This Vegetarian Chili Recipe is a delicious vegan spin on your favorite chili recipe. Full of healthy ingredients, this is a great recipe that even meat eaters will love!
Even if you don’t follow a vegetarian diet, there is a lot of benefit in replacing one or two meals a week with a vegetarian alternative, and this chili is it! Even the meat lovers in my house love it. My mom made the best vegetarian chili recipe growing up. I don’t have her recipe, but I think this one comes very close to it. While this is labeled vegetarian, it also happens to be an easy vegan chili.
How to Make Vegetarian Chili
Here is a brief overview of how this vegetarian chili recipe comes together. For the full recipe including all measurements, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Mash the tofu. Use a potato masher to mash the tofu, then press and drain off any excess liquid. Read more about using tofu below. Whisk together soy sauce, hot sauce, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper and pour it over the tofu.
- Sauté the vegetables. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven and add the green pepper, onion, and garlic. Sauté until soft, about five minutes.
- Put everything together. Add in the tofu, crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, and water. Bring to a boil.
- Continue cooking the chili. Reduce to a low simmer and cook for 30 minutes uncovered. Top with cilantro if desired. Enjoy!
Making Chili With Tofu
If you aren’t familiar with tofu, you’ll learn pretty quickly that it doesn’t have much of a taste on its own. But it is a great substitute for ground beef in chili. The best recipes made with tofu put time and care into really flavoring the tofu. That is the number one step in this vegetarian chili recipe.
At the outset of this recipe, we want to break up and drain the tofu really well. Then we season it and let it sit while we sauté the vegetables in this recipe. Where you would normally cook your meat and season it while cooking it (like in my healthy turkey chili recipe), we season the tofu before it hits the heat so that it can really absorb the flavors.
A Note About Spice
This chili has a decent amount of kick to it. If you want to lessen that, I would recommend that you leave out the cayenne pepper. You could always taste it and add a little if you want more flavor and heat.
Substitutions and Variations
- Add more or swap the beans. If you don’t love kidney beans, consider using pinto or black beans instead. If you want more beans, you could also simply add another can of either of those to the recipe as written. Be sure to drain and rinse your beans before adding them to control the saltiness and consistency of the recipe.
- Leave out the tofu. If you’d like to make a vegetarian chili without using tofu, try my Butternut Squash Chili. It is a hearty, healthy, and delicious dinner!
- Swap out the green pepper. My husband never uses green peppers when he makes my chili recipes, and always opts for the slightly sweeter red bell pepper. That works really well in any chili recipe including this one.
- Double the recipe. Make a double or triple batch of this chili to ensure leftovers or serve a bigger crowd. It freezes great, too! I share more on this below.
Butternut Squash Chili
Crockpot Vegetarian Chili
If you would like to make this vegan chili recipe in the slow cooker, you totally can! Follow the recipe as written through the step of sautéing the green pepper, onion, and garlic. Add this mixture along with the tofu, crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, and water to your crockpot and cook on low for eight hours, or on high for four hours.
Chili Toppings
One of our favorite things about chili night is the toppings. Keep in mind many of these will keep this recipe from being vegan. These are all of our favorite toppings that always go on the table with a large pot of chili.
- sour cream
- shredded cheddar cheese
- pickled jalapeños
- cilantro
- tortilla chips
Storing and Reheating Leftover Chili
Store any leftover chili in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Reheat only the portion you plan to heat on the stove over low heat or in the microwave, stirring halfway through.
You can also freeze this chili. I like to put it in portions that are easy to grab for an easy lunch. Let the chili cool completely, then transfer to freezer-safe bags or containers, leaving some room at the top for it to expand. Store in the freezer for up to three months. Thaw in the fridge, then heat on the stovetop.
What to Serve with this Vegan Chili Recipe
I’m going to give you some side ideas that will still keep this meal totally vegan. Honestly, if I were making this for my family, I probably would want to make all three of these sides. Sounds like an amazing spread to me!
- Three Ingredient Beer Bread: This is as easy as it sounds and goes great with a hearty chili recipe.
- Easy Baked Potato Wedges: Another three-ingredient recipe, this is a perfect carby side to go next to a great warm soup.
- Arugula Salad Recipe: I love this recipe for its simplicity. It is also a nice way to add even more veggies to this meal.
If you make this easy vegetarian chili recipe or any of my other recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Vegetarian Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ounces super firm tofu drained (226.8 grams)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper optional, see note
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 28 ounces crushed tomatoes (794 grams)
- 16 ounces kidney beans drained and rinsed (454 grams before draining)
- 2 cups water or vegetable broth
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl, use a potato masher to mash up the tofu. Press and drain off any excess liquid.8 ounces super firm tofu
- In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, hot sauce, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Pour over the tofu, stir to combine, and set aside.2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon hot sauce, 2 tablespoons chili powder, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat for about a minute. Add the green pepper, onion, and garlic, and lightly season with salt and pepper. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 to 7 minutes.2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 green bell pepper, 1 medium yellow onion, 2 garlic cloves, salt and black pepper
- Add in the tofu, crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer (you should be able to see very small bubbles at the surface) and cook for 30 minutes uncovered. Taste the chili and add more salt and pepper as needed.28 ounces crushed tomatoes, 16 ounces kidney beans, 2 cups water
Notes
Mary Ann says
Most of this seems pretty good, but Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies, do it’s neither vegetarian nor vegan.
I didn’t realize that Mary Ann! Thank you so much for letting me know. The Worcestershire sauce can certainly be left out and it will still be delicious.
Dawn says
Thanks for adding a vegetarian chili recipe. I haven’t eaten meat in over 20 years and make chili all the time. I use the ground beef crumbles instead of tofu tho. A lot of companies make them and as long as you season it up, it’s hard to tell it isn’t meat. Also, I just have to say that as a Texan, I would never put kidney beans in chili. Pinto beans. And some jalapenos make it better as well. Hey, I won a chili cook off back in the 90s!