This easy and flavorful kidney beans chili is our favorite recipe. Enjoy this warm, vegan, and gluten-free chili made with lots of veggies for any meal!

As a vegetarian, we mainly use beans and lentils as our primary protein source. Though we like Indian-style curry recipes with beans, this chili with kidney beans is our favorite.

I usually cook the kidney beans and store them in the refrigerator or freezer for weekday meals. Cooking beans from scratch not only save money but are far healthier than canned beans.

Make this vegan chili today and enjoy it with a side dish like cornbread, nachos. I like to eat this as soup and over rice.

Let's begin making vegan chili:

Chop the veggies - onions, tomatoes, carrots, red and green bell pepper. Keep them aside.

Start the instant pot in saute mode and add oil to it.

Once it is hot enough, add chopped onions and garlic.

Let them cook until the onion turns into light pink color.

To this, add chopped carrots and let them fry for a couple of minutes. Add the veggies that take a longer time to cook first.

Now add chopped bell peppers and mix it well.

Add finely chopped tomatoes to the Instant pot and mix it well. You can use fire-roasted tomatoes or tomato puree as well to make this recipe.

Now add the spice powders - dried oregano, red chili powder, cumin powder, pepper powder, and salt. Give this a good stir.

It's time to add the cooked kidney beans. Traditionally chili uses black beans, and you can use them here instead of kidney beans.

Add water or vegetable broth and mix it well. If you are cooking kidney beans at home, you can use the water in which kidney beans have been cooked.

At this stage, if you want hands-free cooking, switch off the Instant pot saute mode and close the lid.
Start the Instant pot again using manual or pressure mode and cook it for 5 minutes on HIGH pressure.
Once the Instant pot beeps, switch it off. Wait for 10 minutes and do a quick pressure release carefully.
At our home, we like the veggies to be crunchy. So I mashed the beans using a potato masher and cooked them for 10 minutes using sautee mode. Traditionally, chili is simmered in an open pot for 30 to 40 minutes, giving a creamy texture.

Stir it well, and healthy instant pot vegan chili is ready to serve!

How do you thicken vegan chili?

You do not need to add any flour or cornstarch to thicken your chili. Take some portion of chili in a blender and blend it into a smooth paste. Add this chili paste to the dish and mix it well. In this way, your chili will be super creamy and thick.

Recipe Notes and variations:

I used fresh tomatoes in this recipe. You can use canned tomatoes to make this recipe, preferably fire-roasted ones.
This recipe calls for kidney beans, but you could use any beans - black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, or a mix of everything to make this vegan chili at home.
Though I haven't used celery, cilantro, and corn in this recipe, they will be a good addition to the chili and make them more flavorful and tasty.
To add more protein to this dish, you can add half a cup of uncooked quinoa to this recipe while adding beans.
I have used leftover water from cooking kidney beans in this recipe. Using vegetable stock will make this recipe more flavorful.

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