweet yellow onions, diced
• 3 bell peppers, diced
• 10 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 - 15 oz can of diced tomato with juice
• 2 - 15 oz cans of tomato sauce
• 1 - 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 - 15 oz can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 - 15 oz can of white kidney beans, cannellini, drained and rinsed
• 1 box Carroll Shelby’s Chili Mix
• 1 cup water

Fixin’s

• Avocado, optional
• Tofutti vegan sour cream, optional
• Saltines, tortilla chips or corn chips (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat stockpot on medium high heat and add onions. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add garlic and bell pepper and cook another 3-4 minutes.
3. Add diced tomato, tomato sauce, all the beans, the water and stir. Then, add the chili seasoning mix from the box, along with the amount of cayenne you prefer to use (I add all of it).
4. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Then, taste and add salt, as needed or more cayenne. If it is too thick, add a little more water. If it is too runny, sprinkle half to all of the masa corn flour from the box and stir in to thicken the chili.
5. Serve piping hot with your favorite fixin’s!

Notes

For parties, I recommend keeping the chili on low or keep warm setting in a slow cooker so it stays hot while people grab seconds (and thirds and fourths).

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 451Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 971mgCarbohydrates: 69gFiber: 17gSugar: 15gProtein: 24g

Nutritional calculations are done using online tools, such as recipe widget Create. Even though we have tried to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates.