The Best Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili EVER!
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure.This is the BEST Instant Pot vegetarian chili ever! It’s incredibly rich and hearty, super smoky and slightly spicy. Made with three types of beans, packed with veggies, it’s family-friendly, ready in 30 minutes, and will satisfy both meat-eaters and vegetarians alike!
This Instant Pot vegetarian chili recipe is a family favorite in our house. It’s easy to make, requires simple ingredients, and thanks to the Instant Pot pressure cooker, you end up with that cooked-all-day flavor (like if you made it in a slow cooker) in just about 30 minutes!
I’ve made this recipe for a crowd or for our family (and saved the leftovers for another day), and it turns out great every time!
Table of Contents
hide
One of the best parts about this Instant Pot vegetable chili is its smokiness, which comes from two secret ingredients: unsweetened cocoa powder and smoked paprika.
It has the deep flavor of traditional meat chilis but it’s much healthier, gluten-free, and vegetarian-friendly, and can easily be made vegan too!
👩🏽🍳 Why You’ll Love This Meatless Chili
- Tons Of Flavor: The combination of rich, warm spices gives this easy vegan chili recipe a “cooked-all-day” flavor that is hearty and satisfying. It really is the best vegetarian chili ever!
- Fiber And Plant Protein: Thanks to the beans, this chili packs a ton of protein and fiber into each bowl. Each serving has 9g protein and 10g fiber.
- Healthy: This Instant Pot veggie chili recipe is packed with vitamins and nutrients! Beans are a heart-healthy food that are a great source of iron, B vitamins, protein, and fiber. Bell peppers are rich in vitamins C, A, potassium, folate, and iron.
- Low Calorie: This healthy Instant Pot chili with canned beans is super filling and satisfying, but each serving has only 300 calories. That means you can go back for seconds completely guilt-free!
- Family Friendly: Everyone in the family – kids included – will love this one-pot meal. And it’s super easy to make, which means it’s a great recipe for busy weeknight dinners or for meatless Monday!
Latest Recipe Video!
🥘 Ingredients
While the ingredient list is a little bit long, all of these ingredients are easy to find, and there’s minimal prep time to prepare them for the Instant Pot. Here’s what you need to make veggie chili in the Instant Pot:
- Olive Oil: Use this oil to sauté – you can also use any other neutral-flavored oil.
- Bell Peppers: Red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and yellow bell pepper give this easy Instant Pot vegetarian chili a bright pop of color. For a time-saver, use a thawed frozen blend. Onions add a
- Red Onion & Fresh Garlic Cloves: Dice the onion in uniform sizes for even cooking. For garlic, fresh is always best, but you can use jarred, minced garlic if necessary.
- Vegetable Broth: You can easily find this in the grocery store, typically near the other broths.
- Canned Beans: Red kidney beans, black beans, and pinto beans help to make this Instant Pot meatless chili hearty and meaty – without any meat!
- Frozen Corn: Frozen corn cuts prep time, but feel free to use fresh if you prefer.
- Crushed Tomatoes: San Marzano are typically the best variety of tomatoes to use, but you can use any that you prefer or have on hand.
- Spices: I used a combination of chili powder, ground cumin, ground coriander, unsweetened cocoa powder, garlic powder, crushed red peppers, soy sauce, salt, smoked paprika, and regular paprika to give this healthy vegetarian chili a balance of smoky, earthy, spicy flavors.
- Optional Toppings: Shredded cheddar cheese, green onions, diced tomatoes, plain Greek yogurt (or low fat sour cream), tortilla chips.
🍲 Ingredient Substitutions
- Beans: Replace some or all of the beans with different beans or any kind of legumes that you prefer. White beans, red lentils, green lentils, or even chickpeas also work well. You can even make this Instant Pot vegetarian chili with dried beans if you like, you’ll just have to soak them overnight and increase the cook time.
- Veggies: Use your own blend of vegetables in this meatless chili recipe. Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and greens would all taste great. Think of it as a “clean out your fridge” recipe. If you increase the amount of veggies, just make sure to increase the quantity of spices accordingly so that it’s not bland.
- Sauce: Replace some or all of the soy sauce with vegan Worcestershire.
- Tomatoes: Try using canned fire-roasted tomatoes for extra flavor.
- Toppings: Load this Instant Pot black bean chili up with any of your favorite toppings!
🔪 How To Make Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili
Here’s how to make this easy vegetarian recipe. For more detailed instructions and nutrition facts, see the recipe card below.
Sauté: Turn your instant pot to the sauté function, and add your olive oil, bell peppers, onion, and garlic. Sauté lightly for 2-3 minutes.
Pressure Cook: Add everything else into the pot (beans through paprika in the list above) and stir to combine. Close your Instant Pot and pressure cook on high pressure for 4 minutes.
Release Pressure: Once the pressure cooking is done, let it natural release for 5 minutes, then quick release the rest of the pressure. Give it a good stir to combine.
Serve Chili: Serve this Instant Pot veg chili warm with any toppings you like! We suggest a little bit (or a lot!) of cheese, low-fat sour cream or plain Greek yogurt, diced tomatoes, green onions, or tortilla chips.
💭 Expert Tips
- Use Spinach: For additional greens, add one 5 oz box of chopped baby spinach into this pressure cooker bean chili while adding all of the other ingredients into the Instant Pot.
- Adjust Spices To Taste: Everyone has a different level of spiciness that they like in their chili, so make sure to taste and adjust — add more or less crushed red pepper, more or less salt, as needed!
- Cook On The Stove: If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can make this chili on the stovetop. See our notes in the FAQs below on how to do this!
- Adjust For Your Instant Pot Model: If you have a newer Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker, keep in mind that it tends to display the “burn” warning much more quickly than the older versions. If you have this model, you’ll add the vegetable broth and all the spices immediately after step 1 and stir to combine. Then you’ll add the rest of the ingredients (beans, tomatoes, etc.) and avoid stirring until after cooking.
- Make It Kid Friendly: This IP chili with canned beans is super kid friendly! If you’re making this for kids, I recommend creating a toppings bar so your kids can pick out what to top their bowls with, and cut the veggies smaller so it’s easier for kids to chew. For super picky eaters, you can even puree the bell peppers/veggies with the tomatoes so they don’t see it, and reduce the spices as needed!
📖 Variations And Toppings For Veggie Chili
There are plenty of ways to customize or dress up this easy chili!
- Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice: Add bright flavor with a touch of citrus. If you don’t have lime, lemon will work, too.
- Creamy Toppings: Try sour cream or plain Greek yogurt (use cashew cream or vegan sour cream for a vegan substitute!). The tanginess and cool flavors complement the heat in this Instant Pot vegan chili recipe.
- Fresh Toppings: Try sliced green onions, fresh cilantro, diced tomatoes, pico de gallo, or salsa – all of these will add bright color and great flavor.
- Cheese: Shredded cheese, a Mexican cheese blend, cojita cheese, or even vegan shredded cheese will all work well! Who doesn’t love melty cheese on their chili?
- Crunchy Toppings: We love crushed tortilla chips, crackers, or even pepitas (pumpkin seeds) as toppings for this recipe!
- Brown Rice Or Quinoa: Either of these is more of a mix-in than a topping, but it still tastes great. And this is one of my kids’ favorite chili add-ins!
- Spicy Toppings: To increase the level of spice or add depth, try dicing up a chipotle pepper, jalapeño pepper, poblano peppers, or adding adobo sauce to this Instant Pot veggie chili recipe.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
This meatless Instant Pot chili is so hearty it stands on its own, but if you’re looking to round out the meal even further, here are some side dishes that go with chili:
- A Fresh Garden Salad: We love it with this tomato avocado cucumber salad, but it also tastes great with this Mexican fruit salad on top of some leafy greens!
- Cornbread: This healthy cornbread pairs perfectly with chili. But you could also serve it with these biscuits without baking powder or these low calorie biscuits!
- Grains: A side of rice or quinoa pairs well with this recipe, but you can take it to the next level by serving this vegetarian chili in the Instant Pot with vegan Mexican rice instead!
- Quesadillas: When cut into strips, these can be great for dipping too! We love it with these veggie quesadillas or vegan quesadillas.
🙌 Dietary Adaptations
Vegan Instant Pot Chili Recipe: The pressure cooker vegetarian chili is already dairy-free, but if you’re concerned about the toppings, try using a plant-based cheese or vegan sour cream alternative.
Low-Carb Option: To reduce the carbs, eliminate some or all of the beans, replacing them with a hearty amount of low carb bulky veggies like riced broccoli or cauliflower florets.
🫙 Storage Directions
It’s easy to store this simple chili so that you can eat it throughout the week! And it tastes even better the next day when all of the flavors have a chance to meld together for longer!
- Refrigerator: Leftover chili will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Make sure to store any toppings separately.
- Freezer: Let this spicy vegetarian chili cool completely, then transfer it into an airtight freezer-safe container. You can freeze this recipe for up to 3 months.
- Reheating: Let your Instant Pot plant based chili thaw in the fridge and then defrost in the microwave using the defrost setting, or heat gently on the stovetop.
- Make Ahead Tips: Chop all of your veggies in advance and store them in the fridge in an airtight container. Wash your beans and store them in a separate container in the fridge. You can do this up to 2 days in advance – then just add everything to the pot and cook as directed when you’re ready to make it!
❓Recipe FAQs
CAN YOU MAKE THIS Easy VEGETARIAN CHILI ON THE STOVETOP?
Absolutely! Here are the stovetop instructions for this recipe:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bell peppers and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
2. Add all of the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer on low for 30 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally. The longer you cook it, the thicker your chili will be. Serve hot!
What can I replace meat with in chili?
There are so many plant based substitutions for meat in chili! Here are some of our favorites:
* Legumes: Beans, chickpeas and lentils are all great options – they’re packed with protein and have a meaty texture.
* Tofu: Crumble your tofu to get that ground meat feel and make tofu chili in the Instant Pot.
* Tempeh: A chewier, slightly more tangy version of tofu – this will add great protein and texture to your this bean chili in the Instant Pot.
* Mushrooms Or Eggplant: When sauteed or roasted, these release their water and end up with a chewier, hearty mouthfeel, similar to meat.
* Beyond Meat: A great option that’s packed with protein, has minimal processed ingredients, is vegan friendly and tasty too!
* Bulgur Or Quinoa: Combine grains and beans for a super satisfying chili!
IS INSTANT POT WORTH IT FOR VEGETARIANS?
Instant Pot is an amazing tool for vegetarians. There are tons of dishes vegetarians can make in an Instant Pot, from soups to curries to pasta dishes and more! It also happens to be perfect for cooking vegetarian proteins, and for tasks like rehydrating dry beans.
Is vegetarian chili healthy?
Yes! Vegetarian chili is packed full of nutrients from a variety of vegetables. Plus, it’s a heart-healthy meal packed full of plant-based protein and fiber.
Our vegetarian Instant Pot chili is also really good for you. It’s low in calories, high in protein, and high in fiber so it’s guaranteed to keep you full and satisfied for a long time. It also happens to be rich in vitamins and minerals from the veggies and beans, high in antioxidants thanks to the onions and peppers, and low in unhealthy fats!
🍛 More Easy Instant Pot Recipes!
- Instant Pot Tomato Soup with Cumin
- Instant Pot Risotto
- Instant Pot Vegan Posole
- Instant Pot Chili Mac
- Instant Pot Applesauce
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I’ll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from The Picky Eater.
Love this plant based soup recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating 🌟 in the recipe below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page!
You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, and PINTEREST to see more delicious, healthy, family-friendly food, and if you have any questions, I’m here to help!
📋 Recipe Card
🎥 Watch How to Make It
The Best Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili
This is the BEST Instant Pot vegetarian chili ever! It’s incredibly rich and hearty, super smoky and slightly spicy. Made with three types of beans, packed with veggies, it's family-friendly, ready in 30 minutes, and will satisfy both meat-eaters and vegetarians alike!
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 300kcal
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper diced
- 1 red onion diced
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 15 oz kidney beans, drained and rinsed 1 can
- 15 oz black beans, drained and rinsed 1 can
- 15 oz pinto beans, drained and rinsed 1 can
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes 1 large can
- 1 tbsp chili powder use a heaping tbsp or add more to taste
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ⅛ tsp crushed red pepper more or less to taste
- a couple splashes of soy sauce
- 1-2 tsp salt more or less to taste
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp regular paprika
Optional Toppings
- shredded cheddar cheese
- green onions
- diced tomatoes
- plain Greek yogurt (or low fat sour cream or vegan sour cream)
- crushed tortilla chips
Instructions
- Turn your instant pot to the Saute function, and add your olive oil, bell peppers, onion, and garlic. Saute lightly for 2-3 minutes.
- Add everything else into the pot (beans through paprika in the list above) and stir to combine. Close your instant pot and pressure cook on high for 4 minutes
- Once the pressure cooking is done, let it natural release for 5 minutes, then quick release the rest of the pressure.
- Serve warm with any toppings you like! 1 Tbsp cheese, low fat sour cream or plain greek yogurt, diced tomatoes, green onions, or tortilla chips.
Notes
Top Tips for Making Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili
- You can add any veggies you like into this chili. Think of it as a “clean out your fridge” recipe. If you increase the quantity of veggies, just make sure to increase the quantity of spices accordingly so that it’s not bland.
- For additional greens, add one 5oz box of chopped baby spinach into this recipe at the same time you add all of the ingredients into the instant pot!
- When you’re making this for kids, adjust the spices accordingly.
- If you don’t have an instant pot, you can make this chili on the stovetop.
- If you have a newer Instant Pot, keep in mind that they tend to display the “Burn” warning much more quickly than the older versions. If you have this model, You’d add the vegetable broth and all the spices immediately after step 1 and stir to combine. Then you’d add the rest of the ingredients (beans, tomatoes, etc) and do not stir until after cooking.
To Make on the Stovetop:
- Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bell peppers and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add all of the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer on low for 30 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally. The longer you cook it, the thicker your chili will be.
- Serve hot!
Nutrition
Serving: 2ladles | Calories: 300kcal | Carbohydrates: 61.8g | Protein: 18.1g | Fat: 1.7g | Sodium: 800mg | Fiber: 20.2g | Sugar: 4.3g
Hi!
Going to try your chili this weekend with friends. Is the corriander in the recipe corriander seed (whole or ground?) or is it the leaf variety (cilantro)? Thanks much!
Hi Claire! Sorry for the slight delay in getting back to you. This recipe calls for ground coriander seed (it’s not the leaf variety). Hope that helps!
This looks delicious! I love the idea of adding corn – can’t wait to try it!
Thanks so much Laura! I can’t wait for you to try this recipe!
Hello!
I live in Russia with a meat eater. When I need a meat substitute I use buckwheat kasha. After I sauté the onions in Olive oil on low heat, I add kasha with adzhika. Adzhika is a paste that replaces cumin, red pepper, coriander. I do add cinnamon with the chocolate powder as you do. Normally chili is unheard of here, but I do make it to give her a taste of US food. After about halfway through she sometimes asks if the meal might be vegetarian. I also make Italian style meatballs with buckwheat kasha.
That sounds delicious! What a great idea Jack!
Oh and I added one diced zucchini. And I used fermented soy sauce.
Great additions!! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thank you for posting this! Quick and so tasty. I topped it with a dollop of sour cream. It made a lot, so I froze some. Great recipe. So cool that there’s a touch of cocoa in it.
Thanks Barb!! So happy you liked this recipe (I also love how easy and fast it is to make!) Oh and this freezes really well so I’m sure it’ll taste great when you heat it up again 🙂
Great recipe!
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I made it for my teen daughter and her teen friends.
Oh awesome!! I’m so glad you liked it! 🙂
This was so awesome!!
Yay!! I’m glad you liked it Melissa! 🙂
OMG!!! The absolute best chili recipe ever! I’ve tried a ton of recipes since becoming a vegetarian a few years ago and none compare to this one. I was cooking for folks with gluten issues so omitted the soy sauce but I added mushrooms and chopped tempeh which I sautéed with the other veggies. I also added a small can of diced tomatoes with green chilis and served with brown rice. All I can say is yummo! Everyone loved it!
Woohoo!! This is so wonderful to hear Andie! I’m so glad you liked this recipe – and I love the addition of the mushrooms & tempeh! I bet that gave it an even earthier flavor 🙂 Thanks for letting me know!
I’ve just made this for the first time. It is delicious! Thanks so much for the recipe.
Oh that’s awesome! So glad you liked this recipe Pete!
I made this last night! So quick and easy! I am entering it into a chili cook-off tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it scores against the meat ones!
Oh awesome!! Definitely keep me posted on how this recipe fares in the cook-off 🙂 I hope you win!!
Wow, lady, this recipe is a real winner! I don’t think that I can thank you enough. For me, I needed something vegetarian in a pinch because I was having 5 friends over and two of them don’t eat meat. Well, you came to the rescue here. Your recipe worked out PERFECTLY, mostly because of the smoky flavor; it was reminiscent of meat. The recipe was a unanimous hit. This was the best vegetarian chili that any of the company had ever had. They wanted to know my secret (unsweetened cocoa powder and soy sauce) —- but I’m not ready to tell them the real secret yet, which is that the recipe isn’t even mine!
Haha!! This is an awesome story — thank you so much for sharing it with me Anjelika! I’m so glad you and your friends loved this recipe! 🙂
This is my favorite chili recipe! But I noticed you said that corn bread wasn’t healthy.
I alter this recipe: https://www.food.com/recipe/vegan-cornbread-115929 by replacing the sugar with stevia or maple syrup and the canola with olive oil. I also use gluten-free flour and sometimes swap out flax for chia seeds (which don’t need to be ground or boiled before use).
They’re delicious and fluffy and actually very good for you! Just thought you might like a heads up.
So glad you like this recipe! And yes typically, most traditional cornbread recipes aren’t healthy because of all of the butter and sugar! Thanks for the tips for lightening it up – I’ll have to try it sometime!
This was really great chili! I love the chocolate for sure. The only modification I made was adding Masa Harina as well to thicken it up some. Served it at our weekly Martini Monday with sour cream, green onions, black olives, grated cheese and siracha on the side. Thanks!
Hi Christina!! I’m so glad you liked this recipe! Love the modifications you made and the additional toppings too! 🙂
Hi- I have two friends coming over for movie night Friday- one is gluten and dairy free, the other is vegetarian so I think this is the perfect dish for Southern California fall along with scary movie night. I would like to make it in the crock pot while we are shopping and so I don’t have to cook while we watch movies. Recommendations on how to make this in the crock pot? Do I sauté veggies before putting them in the pot and then add all the other ingredients and turn on low for around 6 hours?
So excited to try this and feed it to my meat loving boyfriend 🙂 Heading to trader joes to get the bread mix today as well as I’ve never tried it and I can’t get it off my mind since reading this post 😉
Hi Jessica! So yes! For the crock pot, you should definitely sauté the veggies + garlic before hand, and then put them in the pot with all of the other ingredients and simmer for as long as you want! I can’t wait to hear how you and your boyfriend (and your friends!) like this recipe! Keep me posted on how it goes! 🙂
Hold off on the soy sauce for the gluten free friend…
Great point Kathryn!
Thanks so much! I will let you know!
Great! Enjoy!
Hi, Anjali! I want to make this chili today for my fella’s birthday, and I have a question. What size are the cans of beans that you use? Thanks! I can’t wait to make it! Betsy
Hi Betsy! I use 15oz cans 🙂 Hope that helps!! And hope you both love this recipe!
This sounds and looks delicious! We will be having a chili cook-off with our church family in a week and a half, and I am planning to make this! Thanks for sharing!
Oh that’s awesome! You’ll have to let me know how this recipe fares against the other chili in the cook-off Rebecca!! Have fun and I hope you love this recipe!
I made this in the crock pot today and it totally kicked ass. Thanks for the terrific recipe.
Woohoo!! So glad you liked it, thanks for letting me know Yvonnie!
My extremely carnivorous husband, who has been known to go to parties and fill his plate with meat and meat alone, LOVED this. We are having a chili cook off at work next week and I was challenged to bring a veg chili to enter. This is it.
Wooohooo! That is so great Samantha! Especially that your meat-loving husband loved this recipe! I can’t wait to hear how the chili cook off goes — keep me posted on whether you win! 🙂
I just made this tonight, since my family is trying to eat vegetarian/vegan meals at least a few times a week. I added mushrooms and it was delicious! I will make this again.
Awesome!! Love the addition of mushrooms — I bet it made the chili even more earthy/meaty tasting. So glad you liked the recipe! 🙂