This dish will please everyone’s tastes if you are hosting guests with diverse palates. a homemade chili made with a variety of veggies, beans, lentils, and tofu to give you the same sense of fullness that chili made with meat does. If preferred, taste and add additional fresh parsley and basil. Before serving, I like to let the chili sit in the refrigerator for an entire night.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 4 hrs |
| Additional Time: | 12 hrs |
| Total Time: | 16 hrs 20 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 10 servings |
Ingredients
- ½ cup dry kidney beans, soaked overnight
- ½ cup dry white beans, soaked overnight
- ½ cup dry brown lentils, soaked overnight
- 6 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
- 6 cups water
- 1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
- ½ cup chopped green bell pepper
- ½ cup chopped red bell pepper
- ½ cup fresh green beans
- ½ cup chopped celery
- ¼ onion, chopped
- ¼ red onion, chopped
- ¾ cup extra firm tofu, drained, crumbled
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- onion powder to taste
- garlic powder to taste
- chili powder to taste
Instructions
- Drain and rinse kidney beans, white beans and lentils. Combine in a large pot and cover with water; boil over medium-high to high heat for 1 hour, or until tender.
- Meanwhile, in a large saucepan over high heat, combine tomatoes and water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour, or until tomatoes are broken down.
- Stir the tomatoes into the beans and add mushrooms, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, green beans, celery, onions and tofu. Season with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and chili powder to taste. Simmer for 2 to 3 hours, or until desired consistency is reached.
Reviews
NOTE I am a chef by trade. Looking for less meat, more legumes, I thought I would give this a try. Like another reader, I used a 15 bean soup mix, soaked over night. Lightly browned onions and added peppers, tomatoes and tomatillos -NO WATER. I was using what was in the garden. Once sauce was cooked, I pureed with immersion blender. Threw in crock pot with cooked beans. Added chopped tomatillos for texture. Store was out of tofu! How does that happen? Grabbed Bocca crumbles instead. Seasoning is a personal choice. I used a lot more than the recipe, extra cumin and Nutritional yeast. Served with green onions.
This is a good base. That said, I experimented and varied this recipe considerably. I began by making a mirepoix of EVOO, yellow onion, celery, carrots and garlic. I couldn’t see the logic in using one half yellow onion & one half red, so I used a single yellow one. For seasoning, I added to the mirepoix 2 tablespoons chili powder, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano & 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Since I used the genuine articles, I omitted the garlic & onion powders. Instead of water, I used vegetable broth. I used canned beans instead of dry ones. I didn’t have lentils, mushrooms or green beans. I’m sure they’d have been nice to include, but I didn’t miss them. I added the bell peppers, tomatoes and tofu according to the recipe. The end result was terrific. A great deal of depth of flavor with lots of color and texture. This worked for me. It may or may not for you. Play, experiment and make it your own!
Turned out more like soup. Not chunky at all. I added more beans, veggies, and seasoning and it turned out great.
Skipped green beans and tofu. Added caaned chickpeas and corn
I made it for my daughter that’s switching to vegetarian eating, I wanted to support her decision ahs give her ideas. I thought it was pretty good but I should’ve added more chilli powder and even some paprika to spice it up. My daughter was ok with it but did not like the tofu. My other daughter didn’t like it at all lol. I used the leftovers the next day and added ground beef to turn it into real chilli and it was awesome
Made this and my family loved it!
This is an awesome recipe. I did however make the following changes that people could do: 1. No green beans 2. Used only 3 cups of water 3. Added two chipotle pepper in adobo sauce 4. Added ground scotch bonnet (1/8 to 1/4 tsp) 5 Added jalapeno pure (1 tbs) 6. Added 2 Tbs of chili pdr, cumin, oregano, fresh basil, cilatro Even with all the “hot stuff” it wasn’t overpowering.
Good chili. It would have been helpful to have a ballpark amount for the seasoning, e.g. “two teaspoons of chili powder, or to taste” for cooks who are not experienced with those spices.
Great recipe… I added about 2T of chili powder and the same of cumin. The recipe makes a lot.
I added some minced beef and it tasted super!
I added some fresh green chili! It was great.
To many different things in this chili. I didn’t care for the flavor.
Too watery. If I was going to make it again (not likely) I wouldn’t add so much water at the tomato boiling stage for starters. Cooked noodles seperate and added in afterwards to try to save.
My husband is a vegan and I am in transition. It’s been a very long time since he has eaten chili. I altered the recipe to his liking and just used a pound of red kidney beans, eliminated the mushrooms, green beans and chopped celery, but added lots of garlic. We ate it with brown rice or Amy’s gluten free cornbread. This recipe is awesome! Thanks for sharing and I didn’t miss the meat at all. ~Angela Walton~
This was my FIRST attempt with a vegan recipe. This was my first time ever using tofu. My whole family loved it! Even the skeptics ?? Here’s how I modified the recipe. I used: -1 lb bag of 15 bean soup that I soaked over night -2 10oz cans of Ro Tel diced tomatoes & green chilies( so I skipped the step w/ boiling the fresh tomatoes -1/2 yellow onion -1/2 red onion -2 bell peppers -1 TBS chopped garlic -2 TBS celery flakes -3 TBS chili powder -pan fried the tofu w/ a little olive oil , chili powder and mesquite seasoning
This was a hit. My meat and potatoes husband didn’t even mention/notice there was no meat in this chilli.
Even the kids had seconds!
I first have to say, I wish I had the time to soak the beans overnight, but I didn’t- I needed a chili recipe for that night. So I used canned beans and didn’t soak the lentils (just cooked them for about 30 minutes). I threw everything together in a crock pot and left on low for about 4 hours. I didn’t add water because there was no room in the pot! This turned out amazing! The flavors were perfect together and I actually prefer it to regular chili! Huge hit with my boyfriend as well! Made a double batch to freeze individual portions for later. Thanks for a great recipe! Oh, the one main modification I made was a large can of stewed tomatoes rather than fresh. If I have time next time I will try with fresh!
Excellent! Everyone enjoyed it and we did not miss the meat at all (even our pickiest). My only extra ingredient was some cilantro, which I always include in my chili. Thanks for the recipe!
I love this recipe!
I will make this again. Very flavorful!