Loaded with beans and peppers, hearty vegan White Bean Chili is a terrific meal for chilly autumn days. It makes a great lunch or dinner. This easy recipe comes together in about half an hour. It’s vegan and gluten-free.
White Chili
White chili is often made with white beans, chicken, and stock. Green peppers and corn kernels are sometimes added to give it a little more flavor. It’s not really white in color, but more of a yellowish-beige. (“Yellowish Chili” just doesn’t have a nice ring to it, though.) Unlike the usually red chili we know and love, it’s not made with tomatoes. I’ve been trying to avoid tomatoes recently, because I’m trying to follow a low-histamine diet, but that’s a topic for another post.
Vegan White Bean Chili
Veganizing white chili is super easy to do thanks to the magic of chickpeas! This vegan white chili is made with both chickpeas and white beans, and I’ve added poblano peppers, jalapenos and canned green chiles for a pop of green color. There’s a little corn in the mix, too.
To speed things up, I’ve used canned beans in my recipe. If you prefer to start with dry beans and cook them yourself, you’ll need about 3½ cups each of chickpeas and white beans. Cannellini or great northern beans work best. If you’re using cannellini beans, make sure you soak them ahead of time to avoid lectins.
Making Vegan White Bean Chili is Super Easy!
White Bean Chili cooks up in just about half an hour!
- First you sauté the onion.
- Next you add the minced garlic, chopped peppers, and corn and cook for about 10 more minutes, until they soften.
- Then you add the rest of the ingredients and cook for about 15 more minutes.
- Your chili is ready!
If you have extra time on your hand, you can simmer the chili longer. The longer it simmers, the more flavorful it will be.
Cilantro
The world is very divided on what to do with cilantro. Some people love it and add to their meals liberally, while others think it should be dumped straight into the trash. I’m on one of the rare people who don’t mind cilantro, but it’s not the end of the world if I don’t have it. If you’re on Team “Cilantro is Trash”, you can either omit it or replace it with flat-leaf parsley.
Serving Your Chili
Serve your white bean chili topped with extra cilantro, lime wedges, and avocado slices. If you like things spicy, add a few rings of fresh jalapeno and a couple dashes of green hot sauce.
This chili freezes well. I just made a double batch and put half in the freezer so that I have some on hand for the busy days I have coming up next month.
Vegan White Chili
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon neutral-flavored oil
- 1 onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 poblano peppers diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper diced
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 2 4-ounce cans diced green chiles
- 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 2 15-ounce cans cannellini or great northern beans drained and rinsed
- 1 cup corn fresh or frozen and thawed
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- ½ cup chopped cilantro plus more for garnish
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
- Lime wedges and avocado slices to garnish, optional
Instructions
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Place the oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add the onion cook for about 5 minutes, or until it begins to brown.
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Add the garlic and peppers, and cook for about 10 more minutes, or until the begin to soften.
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Add the cumin, chili powder, oregano, chiles, chickpeas, cannellini beans, corn, vegetable stock, and cilantro to the pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the chili thickens.
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Season with salt and pepper to taste, and garnish with more cilantro, lime wedges, and avocado slices, if using.
Recipe Notes
If you have extra time on your hand, you can simmer the chili longer. The longer it simmers, the more flavorful it will be.
Other recipes you might enjoy include:
Wow! I love everything made with white beans, they are one of the best sources of protein for vegans. Thank you for this perfect autumn recipe!
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it!
This is absolutely delicious! With the exception of using canned poblanos instead of fresh (can’t get fresh poblanos in Spain), I followed the recipe exactly. Soooo good. My Mexican husband just started eating WFPB two days ago, so I wanted to make him something really tasty and filling. It was a huge hit! Thank you!!
Thank you so much, Tatiana! I’m so glad you both enjoyed it!