I know it’s hot these days but I’ve been craving a chili as of late. I’ve seen a few recipes here and there and have been inspired to add one to the vegan recipe collection.
A good chili recipe is a must and this Easy Three Bean Chili recipe is loaded with flavor, protein and fiber – all the while being easy to put together!
Along with the sweet chia cornbread, this is a completely satisfying and hearty meal that is sure to please.
EASY THREE BEAN CHILI RECIPE (VEGAN)
Ingredients
- 1 can black beans (15 oz), drained and rinsed
- 1 can kidney beans (15 oz), drained and rinsed
- 1 can pinto beans (15 oz), drained and rinsed
- 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes with green chilies (15 oz)
- 1 cup tomatoes, diced (I used grape tomatoes cut in half)
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon old bay seasoning, if on hand
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon chipotle or cayenne pepper, to taste
- 1 -2 teaspoon cocoa powder or one small piece of dark chocolate
- 1 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth, + more if needed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt to taste
- scallions and cashew sour cream to garnish
Instructions
In large pot heat olive oil, saute onion and garlic until translucent, about 5 min. Add all ingredients to pot and bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes or so, stirring occasionally and adding additional water as needed, shouldn’t need more than 1/4 cup if that. Taste for flavor adding anything you feel it needs.
Serve with the sliced green onions and cashew sour cream.
Serves 4.
NOTES:
Replace the 1 cup fresh diced tomatoes for another can (15 oz) of tomatoes for ease.
Mix and match your beans to whatever you like or have on hand. Cooking dried beans would be even better, texture and taste wise.
Add veggies if you like such as chopped celery, carrots, bell peppers, corn, etc…delicious! Adding more vegetables will make this go further giving about 5 servings. Add extra water if needed.
NUTRITION
- Calories: 361
- Sugar: 8.7
- Sodium: 999.5
- Fat: 6.2
- Carbohydrates: 61.4
- Fiber: 21.7
- Protein: 19.5
- Cholesterol: 0
On to the Sweet Chia Cornbread….
The sweet chia cornbread has lots of texture and completes the chili dish, I can’t imagine it without. The chia seeds give this a little bit of a crunchy texture so those who don’t like little bits of crunchiness this may not be for you. But for those willing to explore new things, I highly recommend giving this a try!
The chia seeds add some good extra nutrition. They contain six times more calcium per serving than milk and six times more iron than spinach. These little seeds contain almost half your daily fiber requirements in a single serving, 2 tablespoons.
Adding them is a nice mix up of the traditional corn bread. I enjoyed it best by breaking it up and eating in my chili barely noticing the bits. It was so good!
SWEET CHIA CORNBREAD
A terrific corn bread using chia seeds as a binder in place of eggs. If you don’t mind little bits of chia seeds in your bread than you’ll love this!
Ingredients
- 1 cup organic corn meal (I used a course grind)
- 1 cup spelt flour, whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose gluten free
- 5 tablespoons pure cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons chia seeds
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup almond milk
- juice of 1/2 lemon or 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted) or extra light flavored olive oil
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Prepare a vegan buttermilk by mixing the almond milk with the lemon or vinegar and set aside.
Mix the chia seeds with the 1/2 cup water, set aside. Let these set for 10 minutes.
Combine all dry ingredients in medium size bowl. Add milk, oil, chia seed mixture and combine making sure to break up any lumps of chia seeds. Pour batter into an 8×8 greased baking pan or dish. Bake for 25 minutes. Test by inserting a toothpick, if it comes out clean it’s ready.
Serves 12
NOTES:
You could also add in 1 cup canned, fresh or thawed corn to the mix.
NUTRITION
- Calories: 172
- Sugar: 6.4
- Fat: 6
- Carbohydrates: 27.2
- Fiber: 3.1
- Protein: 3.5
Jenny says
This looks fabulous. Gotta love a bread that is egg (and egg replacer) free! I wonder if the chia seeds also help to bind it?
Julie says
Hi Jenny ! Yes, chia seeds make for a great binder and work well in this recipe.
Amanda McCloud says
Thank you SO much for your awesome recipes, we have LOVED every one that we have tried! People like you make it a lot easier for others to change their lifestyle. :)YOU ROCK!
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Thank you so much!!! I'm so glad your finding them as great as I have. Cheers :)
Shanti Ellis says
I'm making this right now. :D I made it once before with the actual corn added, and it might be due to it being frozen, not sure, but it stayed a bit doughy even when it really needed to be taken out of the oven. Maybe just sprinkling corn kernels on top would have worked better for me than mixing them in. The batch right now has a sprinkling of chocolate chips. Yay!
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Yummy! It's time to make this again soon with the weather cooling down here. For the corn, adding thawed with be much better. I'll make a note in the recipe. Chocolate chips in your corn bread….wow! Sounds interesting…I may have to give that one a try. :)
Chelsea Baker says
Loved the cornbread and we aren't even vegan!
Holly Figueroa says
Soooo good! Thanks for the great recipe. :)
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Thank you Holly!!
George Wells says
Hi the recipe for the sweet chia cornbread looks delicious! I was wondering if I could substitute the cane sugar with raw agave nectar? If so, how much should I use?
Thanks :)
julie@thesimpleveganista says
I would say 1/4 cup would be good. I'd go a little shy on the 1 cup almond milk too, since you're adding straight liquids, maybe just a tablespoon or so less. Hope it turns out great! :)
Jill says
I'm slowly working through you recipes and loving every minute! This recipe was amazing! I did it with gluten free flour and turned out really well. This is probably the best cornbread I have ever had hands down gluten free or not. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Thank you Jill! So glad you loved the cornbread! :)
Reanne Phillips says
Is it okay to use fine cornmeal as opposed to course? Also, is it possible to use strong white flour or strong wholemeal? Failing that I also have coconut flour.
Thanks.
julie@thesimpleveganista says
You sure can. Your outcome should be just fine. No coconut flour, I don't think that will work here. Enjoy!
Anonymous says
I just tried this but for some reason it had a taste of almost raw flour..I wonder what happened? It was cooked all the way through too.
julie@thesimpleveganista says
Sorry to hear! I'm not sure what could have caused that. :(
Anonymous says
I had just ran out of eggs and milk the day we were having chili and stumbled upon this recipe! Alas we did not have Chia seeds so I skipped over that step. At first I was worried that it wouldn't bind together and crumble after reading the comments that the chia mixture helped to keep it together. The cornbread came out amazing and the guys in the household were all shocked that it was a vegan recipe. We will definitely be using this recipe from now on! Cannot wait to try it with the chia mix as without it was by far the best cornbread I have ever eaten!! I will definitely be checking out your other posts!!
julie@thesimpleveganista says
I'm glad it worked so well for you without the chia seeds! I'm even more happy that you all loved it…makes my day! :)
Michelle says
I just made this but I halved the recipe and it still turned out great! I love it. I'm trying not to eat the whole thing while our vegan chili is cooking.
Thanks for all the recipes! This is a keeper!
Anonymous says
i've tried many vegan cornbread recipes & been disappointed by them, but this one will definitely now be my go-to recipe. thank you! the only modification i made was that i replaced the chia w/1 T of ground flax mixed w/the water. it still held together nicely. great flavor & texture!
Janis says
Made this with the Texas Chili as suggested. It was a wonderful complement. I hadn’t realized that Chia seeds could be used as an egg replacer like flax. So nice to have another option if needed. I’m loving chia seeds and this recipe. It turned out perfect and just like the picture which doesn’t always happen. Thanks again for another winner!
Brandy says
I made the chili today. It came out great. At first I thought it just tasted too tomato-y. But after letting it simmer for the full 45 minutes the flavors really melded. It’s so good.
I made the cornbread too. I make this recipe a lot. I do not use the chia seeds though. They come out fine without it. I make corn muffins.
Jenny says
So delicious!
It’s totally time to make this one again!