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This black bean chili recipe is easy to make and full of big flavor! This is the one we make on the regular, and it impresses our friends and family every time. A fan fave!
Can you have too many chili recipes? We think not. Introducing our new favorite easy spin…this black bean chili recipe! It’s beyond simple to make, and the flavor is outstanding. (We hope you’ll agree.)
It’s got a hint of smokiness to highlight the tangy tomatoes and savory black beans. Top it with your favorite toppings, and it’s so hearty and savory, you’ll forget it’s healthy, too.
Ingredients in this black bean chili recipe
This vegetarian black bean chili recipe was inspired by open fire cooking. In fact, we first made it around our firepit during a kitchen reno! We adapted our healthy chili recipe to be even simpler so it was easy enough to cook on a fire. This is the stovetop version of it, and it’s got lots of great ingredients to bring massive flavor with little effort:
- Onion and garlic: Aromatic veggies form the base of this chili.
- Olive oil and butter: Butter adds the richness you crave in a vegetarian chili (substitute vegan butter if desired).
- Quinoa: Whole grain quinoa adds thickness and depth.
- Black beans, corn, and canned tomatoes: We like using fire roasted tomatoes for the best sweet flavor.
- Mustard, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce: These condiments add tangy and savory notes.
- Chili powder, oregano, garlic powder, cumin, and smoked paprika: The smoked paprika emulates the smokiness of the campfire chili.
Chili toppings: dress it up!
This vegetarian black bean chili is simple and elegant. In fact, you only really need to dice an onion and garlic, and let your stove do the rest of the work for you! Once it’s done, dress it up with the toppings of your choice. Here are our top choices, and then a few more creative ideas:
- Sour cream and cheese: Just a little goes a long way! We think these are required. For vegan, use Cashew Cream or Vegan Queso.
- Green onion: Thinly sliced green onion is the best fresh accessory.
- Cilantro: Fresh cilantro leaves are a great addition.
- Hot sauce: Naturally! A favorite is a Mexican hot sauce like Cholula.
- Roasted salted pepitas: This unique option adds a salty crunch.
- Pickled jalapenos or onions: Pickled jalapeños add a kick! If you think ahead, pickled onions are a favorite of ours: they add bright color and tangy flavor.
Storing leftovers
This black bean chili recipe stores well and is great for leftovers! Here are a few notes on leftover storage:
- Refrigerate for up to 3 days. It can become very thick, so you may need to add a splash of water when reheating.
- Freeze for up to 3 months. This recipe works well frozen in a freezer-safe container.
Ways to serve black bean chili
There are so many ways to serve this black bean chili recipe — straight up in a bowl, or with more creative options! Here are a few ways to accessorize it:
- Cornbread or corn muffins: Try cornbread muffins, Mexican cornbread, skillet cornbread, homemade cornbread or vegan cornbread.
- Salad: Try goat cheese salad, Brussels sprout salad or kale salad.
- Baked potatoes or sweet potato wedges: Try chili baked potatoes or as a topping for sweet potato wedges.
- Serve over fries: Make it into chili cheese fries.
Variation: cook it on an open fire
This black bean chili recipe is an ideal campfire chili, too! We first made this one over an open fire when our kitchen was undergoing a renovation. The fire infuses an incredible smokiness to the flavor.
- If you can, use a hardwood for the fire (oak or cherry). These woods have the best flavor for cooking food.
- Omit the smoked paprika if desired. You don’t need it since the fire infuses smoky flavor.
- You can prep in advance for camping. If you’re taking it camping, prep the minced onion and garlic and place in a sealed container. Place the ingredients from water through salt in another large sealed container (keep out the dry quinoa and add when cooking).
Dietary notes
This black bean chili recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free, replace the butter as noted in the recipe below.
Easy Black Bean Chili
This black bean chili recipe is easy to make and full of big flavor! This is the one we make on the regular, and it impresses our friends and family every time. A fan fave!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Main dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ⅓ cup dry quinoa
- 1 cup water
- 3 15-ounce cans black beans, drained (not rinsed)
- 2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes, fire roasted if possible
- 4 tablespoons salted butter (replace with 2 tablespoons olive oil or refined coconut oil for vegan)
- 1 15-ounce can corn (or 1 ½ cups frozen corn)
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons each chili powder and dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon each garlic powder and cumin
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
- Dice the onion. Mince the garlic.
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender.
- Add all other ingredients except for the smoked paprika. Simmer for 25 minutes, then stir in the smoked paprika. Serve immediately with toppings of your choice. Store leftovers refrigerated for up to 3 days, or frozen for 3 months.
- Campfire chili instructions: Follow the instructions above, but remove the smoked paprika (the fire will add smoky flavor). If you’re taking it camping, prep the minced onion and garlic and place in a sealed container. Place the ingredients from water through kosher salt in another large sealed container (keep out the dry quinoa and add when cooking). Keep everything cool until making the chili.
More chili recipes
This black bean chili is our new favorite, but we’ve got lots of other chili recipes for the season! Here are a few to try:
- Go for our favorite vegetarian chili or this flavorful vegan chili.
- This quick chili recipe takes just 25 minutes and can be vegetarian or meat-filled.
- Got a pressure cooker? Try our Instant pot vegetarian chili.
- Opt for our favorite healthy chili recipe, or add potatoes for a sweet potato chili.
Please include sodium content. Was planning to make this chili but sodium content not listed.
We intentionally don’t include sodium because so many ingredients like broth and canned beans contain vastly different amounts and we don’t want to provide inaccurate information to people who are on a strict diet.
However, you can always pop a recipe address into this website if you’re looking for an approximation.
https://whisk.com/recipe-nutrition-calculator/
This was DELICIOUS! I am newly vegetarian and always looking for dinner ideas that my husband will enjoy as well. This was a success! I will try more of your recipes, for sure.
My partner and I make this recipe all the time and we love it!! We make a double batch and freeze half for quick lunches in our Souper cubes. Just pop them out and microwave for a few minutes and it’s literally the exact same as freshly made.
I am just a few months from 80 years on this earth. I have NEVER eaten chili never mind MAKING it. I am amazed/dumfounded/flabbergasted that I made this chili and LOVED it! Every bite. Cleaned the pot. It was delicious!!! thank you. My family thanks you. SOOO good.
When I go to print your recipe, the picture doesn’t show up, even though I clicked the box with ‘images’. Could you change that? The picture hasn’t shown up on other recipes of yours either, which makes me try to copy and paste from this page, which doesn’t work well either.
This is on a list for our developer.
What’s the point of the nutrition facts per serving if it doesn’t include what a serving size is? Says it serves 6…I’m supposed to evenly split it into 6 bowls to figure out what a serving size is?
my husband and I have just started our vegan journey. tried this recipe out today and we are both loving it. added some fresh carrots and bok choy I had at home. gives a nice crunch. thanx a lot
I’m sorry to say this recipe was not what I was expecting. The seasonings were nice, but it was lacking a depth. Perhaps it’s because I used rice instead of quinoa? I know this was a vegan dish, and I’m no stranger to vegan recipes but I’m also not hardcore, so I added 4oz of browned ground beef and it gave the whole pot a balanced flavor that was missing without it.
What would you suggest if I wanted to substitute the quinoa? The texture turns me off. I’m thinking rice, but also considering just omitting it altogether.
You can omit, or add a grain like cooked bulgur or barley. I wouldn’t do rice.
Holy cr*p this is spicy! I wonder if it’s me, but the recipe did really say two TABLEspoons of chilipowder. Lol, I thought I could handle spice until this chili 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
You must have a spicy chili powder! Ours only ever ends up mild.
I also noticed the amount of salt you add will dictate how much spice shows up.
I was excited to see the vegetarian black bean chili recipe, however Worcestershire sauce is not vegetarian or vegan, so you might want to suggest another alternative or specify to use a vegan version instead.
Other than that I look forward to trying it!
This recipe is delicious and quick to put together. I added a few veggies that I had on hand. It is even better the next day!
This looks delicious, but Worcestershire sauce isn’t vegetarian—it contains anchovies. Any suggestions for what to sub in instead?
Hi! There are several vegan Worcestershire sauces available. We like Annies brand.
Hey Keri, not sure if you live by a Kroger or a Kroger brand store (you can look up their stores online to see what falls under their brand), but their store brand-Simple Truth-has an amazing and tasty vegan version of the sauce. I used it to make beer cheese this Christmas and it worked like a charm! It was also reasonably priced!
Just wanted you to know that as a Diabetic with type 2 diabeties.. Black beans were reccommended to putin chile, even if you use meat.. I have been using black beans in my chile for a few years now.. Cant wait till I get to try this vegan recipe.
Unfortunately I did not like this recipe at all. It was overly sweet and tomato-eu, which I attribute to overwhelmingly excessive use of ketchup. Will try to adjust for ketchup with something far less obvious and try again.
So sorry you didn’t enjoy.
hi, I love your Instant pot vegetarian chili, and would like to try this version and taste profile as well. Would it be adaptable to an instant pot? Could I use this recipe but pop in an instant pot for same time as other recipe or would I lose the flavor profile?
thanks
It should work similar! I’d add the beans and smoked paprika at the end.