This veggie chili is one of the easiest and most versatile recipes we know, so we make it often. There are a few base ingredients that you’ll always want to include which we always keep on hand, and then you can add lots of other items to suit your taste.
This particular batch of chili was really made fantastic by the harvest of green peppers grown in my mom’s garden (thanks mom!).
Base ingredients:
- 1 can (14 oz) black beans
- 1 can (14 oz) red kidney beans
- 1 can (14 oz) pinto beans
- 1 can (14 oz) stewed tomatoes
- 1 small can (4 oz) green chillies
- 1 medium onion (any yellow or white kind will do, sweet ones are especially good in this recipe), diced and fried
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
Recommended (and awesome) ingredients:
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 1-2 jalapenos, diced (one adds a nice kick, two will make it pretty spicy)
- 1 can (8oz) corn
Mix all the ingredients together in a large pot and heat up. Once it’s hot, turn heat down and cook until the veggies have the consistency you want them to—which can be for 5 minutes or an hour, it’s up to you. (If I have peppers in there I like them to stay a bit crunchy.)
You can add any or all of the recommended ingredients, or choose your own adventure! Zucchini and carrots are two other ingredients that we’ve tried with success.
We strongly recommend that you get as many ingredients as possible organic—they will have much better flavor. For the cans of beans, we really like the Fred Meyer Organics brand, they’re tasty and incredibly cheap.