My husband’s birthday was last Friday, and I thought I’d be sharing his birthday cake (a carrot cake) with you rather than veggie chili, but in cooking (as in all things) it doesn’t pay to take things for granted. The cake was not a success. It sank in the middle and was only edible because vegan cakes have no eggs, so eating it wouldn’t poison us. My husband actually liked it, but I can’t share a recipe that doesn’t work even when I think I know how to fix it. I’ll be working on that recipe later, when I’ve gotten over the disappointment.
But his birthday did lead to a recipe, however indirectly. In our family, the birthday person gets to choose where to eat, and D chose to go to Mellow Mushroom for the vegan version of their Mega Veggie pizza: thick crust, red sauce, artichokes, broccoli, mushrooms, peppers, olives, dripping with gooey vegan cheese. It’s the kind of food I don’t cook, so you can see why he requested it on his special day.
A couple of days later, I was in the kitchen working on the recipe for a chili that has more veggies than usual, and the name “Mega Veggie” just popped into my head…and wouldn’t pop out. I know this chili bears no resemblance to the pizza of the same name (other than onion and peppers), but because it contains carrots and celery in addition to the usual peppers and onions, it will always be Mega Veggie Chili to me.
I took my inspiration from a recipe for Cranberry Bean Chili in Pressure Cooking for Everyone. It reminded me of one of my old favorites, Red, Gold, Black and Green Chili, because it uses bulgur wheat to thicken it and add a meaty texture. But it calls for dried cranberry beans, which I was all out of, so I made it with canned beans.
I could have just made it on the stove, but I got out my Instant Pot out of habit and cooked it under pressure. Though it cooks under pressure for just 3 minutes, it takes a little time to get up to pressure, so it comes out about the same as cooking it on the stove. I’ve included instructions for both pressure cooking and “regular” cooking below.
Note: If you’re cooking it in the Instant Pot, please don’t try to cut corners and add all the ingredients at once. It will be too thick and will burn on the bottom.
Gluten-free readers: Feel free to use kasha or any cooked gluten-free grain instead of the bulgur.
Mega Veggie Chili
Ingredients
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 carrots diced
- 2 ribs celery sliced
- 2 bell peppers chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 jalapeno chile seeds removed and diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon mild chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder (or to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 2 15-ounce cans cooked beans (pinto, kidney, or combination), drained
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes (fire-roasted preferred)
- 2 cups fresh or frozen corn (thawed)
- 1/2 cup medium grain bulgur wheat
- additional seasonings to taste
- lime wedges, jalapeño peppers, and fresh salsa to serve
Instructions
Pressure Cooker Instructions
- Start your pressure cooker heating as you chop your vegetables. (Instant Pot: Set on Sauté.) Chop the vegetables in the order listed and add them to the hot pot, stirring as you go. After you add the garlic, cook until the onions and peppers have begun to soften, about 5-6 minutes total.
- Add the seasonings, beans, water, and tomatoes and stir well. Seal the lid and use the Pressure Cooker or Manual mode to set time to 3 minutes at high pressure.
- After 3 minutes at high pressure, release the steam manually. Open the pot and stir in the corn and bulgur wheat. Taste and add additional chili powder, cumin, chipotle powder, or salt to taste. Simmer on low heat (Instant Pot on Sauté, low) until the bulgur is cooked and the chili has thickened, stirring often.
- Serve in bowls with lime wedges to squeeze over chili and hot peppers and salsa to add at the table.
Stovetop Instructions
- Begin heating a large saucepan or Dutch oven as you chop your vegetables. Chop the vegetables in the order listed and add them to the hot pot, stirring as you go. After you add the garlic, cook until the onions and peppers have begun to soften, about 5-6 minutes total.
- Add the seasonings, beans, water, and tomatoes and stir well. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat, and cook covered for about 15 minutes.
- Stir in the corn and bulgur wheat and add additional water if it seems dry. Taste and add additional chili powder, cumin, chipotle powder, or salt to taste. Simmer on low heat until the bulgur is cooked and the chili has thickened, stirring often.
- Serve in bowls with lime wedges to squeeze over chili and hot peppers and salsa to add at the table.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
Please pin and share!
Not in the mood for Mega Veggie Chili? Try one of these:
- Black and Red Lentil Chili
- Black-eyed Pea Chili with Quinoa and Corn
- Big Pot of Really Good Chili
- Thick and Hearty Pinto Bean Chili
Enjoy!
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Sherry Shrallow
August 1, 2017 at 8:50 amDelicious! I became plant-based almost 6 years ago with the help of your recipes. Just finished writing a book about my recovery from heart disease using the WFPD. May I include some of my favorites from you in my chapter entitled, “My Favorite Recipes?”
Susan Voisin
August 1, 2017 at 10:18 amI’m so happy to hear about your recovery! Please email me to talk about the use of my recipes. susan@fatfreevegan.com
Katie Loss
August 1, 2017 at 9:58 amThis looks delicious! What are your go-to favorite chili powders?
P.s. Happy birthday to your husband! Can’t wait for version 2 recipe of your carrot cake, The Unsinkable Birthday Carrot Cake! 🙂
Susan Voisin
August 1, 2017 at 10:23 amI’ve liked all of the chili powders that I’ve tried from Penzeys, but this is currently my favorite: https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/chili-9000/c-24/p-103/pd-s
Janet
August 1, 2017 at 3:24 pmSusan, you are my very favourite ‘chef’. I’ve made so many of your recipes and have never been disappointed. This will be added to my binder of FFV recipes! Yes, I have a binder dedicated to YOU! I look forward to your carrot cake recipe. My husband’s 76th BD is in 2 days.but I think I’ll just get him a cupcake from Whole Foods. He’ll have his party this Sunday and my daughter said she’d make a vegan cake for him…..hopefully good!
moonwatcher
August 1, 2017 at 5:31 pmEasy, versatile, nutritious and delicous! And colorful! my kind of recipe!
Liberty
August 1, 2017 at 5:36 pmThis looks so delicious!
http://www.libertylife.me
Danielle
August 2, 2017 at 9:38 amThis looks delicious and I’ll be making it this week. Thanks as always for your recipes. As has been stated by many others, your website was the biggest tool to help me transition from a vegetarian to a WFPBNO vegan several years ago. Thanks for all your effort over the years to help us create great food. <3
Susan Voisin
August 2, 2017 at 10:39 amAww, thank you! I’m so happy to have helped in any way.
Tara Smith
August 2, 2017 at 10:28 amI made this Tuesday night for dinner, we had it again on Wednesday night over a baked sweet potato and I’m making another batch today (Thursday) for the freezer!! Yup, it’s just that good!!
Susan Voisin
August 2, 2017 at 10:38 amI’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for posting!
Mary
August 3, 2017 at 1:32 amLooks yummy, I love veggie chili!! I can’t wait to try it. I’m also looking forward to your carrot cake recipe, I enjoy carrot cake on my birthday too.
Kim @Brownble
August 6, 2017 at 1:01 pmThis looks SO good! Thank you for the recipe! Love chili 🙂
Julie M.
August 7, 2017 at 12:07 pmHi Susan! This was great! I was cleaning out my fridge of vegetables to make room for tomorrow’s CSA box, when I saw this recipe. I had everything except the tomatoes, so I substituted a jar of salsa, and added some chopped Tuscan kale in addition to the other ingredients. Fresh corn is a delicious addition too. The spices were spot on! Thanks so much. You are such an inspiration!
Julie M.
Yanuszewski Colleen
August 8, 2017 at 8:42 amI was wondering if you have or would consider a recipe for cauliflower pizza crust. We buy Trader Joe’s & they are so popular they sell out fast. I ‘be been cooking with your recipes for years now & they are the best. Thank you for sharing your passion.
Blessings. Colleen
Susan Voisin
August 8, 2017 at 9:42 amThank you for your kind words! People have asked me to make a cauliflower crust before, but I’ve never gotten past the research stage because the recipes I looked at seemed to be held together by cheese. I wish I had a Trader Joe’s nearby so I could check out theirs. I’ll keep looking into it and see what I can do.
Terri
August 9, 2017 at 2:13 pmSusan, this looks amazing! Unplanned recipes are sometimes the best ones. Can’t wait to try it and sharing it now.
Agness of Run Agness Run
August 10, 2017 at 7:34 amSuch a nutrient-dense dish, Susan! I loved your detailed and exceptional recipe! I’m definitely pinning it for later!
Jill
August 13, 2017 at 2:29 pmMade it on the stovetop, took it to a potluck yesterday, and came home with an empty bowl. The 3-quart IP is now for sale at Amazon and I will probably pick one up soon. I will use your affiliate link! I can’t wait to make this chili again, its one of my new favorites.
Jacqueline Meldrum
August 21, 2017 at 4:51 pmChilli is a big hit in our house too, although we usually eat it in wraps with vegan creme fraiche, lots of salad leaves and some grated dairy-free cheddar. My boys love it in wraps.
I featured it in this week’s Meat Free Mondays. I thought my readers would love it. Hope that’s ok x
Susan Voisin
August 21, 2017 at 6:01 pmCool! Thank you! I will share your post, as well.
Jacqueline Meldrum
August 21, 2017 at 4:52 pmOh and I shared it 🙂
Chris
August 23, 2017 at 11:55 amYour mega veggie vegan chili is by far my favourite! Easy to make.
Gorgeous and delicious!!! The only change is I added some of my
Fave spaghetti sauce. I personally find tomatoes bland. But I use
Them since they are so good for you.,and I loved the option of adding
Kashi….brilliant! Thank you!!!
David Humbert
August 27, 2017 at 2:23 pmI’m sorry Susan, but I have to stop reading your blog because of the GumGum ads that pop up on every page.
They are too intrusive and life is too short.
Susan Voisin
August 27, 2017 at 2:48 pmWhere are they popping up? If you see one, could you send me a screenshot so that I can report it to my ad network? There shouldn’t be any ads popping up.
Amanda
August 28, 2017 at 2:28 pmHi Susan! I love your blog and recipes!! Always so flavorful! I would love to try making this recipe in my IP, but I just received the wheat bulgar today and have an allergy issue with it in our family. Can you recommend anything I could try in place of it that would work time-wise the same when using the IP? Thanks so much!!
Susan Voisin
August 28, 2017 at 4:31 pmThanks, Amanda! If you have quinoa, you can try adding it in with the beans and cooking it under pressure. It will have a softer texture than bulgur but will still be good. Add water if it seems too thick.
Amanda
August 28, 2017 at 11:57 pmPerfect! Thank you, Susan! I will give it a try!
CIndy
November 4, 2018 at 5:24 amI made this with quinoa. I missed a step in the recipe so I think the quinoa not cooking right the first time was my fault, but I simply added an additional 1/2 cup water and cooked it a second round of 3 minutes and it was perfect. REALLY love the mild flavor the quinoa gives it. This is a keeper!
Arleen wobser
August 30, 2017 at 2:34 pmJust wanted to let you know that I am south of Houston. We knew we would be impacted by the flooding so I made a big pot of this chili. It was delicious and lasted us for three days as we were being stressed by this event. Thanks to your suggestions about what to have in a vegan pantry and freezer, I have been able to feed my family delicious meals while totally isolated from stores.
I have depended on your blog to help me on this plant based path. Now 8 years later, I am really grateful for your guidance.
Susan Voisin
August 30, 2017 at 7:39 pmThis means so much to me, Arleen. I am glad that you and your family are safe, and I hope that your home wasn’t hurt by the flooding. You will be in my thoughts.
Debra Evans
September 17, 2017 at 5:46 pmI made this chili for my church picnic this weekend. We had a chili contest and out of 8 entries this took 3rd place! All of the other entries were meat based and the winner was “5 meat, no beans”. I think it’s a great recipe and stood out from the rest at our picnic. Hopefully, it opened the minds of some to the fact that you don’t need meat to make a tasty chili.
I made it one day in advance because I find chili tastes better the second day. I adjusted the spices, adding more chili powder and chipotle chili powder this morning. The bulgur made it thick and hearty.
I became plant based 2/1/17 and your website is my favorite. Thanks for all of your delicious, creative, and easy recipes.
Susan Voisin
September 17, 2017 at 5:55 pmThank you so much for your kind words and for letting me know about the contest! ❤️
Donna Christie
October 14, 2017 at 8:05 pmI just tried this dish and it came out great! I had to double it for a pitch-in and it worked out well. Next time I will use a little less water and a little more chili powder! It just made it to the Max Line in my InstantPot (6qt). I did not add the bulgur wheat because I couldn’t find any at the store and picked up pearl barley instead thinking I could substitute it. I probably could have but didn’t want to risk it when others are eating my food! I will definitely try it again. Thanks for sharing this easy recipe!
Zoe Lindsley
October 26, 2017 at 1:16 pmJust cooked this recipe and it tastes soooo good! Thank you
Sharron Sussman
November 1, 2017 at 4:25 pmI subscribe to your newsletter…
Sue
January 20, 2018 at 10:38 amHi
Can your mega chilli be made with dried beans in the instant pot? If so what changes in liquids and time should I make?
Teresa Wagner
February 28, 2018 at 3:40 pmCan this be made without the bulgar wheat and still taste good?
Susan Voisin
February 28, 2018 at 3:58 pmSure. It adds more bulk than flavor, so you can leave it out or substitute a small grain like quinoa or kasha for a gluten-free version.
Kathi
April 3, 2018 at 2:07 amSusan, so happy to have found you through an Internet search for a good vegan chili recipe. The fact that it’s oil free is an added bonus because I do believe that processed oil is bad for our health. I also don’t add salt but there are so many flavor elements in this dish that I didn’t miss it. This is outstanding and further proof that I can’t tell how good a recipe is by merely reading the ingredients! I put this one in my keeper recipe stack and will be sure to share it (and your website) with my vegan friends! Thank you!
PS: Served with vegan pumpkin walnut cornbread! Omg! Now that is another simple and amazing recipe sweetened with puréed medjool dates.
Megan Young
July 22, 2018 at 9:44 pmThis was so good!!! I’ve been vegan for just a little over 2 months and this has been my favorite meal that I’ve cooked so far 🙂 I didn’t use chipotle seasoning or a jalepeno, since heat isn’t my game, so I just added a little extra cumin and chili powder at the end. I’ve looked up vegan chili’s before, but this was the first one to not intimidate me (I’m a new chef) so I’m so glad I gave it a try!
This was the first dish I ever made in my Instant Pot and absolutely adored the process. Also this was the first time I had ever heard of bulgur wheat and really loved the end result of it! My dad is a hardcore meat and cheese lover, who thinks the meatier the chili the better. He tried this tonight and absolutely adored it 🙂
Sorry for the long review, this was just a very fun cook for me and I’m so thankful that it was also oil free! I’ll be checking out the rest of your recipes now!
Susan Voisin
July 23, 2018 at 7:40 amThank you so much for the review! I love hearing from new vegans, especially when they like a recipe. 😀
Shelly
July 28, 2018 at 1:17 pmI’ve got some spelt at home that I need to do something with and have no bulgar. Thinking of trying this recipe with spelt and seeing how it turns out. I’ve not used either of those before, so I’m not really sure if it is a workable substitute…
Susan Voisin
July 28, 2018 at 3:04 pmSpelt takes a lot longer to cook than bulgur, so I recommend pre-cooking it before using it in this recipe.
Aimee B.
May 7, 2019 at 4:07 pmGreat looking chili! About how long do you have to simmer the bulgur in the Instant Pot? I’ve never used bulgur so have no clue. Need to time it out since I plan on serving it for company. Thank you. 🙂
Susan Voisin
May 7, 2019 at 4:26 pmIt depends on the type of bulgar you get. If it’s very fine, it will probably be ready in 5-10 minutes. If it’s a coarse type, it may take 15-20 minutes.
Aimee B.
May 8, 2019 at 4:47 pmThank you. 🙂
Dan
August 2, 2019 at 3:57 pmThank you so much for sharing this recipe! One quick question….I must watch my sodium intake, does most of the sodium occur from the beans? Thank you!
Susan Voisin
August 2, 2019 at 4:37 pmYes, the beans and the tomatoes contribute a lot of sodium. If you use salt-free versions, you’ll reduce the sodium a lot. I hope you’ll give it a try!
Dan
August 2, 2019 at 5:16 pmDefinitely will! Thank you!
Linda
September 12, 2020 at 12:06 pmWill this recipe fit in a 3 quart Instantpot? Looks great!
Susan Voisin
September 12, 2020 at 12:52 pmI don’t think so. It’s designed for a 6-quart pot, and I think you’d need to halve it for a 3-quart.
Linda
September 16, 2020 at 8:46 amThanks! I’ll use my 8 quart instead. Looking forward to making this for a potluck dinner tonight.
Barbara Golder
November 15, 2021 at 10:37 pmDid i miss something? There is no oil in this recipe? Please help. I want to make it soon. i am hoping to make it in the instapot. I also want to make it for about 9 servings at least. Do you think that will fit in a 6 quart instapot? thanks so much.
Susan Voisin
November 15, 2021 at 11:23 pmNo, there’s no oil in the recipe (this is an oil-free site.) If you’d like to use oil, you could always add a little to sauté the vegetables, but it’s not necessary. You should be able to cook it in a 6-quart Instant Pot even if you increase the recipe to 9 servings.
Alexandra
January 12, 2022 at 9:46 amWe loved this; lots of vegetables; makes a lot; and it got better every day.