Three bean chili (vegan)

Three bean chili in orange bowl with avocado and pickled pepper garnish.

5 from 14 votes

Hearty 3 bean chili is packed with pinto, black, and Great Northern beans. Garnish it with green onions, cilantro, avocado, and/or shredded non-dairy cheese. It's wonderful on a rainy afternoon with crackers or crusty bread, or ladle it over veggie dogs cooked on the grill.

Prep Time5

Cook Time23

Total Time28

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American, Vegan

Keyword: comfort food, meatless stew, winter food

Servings: people

Calories: 277kcal

Author: Cadry Nelson

Ingredients

½ teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
½ cup onions chopped medium
2 cloves garlic minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes including juices
1 (15-ounce) can Great Northern beans drained and rinsed (1 ½ cups)
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans drained and rinsed (1 ½ cups)
1 (15-ounce) can black beans drained and rinsed (1 ½ cups)
1 cup water
2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 ½ teaspoons cumin
1 Tablespoon hot sauce or to taste
½ teaspoon yellow mustard
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Instructions

Bring a medium-sized soup pot to a medium heat with extra virgin olive oil. Sauté onions and garlic a few minutes, until fragrant.
Add fire roasted diced tomatoes, Great Northern beans, pinto beans, black beans, water, ancho chili powder, paprika, cumin, hot sauce, yellow mustard, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
(Remember that the intensity of hot sauce varies by brand. Use less hot sauce, if you prefer. If you're replacing the ancho chili powder with standard chili powder, it will be hotter since most chili powder blends include cayenne.)
Bring the heat to a simmer and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, allowing the chili to thicken. Stir occasionally.
Optional: After the chili has thickened, use an immersion blender in the pot for 3 or 4 seconds to break up some of the beans and thicken the soup further. You don't want to blend the chili completely. It should still be thick and chunky. However, a few seconds with the immersion blender gives some added texture and thickens the chili even more.
Serve in bowls alongside crackers or bread. Garnish with chopped cilantro, green onions, avocado, and/or shredded non-dairy cheese.

Video

Notes

Using canned beans makes this soup very pantry-friendly. However, if you'd prefer to make beans from scratch, that works just fine. Simply use 1 ½ cups of each type of beans.

Prefer to use a different kind of beans? No problem. Any of the beans can be swapped out for another type in an equal amount. Feel free to use kidney beans, navy beans, or chickpeas.

I call for ancho chili powder in this recipe. It's made with one mild ingredient - ancho chilies. If you use a chili powder blend instead that uses cayenne pepper, this will be a spicier chili. Therefore if you make it with a chili powder blend, you may want to use less hot sauce.

Chili will keep for about five days in a covered container in the refrigerator. It also freezes beautifully. Simply freeze it in freezer proof containers. Then thaw before reheating on the stove or microwave.

Nutrition