Black Bean Chili

It's soup season around here, and I'm trying some new soup recipes for my family. We love chili, but I've always used ground beef or turkey as the base for the soup. This was our first time trying a meatless chili, but the results were fabulous and we all loved it. Plus, it was frugal! Who doesn't love easy, cheap chili?

Here's what I used:

1/2 onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
2 carrots, grated
1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained (You can use any kind of diced tomatoes, I'm just a little obsessed with fire-roasted right now)
2 cups chicken or beef broth
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen corn
1 teas cumin
1 teas chili powder
1/2 teas salt
1/2 teas black pepper

In a sauce pan, saute the onion and red pepper until soft. Add the carrots and cook for another minute. Stir in the diced tomatoes, broth, and black beans. If you want to make this chili completely vegetarian, substitute veggie broth for the chicken or beef.

At this point, I used an immersion blender to thicken the chili up. If you don't have an immersion blender, pour about half the soup into a blender and pulse a couple of times. Be careful with hot liquid in the blender. If you don't hold the lid on, the pressure from the steam might blow the lid off. It can be quite messy. Want to know how I know this? It's called learning from experience. Wink!

Now add the remaining ingredients. Taste a little and adjust your seasonings according to your family's tastes. This is one reason I love soup - it's so easy to tweak!

Simmer for 20-30 minutes to give the flavors a chance to blend.


I like to add sour cream and cheese to my bowl, while Charles just likes cheese. The kids eat their chili plain. The next day, I added some rice and cheese to the leftovers, wrapped them in tortillas like burritos, and got another meal out of the chili! Talk about stretching my food budget. This meatless chili is a winner!