Vegan bean chili: thick, smoky and made with three beans

This vegan chili is a pot of red kidney beans, black beans and pinto beans simmered in crushed tomatoes with onion, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin and smoked paprika, cooked until it is thick enough to hold a spoon. Three kinds of beans give it a mix of textures, from creamy pintos to firmer kidney beans, so it does not need any meat substitute to feel substantial. What makes this version work is two simple techniques on the card above: frying the spices in oil before any liquid goes in, and simmering uncovered so the chili thickens by reduction instead of with flour.

Blooming the spices

Ground spices taste dusty and raw if they go straight into a pot of tomatoes. Stirred in hot oil with the softened vegetables for about 1 minute first, they turn fragrant and a shade darker, and their flavor carries through the whole pot instead of sitting on top. Many of the aromatic compounds in spices dissolve in fat rather than water, which is why the oil step matters.

Watch the pot during that minute. Ground spices scorch quickly, and burnt chili powder or cumin tastes bitter in a way no amount of simmering fixes. Keep the heat at medium, stir constantly, and add the tomatoes as soon as the spices smell toasted. If they start to stick or darken fast, turn the heat down or add the tomatoes early.

The chili powder on the card is the mild American blend of ground chiles, cumin, oregano, garlic and often salt sold in the spice aisle, not pure ground chile. For more heat, add cayenne a pinch at a time, a minced jalapeño with the onion, or a chopped chipotle chile in adobo with the tomatoes.

Making your own chili powder

If you have no chili powder blend, mix your own for the 2 tablespoons on the card: 4 teaspoons of ground mild dried chile (ancho, New Mexico or guajillo), 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin and 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano, plus cayenne if you want heat. This is in addition to the cumin and oregano already on the card. Store-bought blends usually contain salt and a homemade one does not, so taste at the end and add salt a pinch at a time. Pure ground chile varies a lot in heat, so smell and taste a pinch before measuring.

What thickens chili

There is no flour or cornstarch in this recipe. The chili thickens in three ways:

1. Reduction. Simmering with the lid off lets water evaporate for 30 to 40 minutes, concentrating the tomatoes into a thick sauce. With a lid on, the chili stays soupy.
2. Bean starch. Mashing about 1 cup of the beans during the last 5 minutes releases their starch into the sauce and gives the chili a creamy body.
3. Time. Chili thickens further as it cools, which is why leftovers often look stiffer than the pot did. Loosen reheated chili with a splash of water or broth.

If it is still too thin after simmering, a spoonful or two of masa harina (the corn flour used for tortillas) whisked with a little water and stirred in for the last few minutes thickens it and adds a toasted corn flavor. If it gets too thick, add broth or water a little at a time.

Stir and scrape the bottom of the pot every 10 minutes or so while it simmers. As the chili thickens it can catch and scorch on the bottom, and a burnt layer flavors the whole pot.

Canned or home-cooked beans

Canned beans make this a weeknight recipe. Drain and rinse them so the chili tastes of its spices rather than the canning liquid. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension says to use 1 3/4 cups of cooked, drained beans in place of one 15-ounce can, and that one pound (2 cups) of dry beans yields about 6 cups of cooked beans, so a pound of dried beans in total covers all three cans in the recipe with some left over. Cook each kind separately, because their cooking times differ.

Cook dried beans completely before they go into the chili. The acid in the tomatoes slows their softening: the same source advises adding acidic foods only after beans are cooked, because acid can prevent beans from becoming tender. The same source says most beans cook in 45 minutes to 2 hours on the stovetop, depending on the variety; see how to cook dried beans and chickpeas for soaking methods and times.

Red kidney beans need a full boil

Raw red kidney beans contain a natural toxin, phytohaemagglutinin. The FDA’s Bad Bug Book says that as few as four or five raw beans can trigger symptoms, usually extreme nausea and vomiting, and that the toxin is in highest concentration in red kidney beans. To destroy it, the FDA tells consumers to boil the beans for at least 30 minutes. FDA’s page on natural toxins in food adds that soaking the beans for a minimum of 5 hours and then boiling them in fresh water for at least 30 minutes will remove and destroy the toxin, and that the low levels in canned and properly cooked kidney beans won’t affect you.

That is also why dried kidney beans should never go into a slow cooker raw or merely soaked. The FDA says slow cookers should not be used to cook these beans or dishes that contain them, because studies of casseroles cooked in slow cookers found that the food often reached internal temperatures too low to destroy the toxin. Canned kidney beans are already cooked and are fine in any method.

Adding more protein or a meatier texture

Three kinds of beans already make this a filling chili, but if you want more protein or a ground-meat texture, add one of these. Each one changes the nutrition on the card, which counts only the recipe as written.

For tofu, pressing out the water first is what lets it brown instead of steam; see how to press tofu.

Slow cooker and electric pressure cooker

Slow cooker

Use canned beans, or home-cooked beans that were already boiled until completely tender (the kidney bean warning above applies). Cook the onion, pepper, garlic and spices in a skillet first; spices bloomed in oil taste far better than raw spices stirred into a slow cooker. Scrape everything into the slow cooker, add the tomatoes, broth, salt and beans, and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours. A slow cooker loses little moisture, so use only half the broth, or leave the lid off for the last hour to thicken it, and mash some beans at the end.

Electric pressure cooker

With canned beans, use the sauté setting to cook the onion and pepper in the oil, then the garlic and spices, exactly as on the card. Pour in the broth and scrape the bottom clean, because browned bits stuck to the pot are what trigger a burn warning. Add the beans, then pour the crushed tomatoes over the top without stirring, so the thick tomatoes do not sit on the hot base. Pressure-cook on high for 10 minutes and let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then stir and simmer on the sauté setting for a few minutes if you want it thicker.

Dried beans can be cooked in the pressure cooker too, but separately and before the chili, not in the same pot as the tomatoes, because acid keeps them from softening. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension gives electric pressure cooker times for unsoaked beans of 20-30 minutes for black beans and for kidney beans and 15-20 minutes for pinto beans, and says to allow 20 minutes for natural pressure release after cooking. Cook them until completely tender all the way through, then make the chili with 1 3/4 cups of each.

Toppings and serving

Chili is rich and earthy, so it benefits from toppings that are cool, crunchy or sour:

• Creamy: diced avocado (the optional topping on the card), dairy-free sour cream or a spoonful of plain dairy-free yogurt.
• Fresh: chopped cilantro, sliced green onions, finely diced red onion, a squeeze of lime.
• Crunchy: crushed tortilla chips, toasted pumpkin seeds.
• Sharp: pickled jalapeños or a few dashes of hot sauce.

Serve it in bowls, over rice or baked potatoes, or with cornbread (most cornbread recipes contain dairy and eggs, so choose a vegan one). For chili mac, stir the chili into cooked elbow pasta; for chili dogs, simmer a portion a little longer so it is thick enough to sit on a plant-based hot dog without running. For a vegetable stew with the same pantry approach, try chickpea ratatouille.

Variations

• Vegetable chili: add 2 cups of diced sweet potato with the tomatoes and simmer until tender, or stir in diced zucchini or corn for the last 15 minutes.
• Two-bean chili: use any two of the beans, doubling one of them; chickpeas or white beans also work.
• Deeper flavor: stir in a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder with the spices, or a teaspoon of soy sauce or a splash of vinegar at the end.
• Less salt: use no-salt-added canned beans and tomatoes and water instead of broth, then season to taste at the end.

Batch cooking, storage and freezing

The recipe doubles in an 8-quart pot; allow extra time to bring it to a boil and to reduce. To cool a big batch quickly, divide it into shallow containers, as USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service advises; hot food can go straight into the refrigerator. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours of cooking and eat them within 3 to 4 days.

A pot of chili left on the stove overnight is a common question, and the answer is to throw it out. FSIS says to discard perishable foods left at room temperature for more than 2 hours (1 hour if the temperature is over 90°F), and reheating is not a fix for food that sat out that long.

Chili freezes well. FSIS says leftovers can be frozen for 3 to 4 months; frozen food stays safe indefinitely, but it can lose moisture and flavor over longer storage. Freeze it in portion-sized containers, leaving a little headspace for expansion. FSIS also says it is safe to reheat frozen leftovers without thawing. Reheat chili by bringing it to a rolling boil, the FSIS instruction for soups and sauces, or until it reaches 165°F on a food thermometer, stirring so the center heats through.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

• Bitter or acrid chili: the spices burned. Keep the heat at medium during the blooming step and add the tomatoes as soon as the spices smell toasted.
• Thin, soupy chili: it simmered covered or not long enough. Simmer uncovered and mash some of the beans.
• Mushy beans: they were overcooked before going in, or the chili was stirred too hard. Fold gently and use firm, freshly opened or just-cooked beans.
• Hard dried beans in the finished chili: they went in undercooked; acidic tomatoes keep them from softening further. Cook dried beans until completely tender first.
• Flat flavor: taste at the end and add salt a pinch at a time; a squeeze of lime brightens it.

For which plant foods supply iron and what affects how much of it is absorbed, see iron from plant foods.

Allergy and ingredient notes

As written, the recipe contains none of the common allergens named here: no tree nuts, peanuts, soy, wheat or gluten, sesame or coconut. It is made with gluten-free ingredients; check labels for cross-contact, especially on chili powder blends, broth and canned goods. The protein add-ins change this: TVP and tofu contain soy, walnuts are tree nuts, and plant-based crumbles often contain soy or wheat. Some additions change this: soy sauce contains soy and usually wheat, cornbread usually contains wheat, and many dairy-free sour creams and yogurts are made from cashews, almonds, soy or coconut.