Tempeh has the perfect crumbly texture and savory flavor for cooking up a delicious batch of vegan chili! This tempeh chili also includes hearty pinto and black beans, fire roasted tomatoes, and lots of smoky and spicy seasonings. It's a flavor bomb that's super satisfying and packed with protein.
Tempeh is weird. I personally love it, but I know that it's not everyone's jam. When I introduced my husband to tempeh shortly after we met and he wasn't into it, I thought there was something seriously wrong with him.
It wasn't until I started blogging and getting a million questions from people on how to make tempeh palatable that I realized this is the case for a lot of people. Tempeh can be bitter, and it has an unusual texture that not everyone likes.
But I've found that if you're one of those people who isn't into tempeh, there are lots of tricks to make it more palatable, like steaming it. (Read my guide on cooking with tempeh to learn more of them.)
Another trick: crumble tempeh and cook it up in a super flavorful sauce. This totally works on my husband, and he loves tempeh prepared this way. This tempeh chili recipe uses just that technique and it's a big hit with him!
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Olive oil. You can swap this out with another high heat oil if you prefer. Whatever you have on hand is fine!
- Onion.
- Red bell pepper. Prefer another color of bell pepper? Use it!
- Carrot.
- Tempeh. Tempeh can be found in the natural foods section of most stores, in the refrigerated area right near the tofu. You may find it in different varieties, with added grains or seeds. Any of them is fine for this recipe. You can even use homemade tempeh if you're feeling ambitious.
- Spices. You'll need chili powder, ground cumin and smoked paprika. Also include some cayenne pepper if you'd like your tempeh chili to have a little heat.
- Garlic.
- Fire roasted tomatoes. These add a wonderful smoky flavor to the chili, but you can use regular canned diced tomatoes if they aren't available.
- Beans. The recipe calls for canned pinto beans and black beans, but you can replace them with other varieties such as chickpeas, red kidney beans, lentils or cannellini beans if you'd like.
- Salt & pepper.
- Toppings. You can use whatever you normally top your chili with here. I've got sliced avocado and fresh chives on the bowls shown in the photos. Fresh cilantro, scallions, vegan sour cream or cashew cream, and shredded vegan cheese are more great options.
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!
Start by prepping your ingredients. This includes chopping your vegetables and crumbling the tempeh.
Heat your oil in a pot and add diced onion, bell pepper, and carrot. Sweat the vegetables for a few minutes, until they start to soften.
Add your crumbled tempeh to the pot and cook it with the vegetables for a few minutes, until it starts to brown.
Add the spices and garlic. Stir everything up well and cook the mixture briefly — about 1 minute, just until it becomes very fragrant.
Now add the tomatoes and beans. Bring the chili to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.
Tip: Feel free to let the chili simmer for longer than 30 minutes if you'd like. It can go for up to an hour. Just make sure to add some water to the pot if it gets too thick.
Once your tempeh chili is done simmering you can take the pot off of heat and season it with some salt and black pepper.
Ladle it into bowls, add toppings and dig in!
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover tempeh chili will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 4 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months.
More Vegan Chili Recipes
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
📖 Recipe
Tempeh Chili
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 1 (8 ounce/226 gram) package tempeh, crumbled
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 ½ tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste (optional)
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 (14 once/400 gram) cans fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 (15 ounce/439 gram) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 ounce/439 gram) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a large pot the with oil and place it over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion, bell pepper, and carrot. Sweat the vegetables for about 10 minutes, until they start to soften.
- Stir in the crumbled tempeh and cook it with the vegetables for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until you just start to see some browning in the tempeh.
- Stir in the chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper (if using) and garlic. Sauté the mixture for about 1 minute, until it becomes very fragrant.
- Stir in the tomatoes, pinto beans, and black beans. Raise heat and bring the mixture a boil. Lower the heat and allow the chili to simmer until it's nicely thickened up and the veggies are tender, about 30 minutes. (see Note)
- Remove the pot from heat and season the chili with salt and pepper. Adjust any seasonings to your liking.
- Ladle into bowls and serve with toppings of choice.
Notes
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Love your website Alissa. I am in the U.K., near Liverpool. I have been vegan for many years but avoid all the ultra processed foods which are out there. There are so many of your recipes that I intend to try. I will make the tempeh chilli this weekend as it’s a protein packed meal. Love tempeh in any form!
Keep up the great work.
Jean
First time using Tempeh and we loved it and this recipe. I did add corn and green chilis sprinkled cilantro on. Will definitely make again. I ate over brown rice pasta.
I have cans of crushed tomatoes here at home. Could I use those instead of the fire roasted?
Looking forward to making this! Can you tell me the serving size for the nutritional information? Thank you!
It's about 1 1/2 cups. Just added it to the nutrition label - thanks for asking! Enjoy!!
Loved this recipe, but I used 2 cans of beans instead of one to make it more filling since I added more water for a more soupy chili. My tempeh remained colorless even though I simmered it for 30 minutes. I used the Lightlife brand.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Christina!
Sounds yummy, going to try this tonight. Just wondering if you could cook this in a crockpot?
I think it would work! I'm not sure how long to cook it though, so I'd say just keep an eye on it. I'd love to hear how it turns out!
I just made this chili and it is delicious! I am a recent vegan and I've subscribed to your newsletters and have selected two recipes from your website to make this week (this and the butternut squash chimichangas). Next time I make this will be for my husband and his buddy for football and I will definitely double the recipe!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks Angie!
I just made this and it is DELICIOUS!!! I couldn't wait for it to simmer!! On my second bowl now!! Love the flavors!! Thank you!!
Yay! I'm glad you're enjoying it!
I'm going to try your microwave method tonight! I love tempeh but like you, my husband doesn't dig it as much. I LOVE BITTER! In fact when eating at Vedge they have a amari sampling and the guy was giving summaries of each, and was like "this one is really bitter... so you probably don't want that" I think I might of shouted (probably) "NO! I want that!" I later looked up online a review described it as "makes you question the definition of palatable" XD I thought it was really tasty- though it was in fact VERY BITTER lol
Haha! That's so funny because I'm the same way! I LOVE bitter foods, but with tempeh I find the bitter flavor is super subtle while other people seem to think it's overpowering.