Even though this lentil chili is quick and easy enough for a weeknight, it just might be the BEST vegan chili you've ever tasted! There are a few tricks to making meaty, thick, deeply flavorful vegetarian chili, and once you taste the difference you'll be hooked. Be sure to check out the reviews! This red lentil chili is naturally vegan, easily made gluten-free and/or oil-free, and ready in 45 minutes.
Why You'll Love It
The most difficult thing about this lentil chili recipe was figuring out what to name it because it's like 5 recipes in one! It's:
- The Best Lentil Chili
- The Best Vegetarian and Vegan Chili
- Easy Bean Chili
- and The Only Chili Recipe You Need!
Basically, this lentil chili is a slam dunk. (In case you can't tell, I'm REALLY excited about it.)
The flavor and texture are exactly what you crave in a bowl of chili. But it's simpler than my other vegan chili recipe and comes together in just 45 minutes!
While I love that other chili recipe, it's more of an event, you know? Specialty ingredients. Plenty of dirty dishes. And who has time for that on a regular basis?
So I wanted to come up with an all-around amazing vegan chili recipe that's just as exciting, but easy enough to make anytime, even on weeknights.
I know what you're thinking... everyone says they have the best chili. But seriously, friends. This is good. It's not like the flat, tomato-y, thin vegetarian chili recipes you've tried before.
This lentil chili is rich, thick, smoky, flavorful, balanced, and versatile.
I hope you love it as much as we do. Give it a try and report back to let us know!
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Key Ingredients
The same secret ingredients listed here are used in the other vegan chili I mentioned. It's inspired by an America's Test Kitchen chili recipe I came across years ago. I kept tweaking the recipe each time I would make it and even won a few local chili cook-offs with the recipe.
This time I've simplified the process even more and added red lentils for even more protein, thickness, and nutrition.
I ditched the step of making your own chili powder because I'm guessing 99.9% of you don't want to track down specialty dried peppers, toast them in the oven, then grind them into powder, right? Yeah, me either. Store-bought chili powder to the rescue!
But we are keeping a few of the America's Test Kitchen ideas because they're critical for making epic vegan chili, while taking shortcuts where we can.
- Walnuts - ground walnuts thicken the chili and add a richness that's missing from a lot of vegetarian chilis. Instead of turning on the oven to toast the nuts, we give them a quick toast on the stovetop in the same pot we'll use to make the chili.
- For nut-free simply omit the walnuts, and decrease the water by ¼ or ⅓ cup.
- Bulgur - bulgur wheat is inexpensive, easy to find (look for it in bulk bins), and adds a ground beef-like texture while also thickening the chili.
- For a gluten-free option, sub millet or quinoa. Or for extra protein use TVP (textured vegetable protein).
- dried mushroom powder - instead of the dried shiitake mushrooms called for in the original recipe, which then had to be ground into powder, I use Trader Joe's umami mushroom powder as a shortcut. Feel free to omit this if you can't get your hands on any powdered mushroom seasoning.
How to Make Lentil Chili
Watch the video below to see the recipe come to life. Here's the basic flow:
- Prep and gather all ingredients. Once you start cooking it moves quickly! Preheat a soup pot over medium-low heat and toast the walnuts for a few minutes. Transfer to a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Move ground walnuts to a bowl and set aside.
- Add the onion, jalapeños, and garlic to the food processor. Blend until mostly pureed.
- Return the pot to the stove, and increase heat to medium. Add the oil, if using, and the spices. If not using oil, add the blended onion mixture before the spices. Stirring, cook the spices for about 1 minute. Add the pureed onion mixture to the pot, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the smoked salt, tomatoes, soy sauce, broth, and water. Bring to a boil. Add the lentils, bulgur, beans, and ground walnuts, and stir well. Return to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Turn off the heat, and give the chili another good stir. Taste and adjust seasonings. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes. The chili will continue to thicken as it rests.
Tip! Like most chili recipes, it tastes even better the next day.
Substitutions
- Gluten-free - sub millet or quinoa for the bulgur and use tamari instead of soy sauce.
- Oil-free - omit the oil used to sauté the veggies and spices. See the Notes section in the recipe card about reversing the order of Step 3. Basically, you'll add the onion mixture to the pot before adding the spices.
- Nut-free - either omit the walnuts and reduce the water slightly, or add a bit more oil when blooming the spices for more richness.
Tip! If you need to omit the walnuts or bulgur because of an allergy, use only two cans of beans and stir in half a can of refried beans for extra thickening.
Variations
With the addition of red lentils in this chili, it doesn't need three types of beans. So I've updated the recipe to only include two cans of beans. But if you enjoy a bean-heavy chili, feel free to include a third can.
In a hurry? Not into lentils? Omit and reduce the water by ½ cup. This chili is still loaded with satisfying beans. As an added bonus, omitting the lentils means shaving a few minutes off the cook time!
Serving Suggestions
I love this chili so much that, honestly, I don't even like the distraction of toppings. But you do you!
Add your favorite chili fixings like cilantro, green onion, fresh or pickled jalapeños, shredded vegan cheese, and sour cream.
Pair lentil chili with any of these vegan cornbread recipes:
I hope you love this Lentil Chili as much as we do. If you try it be sure to leave a comment and rating below. Your feedback not only helps me, but it helps other readers find recipes they'll love.
Happy cooking!
Try our other vegan chili recipes: Vegan White Chili and Beyond Meat chili!
More Lentil Recipes
Recipe Video
Click to play the video and see how to make lentil chili!
📖 Recipe
BEST Lentil Chili (Vegan, Ready in 45 Minutes!)
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup raw walnut halves - if allergic, omit and reduce water by about ¼ cup. TIP: another option for added thickening is to stir in half a can of refried beans at the end of cooking.
- 1 large red or yellow onion, cut into chunks
- 2 large jalapeno peppers, stems removed - for mild chili remove the seeds; for spicier chili include all or some of the seeds.
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
- 2 Tablespoons oil such as avocado, olive or grapeseed - omit for oil-free.
- 3 rounded tablespoons chili powder - the blend, not a specific chili.
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons mushroom powder, optional
- 1 teaspoon smoked sea salt flakes or ¾ tsp regular fine sea salt)
- 1 (28 oz) can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce - Sub tamari for GF.
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 ½ cups water
- ⅔ cup red lentils
- ⅔ cup bulgur or TVP - For GF sub millet or quinoa; rinse and drain before adding to pot. TVP is also GF.
- 2 (15 oz) cans beans, rinsed and drained - pinto, black, and/or kidney
Instructions
- Tip: Once cooking begins in Step 4, things move quickly, so it helps to have all or most of the ingredients gathered and prepped.
- Preheat a large soup pot over medium-low heat. Toast the walnuts until warm and fragrant, about 3 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Transfer walnuts to the bowl of a food processor, and pulse until finely ground. Transfer the ground walnuts to a bowl.
- Add the onion, jalapenos, and garlic to the food processor (see Notes section). Blend until mostly pureed.
- Note: If omitting oil, reverse the order of this step; add the blended onion/jalapeno mixture to the pot first, then add the spices. Otherwise, for the best flavor, bloom the spices in oil as described below.Return the pot to the stove, and increase the burner to medium heat. Add the oil to the pot. Add the spices (3 T chili powder, 1 T cumin, 2 tsp oregano, 2 tsp smoked paprika, and 2 tsp mushroom powder). Stirring frequently, cook for about 1 minute. Add the pureed onion mixture to the pot, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the smoked salt, tomatoes, soy sauce, broth, and water. Bring to a boil. Add the lentils, bulgur, beans, and ground walnuts, and stir well. Return to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Once the lentils are done, turn off the heat, and give the chili another good stir. Taste and add a pinch more salt or a drizzle of soy sauce, if desired. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes. The chili will continue to thicken as it rests.
Notes
Estimated Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary depending on the exact amounts and specific products and ingredients used. We calculate this information using the online calculator cronometer.com.
Jen
Do you think the addition of freshly sauteed mushrooms would work in this recipe? Now that the weather is finally chilly, I'm thinking of making this tonight.
Lori Rasmussen
Hi Jen - Absolutely! As far as I'm concerned, mushrooms make everything better. Hope you enjoy it!
Jen
Made the chili with about a pound of mushrooms and a big green pepper. Also doubled the walnuts. I didn't use any broth. I used a total of about 4 1/2 cups water. Fantastic recipe! I will definitely be making this again.
Speckerbee
Love how easy it is and how clear the instructions were. However, it's SPICY! And we only used one jalapeno. Next time, I might double the lentils and halve the chili powder. My tongue is still singing "hot hot spicy" song! Lol
Marna
Superb! I knew it as soon as I read the ingredients and method! Used the broken small pieces from soycurls that I had....Thank you!!!!! Now for another recipe :)!!!
Lesley
Outstanding! Truly. Will make many times. Thank you for this recipe!
LC
Hi. I made this with 2/3 cup of pot barley as didn't have tvp or bulgur. Partially cooked barley before adding barley and cooking liquid to pot. Also used about 3 t sugar, 1/2 cup red pepper and about 1 cup chopped mushrooms. Didn't puree onion or red pepper as prefer chunkier chili. Will make again but maybe with less soy sauce.
Kathy
I really enjoyed this recipe! It is so quick and easy, yet has amazing depth of flavor and a perfect texture. I followed the recipe exactly as written and look forward to making this again.
Mary
This looks AMAZING!!! Would you suggest decreasing the liquid if using an InstantPot? THANK YOU!!!
Lori
That's a great question, Mary. Sorry to say I haven't made it in the Instant Pot yet. But yes, instead of 5.5 cups liquid (water + broth) , you might want to reduce it to 4 cups. The dry lentils and bulgur absorb a good amount, so it does need more liquid than most Instant Pot chili recipes.
Doug Tee
Unbelievably delicious. No meat eater would think this is a vegan chili - it has a great chew, courtesy of the Bulgar/lentils/roasted walnuts. The depth of flavor is better than restaurant caliber, owing to the variety of spices.
* Next time I’ll simmer the beans and lentils an additional twenty minutes. They were a bit al dente for us.
BTW, this recipe makes a ton of food, so plan for guests when you make this. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Leigh
This is just the best. My family really enjoyed it and I have made it several more times. I put the leftovers in Souper Cubes and pull them out for a quick lunch. Great recipe and easy to do.
Krysta
This chili was INCREDIBLE! Even my carnivore husband loved it and he hates vegetarian meals. I made it with Annie's refried black beans instead of walnuts, quinoa instead of bulgar, green bell pepper instead of jalapeño, and used an immersion blender for half of the chili at the end instead of the food processor before cooking. We topped it with feta, sour cream, plantain croutons and avocado. Perfection.
Claudia
Excellent Chili! I used no oil and only one large jalapeño. Very “meaty” and quite delicious.
Erin
An easy and very tasty chili. I used a red chilli and quinoa as substitutes and turned out amazing.
I will be using this recipe again.
Danielle Luhrs
This is by far the BEST chili recipe ever! Made it last night and I'm enjoying the leftovers as we speak. Can't wait to try more of your recipes! Thank you!
Kathe
I have some dried porcini mushrooms. If I grind them up, will that be the same as "mushroom powder", do you think?
Lori
Yes, that works great. It’s how I used to make chili before I started looking for short cuts. 🙂 You can also just leave it out if you don’t feel like the added step. Enjoy!
Lisa Marlow
Hi Lori, the recipe sounds great and I'm anxious to try it.
I know the mushroom powder is optional but I have a question.
I don't like the taste of mushrooms but I don't have a problem with their texture.
Does adding the powder give a pronounced mushroom taste or flavor? If it really adds something special to the dish I might try it but probably not if it's just normal mushroom flavor.
Thanks!
Lori
Hi Lisa, good question! Honestly, there are SO many other flavors going on, with the spices and veggies, I think you will like it either way. You won't taste mushroom if you do decide to include the mushroom powder. So in your case I would recommend just omitting it. No need to buy an ingredient you may not have much of a use for in other recipes.
Hope you enjoy!!
Lisa
This IS the best chili ever!! Absolutely delicious! My husband swore there was beef in it! It’s so meaty tasting! Thank you!
Mary
Do you think cooking this in an Instant Pot would harm the flavour any? Thanks for a GREAT recipe!
Lori
Hi Mary, I think cooking it in the Instant Pot will be great. You'll want to use the sauté function for steps 2 - 4. Then once you add all the other ingredients I don't think it will need to cook long. Maybe high pressure for 5 minutes? I would stir in the ground walnuts at the end, after pressure cooking. Hope that helps!
ShaunD
Just made your chili in my Instapot! Came out perfect! Very tasty! I used millet in place of the bulgar and Umami seasoning in place of the mushroom powder.
Janet
Did you decrease the liquid using the instant pot? Thanks!
Sherri
I've tried several vegan chili recipes and this one is by far my favorite. It is saved and starred in my recipe book. Thank you for this one! I just found your website about a month ago and I am enjoying it so much. I especially love the name of your website, My Quiet Kitchen.....so peaceful.