This is the entirely plant based version of my Make-Ahead Weeknight Chili. While developing this recipe, I looked at the animal products in the recipe and considered what they contribute to the dish in order to figure out a way to best replace them.
Animal products and their purpose in the Make-Ahead Weeknight Chili:
Ground beef: Umami, protein, texture
Worcestershire sauce: Umami, acidity
Animal product ingredient replacements by purpose in regular chili:
Umami: More soy sauce
Protein: More beans
Texture: Mash and sauté some of the beans
Acidity: More apple cider vinegar, vegan worcestershire sauce
For non-vegans looking to reduce (but not cut out) animal products: While this new recipe still tasted great, I did notice that the vegan worcestershire sauce did not pay off quite as well as the regular worcestershire sauce in this chili. If you are not entirely vegan, but would like to reduce the amount of animal products in your food without cutting them out altogether, I recommend making this recipe with regular worcestershire sauce instead of plant based.
Vegan Bean Chili
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegetable better than bouillon
- 1 ½ cup water
- 5 dried guajillo chiles stems and seeds removed
- 2 dried chile de árbols stems and seeds removed
- ⅔ cup olive oil
- 1 standard 15.5 oz can of black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 bulb of garlic sliced
- 3 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp your favorite chili powder
- 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ½ can of Mexican beer such as Modelo especial
- 1 28 oz can of high quality diced tomatoes
- ⅓ cup tomato passata or tomato puree
- 2 standard 15.5 oz cans of your choice of beans partially drained
- 1 cup frozen corn
- ⅔ cup nutritional yeast
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp vegan worcestershire sauce such as Haddar
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tsp apple cider vinegar
- Red pepper flakes to taste
Instructions
- On the stovetop, bring the water and 2tbsp of the vegetable better than bouillon to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer until the bouillon is dissolved. As it is simmering, remove the stems and seeds from the chili peppers.
- In a large dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, toast the chilis on a medium-high heat just until they start to smell aromatic or get a little bit of color. This will enhance their flavor. Do not toast for too long or they will begin to smoke and make the air unpleasant to breathe.
- Once toasted, immediately plunge the peppers into the water and better than bouillon mixture, remove from the heat, and place a lid on the pot to allow the peppers to steam and soften for at least 10 minutes.
- Dice the onion and thinly slice the garlic. Set aside.
- Add the olive oil and can of drained and rinsed black beans to the dutch oven. Using a potato masher, mash the beans a little bit to add more texture (almost like the ground beef). Sautee the beans on medium high heat for 4 minutes and then add the smoked paprika, chili powder, chipotle chili powder, onion powder, and diced onions.
- When the onions are translucent, add the sliced garlic and continue to cook until the garlic is fragrant.
- Add the beer and simmer on a medium-high heat for about 2 minutes.
- Using an immersion blender, blend the chili peppers with the better than bouillon and water mixture until smooth. Add the chili pepper mixture to the pot.
- Add all remaining ingredients to the pot and let simmer on medium-high heat for another 4 minutes.
- Taste for seasoning and spice level. Add salt, red pepper flakes, worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and/or sugar as desired.
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