Recipe: Vegetarian Chili (Crockpot)

This is a simple recipe for vegetarian chili that I’ve developed with a little experimentation. It’s great because it cooks in the crockpot. You can prepare it the night before, leave everything in the crockpot in the fridge overnight, then plug it in and turn it on when you go to work and come home to a delicious slow-cooked meal. Prep time here is minimal (about 10-15 minutes), and you only need one pan apart from the crockpot. You could make the chili without precooking anything, but I think you get a deeper flavor if you sautee the veggies first with the chili powder as described here.

Since the chili is done in the crockpot, all of the beans and lentils are dried instead of canned. They are cheaper this way, and the flavor and texture are better.

As far as vegetables go, celery, onion, and carrot are the base, but from there, add whatever you have in your fridge. Bell peppers are really good. You could also throw in potatoes, winter squash, peas, corn, turnips, etc. I would just avoid soft vegetables like zucchini as they will just disintegrate with the slow cook time.

If you wanted to do a meat chili, you could follow the same steps, just cut down on the amount of legumes and brown the meat before adding the veggies and chili powder.

The spiciness of your chili really depends on the chili powder you use. If you use the chili powder recipe I posted yesterday along with the ingredients outlined here, you’ll have a nice, medium-hot final product.

Like all chili, this recipe is great to freeze. Since we normally cook for two, we usually have quite a bit leftover, even after eating it for lunch the next day. Just put the leftovers in a sealed container in the freezer and thaw on the stove or in the microwave whenever you want. It’s a homemade TV dinner.

Toppings should be whatever you like; cheese, yogurt or sour cream, raw onion, chopped cilantro, chives, corn bread, etc.

Vegetarian Chili (quantity is for a 3 liter crockpot)

3 Tablespoons veggie oil (this is the only added fat)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped (total volume of carrots and celery should equal the onion)

2 bay leaves

1 jalapeño, seeded and diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 Tablespoons chili powder (see recipe here)

½ ounce tequila or mezcal or ½ cup of beer (optional)

2 cups dried, mixed lentils and beans (I usually use about ¾ cup of brown lentils, ¾ cup pinto beans, ¼ cup black beans, ¼ cup garbanzos. Use whatever beans you like best. I recommend a good amount of lentils as it makes for a “meaty” chili. Red lentils in particular give a nice meaty texture to the finished dish.)

1 cup stewed or canned tomatoes (recipe here)

2 teaspoons salt

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

Water to cover (I’ve used stock in place of water before. It doesn’t make much difference though. The flavor from the spices and the beans is quite enough.)

In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil and add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeño and cook for another 2 minutes, until the garlic is fragrant. Add the chili powder and stir to combine. Cook for about another minute until the chili powder begins to darken.

If you are using tequila, beer, or mezcal, add it now to deglaze the pan, cook until the liquid evaporates, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan, and then dump everything into the crockpot. If you are skipping the alcohol, dump the cooked veggies into the crockpot, then add a cup of water to the hot pan and scrape the sides and bottom. You don’t want to lose all that chili powder!

Rinse the beans and lentils and remove any pits or stones you may find. Add them to the crockpot. Add the tomatoes, salt, and brown sugar. Fill the crockpot within a ½ inch of the top with water. Mix everything to combine.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. Serve with desired toppings and freeze any extras. Enjoy!

Note: Chili is an acid bomb of a dish. The added sugar in this recipe will help to smooth things out a bit, along with yogurt, cheese, or sour cream if you add them. Sometimes though, the tomatoes you get are just more acidic. If you try the cooked chili and you think it might burn a whole through your stomach, add about ¼ teaspoon of baking soda to it and stir before serving. This will help to neutralize some of the acidity.