My black-eyed pea chili is spicy, smoky, and savory, with a touch of sweetness from caramelized onions! It's also super easy, and the recipe makes a nice big batch, so it's great for leftovers or feeding a crowd.
I absolutely love creating vegan chili recipes featuring all kinds of beans. Who needs meat when you've got black bean chili, red lentil chili, chickpea chili, and white bean chili? One type of bean that doesn't get nearly enough attention, if you ask me, is the mighty black-eyed pea. So we're making it the star of today's recipe: black eyed pea chili!
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Black-eyed peas are great for chili! They're savory, satisfying, and a touch firmer than some other popular chili beans, so your chili will have a nice texture. And since we're using canned black-eyed peas in this recipe, they're really easy to work with too.
This chili also features a scrumptious mix of spicy and smoky seasonings, along with caramelized onion, which adds even more savory flavor and a touch of sweetness.
Ingredients You'll Need
- Olive oil. You can swap this out with another neutral high-heat oil if you'd like, such as canola oil, vegetable oil, or coconut oil.
- Onions. We're using plain old yellow onions, and quite a bit of them too! Don't worry though — caramelizing them will mellow the flavor, reduce their volume, and bring out some of their natural sweetness.
- Garlic.
- Spices. You'll need a mix of chili powder, ground cumin, chipotle chile powder, and smoked paprika. You can find them all in the spice aisle of most grocery stores.
- Red bell pepper. Do you prefer another color of bell pepper? Use it!
- Diced tomatoes.
- Black eyed-peas. We're using canned black-eyed peas, to make things easy. If you prefer to cook them from scratch, be my guest. You'll need about six scant cups of them, as measured after cooking.
- Vegetable broth.
- Frozen corn.
- Salt and pepper.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Start by caramelizing your onions. Heat your oil over medium low, then add thinly sliced onions. Cook them super slowly until they're super soft and golden brown. This will take about forty-five minutes.
Step 2: Turn up the heat a smidge, then add minced garlic, along with all of your spices. Cook everything for about a minute, stirring constantly to prevent your spices from burning.
Step 3: Add diced bell pepper, tomatoes, black-eyed peas, and broth to the pot. Raise the heat and bring the chili to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for an hour.
Step 4: Stir in some thawed frozen corn, then take the pot off of heat. Season your chili with salt and pepper to taste.
Your black-eyed pea chili is ready to enjoy! Ladle in into bowls and serve it plain, or with your favorite toppings. I love mine with some sliced avocado and chopped fresh chives. It's also excellent with some vegan cornbread or vegan biscuits on the side!
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover black-eyed pea chili will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for three to four days. It's also very freezer-friendly!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, it is!
No, you don't. If you'd like to save time or just prefer to skip this step, cut the amount of onion in half, dice the onion, and instead of caramelizing it, simply sweat it in the olive oil for about five minutes. You can also omit the sugar. Your chili will have a bit of a different flavor, with less sweet and savory notes.
It's on the mild side, but the chipotle chile powder does add a small amount of heat. For a nearly heat-free version, skip this ingredient and double the smoked paprika. If you'd like your chili to be extra spicy, add some cayenne pepper or hot sauce.
More Vegan Chili Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Black-Eyed Pea Chili
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound yellow onions, thinly sliced (about 2 large onions)
- 1 teaspoon organic granulated sugar
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 ½ tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 3 (14.5 ounce/411 gram) cans diced tomatoes
- 3 (15.5 ounce) 439 gram cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Place a large pot over medium-low heat and add the oil. Give the oil a minute to heat up, then add the onion and sugar. Stir everything to coat the onion in the oil and sugar. Cook the mixture for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion becomes very soft and caramelized. Make sure to turn the heat down if the onion starts to burn at any point.
- Raise the heat to medium, then add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle chile powder, and smoked paprika. Stir to combine the ingredients, and cook the mixture for about one minute, stirring constantly, until it becomes very fragrant.
- Stir in the bell pepper, tomatoes, black-eyed peas, and broth. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for about one hour, stirring occasionally. You can add some water if the chili gets too thick while simmering.
- Stir in the corn, then remove the pot from heat. Season the chili with salt and pepper to taste.
- Ladle into bowls and serve.
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Very good spicy hot and sweet
What about using dried beans? I’ve never seen canned black eyed peas.
You can use dried beans, but you'll need to pre-cook them. Here's a method to try: https://www.heynutritionlady.com/how-to-cook-black-eyed-peas/ You'll need a little under six cups of cooked beans for the chili, which you can get from about two cups of dried beans. Goya and Bush's both make canned black-eyed peas if you want to look for them at the store. Enjoy!
What? Not everone holds conversations with their companion animals......
What do you think about me just not adding the maple syrup. No sugar replacement.
Sounds like a yum recipe!
Thank you
Lol! Glad it's not just me. ;) I think this would still be tasty without the maple syrup!
You had me at caramelized onions. I will be making this tonight! Question. Do you take probiotics? Come to find out that's what really helped with Gabby's allergies. It's all connected to the gut. Couldn't hurt to try!
I don't take a probiotic supplement, but I do drink lots of kombucha and eat probiotic rich foods. I'll have to look into supplements to see if there's anything that's particularly effective for allergies. I was taking stinging nettle and it helped for a while, but the effect seemed to wear off...or maybe the pollen count just increased. Thanks for the suggestion! I hope you enjoy the chili!
I used your recipe and made a mail meal of it by adding brown basmati rice and some roasted Mediterranean veg. It was delicious . Thanks
Yum - I ate this with crusty bread, but basmati rice sounds fantastic. Glad you enjoyed this. Thanks Karen!!
Thanks for this recipe, I love it.
It sounds like we're in the same boat, Alissa! I work from home, too, and have conversations about copyediting with my rabbit. Even when the windows are open!
I love that this uses black eyed peas. I'm not wild about them, but I know they're very good for you, so I'm trying to learn how to like them. Using them in a chili would be a good way to cover up their flavor. And this recipe would be an easy start-it-early-and-work-for-awhile-longer recipe, since the onion needs to caramelize for so long. Thanks for sharing!
Haha! Glad to hear it's not just me!
This is definitely the way to go if you want to cover up the flavor of the black-eyed peas. If you're reeeeaaaly not into them though, I'm sure this chili would be just as good with some other type of beans. :)