Meals that can easily fit into your meal rotation, like this Sweet Potato & Quinoa Chili, are what I really love to share. As we can get a bit bored with the usual meals, it’s nice to have more easy options that come together in a cinch.
I love finding these simple dishes that truly work and can be made over and over again. That is what I share with you today. Nothing complicated in this recipe, everything is probably in your kitchen right now or you can find right away at your favorite grocery store.
Eating vegan meals every day that are healthy and tasty is really easy once you get the hang of it. This chili has plenty of protein and essential fiber, vitamins and minerals while being flavorful and satisfying. I know you’re going to love this one and find yourself making it often during the chili weather season.
This lovely sweet potato & quinoa chili is a one pot meal that is ready in under an hour. Leftovers hold up extremely well too!
Bring on the chili!
SWEET POTATO & QUINOA CHILI
Full of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, this easy chili is always a good thing!
Ingredients
- 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (15 oz) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (15 oz) fire roasted diced tomatoes or 1 1/2 cup diced fresh tomatoes
- 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
- 1 large sweet potato, diced (with or without the skin…I leave the skin on)
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 1 onion, diced
- 5 – 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or 1/4 cup water, for water saute
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- a few dashes of garlic powder
- a few dashes of onion powder
- himalayan salt to taste
- 4 cups (32 oz) water or vegetable broth, + more as needed
- avocado, cilantro and/or diced onion, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
In large pot or dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, cook until soft and they start to turn brown (about 7 – 10 minutes). Add garlic, cook for another minute or so. Add the tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic powder and onion powder, cook for 2 more minutes stirring constantly. Add tomatoes, liquids, beans and sweet potato, stir until combined. Add quinoa, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover slightly ajar and cook for 30 – 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Chili is ready when sweet potatoes are tender. Add additional water if chili is too thick for your liking.
Serve with optional garnishes. You may also like to top it with this easy Cilantro Lime Cashew ‘Sour Cream’.
Serves 4 generously.
NOTES:
As with all recipes, adjust seasoning to taste. Add a 1/2 teaspoon or so chipotle powder for some added heat. Also, use whatever beans you prefer. You may even like to use one kind of bean instead of two.
Easy and delicious…Enjoy!Adapted from this recipe at Milk Free Mom
Anonymous says
Sounds like something my husband would love to eat and he'd make it, too! You have lots of recipes on this site, please let me subscribe to it.
julie@thesimpleveganista says
I know you will love it! Please follow along, I have a lot more recipes in mind to come. :)
Krissanntha M. says
I am making this Chili for the 4th time, It's so tasty and a great staple food. Keep 'em com in'
The Yogi Vegetarian says
Lovely recipe; just the will try it out non my teens ext week in the school holidays; thanks :)
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Thank you! Hope they love it. Cheers!
Silly says
So you add the dry quinoa with the remaining ingredients and then boil.
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Yes, I just adjusted the recipe directions to be more specific. When I made mine I cooked the onion and garlic, and then added all the ingredients with the quinoa being added lastly. I think you'll find the directions a bit more clear. :)
Em Kathryn says
I made chili this week too, but I like your recipe way more!!! Looks fantastic! :)
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Thank you Em! :)
Silly says
Thank you! I actually did add it last before you replied….let me just say I LOVE THIS DISH!!! Super yummy and easy to make! My boyfriend was delighted too :)
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Perfect, your intuition was right! So glad you both loved it. :)
The Vegan Cookie Fairy says
YUM!
Malcolmina says
Made this tonight and it is delicious!
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Great!! Thank you for stopping by and sharing. :)
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
Quinoa is chili has become a recent favorite of mine, this looks so so good!
julie@thesimpleveganista says
I agree, love it! <3
janet @ the taste space says
This looks great! I hope the warm weather persists so I won't be hunting down a chili recipe, though. :)
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Thank you! The warmer weather is nice isn't it. :)
Veronica Lee says
This is my winter staple! and also my go to for 'wowing' non-vegans! It is so delicious and filling, no one even notices there is no meat!
julie@thesimpleveganista says
I agree, it is that good! :)
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julie@thesimpleveganista says
Thank you!
Anonymous says
I made this tonight and it is delicious!
Anonymous says
I just made it – delicious! Will be my go-to chili
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Yah, a match is made! :)
Erin Greener says
So I'm not a vegan, but I cook vegan meals and snacks quite often I made this recipe tonight. After dabbling a bit and making a few creative adjustments I made it so spicy that it burned my face off and I'm pretty sure that I'll be giving birth to some red crayons in the morning so best of luck to the poor sap who uses the bathroom after me tomorrow. So while I was in the process of making a second batch without the spices to mix into the first to dilute it down, My arson-scathed noggin had an idea. My nonvegan self took over and spread a pile of the 5 alarm vegan chili on a bed of tortilla chips and then melted a layer of mexican cheese shreds on top. Before: Digestive tract = blown. Right now: Mind =blown. Thank you for sharing your recipes! ^^
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Lol, you are so funny Erin! It sounds like you must love spice but creatively added a bit too much. ;) So glad you tried it again with great success. It sounds like you made a great meal out of this with some chips and cheese. Your so welcome….thank you for sharing your story and giving others inspiration of what to do and not to do! Cheers :)
Anonymous says
This was one of the first vegan recipes I made by Googling dishes instead of using my handy Veganomicon "bible"–this is such an easy dish, and delicious! It's especially good for new cooks in that it shows how you can switch out ingredients, add less or more of items, or add other ingredients (I added part of a HUGEMUNGUS summer squash I'm steadily adding into everything I cook). In other words–thank you for the fantastic recipe!!! Any suggestions for making this into a more "manwich" / sloppy joe consistency? I'm steadily tricking my boyfriend to eat more veggies :)
julie@thesimpleveganista says
I'm so glad this popped up for you! You bet this would make for a great sloppy joe sandwich…try using 1/2 cup less water, that should thicken it up a bit. I've been meaning to put together a sloppy joe recipe so stay tuned!
Nyssa says
I made this chili tonight (with a couple adaptations), and it was amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe. I made a blog post about it and I made sure to link your recipe in the post. I'll definitely be making this a bunch as the weather starts to cool down!
Here's the link to my post if you want to check it out. My photos are definitely not as beautiful as yours, though! (I'm hoping to get a better camera come Christmas-time!)
http://beblissfulbehealthy.blogspot.com/2013/09/sweet-potato-zucchini-and-quinoa-chili.html
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Hi Nyssa, I'm so glad you loved this! It will be perfect for the cooler days ahead. I just checked out your recipe and it looks delish…I love that you added some zucchini as well. Thank you so much for the link back! Cheers to good healthy eating. :)
Jen says
I've just started to follow your blog and this is the first recipe I've made. It was so fantastic, thank you! I'm trying to transition into a mostly vegetarian home and recipes like this make it so doable. Thank you again!
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Your so welcome! I'm glad this was a hit and I hope you find many more here to suit your taste. :)
amy says
Just recently found your blog and made this recipe for a friend last night. SO delicious. Thank you!
Anonymous says
I'll be making this for my Halloween meal. Can't wait, looks delicious! :)
Laura says
This looks yummy!! Do you think it could go in a crockpot? Thanks!
julie@thesimpleveganista says
I'm honestly not sure. I've never cooked quinoa in the crockpot but I almost feel that it will work fine. Set on low and let it cook a few hours. Would love to know how is goes if you give a try! :)
Madeline says
After adding quinoa and beans, I cooked in crockpot for 3-31/2 hrs on hi. Turned out great.
Laura says
It's great! I cooked it on low for 6 1/2 hours then added the quinoa and cooked another 1/2 hour. Yummy!! Thanks!
Anonymous says
I made this recipe also and we loved it! Very tasty!! We're fairly new to eating meals without meat in them and we all thought this was better than regular chili! We loved the cilantro and avocado on top!
Anonymous says
I just made this and it tastes great! Can you freeze this recipe?
julie@thesimpleveganista says
I've never tried to freeze this but would venture to say it will probably do just fine in the freezer. If you try it, I'd love to know how it goes. Others would appreciate the feedback as well.
Patent Attorney says
This looks good, I really like the addition of the avocado on top!
sonworshiper says
just made this! another hit! my dad is so enjoying the vegan food i've been making and i'm so grateful for this blog! thanks for yet another easy and yummy meal!!
Cat says
Wow, I love this! But I think it would be better to cook the sweet potato first (and maybe even the quinoa), as I found that even with a lot of water and regular stirring the sweet potato took ages to cook and the quinoa kept sticking to the bottom of the saucepan so I couldn't have it too hot. So next time I may boil up the sweet potato and quinoa first, and when they look almost ready add all the other ingredients (obviously not the ones you need to fry!). But even when the first time I cooked this some of the quinoa stuck to the bottom and burnt it was still lovely (and had a slightly smoky flavour lol). I'm considering making it on my next camping trip (roll on summer!), so that will be a fun challenge. Thank you sooo much for sharing this recipe!
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Anonymous says
I found this on a list of crock pot recipes, and I wondered if you had suggestion on how to adapt it for the crock pot? (novice slow-cooker user here)
smidgies_mom says
Me too. I am going to play with it today. I will post later… like in 8 to 10 hours lol!
smidgies_mom says
Update: AMAZING in the slow cooker. Just watch you liquid since the thing that takes the longest to cook is the potato. This is a seriously hearty meal. I also used red quinoa and it took a while for my son to realize there was no ground beef in there.
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Thank you so much for the update and letting us all know! I haven't tried it yet but will def give it a try myself. So glad it worked and you loved it! Cheers :)
Madeline says
After adding quinoa and beans, I cooked in crockpot for 3-31/2 hrs on hi. Turned out great.
Linda at Veganosity says
Hi Julie! I just discovered your blog and really like it. I've never put sweet potatoes in chili before (quinoa yes), I love that idea. The texture must be a great compliment to the beans. Thanks for the great idea!
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Thank you Linda! Enjoy :)
Meghan Tizzano says
I made this on Sunday for my weekly lunches and it is amazing!!!! It was so easy to make. Just tossed everything except the quinoa into the crock pot on low for 4.5 hours. Then tossed in the quinoa and cooked for another 30 minutes or so. Absolutely great!!!
Kim P. says
I made this tonight and we absolutely loved it, thank you for sharing!
Steve Lassoff says
Sounds amazing! I shared this in a blog here: http://wedigfood.com/foodie-blog/vegan-comfort-food
I am building a community of vegans and would love for you to hop over and leave a recipe
Anonymous says
This has become a staple for me. I make it once every 10 days or so … it's absolutely delicious! I went WFPB at the beginning of this year and this chili has made it so much easier. What a tasty and easy recipe! So glad I discovered your site!
Anonymous says
My son served leftovers of this from the freezer last night. It was delicious and I'm gong to make it here this weekend. Yum!!!
Dani says
This was incredible. Unfortunately I couldn't get my meat loving boyfriend to even try it. Oh well, more for me!
Anonymous says
Delicious! My boyfriend and roommate loved it too! So beautiful and great for the winter :)
Anonymous says
We made this a couple weeks ago and the whole family loved it. My 12yo son asked for seconds!!
Anonymous says
Very yummy! added about a 1/4 can more of the tomatoes and juice. i used the amount of chili powder called for thinking i would start there and add…but i stopped there! amount of heat was perfect. did add about 1/2 tsp more of cumin.
very simple to prepare and yummy!
Melanie says
Great recipe! I made this for dinner last night, and my boyfriend and kids loved it. It was flavorful and satisfying. We're not vegans or vegetarians but are just trying to eat healthier in general. The recipe was simple and easy to follow. The avocado was a nice added garnish. Yum!
Kati says
How would you modify this for the slow cooker?
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
Just throw everything in and set on low for 6 – 8 hours or high for 4 – 6. Check your slow cooker manual for soups, stews or chilis to be sure, the times I’ve given you are guesstimations.
Alison says
I just made this this evening and it was as amazing as your pictures made it look! It was pretty quick to make and easy enough that a crying baby didn’t make me mess it up. :)
Lorraine says
My niece made this recipe for dinner as we arrived at her home thanksgiving eve. She served it with a topping of sour cream and mozzarella cheese. Ten of us chowed down and enjoyed it, each having a second serving! I can’t wait to prepare this for my vegan friends.
Nicole says
Oh MY!! This was my first crock pot experience and SO Delish! I put all of the ingredients as listed in on high for 5 hours and added the Quinoa for the last 30min. My meat loving boyfriend loved it, and the Cilantro Lime Cashew Cream Sauce was a must!
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
Yay, I’m so happy you both loved it and it worked so well for you in the crock pot! Cheers :)
Angela A says
We loved it. My bf is a vegetarian so I was looking for something hardy we would both like. This recipe is fantastic and we will be adding it to our list of favorite recipes.
AndreaI says
I made this delish chilli and oh so many other recipes of yours.
This will be a new go to recipie this fall and winter. I love your recipes
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
Awe, thank you! This is definitely a great one and will keep you warm and in good spirits in the cooler months! Cheers :)
Deanna says
When I first became vegan 5+ years ago, after previously being of the opinion that vegetarians (let alone vegans) might as well have been aliens, your website was a godsend for me! I still refer back to it now and have made this recipe more than any other. It is so delicious, easy, inexpensive and great for leftovers/lunches for the week. Thank you for sharing! xx
Anita says
I have made this twice and it’s great. I question the nutrition information. This makes a large amount so I question that it makes only 4 servings. There is no notation on how much for each serving.
Thanks!
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
Thanks for bringing that up! This recipe feeds 4 generously or 6 conservatively. I tend to eat at least a 1/4 of the chili in 1 servings. I feel most people are the same, or I just eat a lot. But if you find your portions are less per serving, you can guesstimate your numbers. Glad you like this recipe. It’s getting chilly here and time to make a batch for myself. :)