An Instant Pot Vegan Chili with amazing texture thanks to a secret ingredient. Super easy and extremely flavorful. A crowd-pleaser through and through.
After all the experiments with a million Instant Pot Beans and already having an Instant Pot Chili with meat I figured it’s about time to create an Instant Pot Vegan Chili.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but I actually think the vegan version is even better than the original. The flavor of the spices and beans are so much more dominant in this one and I love it!
Dried Beans or Canned Beans for Instant Pot Vegan Chili
I will forever recommend 12-ish hours soaked dried beans vs canned. They don’t taste much different, that’s not it. They are 20 times easier to digest and don’t have the flatulent consequences canned beans have ;)
I recommend putting your dried beans in a big bowl, cover them with water and let soak on the kitchen counter for about 12 hours.
Before adding to the instant pot, drain and rinse and they are ready to go. It’s a step you have to remember the night before but an easy and super duper quick step!
Does Instant Pot Vegan Chili Freeze Well?
YES! Very well actually. I’ve tested freezing and reheating and it’s perfect for freezing. The best part is you can even defrost it in the instant pot again.
Just freeze it in a round shape so it fits as a frozen block in the pot and you’re good.
To make that happen you can just use a freezer bag and add it to a bowl or container that would fit your instant pot and place in the freezer. That way it freezer in the right shape from the beginning.
To defrost you just add the block to your instant pot, add about 1/2 cup of water or broth and set it to 5 minutes on high pressure and that’s it.
It will take a while to come to pressure but it’ll get there eventually.
Alternatively, you can let it defrost in the fridge and then reheat in a regular pot or microwave. I prefer this option actually because I feel the liquid reincorporates into the food and the flavor is better, but I’m not always as organized so using quick methods is defo something I have to rely on every once in a while.
What to Serve This Chili With
Beans and legumes have quite a bit of carbohydrate so I like to keep it carb free when it comes to sides for chilis with exception of maybe a piece of bread.
My favorite way of eating chili is just like that and topped with fresh avocado and cilantro. The combo is unbelievably good!
You can most definitely serve this over rice, too if you like though. It tastes amazing with rice.
Instant Pot Vegan Chili
Ingredients
- 1 chopped onion
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- 27 oz can fire roasted tomatoes - (800ml)
- 1 cup dried chickpeas - (200g)
- 1 cup dried kidneybeans - (200g)
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cups diced celery
- 1 cup diced red bell pepper
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1.5 tsp chili powder
- 1.5 tsp cumin
- 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
- sea salt
- pepper
- water
- avocado
- cilantro
- chili pepper
Instructions
- Soak chickpeas and kidney beans 12 hours or overnight in abundant water. Then drain and rinse.
- Press the sauteé button and once hot add a dollop of oil to it.
- Fry chopped onions and crushed garlic in oil until soft, then deglaze the pot with a splash of water (see video).
- Add fire-roasted tomatoes, drained and rinsed legumes, diced vegetables, chopped walnuts and all spiced and fill in water until all legumes are just covered.
- Stir everything well together, put on the lid, turn the valve to the sealing position and set to 25 minutes on high pressure.
- Let pressure release naturally completely. Meaning, don't touch the pot until the safety pin drops on its own.
- Open the pot, give all one last stir and add more sea salt and pepper to taste if necessary at this point and serve.
- Top everything with cubed fresh avocado, cilantro leaves, and sliced chili if desired.
Nutrition
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Lorena says
Is it possible to adapt this recipe to stovetop or crockpot cooking? I don’t have an instant pot.
NKC says
The flavors are interesting, I like the cinnamon, but I wouldn’t call this chili. Mine came out too soupy so I guess I used too much water. I followed the recipe as written but added some roasted hatch chiles to add some heat.
Gretchen says
My picky vegetarian teen loved this!
Chris says
This is really gross. I’m not sure why I didn’t question the cinnamon. It looked like an odd addition, but it wasn’t until I cracked open the vent on the Instant Pot that suspected it was not going to go well. The smell reminded me of the smell immediately after fireworks–like burnt gun powder. A taste confirmed that the cinnamon was the culprit. It was a total loss. I should know better than to make recipes with only 5 ratings.
Lorena Grater says
I am so sorry to read that Chris. I absolutely understand your frustration. I absolutely love the taste of the cinnamon in the chili. Also, it’s only a teaspoon and a half for the whole pot so it shouldn’t really be that overpowering. You did use “tea”spoons? Not “Table”spoons by mistake?
David says
Do you have to soak the chickpeas?
Lorena Grater says
I always do because I can’t digest unsoaked beans. I’ve been told by adding an extra 10-15 cooking time and extra liquid you can pressure cook them without soaking but I don’t know how much more liquid and exactly how much more time. I’m sorry.
Charlotte says
Very tasty and satisfying, although I cooked it on the stovetop and used 3 cans of beans (chickpeas, black beans and kidney beans). Simmered for about an hour.
When I get reunited with my IP (travelling at the moment) I’ll definitely try with dried soaked beans as well.
Michele Huddler says
I haven’t tried this recipe but I like to add a bag of Morningstar farms “Crumbles” to my vegetarian chili whenever I make it and serve with sour cream and cheddar cheese.
I can’t wait to try the walnuts.
Ciri says
This recipe looks wonderful and I’m eager to try it when my new Instant Pot arrives today. I’m getting the 6-quart pot… will that be big enough for this recipe?
Miss Ivy says
Last night I made this chili in my 6 quart instant pot. Well, I made a modified/merged version of this chili. I got my instant pot as a gift and this is the first dish I made in my pot. I crawled through YouTube looking for a vegan chili using dry beans and an instant pot. To me, your video and article are the most clear. Your video is so quick, yet packed with all the instructions and even some tips. And your chili has the best visually appealing look on the final presentation. My finished beans came out perfect, intact yet creamy in the inside.
I purchased from my local Ross store a box of Veggie Bean Soup – by the brand Buckeye Beans and Herbs. It’s 12 0z of beans and that’s what I used in place of all the beans you listed. The box instructions call for 4 hours of stove top cooking. In the same amount of time it took me to make the corn bread, the beans were done. Amazing little pot!
My beans were presoaked in cold water on the counter for 3 hours and in the frig for 3 hours with a little salt and baking powder for 6 hours total. I added a tiny can of jalapeños and a bag of beyond meat crumbles. I used all the ingredients listed in your recipe in addition to the little packet of spices that came in the Buckeye box. I did leave off avocado and cilantro, they do not digest well for me. And I somehow didn’t see the cinnamon listed.
I used the bead/chili preset button on “less” which took 25 mins. I took a few more liberties, once it was done I did a quick release and added frozen spiral zucchini and butternut squash (also added the frozen crumbles in at this point) and set it for 1 min pressure high. It gave me an error message of “BURN” after some time, but it wasn’t burnt. Oops, forgot to deglaze. The veggies were still stiff and not mushy, which was my goal so I set the pot to “keep warm” and started taste testing. I’m obviously still learning how to operate this pot.
I admit I only watched a minute of your tutorial video, clicked over to your blog and scanned the recipe and *finally* it was so close to what I wanted that I got to work right away. Eager beaver. About 45 mins later it was all ready to eat. Today I returned and I watched it again to completion and learned why the pot gave me the BURN error and I noticed I’d left out another secret ingredient, cinnamon. Guess that means I’ll just have to make this chili again. (:
I sent a large amount of chili with my husband to his job along with some cornbread muffins. Today’s weather is windy, cold and rainy and the chili was well received. He said it was all gone within an hour. There are many vegans at his job, so I was glad they could enjoy this dish. The walnuts are my favorite ingredient. Very clever secret ingredient you use. I’m taking the rest of the chili to my job tomorrow and I know my coworkers will “oh and ahhh” because they love to eat! l really appreciate your video and the blog article is so helpful. People always ask for the recipe, I’ll be sure to send your link. Thanks!
Laura says
Very tasty! I love the texture with the beans, veggies and walnuts. I used Tajin instead of cinnamon. Next time I will add a can of diced chilies.