20-Minute Easy Vegan Chili (Cook-Off Winner!)
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This Easy Vegan Chili comes together in one pot with big flavor, minimal effort, and in just 20 minutes — perfect for family dinners!
Every year my parents host a lively 4th of July party at their house. My mom goes all out with themed food and decor. For our 20th annual 4th of July Party, however, my mom decided to switch it up a little, requiring the guests to participate in a little challenge…
A Chili Cook-Off.
Wait, what? The guests actually have to do work and cook their own meals? I envision my mom smirking, cackling even (inside, of course), at her brilliant plan. After 20 years of cooking for a crowd, maybe my mom just wanted a small but well-deserved break.
Okay, enough about my mom and deserving a break and blah blah blah – what we’re all really wondering is how I, a vegetarian in a sea of carnivores, was going to defy the odds and win this competition.
The answer can be summed up into four valuable life lessons:
- Have a little faith in yourself: Just because you may be deemed “different” than others, doesn’t mean that your voice (or recipe, in this case) isn’t worthy of being at the table.
- Stick to your values: Don’t change your values just to fit in (or to try to win a chili cook-off).
- Don’t take yourself too seriously: My relaxed attitude may have led to my victory.
- Simple is best: There’s no need to show off or be elaborate. Just keep things simple.
If that was too deep for you, then just make my chili and you’ll find out how I won. 😉
The Pressure Builds
When my husband learned of this Chili Cook-Off competition, he literally asked me if we should submit two entries because there was no way a vegetarian chili was going to win.
Not only was my very non-competitive husband becoming competitive over this challenge, but it seemed that almost everyone else was as well. The different guests would report to my mom about the great lengths they were taking to create the best chili and how their chili was going to win, hands down.
My chances of winning seemed to be dwindling. But, I knew that I made a mean chili…so I carried on.
Little Willy Gilly’s Chili
I think the best part of this story is the name I chose for my chili. I was eight months pregnant at the time of this competition, and the gender of our baby was going to be a surprise.
For a long time, we were set on the name, Will, if we were to have a boy. I created a nickname for our imaginary son, which was “Willy Gilly” – it stuck because it was really fun to say. I mean, try saying it out loud.
Though we ended up naming our son Ty (after Thailand, which is where I grew up), at the time of the cook-off, we didn’t know that was to be. Since I was eight months pregnant, I thought it would be appropriate to name my chili, “Little Willy Gilly’s Chili”.
The Great Chili Cook-Off
On the day of the competition, I remember my husband’s complete lack of faith in me. For the record, he normally has total faith in me. Though his lack of faith made me doubt myself, it also secretly made my desire to win much, much stronger.
When my mom was getting ready to make the announcement of the winners, I remember my Grandma turning to me with a little twinkle in her eyes and whispering, “Yours was the best”. I thought this was just my lovely grandma being her usual sweet self…I also don’t know how she knew which was mine, as nobody knew whose chili was whose. A grandma’s sixth sense, I suppose.
My mom began the announcements.
The third-place winner goes to “Thai Vegetarian Chili”! To everyone’s great surprise, the only other vegetarian chili actually placed in the competition. I was ecstatic!
And the second-place winner goes to “Chili for Everyone”! It was my grandpa’s! The most important thing to know here is that my grandpa is extremely competitive, so second place translates to not winning. Still, he was a good sport and was pleased with the recognition.
With the anticipation building, my mom finally announced the biggest controversy our 4th of July party has ever seen (which is saying a lot, given the spread of democrats and republicans always present). “And the first-place winner goes to “Little Willy Gilly’s Chili”!!”
What? Me? My chili? All eyes were on me – looks of shock, confusion, anger perhaps…
My eyes went straight to my husband’s. I silently and triumphantly communicated, “May you never doubt your wife again.”
Apparently, some guests were pretty upset that a vegetarian won, saying that it must have been rigged. Me, being the overly concerned rule-following citizen that I am, started panicking that maybe I didn’t actually win. My mom was the judge after all. Maybe she didn’t count right. Maybe the votes were tampered with.
Anxiously, I went through all of the possible scenarios with my mom to make sure I won fair and square, still in disbelief that a vegetarian won a chili cook-off. I remembered that my mom is not only a math whiz but is also one of, if not the, smartest person that I’ve ever met. Okay, maybe she did calculate it correctly.
And so, with that, I accepted my victory and have worn it proudly ever since.
So let this be a lesson to all of you carnivores out there…vegetarians are simply, better.
Totally kidding! That’s not the lesson to be learned…unless you want it to be. I’d be okay with that.
Recipe Ingredients
You’ll need the following ingredients to make this Quick Vegan Chili:
Ingredient Notes
- Corn Kernels: Fresh or frozen work great! I used frozen for this recipe.
- Plant-Based Sausage: Be sure you’re using a vegan sausage if needed, as well as gluten-free should you need it to be.
Additions & Substitutions
- Coconut Sugar: You can use brown sugar or maple syrup as alternatives to coconut sugar.
- Plant-Based Sausage: If you eat meat, regular sausage or chicken sausage would work well instead of a plant-based sausage.
- Carrots: If you’re looking for more veggies in this recipe, you could try adding diced carrots.
- Toppings: Top chili with plain yogurt (dairy-free if needed), shredded cheese, and cilantro.
Tools For This Recipe
- Large pot
How to Make Easy Vegan Chili: Step-by-Step
For the full recipe with the exact ingredients, scroll down to the printable recipe card below!
Step 1: In a large pot, over medium low heat, sauté onion and sausage until sausage is slightly browned, around 5 minutes.
Step 2: Add the remaining ingredients, stir, and cover. Bring the chili to a boil, then reduce the heat and let the chili simmer for 10-12 minutes.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Meal Prep: This vegan chili recipe is great for meal prep! Make a pot of this soup over the weekend to have multiple lunches and dinners ready for your week. You can also freeze it and have an easy dinner ready to go at a future time!
What to Serve With Vegan Chili
- Cornbread
- Simple green salad
- Garlic bread
- Baked pita chips or toasted pita bread
- Tortilla chips
- Toppings: I love topping ours with plain yogurt (use dairy-free if needed) instead of sour cream and cilantro!
Storage & Reheating
- Fridge: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. Let chili cool completely before storing in the fridge.
- Freezer: Let the chili cool completely and then transfer the soup to an airtight freezer-safe container. I love to use Soupercubes 2-Cup Trays to freeze this chili in pre-portioned servings! Store the chili in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Reheating: When you’re ready to eat the chili, thaw it in the fridge overnight and reheat it in the microwave or a pot on the stove. If you don’t have time to thaw it, you can immerse the freezer container in warm water until it’s mostly thawed. Alternatively, you can pop the frozen chili directly into a large pot and heat it over medium heat until heated through. This can also be done in the microwave.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! It actually tastes even better the next day as the flavors deepen. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Absolutely! Pinto beans and chickpeas work well in this recipe.
If you eat meat, you can use regular sausage or chicken sausage, just be sure it’s cooked through. If not, you can either just omit the sausage or substitute with lentils or crumbled tofu.
Yes, just sauté the onions and sausage in a little water or vegetable broth instead of olive oil.
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20-Minute Easy Vegan Chili
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ white onion, diced
- 2 plant-based Italian sausages, diced
- 1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
- ¾ cup red bell pepper, diced
- 1 (14.5 – ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15-ounce) can white beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15.5-ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ tablespoons coconut sugar, or use brown sugar or maple syrup
- 1 ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 cups water
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a large pot, over medium low heat, sauté onion and sausage until sausage is slightly browned, around 5 minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients, stir, and cover.
- Turn up the heat to medium high and bring the chili to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and let the chili simmer for 10-12 minutes.