The weather is finally warming up, but a rainy day calls for a good bowl of chili no matter the season. I wasn’t in the mood for Quinoa and Lentil Chili and I didn’t want to use meat or poultry. Then I remembered my friend Marnely had a recipe for a vegetarian chipotle chili that used trout beans.
I didn’t have any trout beans on hand (they look like speckled kidney beans), but I did have a giant batch of kidney beans I had made in the slow cooker the day before. (Our slow cooker gets a lot of use around here.) I modified Marnely’s recipe quite a bit, but must credit her for the inspiration.
Normally, if a slow cooker recipe calls for canned beans, I add them about an hour before the cooking time is up so they don’t get mushy. Since the ones I used had been cooked from dried beans and still had quite a bit of bite to them, I decided to let the beans cook the whole time. I’m glad I did. They were the perfect texture and made the vegetarian chipotle chili very hearty.
I’m sure this chili, or stew, was great when Marnely made it with white potatoes, but the combination of sweet potatoes and kidney beans really worked for me. The CompostMaster said it was the best vegetarian chili he’s ever eaten. And, for once after a vegetarian meal, he wasn’t in the kitchen an hour later looking for “a little somethin’ somethin'” to eat.
Vegetarian Chipotle Chili (Slow Cooker)
Ingredients
- 3 medium carrots diced
- 2 medium sweet potatoes diced
- 1 small onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups kidney beans cooked from dried beans (or use rinsed canned beans)
- 10 ounces frozen corn
- 28 ounces diced tomatoes, undrained 1 large can
- 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 avocados diced just before serving
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients except avocado in a slow cooker.
- Cook on HIGH for 3 hours, then on LOW for 3 hours. (You could also cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours.)
- Serve with avocado.
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