Vegan Chili with Mushrooms & Black Beans

A delicious, rich and umami-laden vegan chili recipe packed with the goodness of mushrooms, black beans, and spices. Make a huge batch because it is even better the next day when the spices have had a chance to mingle overnight!

It’s no secret that I love using mushrooms when making over traditional meat driven recipes. My mushroom bourguignon, vegetarian wellington, vegan shepherd’s pies and bolognese are great examples of how umami-laden mushrooms can yield deep, rich and complex flavours. So it is no surprise that I’ve turned to mushrooms yet again for my vegan chili.

While you can roughly chop your mushrooms I’ve opted to grate them in the food processor, which results in delicious little strips of mushroom that become so juicy and tender when cooked down for an hour in this richly spiced sauce with black beans.

I like to serve my vegan chili bowl style with brown rice, a few salad greens alongside homemade salsa and my lime cashew cream, but you could also serve it in taco shells, drizzled over nachos or stuffed in a burrito. The options are many, so make a big batch because the flavour only gets better the next day once they have had a chance to develop overnight.

As for the chili in this recipe I’ve unfortunately had to resort to chargrilled red chilis because finding chipotle chili or chipotle powder here in Brisbane has proven difficult (I have since discovered you can get them from Essential Ingredient online). If you have access to chipotle chili use that, if not use chargrilled red chilis or chili powder. It’s all about using what you have in your pantry rather than running all over town to find one particular ingredient.

In my opinion, the lime cashew cream is a must have with this chili as it adds a lovely zesty freshness to the rich sauce. If you can handle dairy use sour cream and add a squeeze of lime.

5 from 2 votes

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Vegan Chili with Mushrooms & Black Beans

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours

Servings 4 to 6

Author Jennifer Schmidt

Ingredients

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion diced
• 1 small red capsicum diced, red bell pepper
• 2 carrots peeled and diced
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 300 g button mushrooms
• 200 g swiss brown or portobello mushrooms
• 2 tbs ground cumin
• 1 tbs ground coriander
• 1 1/2 tbs smoked paprika
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1-2 tsp chargrilled red chilis and finely chopped or 1/4 to 1/2 chili powder skins and seeds removed
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 400 g tin chopped tomatoes 14 oz
• 400 g tin black beans drained, 14 oz
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 2 tbs miso pasta or soy sauce
• TO SERVE:
• lime cashew cream click for the recipe
• your favourite salsa
• salad greens
• brown rice
• lime wedges

Instructions

1. Place a large lidded frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the oil, onions, capsicum (bell pepper), carrots and salt and cook for 10 minutes until the onions are golden and the carrots are softened.
2. Use a food processor fitted with a grater attachment to grate the mushrooms, otherwise dice into relatively small chunks.
3. Crank up the heat to medium-high and add the mushrooms in batches so that the mushrooms have a chance to cook rather than stew. 4 batches should do it. Cook until the mushrooms are softened and lightly caramelised before adding the next batch. Repeat until all of the mushrooms are cooked.
4. Next add the spices, chili and garlic and stir well to coat everything and cook until fragrant. Around 1 to 2 minutes before adding the tinned tomatoes and beans. Place the miso in a jug along with the vegetable stock and whisk until combined. Add to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cover and move to the smallest burner on your stove and cook over the lowest heat setting for 1 hour, stirring every now and again to make sure the chili isn't sticking and that there is plenty of liquid left.
5. Taste and adjust your seasonings as necessary.

Recipe Notes

Chili heat levels are a really personal thing so taste and adjust as necessary. My chili doesn't have a whole lot of heat as my husband can't tolerate anything overly spicy so if using chili powder I stick to 1/4 tsp or under or 1 chili but play with the heat levels and work out what works for you and whoever you are sharing your chili with! 🙂