10 Minute Vegan Chilli

There’s nothing like a rich, warming bowl of homemade chilli to brighten up your mealtime. This 10 minute vegan chilli is plant based and is packed full of healthy goodness and delicious Mexican flavour. Oh, and it takes only 10 minutes to make. Delicioso!

I’d recommend spending a few moments reading the following for useful information and tips on making this 10 minute vegan chilli. If you’d prefer though, skip to the middle of the page for step-by-step instructions or jump to the bottom for quick recipe.

Note that 10 minutes is the approximate time to make this dish after you’ve gathered all of your ingredients. Actual preparation times may vary slightly due to factors like knife skills and how quickly your hob heats up.

Quick and easy Mexican fare

This super quick vegan chilli hits all the right notes for a brilliantly quick and healthy dish! The main reason this recipe is so fantastically quick is because nothing at all needs to be chopped or sliced. Nothing! You simply open the jars or tins of each separate ingredient, heat them in a pan and serve.

The main ingredient of any decent vegan chilli is the beans. Tinned mixed beans are widely found in stores and there are often several different varieties available. It doesn’t hugely matter what type of mixed beans you use as most will work very well in this 10 minute vegan chilli.

The bean mix I’ve chosen for this recipe consists of cannellini beans, butter beans, chickpeas, and finally, the traditional red kidney bean. Beans are just a fantastic way to get many nutrients into your diet including that all important fiber that so many of us lack these days.

This 10 minute vegan chilli also uses one of my favourite quick ingredients; tinned sweetcorn. I used this quick staple in many of my recipes such as in my 10 minute quesadillas, as they tick so many boxes for a great, quick ingredient! They can be thrown into your dish straight from the tin with little or no cooking, they have a beautiful sweet taste, a crunchy texture and speckle your dish with vibrant, yellow flecks. Oh, and of course they’re healthy to boot. What could be better?

A word on the spices

To really infuse this 10 minute vegan chilli with bags of yummu flavor, I fully recommend being generous with the spices. In particular, the chilli powder. I’ve suggested using the mild type of chilli powder, mainly because my children unfortunately are not huge spice fans. You can use hot chilli powder if you would prefer but you may want to cut down on the quantity if you do as you may find your mouth burning like the sun otherwise!

I like to think of the ‘secret ingredient’ in this 10 minute vegan chilli as being the Marmite. Yes it’s true, some people love it and some people don’t, but what the Marmite does here is add a lovely salty punchy undertone that really elevates the final flavour of the chilli.

Given my choice, I would add a ton of it (as I love the stuff) but I find that a small amount of Marmite is perfect to enhance the taste of this 10 minute vegan chilli without offending anybody. Some people may not have Marmite in the stores where they live, but vegemite is an alternative you can use or even just pop in a dash of plain dark soy sauce.

Quick tips

I’ve used brown rice to make this 10 minute vegan chilli even healthier and to add a lovely nutty flavor, but feel free to use plain white rice if you would prefer. As with many of my other dishes, I fully advocate using a microwavable rice pouch, which typically cooks in just 90 seconds. As I always say, nobody hands out prizes for standing over a pan of gloopy boiling rice for 20 minutes. A rice pouch enables you to create a homecooked meal from scratch with the time-consuming prep bit already done for you. Rice pouches are readily available in stores and keep well in the cupboard, so what’s not to like?

I also fully advocate using pre-minced garlic that you can readily buy in jars and squeezy tubes then just dollop straight into your dish. You chop the real stuff yourself if you would prefer, but bear in mind this may push the time to make the dish beyond the magic 10 minute mark.

A final word on the coriander (cilantro). This classic herb is a staple in many different Mexican dishes and works brilliantly to garnish this 10 minute vegan chilli. However, I realise that many people just don’t enjoy the flavour (to some people it tastes like soap!) so remember this when creating this chilli for any guests who might dislike seeing it crowning their meal.

10 minute vegan chilli – step by step

Now lets have a look at a handy step by step guide to creating the perfect homemade vegan chilli in just 10 short minutes, with handy photos to guide you in the process;

Serves 2-3

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS – 10 minute vegan chilli

1) Grab yourself a large wok or frying pan. Generally, a wok is best as it heats the ingredients more quickly and more evenly. In this pan, put 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

2) Next, add to the warmed pan 3 teaspoons of mild chilli powder, 2 teaspoons of sweet smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin and 1 teaspoon of minced garlic. (I use the pre-minced type that you can get in a jar or squeezy tube to save on precious time. Chopping garlic is such a faff!) Mix all of these lovely, aromatic spices together and fry it all off for approximately two minutes, stirring frequently to really release the aromas.

3) Next to the pan, add 300g (10.5 oz) of passata (sieved tomatoes), then add 2 teaspoons of brown sugar and finally, 1 teaspoon of Marmite. If you can’t find any Marmite where you live then no problem – Vegemite is a great substitute or even just the same amount of dark soy sauce will do.

4) Now that you’ve made your yummy chilli sauce, it’s time to add the final ingredients to the pan: one 400g (14 oz) tin of mixed beans, drained. (Ideally go for a bean mix that contains the classic red kidney bean, but this is not essential). Then add 4 tablespoons of tinned cooked green lentils and finally, 3 tablespoons of tinned sweetcorn. Give it all a stir to nicely combine. Let this bubble away on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently as it heats.

5) Whilst your delicious chilli bubbles away, grab one 250g (8.5 oz) pack of microwave rice and cook it according to pack instructions. I like to use brown rice as it’s a bit healthier and has a lovely, nutty flavour but you can use white rice instead if preferred.

7) That’s it! You’re done. Divide the heated rice between 2-3 serving bowls and scoop the delicious chilli on top of the rice. mmmm.

8) Top with a small bunch of hand-torn coriander (optional) and serve!